As a professor, or even a Teaching Assistant, you probably had to set up meeting schedules at some point. You might have used Excel, for example, to cross out times that your students can not attend an extra session, and the "uncrossed" entries would be options for your meeting time.

You might have even wanted to schedule advising appointments before the end of the semester to help them decide their courses, but with their emails everything was all over the place!

Well Doodle.com is a free online answer to these scheduling issues, that keeps track of your scheduling online, and allows students/participants in meeting, etc, to choose their best available meeting times from among different choices that you set, in order to help you find a time [or even a place!] that is suitable for all!


To start off with your schedule, please visit Doodle.com.

Animated texts are often used in web pages as well as PowerPoint presentations. If you would like to make interesting titles or buttons, this blog post will teach you how. Animated texts serve the purpose to diversify a visual material and make it more appealing to the reader.

Step 1) Open http://textanim.com/

Step 2) In the "Text" box insert the text you want to animate.

Step 3) Select the font type and size. You can see the font by clicking on the "Preview" button next to "Font type"

Step 4) By default there is a translucent background color. By clicking on the little palette next to the background color code, you can select a different color. We would encourage you to leave the translucent background because this will give you more flexibility when you have to work with the text.

Step 5) Under "Direction", you can select the direction of the effects. You can play around with the given options.

Step 6) You can choose to have shadows or not. Usually text with shadows looks more interesting, so we would encourage you to leave the shadow option on.

Step 7) You can delay the movement of the effects. You can insert the timing in the "Delay" box. Usually, a slower pace is more preferable than a faster pace, because it allows the audience to focus on the presentation as a whole and not on the text only.

Step 8) You can select among the many different effects, by clicking on the button next to each of the small samples.

 
Step 9) Once you have adjusted all of the settings, click on the "Generate" button. Your text will appear at the very top of the page.

Step 10) To save the animated text, you will see a "Download" button right below the text. Click on it and save the text.

Here are a few examples of animated text:

Many times animated images are appropriate when constructing a website or a Moodle page. You may want to include some animated images that are crucial to the class material and display them online. You may also use animated images in the classroom as a teaching tool.  You can ask your students to make a story after the animated images and narrate it in a foreign language. The possible uses of GIF images are many and they quite often come handy. This blog post will tell you how you and your students can create animated images.

Step 1) Find the images you want to animate and download them to your hard drive.
Step 2) Open http://picasion.com/

 
Step 3) In each field next to "Image", browse the image you want to put in. The order of the images in the animation will be the same as the order you browse the images. If you need more fields than the given three, just click on "Add one more picture" and a new field will open. You can have up to 10 fields in each animation.

Step 4) Select the size of the image. By default, the size is set to 300px, but we would recommend using 400px for higher quality. You may also select a particular size, if you know what you want. To do that, under the" Size" drop-down menu, select "Advanced". You will be then given the option to choose the size of the animation. The maximum size cannot exceed 450px.

Step 5) Adjust the speed. You may try out the different speed settings and choose the one that would work best for your project. You can also go to "Advanced" at the very bottom of the menu, and put in a speed that is not the menu. The maximum length of each slide cannot exceed 10 seconds.

Step 6) Click on the "Create animation" button.

Step 7) Your animated GIF image is ready. Make a right click with the mouse over it, and select "Save picture as" to save the animated GIF image.

Here's an example of a three-picture animated GIF image. The size is 400px and the speed is set to slow.

We hope you enjoy this smart tool. If you have any questions, please let us know!

Introduction

Windows Live Essentials from Microsoft features several software packages which are available to download for free and which can be used for everyday tasks on the computer. Some of the software available can be seen at this website: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials?os=win7 and they include Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Mail, Messenger, Writer and Family Safety. 

