Archive for Pulse smartpen

Creating a Text Embedded Interactive Worksheet with a Livescribe Smartpen

September 20, 2011 education, Helping students, Interactive Projects, Livescribe, Livescribe, Math Projects, Mathcast, Pulse smartpen, Teaching, Teaching Online, Technology, writing 19 comments

EMBEDDING TEXT BEHIND A LIVESCRIBE PENCAST PDF

Recently I learned how to embed text behind a Livescribe pencast and it has changed everything!

I created a short interactive worksheet to show what can be created with this process.   The following is a screenshot of the text embedded pencast because I cannot embed a PDF file (yet) into a website.   A link to the actual pencast PDF is below the screenshot.

Pencast PDF with text in the background
(you must have Adobe Reader 10.0 or higher to view this interactive PDF)

If that does not work, I put a link on my website for you to click on OUTSIDE of WordPress
(I have some issues with opening PDFs inside WordPress – if anyone can help me to embed
a PDF in WordPress or a website I would really appreciate it!)

As listed in the pencast, the steps to embed the text in the pencast PDF are as follows:

1.  Print off the text file onto Livescribe dot paper (I used college-ruled dot paper in my printer)

2.  Record a pencast on top of dot paper that has the text printed on it (the text shows you where to write!)

(sorry about the poor photo quality)

3.  Connect your smartpen and upload your pencast as a PDF (use the “Computer” connector)

As you can see in this screen shot, the pencast looks pretty strange without the text behind it!

4.  Save the original text document as a .jpg (image file) – to do this you must first save it as a PDF and then you can use Adobe Acrobat Pro or the free online utility Zamzar (www.zamzar.com) to save your PDF as a .jpg file

5.  Open the pencast PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro or PDF Pro (http://epapyrus.com/en/)  so that you can add a watermark to the PDF file

6.  Add your .jpg text file as a watermark to your pencast PDF and re-save the PDF

7.  The new pencast PDF can be viewed by anyone with Adobe Reader 10.0 or higher

 

Please add comments on this blog if you know of other free ways to save a text document as an image file and also if you know of other (especially FREE) programs that allow the user to edit a PDF.

Please send me the projects you make – I would love to see them!

 

 

Off To A Great Semester With Technology!

January 22, 2011 Algebra, education, eInstruction Interwrite Workspace, Helping students, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mathcast, Mobi, Pulse smartpen, SnagIt, Student participation, Teaching, Teaching Online, TechFriends(Geeks) One comment

A new semester has begun and I have added a few new ways to help my students succeed.

  1. I borrowed my colleague’s idea to have 2 students take notes during every class using a Livescribe smartpen.  I then upload the notes to their class website, and post a link  in the calendar on the day the notes were taken.

I created a webpage to house the daily notes for each chapter, starting with our first chapter:  Chapter 9

2.  I use a Mobi (from eInstruction) to present the lesson from anywhere in the room.   An especially nice feature of the Mobi software, called Workspace, is that I can save the board notes and export them to a PDF file.  I place on link in the calendar to the board lesson on the day the lesson was given.

*to see the actual board notes, you must go to the calendar and click on “board notes”, since they are an attached PDF file, I cannot link to it here.

3.  The students use an online program to do their homework, which sends me a screen shot when they need help on a particular problem.  Instead of trying to type back a response to them, I fully explain their solution using a Livescribe smartpen.  I then send them the link to the pencast, and I also created a webpage to house all solutions to student homework questions.

*here is the link to the page that contains all the homework solutions

Here is one of the solutions I wrote to my students just today:

SimplyNegativeExponentsEx2
brought to you by Livescribe
…
This is just the first week of class, and the students have shown a positive reaction to these extra support features I have included on my website for them.   I look forward to seeing how the semester progresses!
…
*To see more of my college website go to:  Glascoe College Website .  I built the website using Dreamweaver.
…
*All screenshots were taken using TechSmith Snagit
…

 

New Opportunities for Growth

December 9, 2010 AMATYC, Bio, Helping students, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mobi, Pulse smartpen, Teaching, Teaching Online, Technology, Training 3 comments

I have not blogged much about my own teaching with technology in the past couple months.  Instead, I have tried to write about others who I admire and what they are doing to help move mathematics education into the 21st century……This is because I have been on medical leave for a broken foot.  I was successful for a short while teaching with the Mobi from a stationary spot in each classroom, but I was still having to walk to three different buildings and my foot was not healing.   My doctor advised me to go on medical leave and let it heal.   I have missed my students terribly, and am disappointed not to be able to try the new online projects I had planned for the semester.  It was hard not being able to do any training this past semester as well.    I have been given a doctor’s release to go back to teaching again in the spring, and I am excited to dig my heels back into teaching and learning with technology!

