The final project I had my Math For Elementary Teachers do for the course was to create an interactive Hyperstudio Project.
The projects are too large to be viewed well inside my blog, so I have created a website to house them. The website is best viewed using Safari if possible, if not, just ignore the browser warning, as I have used a beta version of Hyperstudio to export them into HTML5 .
I have many of my student’s projects posted on a THIS WEBSITE. Enjoy!
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!
While reading through posts on Google+, Facebook and Twitter by my PLN, I came across this valuable new FREE app for the iPad! I use TechSmith products (Camtasia, Snagit and Jing) all the time on my laptops, but always wanted to have the same functionality for my iPad. Not only did TechSmith follow through, but they made it FREE!
Opening up the ScreenChomp app, you see a blank whiteboard.
They have given us 12 colors to choose from (but I would like to see a slider for SIZE of the pen at some point in the near future!), an eraser and a record button – yes ScreenChomp will record a video of you writing and speaking at the same time!
When you save your file you have the option of saving it to the “cloud” by hitting the ScreenChomp.com button or sharing it on Facebook.
After saving your screencast, you have three options for sharing: You can copy the link, email it or Tweet it! Here is a link to the actual video I just made. I need to find a way to embed the video without having to go through another application. Suggestions?
I think this will be a GREAT way to answer student questions from my iPad! I just have to create a quick screencast on my iPad and then send it to them. Can’t wait to try it out!
I have been sitting here staring at my computer for the past week since I got back from an amazing time with a room full of extremely innovative teachers in San Francisco as part of the Livescribe Educational Advisory Board.
I keep staring at it not being able to decide where to start! I have so many new ideas that I want to implement for the Fall, and now I have even more resourceful people to guide me when I get stuck!
Some of the big ones on my list I have already started working with, but I want to dig deeper and create projects for my students to interact with, and also projects for them to create:
Hyperstudio5 (Roger Wagner will be at ISTE this summer, so that will be fun!)
GeoGebra
Camtasia
Livescribe (new cool stuff coming next week!!)
The newest application I want to learn:
I have been playing with WolframAlpha for the past year, but I recently purchased Mathematica and I am excited to see what I can create with it! My goal is to create visual and interactive materials for Algebra and Geometry. I will post as soon as I start building! I am still watching the video tutorials for now. I want to look further into the following links as well:
Wolfram Research STEM Initiative
Lastly, I NEED to learn Photoshop. My oldest son currently creates all of my artwork for my projects, but in a few years he will be off to college and won’t be around to help me!
Hopefully between spending time with my family and attending ISTE and HI-TEC this summer, I will be able to dig deeper and create some projects for next Fall using some of these great interactive applications!
Reaching Different Learning Styles Through Technology
As you can probably tell, I have 2 passions that drive my teaching….technology and helping students.
My latest journey has been traveling down a path to find ways to help reach the different learning styles of my students. In turn this will help make my math courses more accessible to students who require either text, speech or visual aids because of physical or learning disabilities.
I started with the Livescribe smartpen to turn student notes into animated text with sound. Then I tried to transcribe the text from the pencast using Dragon Naturally Speaking ,which works GREAT if I am speaking into my computer, but the student pencasts don’t pick up my speaking as well because I am walking around the room, so I am not near the pen most of the time.
Since Dragon cannot transcribe the text WHILE I am teaching from the Mobi software, then I needed to find a way to record my speaking during class and then download it into my computer so Dragon can create the transcript. I spent some time today looking for options that would not require me purchasing a hand-held recorder.
I have a Plantronics Discovery 975 bluetooth headset that pairs with both my computer and also with my Droid X cell phone. I use it with my computer and Dragon to ‘speak text’ into many programs on my computer, including Word and email (I still need to try it with MathType!).
I thought I found the perfect mobile solution…to be able to walk around the room and teach while wearing the bluetooth headset, but have the audio transcribe directly onto my phone! I purchased the Droid version of Dragon called flexT9 …great idea and it works perfectly…except flexT9 does NOT support bluetooth headsets yet. I can still use it for transcribing speech to text on my phone, but I have to be close to the phone mic. It is an amazing app for $4.99!
I started looking for a voice recording app for my Droid that would support bluetooth.
I found Voice2Do (FREE). It is the ONLY voice recorder I found that supports bluetooth. I recorded a short message from my bluetooth headset to my Droid X (which was across the room) and then emailed it to my computer (to email the .wav file you must purchase the professional version). Finally, I had Dragon transcribe the audio file and it worked GREAT!
I plan on playing with it for a couple more days and then trying it out in my classes. My goal is to have the Livescribe pencast student notes and the Workspace board notes for visual learners, but then take the audio for the lesson and create a written transcript, which can also be read out loud by most computers, for students whose learning styles require reading or hearing the information.
I will post a link when I get it all put together.
I was so excited to see a new window show up when I upgraded to Windows 7…it is called the Math Input Panel. With a name like that I had to be excited before even trying it out!
I immediately started playing with it and was surprised and VERY happy to see how easy it was to handwrite math and have it insert the typed version into my Word document! It does not always pick the correct letter or number, but you can easily edit an individual symbol.
