Poll Everywhere

Maybe you have seen the little clicker student response system that teachers use for instant feedback from their class. The Geek found a way to avoid buying that expensive hardware by having students use those pesky cell phones instead. Poll Everywhere is a website that provides a number to send a text messages to which allows students to vote from their mobile phone. The poll can be viewed on the web, or embedded into a PowerPoint. So you ask, “what if my students don’t have mobile phones? No worries, students can also vote online via any standard browser.

Mars Rover

Memorial Day marks the end of school for many, but the teachers and students in this School Geek’s NASA Explorer School save the best project of the year for the weeks after Memorial Day. Our NASA Explorer School is connected to the home of the world’s most expensive remote control toys, The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California. We end the year with students using a remote control Lego rover to explore a simulated Mars landing site, photograph geological features, identify the features, and describe the forces that created them.

The past few years we have used a Lego RCX with a long umbilical cord to support the camera and controls. This year the team received funding for 3 Lego NXT and wireless Booster Vision Cameras. The Lego NXT supports Blue Tooth providing truly wireless remote control rover.

Rover: The team tried a number of different designs from Lego NXT Log combing ideas from Urig, ro1000, braico, aardvarkman95 and RC-X finally settling on a design with a lower center of gravity than the default Lego design. We started with a grabber claw, but it kept catching on the rocks because the driver did not have a good view, so we modified the design adding ground clearance and using the third servo to move the camera.

Camera: The team mounted a wireless Booster Vision camera on the front of the rover. The only flaw in the Booster Vision design is the wire connections which can become lose and degrade the picture. The camera’s battery lasted on average about a day. We found a blog post that showed us how to use the NXT’s Port A to power the camera, but it was pretty complex so we stuck with the batteries. To get the video from the camera into the computer you will need some kind of digitizer. We choose the Belkin, mainly because anything we have ever bought from Belkin worked out of the box. In this situation all we had to do was plug the receiver into the digitizer, and connect the digitizer to the USB port on the computer. As soon as Windows recognized the digitizer we had a live picture from the Booster Vision.

Remote Control: Lego has a nifty RCX Control Pad that can be used with Lego’s RoboLab software to control the RCX across the Internet. However, the RCX is not wireless and thus requires a long umbilical cord. The new Lego NXT supports BlueTooth wireless technology, but does not offer a remote control or controller software. The Lego representative for Southern California pointed us in the direction of a joystick control built from Lego Servo. Our issue here was that we would need to canalize a rover for the parts needed to build the joystick control, so instead of 3 rovers we would be limited to one rover, one remote control, and one back-up rover. Someone in the Lego forums recommended we take a look at using a USB PSP controller and the open source program RoboRealm to control the NXT. RoboRealm supports USB controllers and video sources and could be configured to control the rover and the wireless camera all on one screen. It took us a few hours to figure it out and make it work, but as an added bonus we discovered that RoboRealm has a small web server built in that will serve up real time images and will automatically scale the quality based on the number of views.

Blue Tooth: We learned through trial and error that the NXT and the BlueTooth dongle need to be in close proximity to set up the link. Once the link has been establish the NXT could be moved across the room with no problem.

LogMeIn Free

Ever needed to get to something at a remote computer or wanted to reach through the screen to help someone? Log Me In Free is the perfect solution, and like the name says, it is free! Microsoft’s Remote Desktop is rumored to also do this, but Log Me In Free actually works! The Log Me In Free interface is web based so there is no messing with firewalls or port forwarding. In a pinch it is easy enough to install that you can walk a person through the steps over the phone.

Log Me In Free offers a number of paid products that are targeted at IT professionals, you might want Drag and Drop file sharing, but you can get around this by emailing files to or from the remote desktop. Log Me In Free works on Macs and PC’s and uses a secure connection so your activity is safe from snooping.

