My Picasa/Google Web Album

I have created a web album using Picasa Web Album. I have also loaded Picasa 3 onto my machine and it is a great photo editor, much more so than Photoshop Express. It is intuitive and user friendly, BUT beware of what photos you are editing. I thought that I had open a photo on my Web Album, did some experimenting with the Picasa features, and ended up saving the photo over top the original photo on my machine. I thought I had lost the original forever, but I reloaded it into Picasa and backsteped the mods using "undo" many, many times.

I was also able to geotag my album and also individual photos. Google has Google Moon, Google Ocean, Google Sky, and Google Mars; I wonder if I could link Earth Science photos to locations on the Moon, Mars, in the oceans or the sky? Then students could understand where the subjects of interest are located.

This assignement yielded a great discovery. I could use it to archive photos to be used in an assignment and direct the students to find the album on GPhotos!

Photoshop Express Modified Photo

I have embedded an image I took of the Moon. I played with several photo adjusting the highlights, exposure, color saturation and all the available tools provided by Photoshop Express. Then I stretched it to make it look as if it had been sketched. It looks like a geological map now. If you want to go to the Photoshop Express website click on the title of this blog entry.

My initial upload to blogger produced an image what was very large and overflowed the blog screen. The photo was not reduced from Photoshop Express when it was posted into Blogger. I assumed that it would be automatically resized to fit. So I fiddled with the image size parameters that were given in the image address when I hit the "link" button in Photoshop Express. I changed the width from 1600 to 400 and the height from 1200 to 300, preserving the aspect ratio. This worked and allowed the image to fit.

The link to the photo will give you an automatically resized image in a new window that can be expanded by clicking on it.

This technology will allow me to use photos taken in the lab, with a microscope or telescope, enhance and annotate the images, and use them to illustrate subject material in class.

The ISTE NETS addressed by this activity include 3a) demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations; and 5a) participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.

Useful graphic from Crappy Graphics

I have produced a Venn diagram using Crappy Graphics to illustrate the overlap of the fields of Earth Science. The concept of interdisciplinary fields is introduced during the initial classes of most sciences now. The emphasis is on how interdisciplinary studies are very important to the advancement of today's sciences.

I have also produced a line graph showing the motion of a mouse searching for food. I can download this graph at school tomorrow since we are starting a module on motion. Crappy Graphics allowed me to quickly throw this together, however drawing straight lines with the brush tool is tough.

To allow the class to view these graphics, the most direct method would be to log into this blog and project the computer output using the science deparment's ELMO. I frequently use the ELMO to explore websites relevant to our subject matter.

The ISTE NETS addressed by this activity include 2a) design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity; 3a) demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations; 3c) communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, using a variety of digital-age media and formats; and 5a) participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.

Using Kid’s Zone to Produce Quick, Easy, and Good-looking Graphs

I have used the Kid’s Zone website to produce a good-looking graph of the NAEP 4th grade mathematics scores from 2000 to 2007, comparing West Virginia’s scores to the national average. From this graph, I can quickly conclude that West Virginia students have kept pace with the national average, although West Virginia’s math score are consistently lower by a few points. The source for this data is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Is the high number of West Virginia students with an IEP due to the low per capita income of West Virginians? To answer this question, we can look at other poor states and determine if they also have a high number of IEP students. Using the data provided by the website infoplease http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104652, I was able to determine the four poorest states for 2006. In order of lowest per capita income, they are Mississippi ($27028), West Virginia ($28206), Arkansas ($28206), and Utah ($29406). This data is sourced to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Survey of Current Business. Web: www.bea.doc.gov/bea/regional/spi/.

