Small but perfectly formed - Asus Eee PC

I have recently been able to get my hands on an Asus Eee PC - the 4 gb version. This little notebook has proved to be an ideal travelling companion. You can read all about it here

Running a version of Linux, the initial screen is fine for many users - simple, effective and easy to navigate. It is possible to install Windows, but lurking behind the set up is a full desktop that will give a Windows feel without hogging valuable memory. So my first stop was unlocking this (you will find all the links to be able to do this below). Once the desktop was up and running (and it includes a toggle to get back to the Easy Desktop) I started on some of the other changes to really make the Eee PC a useful piece of kit.

Having forgotten to power off after a meeting in Manchester and drained the battery, my next task was to force a shutdown when the lid was closed. This is great for a quick exit to catch a train, although most times I do try to go through a clean shutdown. If I forget or am in a hurry then I know no harm will come to the notebook. It does tend to get warm during use, and if you put it away in its protective pouch without shutting down you will end up with a pretty good handwarmer. Best to be safe!

I noticed that some windows were too large for the screen and I had to guess where the OK button was. For some reason the window would not move above the top of the screen. Again this was fixed after a visit to the unofficial website set up for Eee PC users. Now if I want to move a screen to find the lower command buttons I hold the ALT key while moving. Works perfectly!

Getting the webcam to work with SKYPE was just a case of updating the shipped Skype program. If this still does not work for you then follow the link below this post to install Skype Beta 2.0.

Before you do anything else it's probably a good idea to buy a chunky flash drive. I invested in a 4gb from JOGR, copied all my files from my main machine, and now use this as my work drive for all my machines. But make sure you back this up - I have a briefcase on a Freecom 80gb external drive to my main PC - so just plug in the flash drive and back it up at the end of every session. So I am not using any of the spare memory on my Eee PC.

I also store additional programs on the flash drive. Which brings me to the next task. Getting windows programs to run on a Linux system is quite possible using a piece of free software called Wine. This took longer to set up but I proved the potential by downloading and running Hot Potatoes happily. Photostory 3 still won't run - I suspect Microsoft have something embedded that stops it, but if you know how to do this then let me know!

To make Wine work easily I downloaded Rox-Filer after fully installing Wine. Now, if I want to run a windows program, I use File Manager to navigate to the .exe file and double click. This brings up the Run With window - just pull down the Open With box and select Wine. Not all programs will run correctly, but most seem to be fine (Sadly not Snippy). Incidentally, don't put a short cut on the desktop to un programs unless you are sure that you will always have your flash drive as the same drive letter.

And to crown it all I use my Eee PC as a dumb terminal for a citrix link via Logmein.com to my office machine. So I can demonstrate and use any software remotely, including Office 2007. If you are worried about screensize for presentations then another miracle of the little notebook is the fact that it reconfigures its display when linked to a projector. You can set up the display manually as well just by going to the control panel on the start menu and selecting display.

Do I like it? Yes - and the rest of the family are fighting me for it!

Rather than give you direct links for each of the topics mentioned above I have given the link to the main Wiki of the Eee User site. Just scroll down looking for the links on the left hand side of their site to find the topic you want to work with. You don't have to do everything in one go - start with a simple one like shutting the lid. It might be best to get your full desktop up and running with the moveable windows before trying to work with Wine - as it is easier to follow the onscreen directions.

Here's the link to the Eee PC User Group

Nigel

The Digital Learner

This video from TeacherTube is thought provoking.

Drag and Drop

I like the flexibility of using Word for creating simple but colourful drag and drop exercises.

There is, however, a problem when drag and drop exercises are created using text boxes. The learner has to be able to click on the text box correctly, being sure not to select the text, but just the frame. This requires high levels of mouse control and for some learners this is too difficult.

An alternative is to use WordArt for all text that you want to move. This is possibly easier, but I am still not happy. I get annoyed by the flashing that occurs as the crosshair disappears and reappears when moving between letters. And, annoyingly, the WordArt toolbar pops up whenever I click on the text.

So what do I use? Simple - I create the text in Paint and paste it into Word. Just use the text tool, remembering to change the size and style of the font. You can crop the picture before leaving Paint, or do it afterwards. It takes seconds to create any text and you can use colour as well.

Sometimes it's easy to picture a solution!

Science fun

This is the reason why I push Youtube as an educational tool!

Back to Blogger!

One of the reasons why I have abandoned this blog is the navigation toolbar which allows visitors to view other blogs at random (by clicking on Next Blog).

Thanks to a neat piece of coding from Derya Netter I have been able to remove the bar and no longer have to worry about visitors navigating away to be faced with inappropriate content.

Nice one Derya!

If you are a Blogger user you can do the same by following this link. If you have been using the same template for a long time you may first want to update it. This will make it easier for you to find the right place in the HTML page to add the new code.

http://tinyurl.com/2sy2mh

Nigel

Wink - Free software that will capture your imagination!