Drop.io

Need to share files over the Internet quickly and easily? Drop.io is a fast and simple file sharing service that requires no registration. One feature that is especially impressive to this School Geek is the simplicity of just sending a link to whomever you need to share a file. When a School Geek uploads a file Drop.io creates a web site that, if necessary can be password-protected. Once Drop.io creates your web site, you can share the link, and anyone you share it with can add to the files. Files can be added to the “Drop” via the web (drop.io/thedropname), email (thedropname@drop.io), phone (646-XXX-XXXX ext or fax. Drop.io is a great solution when you need a simple solution to share files with a DSL (Digital as Second language) co-worker.

The CUE Report

The Computer Using Educators Conference is the largest and oldest education technology show in California, and among the largest in the United States.

Workshop Highlights:

Cyber Safety - Adrienne DeWolfe, Jim Freese

Must See Documentary:

Growing Up Online (Frontline)

“Growing Up Online” Trailer

Longer Clip from FRONTLINE “Growing Up Online”

Ryan Halligan Story on Frontline

Ad Council Public Service Announcement: Think Before You Post

Cyber Safety Sites:

Elementary www.netsmartzkids.org
High School School http://www.nsteens.org/
Real Life Stories http://www.netsmartz.org/resources/reallife.htm#realteresa

Google Earth Goodies - Alix Peshette
Google Earth is constantly updating so check for updates on a regular basis. If you have never used Google Earth before, start at the Geographic Web Layer. This is the place to start to looking for resources, but Alix says it is a good idea to uncheck everything before you start, then use Preview to try out available resources and once you find something you like you can click on it to make it active. Clicking on the Add Content Button will take you to the Google Earth Gallery

The Google Earth Outreach Site is a great place to go to get some ideas

The Google Earth Community Form is a great place to get answers and read about what others are doing with Google Earth.

barnabu is a one stop best of Google Earth blog

Digital Mediamaking From the Dark Side: PhotoStory, MovieMaker, and Premiere Elements on Windows XP - Hall Davidson

Start with Stills – PhotoStory: Great little slideshow maker that is FREE from Microsoft. Hall Davidson showed us how to do a project in about five minutes start to finish. Here is how you do it:

1. Collect a folder with a variety picture, limit the number a student can use to less than the total available forcing them to make editing choices. The key to making this work is to prepackage the content.

2. Write a short script and use the build-in recorder to add it to the project

3. Add music using the built-in music composer.

4. Press the next button and the presentation is ready to present.

Want to get crazy? Add Video to PhotoStory

Want to impress your co-workers? Insert your PhotoStory video into PowerPoint

Need more? Jakesonline.org has tutorials and more

Add Video – Movie Maker: A clunky but FREE video editor included in Windows XP and Vista. It is not iMovie, but it can get the job done.

Need More Help? Open iTunes and search iTunesU for Tech-Ease

Add Students to Video – Adobe Premier Elements: A limited but less than $100 editing tool that allows more control over sound, titles, and transitions. The included DVD authoring has a lot of room for improvement, but Premier Elements supports Green Screen so you can easily place students “in” the video and have them interact with the content.

Finally a trend: Online Communication Tools. Turn-key web sites that start with an online grade books and add assorted features like email and teacher generated web pages.

SchoolLoop
WebGrader
Teleparent
Learning Station
Open Classroom
GradeSpeed

There is no “one size fits all” solution that is going to fit your District’s needs. However, the Geek’s District uses SchoolLoop and the parents are very happy.

The Extraordinary Use of Ordinary Things

The other day the School Geek was giving a test to his geeks-in-training when the School Geek noticed that one junior-geek seemed to have particular interest in the second to second location the School Geek. It was when the School Geek used a strategically placed mirror that he observed the junior geek use his mobile phone’s camera to text message test questions to another student who would then text message the answer back.

Today’s geeks-in-training have lots of ordinary things that can help them get extraordinary scores without all the trouble of actually learning anything! Better take notes. (Or better yet, just cut-and-paste!)

