Forget my suggestions below, Terry's Screen capture does it all!
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Help with math and links!
I posted this on the discussion board as well. There is an example at the bottom of this link that may help those who forgot their math do the final GPA forumla!
http://www.educationoasis.com/resources/Articles/beginners_guide_grades.htm
And for those like me who just want the darn forumla for the GPA:
=SUM((R2*2)+M2+H2)/4
Please keep in mind that you will have to change the cells to however you have your sheet done up.
Poster Tomas on this forum I found makes linking super easy as well
http://www.proz.com/forum/windows_operating_systems/123458-excel%3A_how_to_link_between_different_sheets.html
http://www.educationoasis.com/resources/Articles/beginners_guide_grades.htm
And for those like me who just want the darn forumla for the GPA:
=SUM((R2*2)+M2+H2)/4
Please keep in mind that you will have to change the cells to however you have your sheet done up.
Poster Tomas on this forum I found makes linking super easy as well
http://www.proz.com/forum/windows_operating_systems/123458-excel%3A_how_to_link_between_different_sheets.html
Excel Project
I have been working on the Excel project for about 30 min now and it is going okay. I remember excel in older versions of office and it used to be much more miserable. I don't remember them having things be so user friendly. There are still quirks that make my had explode but that is mostly not knowing how to use it because it doesn't fit the scheme in my head for how it should work. Let's hope the rest of the excel project doesn't get worse!
The differences between the Mac presentation and the PC application was not nearly as large as the word differences. This I was thankful for. It saved me a lot of Advil consumption.
Overall everything is fine, the blood pressure is at relatively healthy levels while working with technology. Here's to improvement!
The differences between the Mac presentation and the PC application was not nearly as large as the word differences. This I was thankful for. It saved me a lot of Advil consumption.
Overall everything is fine, the blood pressure is at relatively healthy levels while working with technology. Here's to improvement!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Microsoft Word Project
I worked on my Microsoft word project this afternoon. While it was challenging for a ditigal immigrant living in a world where most of my peers are digital natives, I was pleasently suprised at how it went. It was time consuming but very enlightening and I learned quite a bit from a one class blitz on Microsoft Word. The instructions on what the project needed were very clear which helped focus my efforts and avoided confusion.
With the Finale Project Midterm coming up I am a bit aprehensive about completing it as smoothly as the Microsoft project. I generally don't find Finale nearly as easy to navigate as Word, but Terry's expereince with the quick help on the forums encourages me that I will be able to do well on it. The only real issue I have right now is a printer problem at home and most machines at UB don't have finale to open it. Off to fix my own printer!
With the Finale Project Midterm coming up I am a bit aprehensive about completing it as smoothly as the Microsoft project. I generally don't find Finale nearly as easy to navigate as Word, but Terry's expereince with the quick help on the forums encourages me that I will be able to do well on it. The only real issue I have right now is a printer problem at home and most machines at UB don't have finale to open it. Off to fix my own printer!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Week 4
As the video I posted before with the giraffe suggested, the technology game is always a struggle. However, I am happy to report that this week I actually had a mini breakthrough and I am excited about it. The ability to import tiff files into finale has huge implications for vocalists. Personally, I always found it frustrating to try and learn a vocal piece without an accompanist. More chromatic pieces were especially tough. The two semesters I took voice lessons in undergrad I would have the voice coach play the accompaniment while I recorded it so I would have something to go off of. This may be simply because of my own musical weakness but I find it very helpful to have to musical context of the accompaniment.
The only problem is that it is hard to find stuff in .tiff format, but there are plenty of very simply file converting programs out there that can change PDFs into tiffs. The ability to scan into finale to create tiff's off of paper copies also helps.
When I mentioned this idea to Terry he suggested then importing it into smart music so you can check yourself and actually set up the accompaniment to follow you.
I am doing a Broadway Revue Concert with a Valentines Day theme on the 17th and it has been a bit annoying to learn the music. I am going to try the techniques with the .tiff files to help myself out. I love finding real world applications of what we learn in class!
The only problem is that it is hard to find stuff in .tiff format, but there are plenty of very simply file converting programs out there that can change PDFs into tiffs. The ability to scan into finale to create tiff's off of paper copies also helps.
When I mentioned this idea to Terry he suggested then importing it into smart music so you can check yourself and actually set up the accompaniment to follow you.
I am doing a Broadway Revue Concert with a Valentines Day theme on the 17th and it has been a bit annoying to learn the music. I am going to try the techniques with the .tiff files to help myself out. I love finding real world applications of what we learn in class!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Digital Citizenship
Since there are no "digital citizenship" teachers and there are very few schools with computer teachers per se, it falls upon the subject matter area teacher to handle what was missed. To ignore it doesn't help the students and to use things like blogs, you tube, wikis, and other technological aids without teaching the students about the dangers and pitfalls is setting them up to get burned.
Many of us may find it annoying that we have to teach this kind of stuff that "isn't in our subject matter." I happen to be one of them. However, like I said above, if we are going to expose them to it then it becomes incumbent on us to make sure we give the students the full picture on the use of technology. This can seem daunting, because of all the technology that is out there, but to balance the massive amount of time that digital citizenship can take up, I would recommend covering the applicable parts based on what piece of technology we are using. If we are going to post original essays on a composer on a blog, I would cover the importance of citing everything not of their own thought, and that they understand that even though their post may be original, if it is based off another copyrighted book, it still could be a violation. The idea is to balance digital citizenship without it taking over the class. Covering the parts of it that directly relate to the piece of technology being used would the best bet.
Violations in our lives are all over the place, many of which I hadn't previously thought of as violations until I read the "10 myths of copyright." Examples are you tube videos of bands covering copyrighted songs and music teachers copying sheet music for use.
One thing we could do to help inform the school community is talk with parents during the open houses they have at the beginning of the year. As part of your discussion mention the pieces of technology being used by the students in your class and give them the same information you ave your students. That way the parents are aware as well. A letter home with the student would work in the same fashion.
Many of us may find it annoying that we have to teach this kind of stuff that "isn't in our subject matter." I happen to be one of them. However, like I said above, if we are going to expose them to it then it becomes incumbent on us to make sure we give the students the full picture on the use of technology. This can seem daunting, because of all the technology that is out there, but to balance the massive amount of time that digital citizenship can take up, I would recommend covering the applicable parts based on what piece of technology we are using. If we are going to post original essays on a composer on a blog, I would cover the importance of citing everything not of their own thought, and that they understand that even though their post may be original, if it is based off another copyrighted book, it still could be a violation. The idea is to balance digital citizenship without it taking over the class. Covering the parts of it that directly relate to the piece of technology being used would the best bet.
Violations in our lives are all over the place, many of which I hadn't previously thought of as violations until I read the "10 myths of copyright." Examples are you tube videos of bands covering copyrighted songs and music teachers copying sheet music for use.
One thing we could do to help inform the school community is talk with parents during the open houses they have at the beginning of the year. As part of your discussion mention the pieces of technology being used by the students in your class and give them the same information you ave your students. That way the parents are aware as well. A letter home with the student would work in the same fashion.
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