In this blog post we are going to focus on one of these software packages called Windows Live Writer. Here are a few words about Windows Live Writer extracted from the Windows Live Essentials webpage, http://explore.live.com/windows-live-writer :

"Writer makes it easy to share your photos and videos on almost any blog service--Windows Live, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, and many more. Writer is part of Windows Live Essentials, which includes free programs for photos, movies, instant messaging, e‑mail, blogging, family safety, and more. Get Writer or get them all--they're free!"

Writer is indeed easy to use and it allows you to publish to your favorite blog server in a few easy steps or, if you don't already have a blog, you can let Writer create one for you so that you can start posting.  

Download

To download Writer follow this link: http://g.live.com/1rewlive3/en/wlsetup-web.exe

Learn the basics

Let's work through the process of setting up Writer so that you can publish blog posts to your blog. In order to do this you need to have a blogging service such as Blogger, WordPress, MovableType etc. If you do not, you will have to create one.

Follow these steps to set-up Writer: 

1. Open Writer. 

2. The first time you open writer, you get a window message asking you what blog you use. If you don't have a blog you can let Windows Live create one for you by selecting "I don't have a blog; create one on Windows Live for me" and following the instructions which are really easy. If you already have a blog, select the right choice from the list. Figure 1 shows this window message: 

Figure 1: Writer, What blog service do you use?

For the purpose of this blog post, we used Blogger as our blogging server to illustrate how to set-up Writer

3. Click Next

4. You will be prompted with another window asking you for the address of your blog (the address people go to to see your website) and your username and password to access that server. In Figure 2 below, we used a test blog hosted by Blogger and we used the username and the password that we would use to log-in into Blogger.

Figure 2: Writer, Add a blog account

5. Click Next. If everything went well, you should see a window loading your blog. After it finishes loading your blog you will see a final window letting you know that "Your blog has been set up".

6. Type a name for your blog. This is the name that will be used in Writer to distinguish from any other blogs that you will create in Writer. Our blog is simply called Test Blog. 

 

Figure 3: Writer, Your blog has been set up window

7. Click Finish. 

At this point you should be able to write a blog post as you would write a paper in Microsoft Word. To publish your blog go to File -> Publish to Blog.

Another thing that you need to be aware of is the Accounts menu located in the Tools drop-down menu. Here you can manage your accounts by adding a new blog, editing an existing one or deleting one (deleting is referred to removing from Writer). 

A final note about Writer is knowing how to select in which blog to publish when you have multiple accounts created in Writer. To select the blog in which you want to publish go to the Blogs menu and you should see all your blogs listed below the Edit blog settings option. Figure 4 shows our two blogs, Test Blog and Test Blog 2 in this list with Test Blog being selected as the blog where our next blog post will be published. You can tell which blog is selected by the check mark next to your blog's name:

Figure 4: Writer, the Blogs menu

To get more information on how to use Windows Live Writer, consider accessing the Help menu within Writer. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact the STA Office at sta-help@trincoll.edu or at x2589.

Although there are different voice recording tools, and STAs usually encourage the use of Audacity for the purpose, GarageBand is another option that is worth looking at. Unlike other software solutions, GarageBand offers a variety of special sound effects that could be helpful in certain projects. For example, if you need to change the sounding of your voice or add background effects to your speech, this program will come handy. You may need to use GarageBand when you want to create songs, rap verses, speeches, dialogues, etc. The blog post will guide you through the steps of voice recording with GarageBand, and will show you some of the special effects available to work with.

Remark: GarageBand is available for Mac machines only.

Step 1) Start GarageBand and create a new music project
Step 2) Provide a name for the voice recording as well as the location where you would like to have your file saved. At the same window, you may adjust the tempo, signature, and key of the recording.
Step 3) Add a microphone. To do that, click on the "plus" button at the bottom left corner.

Step 4) Select "Real Instrument Track" and click "Create".

Step 5) Now you can record your voice. To do that, click on the record button at the bottom.You should be able to see an amplitude line during your voice recording.

 Step 6) To stop recording, click again on the record button.

