I found Flash Card Machine a few years ago and have been recommending that to students ever since. It’s not the most techie site in the world but it gets the job done. Now that my students have gadgets, some are using apps like iFlipr to create cards to use on their mobile devices.

While I love the idea of using flash cards on a mobile device, I don’t have an iPhone (yet, I am very much tempted to get one as teachers get a significant discount on AT&T plans), my Microsoft Zune’s screen is much too small for such a program (and I haven’t found one that would work on a Zune anyway), and I can’t find an app in the Windows Mobile Marketplace that would allow me to create my own flash cards.

I was looking online recently for another flash card program that I might like better than Flash Card Machine and stumbled across a new (to me) Flash cards program the other day called “Flashcards” by Microsoft Education Labs.

It caught my eye immediately because:

1. In general I tend to love Microsoft products (I’ll admit it, I do)
2. The interface is pretty
    
3. You can have any combination of text, image, and sound on the front and the back ( a lot of programs limit you to making such choices on one side only
4. There are three different study modes (most other online programs only have 1):
   1. Review mode – Where you look at the front and back side by side like this

      

   2. Study mode – which, as their Blog states it, is based on the “honor system” and you quiz yourself like this:

      

   3. Type It In mode – compares what you type in the box with the correct answer.

      

5. You can swap fronts and backs to have an altogether different study experience.
6. If you start practicing your cards on one computer, and continue on another, it will pick up where you left off.
7. You can print a report of your progress**(see note below)
8. Or you can view your progress by looking at the bottom of the screen where it says Keep trying or Good Memory. As you improve, the cards you know the best move to the right side of the screen where it says Good Memory

**

When I used this with my students I discovered two things:

1. Requires Silverlight which isn’t installed on all of the students’ machines. So I had to log them off and log on myself and install it before they could try it out
2. The print a report feature only seems to work immediately after you have finished a Study or Type It in Session. Students who didn’t print at that time didn’t have the report later. I wish there was a feature that would enable students to access reports after the study session.

I’m using the flash cards to prep for the GRE exam which is one of my goals for this summer.

When I first saw the condition the shipping box was in, I was very nervous. After waiting all this time for my new laptop to arrive, the last thing I wanted was to open it up and find out that it was scratched or even worse, busted.

This sticker, right next to the gash in the box made me laugh. So…evidently FedEx wasn’t too concerned with transporting my box despite the fact that it could supposed blow up if damaged. Way to be make safety a priority FedEx!

Fortunately, it was packed quite well. The styrofoam sides kept it safely away from the sides of the box so there weren’t any issues at all with it despite the messed up box.

I was rather impressed with the branding that HP has put together for their Envy line. I think it’s simple and modern.

Everything was packed quite neatly inside: the computer, an external CD drive, and the extended battery. Ends up that the memory card actually contained the manual – now that is creative!

Isn’t it pretty? I’m no where near finished discovering all of the different things I can do with it but first impressions are quite good. Windows 7 is gorgeous and everything is running so fast! It would appear that my days of running a batch process and going off to do something while it finishes are over.

Jasper and Jasmine loved the box. I didn’t have the heart to tell Jasper he was simply too fat to fit.

I can’t wait to share it with my students when we get back to school!

Duarte’s Five Rules for Creating World Changing Presentations from Shawn Gardner on Vimeo.

Over the last several years I have done a variety of activities – too many to list here. Most importantly I have learned what works and what doesn’t work.

What Doesn’t Work

• Worksheets/packets/anything with a lot of paper and writing.
  • These are boring. Boring for the students, boring for me as the teacher to read, just overall boring. If I’m bored as their instructor, doesn’t it make sense that they would be bored too?
  • Stay away from worksheets if at all possible.
• Group assignments without any accountability/assessment.
  • If students don’t think they need to have anything to show for the time they spent on the activity, they most likely won’t have anything to show.

What Works

• Interactive activities.
• A mixture of activities that include:
  • Reading
  • Interaction
  • Frequent Assessment

After spending some time thinking about the amount of time I have the students for each day (about 80 minutes), how many days I have (3), and what I wanted to accomplish, I decided that I would use Microsoft’s Digital Literacy Curriculum (Version 2) for the students’ 3-day visits.

