TCEA Conference 2006 Session Notes
This was my first time to attend the conference and I enjoyed seeing the different presentations and comparing what I saw that is being done at other schools to what we are doing here.
6746 Get the Font Out of There CSS 2/11/06
I was already interested in this subject, but the presentation which was geared to beginners who had a little basic knowledge of html was enough to jumpstart things as far as digging a little deeper. Basically CSS allows you to place structure information on your html pages and style rules and information on a css page which your webpages will refer back to in order to know how to display the structure they contain.
*The handout on the TCEA website covers this information as well as gives some examples of CSS rules and lists some links for resources but I have found that the following is a good source for anyone just starting out with both HTML and CSS including how to link the two: http://www.htmldog.com Some beautiful examples of CSS can be found at http://www.csszengarden.com/
*This presentation was very basic but gave me enough information motivation to get started learning how to ustilize CSS
6423 Programming the Online Classroom 2/11/06
This was more a presentation on how this particular instructor handles his online classroom that a “how-to”
Creating Online Forms
Interesting presentation of information I knew but never categorized together. There are multiple ways to accomplsh the task of creating a form and on deciding which way you will use to create it, depending on how the form will be used. This presenter covered several different forms, how to create them, and the advantages and disadvantages of each type.
Word – form for email – RTF file to get into excel
Acrobat PDF – must have professional to create and fill out forms
Web based Forms – (FrontPage)
6401 Moodling Through the Jungle 2/11/06
The presenter comes from a school which makes extensive use of Moodle and has worked towards building lesson plans that are aligned with the curriculum. Some of what they were doing would be more appropriate in a school environment where each student has access to a laptop but could also be used in some lab situations with a little modification.
6577 Interactive Safari MS Office Tames the Wild Lesson Plan 2/12/06
More uses for software we have and have used – just not in this way. The presenters used word to create a page with clickable links that a teacher could create, display on their desktop, and use links to documents, sites, and software that would give them access to lesson plans for the entire day. A little organization of documents the teacher already has would be advised. Links to attendance software, and gradebook could be included on the page so that a click on the current page would be all that is necessary to access them.
A complete interactive lesson plan can be created and burned to duplicate cds for use in a computer lab allowing each student to have a copy to work from. Instructions were given on how to create a PowerPoint Review Presentation, how to utilize multimedia, and how to create assessment material from Microsoft Word as a protected document utilizing Word table and form capabilities.
Interesting concepts though with the growing number of web-based applications I like the idea of a teacher being able to create similar items online and rather that having to burn multiple cds, just have the students access these web applications and complete the lessons. There are now web applications that let you create text documents including links, online presentation, spreadsheet, form creation applications and more. This would allow for creation and access of the lesson from anywhere a computer with access was available. This also would resoolve a lot of issues as far as compatibility. It wouldn’t matter which operating system, office version, or word processing and presentation program installed on a users computer. As long as they had internet access they could complete the assignment. Because I am not a teacher I am sure there are implications here that I may not be seeing as far as advantages, disadvantages, or others usage is concerned but i think that this concpt holds a lot of possibility for the future.
6877 March of the Penguins, Linux on the Student Desktop 2/12/06
Choosing an operating system
Pro’s of Linux
Con’s of Linux
6096 Using Image Ready to Create Animations 2/12/06
6480 GIMP it’s GNU and Free for Graphics 2/12/06
6133 Idea Barrage – Authentic Lessons to Make Kids Think 2/12/06
What a wonderful lady this presenter was and a wonderful example the unique ability we have as humans to embrace change and use new technologies to enhance education. I would love to attend any presentation given by her in the future. Dr. Mary Ann Bell is so enthusiastic and “Idea Barrage” was definitely an appropriate name for her session. She tried to get a two hour presentation done in 45 minutes! Her website is at http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_mah/ and you can find much of the information she talked about at that location. She mentions Doug Johnson in her presentation as an excellent source and I have included a link to his site because I agree. There is a lot of great material here and I would highly recommend reading some of his articles. The link is http://www.doug-johnson.com
6604 Cowboy Puzzles, Card Tricks, and Dr. Seuss 2/12/06
Tools to use to teach programming concepts behind the coding
Very visual, everyday, easy to understand ideas for teaching the concepts behind computer programming. Even if you are not planning to become a coder the ideas help you gain a clearer understanding of what is going on “behind the scenes”.
**6272 Tips. Tricks, & Techniques for Using Photoshop 2/12/06
Presenter Lee Carter