 

If you would like to change the sounding of your voice, you have to do it prior to recording yourself. From the special effects menu, which shows on the right, you can go to "Vocals" and select an appropriate vocal effect. You can choose from an "Epic Diva" vocal, through "Helium Breath" vocal, all the way to "Deeper Vocals". The options are indeed many, and you can choose the one that would work the best for you.

If you would like to add a special effect to your voice, such as a telephone ring or a car horn, you could do that after recording yourself.
                   A) You have to activate the special effects panel. Go to the bottom left corner and click on the "eye" button. 
                   B) Again, in the bottom left corner, you have to click on the special effects icon.                   C) There is a variety of special effects. When you have found the one you need, drag it from the list, and place it along the recording.

If you think you are done with your voice recording, you can proceed to exporting it.
To export, go to the GarageBand menu at the top, and click "Share". There are different options. The one you are most likely to use is "Export song to disk". We would encourage you to export your file as an MP3 sound at high quality.  You can then share your MP3 file with both Mac and Windows users.

Normally when you think of links, you think of text that has been coded to take you to a different website. This text is not only boring, but also fails to provide a visualization or explanation of what the linked website contains.

An alternative to text links are image links. Image links are images that have been turned into a link. This can be especially useful in providing an image that is linked to a website explaining its significance, or when providing an image of, for example, a formula whose link takes you to an interactive web page that allows you to solve for the formula. In short the possibilities are numerous and can adapt to any context, whether it is for instructional or personal use. Examples of text vs. image links is provided below:

Text Link:

Student Technology Program

Image Link:

This entry will explain how to make any image that you choose into a link. The process is relatively simple, with two methods to creating an image link.

The first method involves creating your own image to be turned into a link. To do so you would follow the simple format:

1. First you make or choose your image

2. Then you upload your image to a server

3. And finally, you input the html code to make an image link

The second method involves using an image that is already available online. To do so you would follow the simple format:

1. Copy the image URL

2. Paste the image URL into the code for an image link.

The following is a description of the First Method:

There are two ways that you can choose your image. The first is to search for your image in a search engine (such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN) and then saving it to your computer as an image file (JPEG, etc.). *

The second option that you have is to create your own image. This can be done by uploading your own picture from a camera, or taking a screenshot of the image that you would like to turn into a link. Please refer to my colleague's, Dobromir Trifonov's, post regarding screenshots:

Take Screenshots....

Now that you have your image selected, you will have to upload it to a server. You can use any server, although for this entry I will assume that you are working with Moodle and will therefore discuss uploading an image file to its server.

First, you must access your course in Moodle and click on the Files link under the Administration box.

Once there you can either make a folder (making a folder will be necessary if you want to have an organized collection of files on Moodle) or simply upload a file.

Once you have uploaded your file, you will be able to see a link to see your image. Right click on this link and select the option Copy Link Address. This is your image source.

The HTML code for creating an image link is as follows:

<a href="Website Link" border="0"><img alt="" src="Image Source" title="Title to Appear when Mouse Hovers over image" width="width pixels" height="height pixels" /></a>

Once again, you will only be manipulating the following segments of code Website Link, Image Source, Title to Appear when Mouse Hovers over Image, and width/height pixels. The Website Link will be the URL of the website that you are linking to. Your final code should look similar to this:

<a href="http://blogs.trincoll.edu/sta/" border="0">

<img alt="" src="http://b27.cc.trincoll.edu/weblogs/sta/Image Links/Picture%202.png" width="400" height="87" />

</a>

Notice how the italicized portion of the text is simply your image's image source.

Now all you need to do is copy and paste this code wherever you want your image link to appear.

The second method, using an image already online, is very simple. First you locate your image, then you right click it, select Copy Link Address and then paste the link address (your image source) into the corresponding location of the HTML code for image links.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, or any, STA Blog Post, please feel free to call the STA Office at extension x2589 or come and speak with one of our Student Technology Assistants during our normal business hours. Thank you.

Word Clouds are an efficient tool that can help you visualize the content within a text. Word clouds are also sometimes called tag clouds.This entry will outline the major resources available to generate a visually aesthetic and informative word cloud.