To obtain information about the number of IEP studnets in these states, I used the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, which gives the desired data for each state. Plotting these data on a bar graph for the four poorest states and the U.S., it is immediately clear that the per capita income has little or no effect on the fraction of students with IEPs. If there was an anticorrelation between income and IEP, we would expect that Mississippi would have a high percentage of IEPs and that there would be a gradual decline between West Virginia and Arkansas. Yet Mississippe is right at the national average and Arkansas and Utah is even below the national average, suggesting that many other higher income states have higher percentage of students in IEP. Thus we can not say that per capita income itself has a direct bearing on the number of IEP students in West Virginia.
I used the Kid's Zone graphing tool to produce the above graphs. I found this online application to be very intuitive and it produced great graphics. It should be easy to introduce to my students and encourage them to use. My procedure for using Kid's Zone was to produce the graph using hand-entered data (I found no feature to allow importing data, but I should research this a little more). When I was finished producing the graph, I saved it as a .jpeg file, and saved it to my PC into my EDUC6305 folder. I then open my new blog entry, presses the Add Image button, and uploaded the files to Blogger, starting with the last graph in the blog first (thus the first graph in the blog was loaded last). Blogger always adds images to the very top of the blog entry, or I have not figured out how to position images within the previously written blog text yet. Note that I always center my image in the blog entry; this prevents the text from being pushed over to the side if the image is small enough to allow it, and most blog use this style anyway. I also opened the Kid's Zone graphs with MS Paint and could manipualted/copy them from there also.

Image Capture of Satellite Collision

For my image capture assignment, I grabbed an image showing the predicted debris from the Feb 10 collision between an Iridium communication satellite and a defunct Russian weather satellite. We have been talking about this event in my Earth Science class lately and I could use this graphic to illustrate some salient points.
After I found a desired graphic on Explorer, I used the Print Screen button on my keyboard to grab the entire image on the monitor. (Note that if you use Alt+Print Screen, you just get an image of the Explorer window.) I then opened Word and pasted (Ctrl V) it to the blank Word document. This is just a storage point so I can regrab it if I mess up. Then I copied and pasted the image to MS Paint. There I used the selection tool to crop just the part of the image I wanted (just the graphic, excluding the windows and Explorer stuff around the edges). I copied and pasted that to a new Paint document. From here I used the paintbrush, eyedropper, pencil, and text tools to modify the graphic for class. Note that the text tool is extremely crude; I had to magnify the text and use pencil tool to clean up the text pixel by pixel. I finally decided that it would be better to use the pencil to write the text I wanted. I used some of the graphic tools to add a crude image of the Moon and labeled it.

The file is a 797 kB bitmap image, that is 597x455 pixels in physcial size. It is a MS Paint file.
Or you can use the GDocs address below.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d6j5vqr_15hbdrbzgw

Solar System 2010 Desktop Graphic

Here is my desktop graphic,
http://www2.fairmontstate.edu/users/lbartlett3/solarsystem2010graphic.doc
Open and enjoy my specualtion as to the Great Planet Debate in our near future. I will use this graphic in my Earth Science class to illustrate that Pluto does not need to be demoted to a non-planet. We must simply realize that there are different classifications for ALL the planets.

This is a 69KB MS Word.doc file. I grabbed the image from a Google image search. I then copied in into Word since I have no experience using any graphics software. I did look as a couple of freewares, but decided in the interest of time I had to use Word. I added the catagory labels and created black blocks to cover unwanted labels on the original. I then cut, pasted, and saved the image into a new Word.doc file.
Initially I wanted to send it to GDocs via gmail and publish it from GDocs. We need to become more familiar with GDocs since ftp may eventually be fazed out. But in the end, I was not able to get GDocs to open the image with the mods I made, they were appended below the original image. Does anyone know how to get gmail/GDocs to open images correctly??
Finally, I simply sent the .doc image file to ftp and linked my blog to it there.

Narrative concerning Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience

After reading Fadel and Lemke's "Multimodal Learning Through Media: What the Research Says", I wrote my narrative about Dale's Cone of Experience and concluded that the graphic that Dale developed in the 1950s does have merit when taken in the correct context and with an undestanding of what Dale was trying to convey. The above link was established via GDocs, however a graphic I included in the narrative was not save this way. By using ftp, I was able to perserve the graphic within the narrative and its link is given here, http://www2.fairmontstate.edu/users/lbartlett3/DaleConeNarr.doc

Technology I learned during this exercise: I was not successful in preserving an image in my file.doc file. This image was originally copied from the reading assignment.pdf file. It was successfully incorporated into the file.doc and saved, but was not perserved when I emailed it to Gmail as an attachment. In GDocs, the image is not present, but there is an empty field in its spot. Why does GDocs not perserve the image??? Note, however, by sending the file.doc to my ftp and linking to that location I was able to preserve the graphic. Here ftp has came to the rescue!!!!!!!!! Hooray ftp!!!!!