The Mobile Phone: Every geek-in-training needs a mobile phone just in case of tragedy, natural disaster, or posting pictures to their MySpace page. It’s the ordinary mobile phone that allows geeks-in-training to do extraordinary cheating. In days gone by, geek-in-training would actually have to use analog devices like pencils and pens to write answers on their arm or on tiny crib sheets. Today’s geeks-in-training have fragile self-esteem issues and being seen using an analog device in today’s digital age could subject them to untold emotional damage. A common mobile phone has large chucks of memory that can store ordinary phone numbers, but why should that memory do just ordinary things? A geek-in-training can do extraordinary things with that memory like storing formulas, test answers, and other data. Instead of sneaking in a scrap of paper with answers scribbled on it, your geeks-in-training can snap a picture of the question with their camera phone or simply text message the question to a friend. Our geeks-in-training so adept at text messaging that they can keep their phone in their pocket or under their desk, and stealthily send answers to a friend.

The iPod: Geeks-in-training are under a lot of stress, so why not let them listen to their ordinary iPod while taking a test to help them relax. The iPod can really help a Geeks-in-training to relax because once they have loaded an audio file with all the test answers, cliff notes, and detailed answers to any possible essay question onto their iPod they will have no need to worry. If your school has banned iPods and you actually follow the rule, your geeks-in-training has no need to worry, $27 gets them a SoundBug, which turns their desk into a speaker. Your geeks-in-training can put their head down whenever they need a break or another answer.

The Calculator: The TI-83 Calculator can do more than math. Add some memory and your geek-in-training can turn their calculator into a pocket notebook. (And the Texas Instruments is happy to point out that the TI-83 is “allowed for use on the PSAT, SAT I, SAT II Math IC and IIC, AP Chemistry exam, AP Physics exam, and AP Calculus exam.”) Geeks-in-training that use their TI-83 to cheat their way to higher test scores are really doing your school a favor because higher test scores equal more education dollars, so everyone wins.

The Internet: Of course, we can’t forget the greatest plagiarism device of all time. A geek-in-training has so many important things in their schedule like Halo, MySpace, and Flicker that it is hard to carve out time to actually study or write a research paper. Getting help has never been easier, it is as simple as cut-and-paste and spelling your name correctly. If cutting-and-pasting is too time consuming, your geeks-in-training can browse a wealth of sites like Cheathouse, Schoolsucks where they can enter a search term to find a short or long paper on any subject complete with bibliography.

Most School Geeks know that being vigilant during a test is probably the best way to stop cheating. Plagiarism is tougher to catch, Turnitin, CopyCatch and the Essay Verification Engine allow you to send in a student’s paper and find out in seconds how much, if anything, has been lifted from other sources. However, if your District had to burn the money tree to heat the school this winter Google is still free.

Tips for Better Searching

This School Geek was using Google to look for screen to enclose part of the School Geek’s home patio, and like U2, this School Geek still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. The reason Google failed in its search is a patented Google technology called “PageRank”. Think of PageRank like voting for homecoming queen. Each web page gets a vote to determine the popularity of a particular page by linking to it. The page with the most votes should wins, but to prevent sites from faking votes and stuffing the ballot box, PageRank gives more weight to votes by popular pages thus balancing out the votes. If what we are looking for is winning the popularity vote, it shows up at the top of the list. However, if your candidate is losing the popularity vote it gets buried under pages of links. When the page you are looking for doesn’t win the popularity contest try one these alternatives:

Yahoo: If you can see thought the clutter it is still the the best way to search for information by topic.

Meta Crawler: Use it if you need to search a group of search engines and compare the best results.

Topix: Use it if you need to search news focused on one particular subject or locality

Vivisimo: Use it if you want to see your search results displayed in clusters instead of lists.


• Methods To Encourage Google To Limit The Names On The Ballot:

Advance Search: Click on the Advance Search link next to the search box and limit your search to a phrase, file format, or site (domain).

“+” Search: Google ignores common words and characters to speed up search the results. If a common word like and, the, or roman numerals are important to your search include them by using the “+” sigh. Google requires that you leave a space before the “+” sign. You would use The +Ten Commandments if you wanted to make sure Google included the word The in your search.