By visualizing the word content of a text, you can quickly assess its content and what it refers to. It is in essence a quick and easy way to scan the document that you would like to read. For example, if a word cloud were to be generated based on my previous entry, Assignment Reviews-Electronically!, the world cloud would quickly provide a quick overview of the topics that I am talking about:

As you can see, the biggest words correspond to the most common words found in the text: Track, Review, Edit, Changes, Word.

There are a number of different resources that you could use to generate your word cloud. Below is a list of the most useful word cloud generators:

Tagxedo: http://www.tagxedo.com/app.html

Tag Crowd: http://tagcrowd.com

Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/

Each word cloud generator offers its unique set of tools. Here is a comparison of the most useful features of all three word cloud generators:

Below are three word clouds from each world cloud generator that highlight their distinguishing features.

Tagxedo:

Tagcrowd

Wordle

I encourage you to visit each resource to utilize their word cloud generators. The more familiar you get with each program, the more applications you will be able to perform. For example, if you wanted to create a visual representation of the world's population, you could create a word cloud (which at this point would become a data cloud) with a total of 100 words. You could then copy and paste a country's name into the raw text generator however many times reflects their percentage of the world population. In other words, if the population of China is about forty percent of the world population, then you would paste in the word China forty times. This process would continue on for as many countries as you would like. Below is an example of a data cloud representing world population by countries comprising more than 0.5% of the world population.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this entry, including how to use the specific features of each word cloud generator, please feel free to call the STA Office at extension x2589 or come and speak with one of our Student Technology Assistants during our normal business hours. Thank you.

The writing process entails many things, one of which is the review process. This process, traditionally carried out with pen and paper in hand, can be realized in a more efficient manner. There is a way to review assignments electronically, without the pile of papers and without wasting paper. Microsoft Word provides an ingenious and simple way of doing this.

This entry will go over the Track Changes feature in Word that allow you to review/edit an assignment in a legible and organized manner by tracking the changes that you make to it. This will essentially keep a record of any insertions, deletions or comments that you make to the assignment. With this valuable tool, you will be able to review, correct, and comment on any assignment from anywhere that you have computer access.

In order to review papers electronically, you will of course, have to have the assignment file. This entry will assume that all files are .docx format (although electronic reviews can be carried out with almost any file type using Adobe Acrobat Pro).

The following instructions are for Windows Word 2007 Users:

Once you have the assignment that you would like to review, you will click on the Review tab found at the top toolbar of Microsoft Word. From here you will select Track Changes in order for your corrections to appear in the document. This will track all your changes, from deletions to insertions, in an easy to distinguish red ink.

There are, of course, two distinct ways in which you can track your changes. The first is in what Word calls Balloons. The second is what is called Inline. The Balloon method will track your changes (Deletions and Comments) in "balloons" on the margins of the document. Any additions that you make will be visible within the main body of the document. The Inline method will track all your changes (insertions, deletions, and comments) within the document itself. Both methods are convenient and it is ultimately up to the reviewer to decide which one suits his/her needs best. Below you will find an image of both methods: the inline method is located on the bottom, while the balloon method is located on the top.

To change the way in which you can track your changes, simply click on the Balloons tab and select either Show Revisions in Balloons or Show All Revisions Inline.

You can add comments within the document by selecting New Comment. This command will add a comment to where your cursor is located.

Another possible feature that you could use in reviewing assignments is the convenient Accept/Reject feature included in Word. This feature gives you, as well as students, the ability to accept or reject any changes that have been made to their document. You can access this feature by selecting the Previous/Next buttons in the Comments section of the Review toolbar. By clicking these buttons, you will rotate through all your comments and changes in the document and you will have the ability to accept or reject them. The Accept/Reject buttons are located to the right of the Track Changes button.

When a change is accepted, Word will automatically incorporate that change into the document. When a change is rejected, word will automatically reject the change and remove it from the document.