Later note 2/22/2009, I remembered how to use Blogger upload image button. Graphic must be in .jpeg, .gif, .bmp, .png format (8MB max), so I selected, copied and pasted a image in Word.doc into MS Paint and converted to bitmat.bmp file, then uploaed to Blogger.

So here is Dale's original 1954 Cone of Experience (note no retention %).

Embedding a hyperlink in the blog verbiage

I set my home page to Space Weather.com. A link to it is here. Note this is a test of embedding a hyperlink into the blog verbiage.

Directly Hyperlinking to Fairmont FTP Server

Direct hyperlink of resume supplement from Fairmont ftp to my blog (no Gdocs used here).

http://www2.fairmontstate.edu/users/lbartlett3/supplementtoresume.doc (NOTE this hyperlink does NOT work, but I use it in the discussion below!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Tonight I am having trouble getting this link to open the Word document, but I suspect there is trouble with the server (I could not use the log in procedure for Explorer 7.0 as suggested by the library and I also noticed that little blank window briefly pop up and then close when I logged onto Blackboard; I think it means Fairmont is having trouble with the system when that little window pops up???). I will try connecting tomorrow.

Tomorrow has arrived (2/5/2009). This is a continuation of yesterday's work. I continued this discussion on the same post so as to maintain a stream of understanding for hypertexting to FTP. I know that 'a different day on the same post' is not the norm, but I felt it would allow me to keep my thoughts together.

I discovered that the link I was trying to use yesterday failed because the file apparently was not successfully saved on the FTP server. I know that it was transferred because I renamed the file at the FTP site (maybe this was a mistake). However it was not on the server today. Maybe the filename was too long!(supplementtoresume.doc ) Is there a length limit for FTP files? Does anyone know the answer?

Today I opened an old CV and renamed it according to the recommendations in EDTech article on FTP. The file name is cvold.doc (a Word document). Following the procedure outlined in EDTech, I created a hyperlink from this blog to the file on the Fairmont FTP server. And it works! Try it.

http://www2.fairmontstate.edu/users/lbartlett3/cvold.doc

I also hyperlinked my introductory video stored on the Fairmont FTP to this blog and it also works! I had transferred this file to my FTP when I was uploading it to YouTube, just early practice transferring to FTP.

http://www2.fairmontstate.edu/users/lbartlett3/PhotoStory1wmv.wmv

Just as an experiment, I also created a hyperlink to my old CV by way of ftp:// instead of http:// just to see if I could get it to work. Indeed this also works. You just have to login to the Fairmont FTP server either using your UCA and password or your can login anonymously. Go ahead and try it. Can anyone tell me if there is ever an advantage to using the ftp:// hyperlink?

ftp://studentsftp.fairmontstate.edu/users/lbartlett3/cvold.doc

Past Experience with FTP
We were also asked to give details of our previous experience with FTP if any. Many, many years ago I did do some transferring of huge data files (when disk space was no as cheap as today) and we used FTP on mainframes. I remember that my comprehension of FTP was rudimentary, but it was easy to transfer data files.

Another Web publishing exercise

Today I was thinking about my procedure for saving and publishing my resume to this blog and I was not satisfied with my understanding of publishing to the web. So I decided to try a couple more attempts at creating a doc, saving it, publishing it and linking it to my blog. In the following link, I have created an extremely condensed resume using Gdocs, and the BlueRay template, and the online editor. I saved the finished document, then clicked SHARE, then selected Publish as a web page. Google Docs gave me a link (shown below) and I copied and pasted it to my blogger Dashboard when I created this new post.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d6j5vqr_3gx25cbdz

Note that Gdoc allows you to post the link to your blog, which I did, but I could not find it on my blogger dashboard. Any comments on that?

Lyle's Resume Hyperlinked

You can see my resume at the following site,
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d6j5vqr_0cgzg83g2&btr=EmailImport
The resume Word document was email to my gmail account at Google as an attachment. I then open the attachment as a Google document. I had to do some editing to restore the format and then I saved it. By hitting the SHARE button, I published it using "Publish as a web page".