OR Search: Google will search for either keywords

“Quote Search”: Google will only search for keywords as they occur inside the quotation marks.

“*” Search: Google will replace the wild card “*” with various word possibilities. If you enter red * blue and Google locate results such as: red white blue, red vs. blue, and RGB color.

Site Search: Entering your search term, followed by the word “site”, a colon, and finally the web site and Google will search only within that specific website. If you enter admissions site:www.csulb.edu/ Google will search only the California State University Long Beach site for admissions information


• Cool Google Tricks to impress your friends

define:word
Will search for the definition of a given word.

google.com/language_tools
Will translates words or web pages into other languages

Google Calculator
Enter a basic math problem in the search box and hit Enter, and the Google Calculator will return the results. See the Google Calculator page for a complete list of operators:

Google Phonebook
Enter a publicly listed phone number and Google will return the name and address of the owner. To find listings for a US residence, type any of the following combinations into the Google search box:

* first name (or first initial), last name, city (state is optional)
* first name (or first initial), last name, state
* first name (or first initial), last name, area code
* first name (or first initial), last name, zip code
* phone number, including area code
* last name, city, state
* last name, zip code

To have your residential phone and address information removed from the Google PhoneBook go to the Google Phonebook Name Removal Page.

Google SMS
Text message your search to 466453 and Google will send you a text message with the results.

Google 411
Can’t figure out the 3 letter dial pad text message system. 1 800 466-4411 (GOOG-411) Google 411 can understand your voice and search free of charge for business by name or category. Can’t write it down? Google will connect you directly free of charge or, simply say “text message” and Google 411 will send you a text message with the search results

Want to find more cool Goggle stuff? Go to the Google Products page to see a showcase of cool tools and products.

Final Exam Time

It is final exam time for this school geek, so sharpen your number two pencil, take everything off your desk, and keep your eyes on your own paper.

1. What is the best testing software option for a technology using teacher? (A) Free, (B) Kind of Free, (C) Not too expensive, (D) Shake the Money Tree.

(A) Free: Discovery School offers a free solution that can be customized to fit many testing situations. Quiz Center offers a step-by-step process to generate a quiz file and answer key, which are then stored in your Custom Classroom for easy web access. After a student completes a quiz, Quiz Center checks the answers against your answer key, determines which answers are correct, and tallies the total score. Within seconds it produces a page that shows the results or, if you prefer, e-mails the results to you.

(B) Kind of Free: Most textbook adoptions now offer free testing software and include a bank of questions aligned to the textbook. So, if your school has recently adopted a new textbook there is probably some free testing software stuffed in a closet or filing cabinet near you. Now the fine print, the publisher may give you the software, but the test is only kind of free because you have to find a place to host the test. The publishers copied an answer from the Cell Phone Company play-book, they give you the software, but you have to pay to have your tests hosted on the publisher’s web server. However, if you have access to space on a District, County or your own web server then your testing is free. If your text book adoption doesn’t offer free testing software you can purchase Single Instructor License of ExamView from their website.

(C) Not too expensive: QuizStar uses a one page quiz creator to design multiple choice, true/false, and short answer. Once a student completes a quiz they are graded automatically, and the results are stored on the QuizStar server. Later you can analyze the results by class, student, or question. Reports can then be saved, printed or downloaded in an Excel file.

(D) Shake the Money Tree: SAM XP is a web-based testing solution that tests students’ proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint. What sets SAM XP apart is the way students answer questions by performing real-world tasks in a simulated environment. You can use ready-made tests, build your own from a bank of tasks, or custom-build your own from scratch. SAM XP can generate reports identifying strengths and weaknesses of an individual, a class, or a question from an exam.

Lessons from a VCR

A friend of mine wanted to tape a show and in the rush accidentally grabbed their wedding video and taped over it. They are still married, but this tragedy illustrates a New Year’s resolution that every true geek should commitment to. Make this the year to finally schedule a regular Back Up of your important data and store the back-up outside your home.