Word also allows you to see different versions of the same file. In the first drop-down menu of the new Track Changes toolbar, there are four different viewing options.

Final Showing Markup: this will let you see the current edition, with markups of the file.

Final: this view lets you see the final document will all edits automatically included

Original Showing Markup: this view lets you see the original document with markups. All deletions will appear as strikethroughs, while comments will remain in the margin.

Original: this view lets you see the original document before being edited.

Once you have reviewed the assignment and made all necessary comments and corrections, you can easily write a final comment to the student, along with their final grade. You can do so by adding text (which will already be in red ink) at the end of the document.

Another feature that can aid in the writing process is Words Capability to distinguish different users and their edits. For example, if you were to send your student an edited Word file with, he or she could make further edits, which would be in a different color and under a different user name (provided that the student made the edits under a different name than the original edit) and return the document for you to re-edit. In this way you could quickly and effectively help a student's writing process with those longer projects or thesis.

Once you are done reviewing you can easily save the document and send a copy to your students. In this way, your students will have access to all your revisions and can easily edit their own work. If, however, you would like for your editions to not be tampered with, you can also save the edited word file as a PDF. Please look over the following entry by Dobromir-Save Anything in PDF! or my previous entry - PDF Files to review the process.

If you would like an example of what the final edited assignment would look like, please view the following file: Lorem.pdf

***

The following instructions are for Mac Word 2008 Users:

Once you have the assignment that you would like to review, you will click on the Tools dropdown menu. From here you will select Track Changes and then Highlight Changes in order for your corrections to appear in the document.

Once you have selected this option a Highlight Changes window will appear prompting you to select your changes options. It is recommended that you select all of the options, and in order for your edits to be visible, you must select the option: Track changes while editing. This will track all your changes, from deletions to insertions, in an easy to distinguish red ink. At this time a new toolbar, containing all the commands for editing, will appear.

There are, of course, two distinct ways in which you can track your changes. The first is in what Word calls Balloons. The second is what is called Inline. The Balloon method will track your changes (Deletions and Comments) in "balloons" on the margins of the document. Any additions that you make will be visible within the main body of the document. The Inline method will track all your changes (insertions, deletions, and comments) within the document itself. Both methods are convenient and it is ultimately up to the reviewer to decide which one suits his/her needs best. Below you will find an image of both methods: the inline method is located on the bottom, while the balloon method is located on the top.

To change the way in which you can track your changes, simply click on the Show tab and select Preferences. A new window will open.

In this new window locate the Balloons section and select Use Balloons to Display Changes if you want your edits to be recorded in the margins, or deselect this option if you want your edits to be visible in the inline method.

You can add comments within the document by selecting New Comment. This command will add a comment to where your cursor is located.

Once you have reviewed the assignment and made all necessary comments and corrections, you can easily write a final comment to the student, along with their final grade. You can do so by adding text (which will already be in red ink) at the end of the document.

Another possible feature that you could use in reviewing assignments is the convenient Accept/Reject feature included in Word. This feature gives you, as well as students, the ability to accept or reject any changes that have been made to their document. You can access this feature by selecting the Previous/Next buttons in the Comments section of the Review toolbar. By clicking these buttons, you will rotate through all your comments and changes in the document and you will have the ability to accept or reject them. The Accept/Reject buttons are located to the left of the New Comments button.

When a change is accepted, Word will automatically incorporate that change into the document. When a change is rejected, word will automatically reject the change and remove it from the document.

Another feature that can aid in the writing process is Words Capability to distinguish different users and their edits. For example, if you were to send your student an edited Word file with, he or she could make further edits, which would be in a different color and under a different user name (provided that the student made the edits under a different name than the original edit) and return the document for you to re-edit. In this way you could quickly and effectively help a student's writing process with those longer projects or thesis.

Word also allows you to see different versions of the same file. In the first drop-down menu of the new Track Changes toolbar, there are four different viewing options.