I do have other exciting news to share as well (besides getting to start teaching again in the spring):  AMATYC Project ACCCESS invited me to serve as a Consulting Colleague (mentor) for the 2011-12 Project ACCCESS Fellows!   They even sent me the contact information for the Fellow I will be directly advising on her project so I can get started today!  It will be amazing to be in a cohort of established teachers who will be mentoring, along with Fellows who are new teachers wanting to learn more about the scholarship of teaching at a 2 year college.   The Fellow I am mentoring is working on a project to include technology, like the Livescribe smartpen, into her Hybrid college courses to help her students.   I feel so honored to be chosen to assist in guiding her progress, and help her to evaluate her project.

To learn more about the AMATYC ACCCESS program, go to the link: AMATYC  Project ACCCESS .
to learn more about the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges, go to:  AMATYC

I can’t wait to get started and to share the experiences I have  in working as a Consulting Colleague in this amazing program!

 

Getting Published!

November 4, 2010 Bio, CPS Clickers, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mobi, published articles, Pulse smartpen, Teaching Online, Technology Comments Off on Getting Published!

I wrote an article for Community College Week magazine about how I use technology to enhance teaching and learning both inside and outside of my classes.   I was excited to find out last week that they accepted my article and it was published recently!

To find the article online, you need to click on the Community College Week website, and then click on the green “Technology Update” image to download the PDF.   The article I wrote starts on page 13.

Community College Week’s website


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Students Helping Students!

October 17, 2010 Helping students, Livescribe, Livescribe, Pulse smartpen One comment

I recently wrote an article for Livescribe’s Education blog about a how a colleague of mine in the English department uses her Livescribe Pulse and Echo smartpens for her Fundamentals of Writing  and Women in Films classes.

Read the article Here

I can’t wait to try out having my students take notes when I get back to teaching!

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Mobile Whiteboards, Smartpens and Bloom’s Taxonomy

October 3, 2010 Conferences, eInstruction Interwrite Workspace, Group Work, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mathcast, Mobi, Presentations, Pulse smartpen, Student participation, Technology, Training Comments Off on Mobile Whiteboards, Smartpens and Bloom’s Taxonomy

What do mobile whiteboards, smartpens and Bloom’s Taxonomy have in common?   A great all-day workshop teaching high school teachers, and their students who are in a teacher education program, how to use mobile whiteboards and smartpens through the use of a hands-on project that focused on Bloom’s Taxonomy!

We started the day learning about Hybrid versus Blended teaching models, and then I introduced the Mobi, a mobile interactive whiteboard made my eInstruction.

Next up was a discussion about Bloom’s taxonomy.

Then, to get them ready to do their first project, we played “Blooms Taxonomy According to  Pirates of the Caribbean”:

I introduced them to the Livescribe Pulse smartpen and another colleague showed them how to draw stick figures so they could create a cartoon based on the pop culture area of their choice for the Bloom’s Taxonomy level their group was in charge of.

They had a great time creating their first cartoon strip and adding sound with the Livescribe Pulse smartpen!   After lunch I gave them a lesson on using the Mobi, eInsruction’s mobile interactive whiteboard.      Each group got a Mobi to use to recreate their cartoon on the Workspace software installed on their computer.   This time they could add color and crop images for their characters and turn it into a movie.

At the end of the workshop, we shared everyone’s finished products on the different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy

We had a great time watching each other’s final projects! I had a lot of fun teaching with several of my colleagues for the ATLAST program, which stands for: Achieving Technological Literacy in Arizona Students and Teachers.

ATLAST is a project supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The performing unit is the National Center for Teacher Education (NCTE) in the Maricopa County Community College District. To learn more about the ATLAST project click here.


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Livescribe pencasts on my iPad!

September 23, 2010 iPad, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mathcast, Pulse smartpen, Technology 2 comments

Livescribe recently announced a fantastic new player for their pencasts!   Since none of the Apple portable devices are allowed to run Flash, we haven’t been able to use our iPads, iPods and iPhones to view any of the Livescribe pencasts.    Well, that is not the case any longer!

Here is a link to Livescribe’s article announcing their player and how to get the free player on iTunes.

I downloaded it on my iPad to try it out.  It has a great interface and allows you to download any of the Livescribe pencasts you have made with a Pulse or Echo smartpen, and you can also download any other Livescribe pencasts that are contained on their community site.    Here is a screenshot of the opening menu on my iPad:

Once a pencast is downloaded to your iPad, iPod or iPhone, then you can view it as an animated movie with sound.  This is a screenshot of one of my pencasts that I downloaded, and then played on my iPad.

* I just created a resource page where I will be starting to place my .pencast files if you want to download them and try them on YOUR iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone

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