I have tried writing some algebra, and it does a great job with that as well!
I am excited to see more tools for my students to be able to use to ‘write” math on their computers as well. Although Word comes with Equation Editor, my students do not know how to use it. Now, students can easily handwrite their math problems and have them typed up!
For students with disabilities – or anyone who wants to have the math read out loud to them, Word can then take the file that has the math equations embedded and be saved as a MathXL document. MathPlayer should then be able to read the math out loud….I will try that next and see how it works out!
Dragon Naturally Speaking Web Link
I have started on a quest to make math more accessible! I recently purchased Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Premium ver 11.0. It just came today and I have been playing with it to train it to trancribe my voice. So far it has done a great job in Word, but then I decided to have it transcribe the audio file from the Livescribe pencast below.
When the pencast is still on your desktop, you can export the audio separately. I then imported the audio file directly into Dragon and the original transcipt is shown below (I just cropped a small part of the transcript for you to see). I still have a lot of “training” on Dragon to do, but it didn’t do a bad job for the first try! It certainly has potential to help create a transcript for my pencasts for students who need one.
(click on the image to see a larger version of the text)
Livescribe also has transcription software you can purchase called “MyScript”. Here is a link to the software. It has some difficulty transcribing the math, but here is the first pass it made:
(click on the image to see a larger version of the text)
My next task it to to learn to use MathType,
together with Dragon, to create equations that can be read aloud for students. I will post when I make some progress there. 🙂
I have a student in one of my classes that loves learning with technology. He is always asking me what software and hardware I am using. The other day I turned the tables on him and became very interested in the applications he was using on his iPad to take notes in my Algebra class. He said he was using SmartNote. I have tried several note taking apps on my iPad, but I have not tried that one …yet!
I decided I would start a blog series comparing several of the note taking applications that I have tried on my iPad, along with trying out a few more that have been recommended by others.
In these articles I will focus on applications that allow students (and anyone) to take hand-written notes with a pen, such as the Pogo Sketch (that is what I use).
The first app I started using is called Sundry Notes . There is a free version available in the iTunes store, as well as a paid version that does not have any ads.
I was immediately impressed with the fact that Sundry notes has its own calculator built in, along with several menus of math symbols you can add to any note! In the screenshot below you can see I was able to start graphing, post a calculator, a table, and handwrite, all on the same page! The app will also allow you to post an audio note and embed photos as well!
The notes are fairly easy to organize and you have several “views” to choose from. Below you can see the “preview” mode, where you can see what is written on any note in any stack of notes.
You can also place notes in a stack, which would be the same as placing them in the same folder or notebook. In this view you can see the different stacks of notes you have created.
The main drawback that keeps me from using Sundry Notes all of the time is that the pages of notes are very small, so if you know you want to take lot of notes, you will be creating a lot of pages! After writing on the page, you can shrink down the writing, but it is a bit cumbersome if you are quickly taking notes for a class.
Next time I will review Penultimate, which is another app I found soon after getting my iPad.
To be continued…
Today in class I passed out the Mobis!
I have had my students sitting in groups since the first day of class, but today I thought I would add more interaction and have them contribute to the board notes. There were 8 groups, and I have 4 Mobis. After putting a problem on the board (computer screen, writing with the Mobi and using software called Interwrite Workspace), I would give 4 groups each a Mobi and have someone from the group post their group’s solution. At first no one wanted to try it, but after a short time, they were all wanting to have a chance to write with the Mobi!
Some of the students had more fun than others – drawing pictures and fooling around on the screen, but it was OK because they were ENGAGED!
The first four groups would hand off their Mobi to the other four groups and we would work another problem.
I have to admit, some students were able to write using the Mobi better than I can, and I have practiced longer! You have to look at the screen while writing on the Mobi – a little challenging at first. For their first day, they did a great job!
They have really embraced the technology I use in class, starting with having 2 students take notes with Livescribe pens to share with the class on the website.
In a week or two I will introduce the clickers!
Logo taken from the GeoGebra website – holiday version!
I have met several people in the past year (some only virtually) who have convinced me that learning GeoGebra would be a great addition to my tech tools for teaching mathematics. Since GeoGebra is FREE, it makes it an even better resource as a teacher and tech ed consultant, and also for student projects as well! Geometry is one of my favorite subjects to teach; in the past I used Geometer’s Sketchpad, but in the future I plan on using GeoGebra!
I believe WordPress is not allowing me to directly embed the <applet> Javascript code for my first GeoGebra applet, so I created a new set of webpages on my Tech4MathEd site where I will be posting all of the GeoGebra applets I create. I am just learning, so there is only 1 there now 🙂
To see my first interactive GeoGebra applet, which helps students understand graphing a line using the slope-intercept form of the line by interacting with the graph, go to Slope Intercept GeoGebra Applet.
I am really looking forward to using GeoGebra, not only to create interactive applets for my Algebra students, but also to help my Math For Elementary Teacher classes learn more about Geometry!
To download and start playing with GeoGebra, go to: download GeoGebra
Image of my interactive applet:
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