Final Showing Markup: this will let you see the current edition, with markups of the file.

Final: this view lets you see the final document will all edits automatically included

Original Showing Markup: this view lets you see the original document with markups. All deletions will appear as strikethroughs, while comments will remain in the margin.

Original: this view lets you see the original document before being edited.

Once you are done reviewing you can easily save the document and send a copy to your students. In this way, your students will have access to all your revisions and can easily edit their own work. If, however, you would like for your editions to not be tampered with, you can also save the edited word file as a PDF. Please look over the following entry by Dobromir-Save Anything in PDF! or my previous entry - PDF Files to review the process.

If you would like an example of what the final edited assignment would look like, please view the following file: Lorem.pdf

***

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please feel free to call the STA Office at extension x2589 or come and speak with one of our Student Technology Assistants during our normal business hours. Thank you.

Having screenshots from specific windows, web pages, movie scenes, etc. is a good idea when you want to stress the importance of a particular visual material. This blog post will guide you through different methods of taking screenshots on both Windows and Mac machines.

Let us begin with taking a screenshot off the entire screen of a Windows machine

Step 1) Prepare your screen. Organize the visual items in the manner you wish them to be captured.

Step 2) On your keyboard, find the button titled "Print Screen" and press it.

If you are using a standard Windows keyboard, please see the location of the button on the picture below:

If you are using a Mac keyboard, while running Windows on your machine, please see the location of the button (F14) on the picture below: 

Now, there are two ways to proceed to the next step. All Trinity College Windows platforms have "PrintKey 2000" installed. This is an easy to work with software solution that would enable you to take screenshots. If you, however, do not have a copy of this program, there is a different way through which you can save your screenshots.

In steps 3a and 4a, "PrintKey 2000" will be used. In steps 3b and 4b, a different, universal method will be used.

Step 3a) A "PrintKey 2000" program launches on your computer. It has taken the screenshot.
Step 4a) Proceed to saving the screenshot. Click on the "Save" button, located at the top left side of the program.

Would you like to take a screenshot of a certain area on your screen only?

Once you have clicked on the "Print Screen" button and the "PrintKey 2000" program has launched, you may select the "Rectangular" tool from the menu in the top of the PrintKey 2000 program.
When you have clicked on the "Rectangular" tool, with your mouse, you can draw a rectangle around the area you wish to take a screenshot of.

*****
Step 3b) Open MS Paint.
Step 4b) Go to Edit>Paste. You screenshot appears on the white sheet. You can save the screenshot from File>Save.

Let us have a look at taking screenshots on a Mac platform

There are four different ways of taking screenshots on Mac machines. Three of the ways require use of keyboard combinations, and one of the ways lets you use a software product.

Combination 1) Command-Shift-3

When you click on Command, then Shift, and then 3, a screenshot of your entire screen is taken. This means that you need to have your visual items arranged prior to selecting the combination.

Combination 2) Command-Shift-4

When you click on Command, then Shift, and then 4, you can draw a rectangle, with your mouse, around the area you wish to take a screenshot of. 

Combination 3) Command-Shift-4-Space

When you click on Command, then Shift, then 4, and then Space, your mouse cursor turns into a camera. You can click with the camera on a specific window that you want the screenshot of.

*All screenshots taken with keyboard combinations are automatically saved to your Desktop.

Taking screenshots with Grab on Mac

Step 1) Start "Grab". You can find the program in your "Applications" folder.
Step 2) Go to the "Capture" menu of Grab, at the top of the screen. 

Step 3) Select what type of screenshot you would like to take:

a) "Selection" gives you the opportunity to select an area of your screen
b) "Window" lets you take a screenshot of a particular window on your screen
c) "Screen" gives you the ability to take a screenshot of your entire screen
d) "Timed Screen" lets you take a screenshot with a 10-second time delay. This option is perfect for use when you need to move or select an object right before the screenshot is taken.

Once you have taken the screenshot, it will appear on your screen. To save it, go to Grab: File>Save