The PowerPoint Penalty

If you think you'll ever go in the classroom.. take a look at this article, "Avoiding the PowerPoint Penalty: Guidelines for Meaningful Use in Pre-Service Education". (I know the author well). It reviews some of the problems with PowerPoint in a classroom and gives examples of how it can be used a little more constructively.

http://cahe.nmsu.edu/bchamberlin/publications/Powerpoint_penalty.pdf

Blogging Photos from Your Phone

If you have a mobile phone with a camera in it, try blogging from your phone. You can take a picture then send it to blogger from your phone and have it appear on your blog. I haven't tried it (my old phone doesn't have a camera). So if you do, let the class know about it!

Blogger Mobile

Making a link in your blog

If you want to post a link to a website in your blog, you can just type in the address and another user can copy and paste. BUT, you can also use HTML code to make it an active link, where a user can just click on it. Here's how:

The HTML code (the code used to 'write' web pages) for making a link has three elements: You have to

1. "Turn the code on" and give the url for the link. (<A HREF="http://URL Goes Here in quotes">)
   
2. Name the link: these are the words you want the user to click on to get to the link. This can be the URL, but it can also be a nickname. For example, I can point you the website for the class by encouraging you to click on the name of the class, http://cahe.nmsu.edu/appliedtechnology, or by saying I have a website up for the class. In the second example, I've defined the name of the link as "website up for the class".
   
3. "Turn the code off" (</A> )
   

All together, the code looks like this:
<A HREF="http://URL Goes Here in quotes">What they click on to go to the link Goes Here</A>

Another example...
This sentence:
I have a website up for the class.

is coded like this:
I have a <A HREF="http://cahe.nmsu.edu/appliedtechnology">website up for the class</A> .

Word of the Day for RSS Feeds

Now that you have a slick, easy way to check multiple RSS feeds at the same time, (You DO have a slick, easy way -- like an aggregator -- to check multiple feeds at the same time, right?) I thought you might enjoy the word of the day. Thanks to Merriam Webster, it is a great way to build your vocabulary. Today, it is "oftentimes". Weird, I would have thought that was a misspelling, not a word!

Check it out at:
http://www.merriamwebster.com/cgi-bin/mwwod.pl

Flagging Objectional Content

While looking for some blogs tonight on Blogsearch.google.com, I found some that *seemed* to be on Blogger (The address had .blogspot.com in it) but were loaded with links and porn photos. Basically, some "businessmen" (*using the term loosely*) have come to realize that there are custom URLs they can create in Blogger, and use it as a way to drive traffic to other sites. Doesn't seem right, does it? Well, you can let Blogger know about the use of their URL by simply going to that blog, and looking for the "Flag" button at the very top right (In the Blogger Toolbar). Click that, and it "flags the site", letting Blogger know about the problem, and doing your part to keep the system working nicely.

Photos in blogs

Matt and Ericka have both posted photos to their blogs... if this interests you, corner them and sweet talk them into showing you how. ;-)

Check blogs for comments

Remember to check your comments on your blogs. If you don't want to have to go look at each post and see if comments are posted, you can change your settings to email you when someone makes a comment.

To do this, log into Blogger, and click the "Settings" tab at the top. Then, select "Comments" in the menu just under the tabs. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and you'll find a text box. You can enter your email address in that box, and you'll receive an email any time someone makes a comment.

Connie Knows How

Classmate Connie has done a good job on her blog. If you take a look, you'll notice that -- in addition to posting blogs -- she's edited in some links along the side. This is a nice way to "archive" sites you like that you may want to refer to later.

Her blog is at http://techblog590.blogspot.com/. If you are really nice to her and offer to buy her a soda at the break in class, maybe she'll show you how to get those links into your blog as well.

Nice going, Connie!

Use GOOGLE Toolbar to Spell Check Online Typing

If you're not familiar with the GOOGLE Toolbar, you may want to take a look at it. It offers an excellent SPELL CHECK feature which checks your online typing. Use it to check your comments as you post to your blog, enter comments in other blogs, and to check your typing in any web form.

To download and install, go to: http://toolbar.google.com/
This version is only available for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, IE6.0+

There is good news for MAC OS X 10.2+ users and Windows XP/2000 SP3+; they've also released a version for Firefox!

To download and install the toolbar for Firefox, go to: http://toolbar.google.com/firefox/

List of News Aggregators

Several types of aggregators or readers can fetch and read your feeds. Web based aggregators, desktop aggregators, built in aggregators, and email aggregators offer various methods of gathering news headlines and blog updates.

Decide which type of reader is best for you by deciding if you'd like a web based aggregator you can access from any computer, or if you prefer a desktop reader which requires you to download, install, and access from the computer you've installed the program on.

Visit the following Wikipedia site for a listing of aggregators:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_news_aggregators