A few years ago there was a fire in my school building. My first reaction was that it was a false alarm, but when a nearby teacher pointed out the flames coming out of the roof vents, I knew I had a choice, evacuate my students, or grab the server, it was a dilemma no Geek ever wants to face. It was a nanosecond of moral dilemma before I scarified the server in the hope that a future President of the United States, or school principal was one of my students and would remember that day when the server so bravely gave its silicon to the better good. At that moment leaving the server was a no-brainer, because all the data was backed up. One problem, the back-ups were in the same room as the server.

Most Geeks I know never back-up, and those that do follow my friend’s strategy and keep the back-ups right there in the same room as the computer. Here are a few lessons from the VCR:

1. Copying all your essential documents to a USB drive is a good strategy especially if you take the USB drive with you, then your important files are “co-located”. The hardest part of this strategy is keeping track of which files are the most current. There are some simple tools that can help you stay organized. I like Windows Sync Toy, especially since it is free, or give Second Copy a try for 30 days. However, USB drive probably won’t hold all the files you need to back-up.

2. A DVD or CD can probably hold all the files you need to back up, but at what price? Consumer CD’s and DVD are burned using a chemical reaction which means they will eventually decay and die. Plus, think about how big your hard drive is, all the song files, photos, and maybe ever your wedding video. Burning those files will take a sizable about of media and way more time than you have to spare.

3. External Hard Drives can hold all your files or even a picture of your entire hard disk. The drives are inexpensive, and there are some free or inexpensive tools that can schedule and execute your back-up. If you buy two external hard drives you can even rotate them between home and a safe place. An external drive is a great back-up strategy as long as you don’t mind losing some data between a fire or some other disaster and the last rotation. However, if your data is too valuable to lose, you need something called off-site backup. I like Acronis, it can make bit for bit copies of your entire Hard Drive, or incremental copies of a particular folder. I especially like the feature that will create a hidden back-up on your hard drive that can be restored anytime by simple pressing F11. One of the first and still one of the best is Norton Ghost.

4. Off-Site Backup is a growing business. Start-up companies are springing up faster than a student at the end of class. These companies offer a service that for a relatively small price will back up your information and store it on their server safe from harm. The two front-runners at this time are Carbonite and IDrive. Carbonite has a Mac and PC version for the cross-platform home. IDrive basic gives you 2GB of storage free with the option to upgrade if your needs grow.

Friends Don’t Let Friends Buy InkJets

Have you ever been in a tech meeting and the subject of printers has come up? There is always one DSL Teacher (Digital as a Second Language) who will bring up the fiscal advantages of InkJet printers. They will argue how inexpensive they are, how much color livens up a document, and since they are so cheap every teacher should have one on their desktop.

This School Geek lacks an add-on DSL certificate to educate a Teacher who is not a native Digital speaker in the dangers of addiction to the InkJet printers. Tens of thousands of teachers struggle with their addiction to InkJets, but intervention by laser printers have helped many recover from their addition and go on to print thousands of pages at a quarter of the price per page. The InkJet seduction starts out innocently enough, just a color chart, then a color picture, soon a teacher find themselves recycling cans and bottles to afford another ink cartage.

The InkJet printer is like an entry-level drug, once a dealer gets you hooked it is hard to break the cycle of paying thirty dollars or more for a few drops of ink. Summer at cockeyed.com compiled a list of the cost per gallon of some common items, and after looking at her list I am sure thankful my car doesn’t run on InkJet Cartridges.

Gas this week at Costco $3.05
Evian Bottled Water $6.40
Hershey’s chocolate syrup $13.23
Jamba Juice $21.82
Fresh Brewed Starbucks Coffee $32.00
Penicillin $301.49
Liquid Paper $198.00
Blood from Red Cross $1,514.79
InkJet Cartridge $2,701.52

So the next time you are in a Tech meeting remember, Just Say No to InkJets!