Because my classroom has several computers, I didn’t have to worry about students needing to share and whether or not that would decrease how much the students could accomplish during their visits. I created a new Blackboard course for the students and enrolled them prior to their visit. I wanted to make the course as easy as possible to navigate for them because I wasn’t sure about the comfort level they would have with using Blackboard, or even with using computers in general. I created three content areas (sections) – Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 – and added links that would open into a new window to the Digital Literacy content.

I decided to post two modules per day – which after running through it today I’ve realized this may be a little fast. However, the first day does always go a little slower until the students really understand what is going on, where to click, etc… Here’s what we are covering each day:

• Day 1
  • Computer Basics: Computing is an important part of everyday life in the twenty-first century. From music and photos to banking and communicating, computers have changed the way we work and live. This course introduces you to the fundamentals of computing, explains the components of a computer, explores operating system basics, and shows you how to use a mouse and a keyboard.
  • The Internet and the World Wide Web: The Internet can connect you to people, information, and resources around the world. This course shows you how to connect to the Internet, browse Web pages, navigate Web sites, use search engines, and exchange e-mail with others.
• Day 2
  • Productivity Programs: There are hundreds of software applications available today. This course explores the most common productivity software applications used in business, in education, and at home. The course teaches you how to select the right software for your project. You will learn the fundamentals of word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, and databases.
  • Computer Security and Privacy: It’s easy to use a computer safely and responsibly if you know how. This course will help you gain confidence in computing by explaining the risks and threats to computer security and privacy so that you can understand and prevent them.
• Day 3
  • Digital Lifestyles: From cell phones to MP3 players to digital cameras, computers are changing our everyday lives. This course introduces you to new digital technologies, including digital audio, digital video, and digital photography. It explores how these and other computing technologies are creating new career opportunities and shaping the world we live in.
  • Digital Literacy Certificate Test: The Digital Literacy Certificate Test consists of 30 questions that cover key points from all five of the Digital Literacy courses. When you complete the test, you will get a Learning Plan with links to the course lessons you may need to review to master all of the topics. If you get a passing score, you will be invited to personalize and print a Digital Literacy Certificate.

I like a couple of things about this curriculum.

1. It meets my needs by providing a mix of reading, interactive activities and frequent assessment options for the students.
2. The interactive activities are actually fun. One reminded me of Tetris because you had to move certain key phrases or terms into the appropriate box as they scrolled down the screen rather quickly (categorizing) – this was confusing for me until I figured  how this works, haha. The students figured this out much faster than me.
3. There is a final assessment that if the students pass they will receive a Digital Literacy Certificate.

The best part for me is the Digital Literacy Certificate. I will keep my copy of the students’ certificates in a file so if a freshmen decides to apply to my program later in the year I will know that they are already digital literate in the areas assessed by this Microsoft curriculum – this is providing me with a lot more data than I usually would have regarding students’ capabilities with computer-related activities.

The second best part? Perhaps the most important? The students liked it. They were engaged the entire time, helping each other, and laughing. That’s what I like to see!

From the funky design of the web page,

to the opening video with Kevin Connolly (‘E’ from Entourage), this looks like a site that will capture my students’ attention instantly. The opening video has several good points for students (or anyone for that matter) about how to present a good resume.

The site has information about the following topics:

• Build a better resume
• How to approach your job search
• Prepping for an interview
• Be a great student leader
• Be a masterful public speaker

I’m excited to share this site with my seniors tomorrow. I have a few who are still looking for co-op jobs and I already planned on having them spend some time updating their resumes so this will fit right in!

they posted about how you will be able to directly trim (i.e. shorten the length) of videos directly in PowerPoint 2010.

This is an AWESOME new feature because as someone who frequently embeds videos in PowerPoint, I have always had to use 3rd party applications like Adobe Premiere or Windows Movie Maker, to trim the video clips before I put it in my presentation. I can’t wait to try this out!