Mac Alert

Update from May 31: Apple has released a security update to tackle this problem. See this article -- http://www.pcworld.com/article/229100/apple_releases_mac_defender_security_updateeverybody_relax.html#tk.nl_dnx_h_crawl)

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OK -- I'm struggling to learn how to use my new MacBook Pro effectively, so today I paid attention to an article on a Mac Virus and am wondering if I should be purchasing anti-virus software for my new machine. I thought these machines had immunity!!!!

In the meantime, I'm sure many of you are using Mac's so these links are worth a read: Mac Malware is Back (in PCWorld) and How to avoid or remove Mac Defender malware (from Apple Support).

Also be sure, you go into the preference and UNCHECK the "Open 'safe' files after downloading" option.

• Right click on Safari.
• Select Preferences >> General (light switch icon).
• Uncheck the box at the very bottom of the page. This may help prevent the process from starting automatically.

Also, if a normal attempt to close Safari doesn't work, use 'Force Quit' (on the Apple menu, far left.)

What looks like a super writing tool -- Scrivener

This is a big hello to all you new Wilkes students. I've found a tool I think would have made my life a lot easier when I was churning out papers, responses, and blog entries for my courses. Keeping track of ideas and sources was a complicated affair especially when writing a long paper or doing one of those courses that required multiple written pieces. Scrivener (in Mac and Windows versions) is designed to "help you get to the end of that awkward first draft. … Outline and structure your ideas, take notes, view research alongside your writing and compose the constituent pieces of your text in isolation or in context" -- it all seems to be there.

[Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DthBJhBrYs]

What I love about this tool is that the 30 day free trial means 30 days of actual usage. If you only use it once a month, you get 30 months free. After that the price is very reasonable. There is a good collection of tutorials, a wiki with the FAQ's, a support form, and you can register copies of the software on more than one machine. You can also publish your work so that it can be read on an iPad or other e-book readers and sync it with apps such as Simple Note that use DropBox. I'm wondering what it will look like on an IWB.

I'll be writing next week to see if you can move files back and forth between Mac to Windows as sometimes I work on one, and sometimes on the other. I've just bought a fancy new Mac, but have found that with the high-res screen, I can' change the sizes of the fonts in the toolbars unless I sacrifice resolution and I'm struggling to see the tiny print. Fortunately I have a second monitor (the best hardware investment I ever made) which works best at a different resolution which is better for my aging eyes. I've also installed something called DejaMenu which allows me to open a menu that pertains to the second screen on the second screen. This is a natural act on a PC -- Mac doesn't seem to lead the way in everything.

Onwards towards the end of the school year ...

Software finds: fill out PDF forms and make a screen recording

You have a pdf form that needs to be filled out, but you've been keyboarding so long that you're handwriting skills have all but vanished. You don't want to fork out for the full Adobe package. Where do you turn? To PFDescape!!!




This is a little clunky (e.g. can't cut and paste to rearrange ideas in a paragraph or copy from a word document into the online file & I couldn't figure out how to do a circle or rectangle that wasn't filled in red), but compared to the alternative (my handscratch), it's a great way to fill in one of those read-only pdf's that can be such a pain. Just open an account (so you can save and get back to the document), upload, enter your information, then download and save as a pdf again. I tried it this morning and it worked perfectly.

I can see using this with students when they have job application forms to do. They can scan their forms, save them as pdf's (instead of jpegs), add their information in beautiful typed format and download to add their signatures and return them to the employers. They could also do fill in the blanks kinds of quizes or tests or annotate images like maps or mindmaps that have been saved in pdf format.

For those of you who can't easily get online, there's a very inexpensive ($20) downloadable alternative called PDFill. They also offer some free tools that are worth looking at if you're using an old version of Word and can't save to a PDF or want to merge/split files, reorder pages and so forth.

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For those of you who don't have a good screen recording tool, today's Giveaway of the Day -- Bandicam -- seems to be receiving good reviews from the gamers. I'm going to try making machinima with it in Second Life. Remember, when you download from GOTD, you must open the ReadMe file right away and follow the registration instructions exactly. If you don't do that inside their 24 hour period, you'll lose the lifetime registration and the program will revert to a trial version.

5 addtional ways to view Blogger content

If you're tired of the standard view of the wonderful Wilkes blog and want to enjoy a more dynamic viewing experience, use this URL (http://wilkesinstructionalmedia.blogspot.com/view/sidebar#!/) and then use the drop down menu in the upper right corner to try all 5 options. Those posts which had no images show up as titles or summaries.

I think this could be a cool way to display class blogger content to to parents. If you were doing Scribeposts for math, one of the tasks could be to ensure there was a visual which represented the main idea uploaded directly to Blogger to help users recall the main idea behind. Younger students could scan artwork and use that to identify their posts. Before I stop, I'd better add an image to this post.



It's interesting to see the trend in use of visuals over the time that I've been writing this blog. I think I depend a lot more on videos now than I did when I first began.

Here are the links to the instructions to be sure your classes can access these 'dynamic views': All About and how-to.

BTW: I know that as EDIM students you're all writing and responding like mad. I'd love this to morph into a space to share ideas across class sections and across courses! If you or someone in one of your courses has written a blog post you'd be willing to share here, please let me know how to access the content, and I'll put it up. Just post a response here or in the Facebook feed. Thanks for the help.

Gmail Motion & Google docs Motion

Those people at Google have done it again --

Link to video: Introducing Gmail Motion


AND

(to add action to real time collaboration and excitement to your presentations)

Globalization, Advocacy, and Washing Machines

I think that some EDIM students may feel that the Globalization & Advocacy course is the least "practical" in terms of creating products that can be used immediately in class. This video may give you another perspective:

For me G&A course was about giving us a new perspective on our own place in the world and how to create learning spaces which at the same time both welcome people and ideas from all over the world and also prepare local children for lives that will be controlled to some extent by global forces. It's about seeing that every issue has at least two sides and that what we may see as good practices in the short run may turn out to be just plain short-sited.

Technology is often considered 'the great leveler'. We think it has launched the world into a post-industrial era. Rosling's point is that the great majority of Earth's population is still living in PRE-industrial times. As that divide widens and deepens, there will be more and more people who want 'what we have' and who we'll see as threatening as a result. Perhaps instead of investing in expanded national security and other 'defensive' measures, we should be put washing machines where more women can get their hands on them.

Connecting children to the internet can help them learn and build their dreams, but computers don't replace the labour intensive tasks of day to day life. Dreams denied can be a powerful force for the kind of change which may not be friendly to our way of life.

[This is just one Canadian's point of view.]

Incredibox -- online or screensaver

Incredibox is the online incarnation of an artist who goes by the name of "The Incredible Polo."

Chris Pirillo's screen recording

Play online or download the screensaver. Slide icons from beneath the grey box onto the characters' shirts to add sounds to the performance. Click on a character to get rid of the sound and try another combination. After you have a few 'voices' going, clicking 'Shuffle Mode" will fill in the group automatically. When you insert "an instrument," a yellow bonus icon appears. Clicking that brings up an 'angelic' chorus. I found that opening the Incredibox in several windows at the same time allows you to have more than one version of the same voice going. If you screen-recorded different combinations, you could experiment with bringing various voices or groups in at selected intervals as a way of composing music.

This seems to offer some creative educational opportunities for collaborative team building, but it may just be (to paraphrase the guys on CarTalk) a great way to waste a few perfectly good minutes.