I have been playing with a piece of free screen capture software available from www.debugmode.com. Wink enables users to capture screen shots which are then rendered to become a flash presentation. We have all produced handouts taking learners through step by step instructions to complete a task. Now you can show them the whole task in a video clip, but at the same time you are able to overlay navigation buttons and text boxes explaining what is happening.

Although this software is fairly intuitive to use, there is quite a bit to learn. I started with a simple capture process and just found it fairly straightforward. However, learning how to capture a process and then add the overlays for navigation and explanation took a bit longer to get to grips with. What is impressive is the quality of the image produced and the size of the compressed files. Two files are created – one is the flash file and the other is an HTML document for launching the flash presentation in a browser.

So, what is my verdict? I will continue to use SnagIT from www.techsmith.com for simple screen shot capture. But Wink scores for moving images. Download the free software and look at the two tutorials. You will be impressed!

Nigel

Google Groups

I keep an eye on what the guys at Google are getting up to. Now they have introduced a beta Group discussion board. I have tried it and found that setting up the site is much easier than some of the other public discussion boards around. The site is clean and easy to navigate, with the usual Google sponsored links on the right hand side of the screen. The discussion group can be set up as a public board with anybody being able to add posts, or as a semi public board with "read only" status. Additionally you can set up a totally private board that will not be listed and where participants need to be invited to join.

My verdict? This is an excellent way of introducing learners to a discussion forum, particularly for tutors who don't yet have access to an institutional learning platform. They will be familiar with the look and feel of Google and will find that stepping forward to a Google Group will not be an intimidating experience. As with all public systems there will be a vast list of groups that need to be avoided, but these can be bypassed by giving learners the group URL.

Try it out at https://www.google.com/accounts/Login

You will need to register as an account holder for Google, but this is a very simple process.

More on PowerPoint

I know that many creators of PowerPoint presentations like to use Action Buttons to navigate slides. These are particularly useful if learners are using the PowerPoint themselves and gives unambiguous navigation commands for going forward, backwards, ore even restarting from slide one.

However, I can usually tell if creators have laboriously placed the navigation buttons on each slide. This takes time and can be very frustrating. If you don't get the button in exactly the same position on each slide your viewers will see the tell tale jumps as they move from one slide to another.

Save yourself a lot of time and effort by creating a Master Slide (View, Master....., Slide Master). Place the action buttons on this slide (and at the same time you can place logos and other design features that are the same for all slides) and you will be delighted to find that every subsequent slide created has perfectly positioned buttons by default.

Once in the Slide Master View you will find the Action Buttons in the Slide Show Menu. PowerPoint provides a selection of buttons for most actions, but when you bring the button on to the slide an editing window opens to allow you to change the action if you wish.

For absolute perfection make sure that any button created is of a standard size. Switch on the grid lines if you have a more recent version of PowerPoint.

If you want a full set of instructions for using the master slide and action buttons then add a comment and include your e-mail address.

Back Again!

The last few weeks have been a little difficult because of a virus. Actually a trojan which is not at all damaging, but spies on the computer. You get a feeling of being watched once you know that it is there. Sadly spyware is all over the place now, and one can never really be sure of getting on top of the problem.

Our usual, well known, antivirus software did not seem to be much help in detecting and getting rid of this particular virus. So we went looking for an alternative.

We have downloaded the free software from Grisoft and been running this in the office for the past few weeks. I have to say that it does seem to have done the trick! The disturbing thing is the number of viruses that it locates during the day. It makes me wonder what was happening before.

We have also noted a major difference in the number of viruses that are picked up depending on how we access a website. Normally we channel everything through AOL and the security level is very high with no viruses getting through to our system. But then there are times when we want to use Internet Explorer on the back of our AOL link. And this is when the problems start, even with the highest security controls imposed we are still under constant attack. So now we only use IE when absolutely necessary and then only for short bursts. And the Anti Virus software is kept busy!

If you are a personal user then you can do no worse than follow this link http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 for the free download. It's well worth running this in tandem with your usual anti virus software.

Nigel

Properties Finder

I have said before that I am not the most organised of people. Recently I introduced you to Google Desktop and judging by the feedback I have had this is a “must have” piece of software.

However, we shouldn’t rely on Google to do all our housekeeping! From time to time Google gives me back so many locations that I still waste time trying to locate the file that I want.

So I have taken to being a little more sophisticated when I create a document. Office provides us with a Properties option on the File Menu. If you select this and then choose the Summary tab you can type in a suitable description in the Comments box.

To be able to see the comments when you use Windows Explorer you will need to set up folder details and options.

Open Windows Explorer
Select a Drive or folder. I chose the “My Documents” folder on my main drive.
Click on View, Choose Details
Scroll down the list of options and tick the box next to Comments
Highlight the Comments option and move it up the list by clicking repeatedly on Move Up. I place it after Type and before Date Modified.
Click on OK

Now you need to set this up for all the sub folders. Stay with the folder that you have changed. Now click on Tools, Folder Options, and select the View tab.
Click on Apply to All folders

When you open up Explorer you will be able to see comments about your files as well as the other details. And if you are really good you will use the rest of the boxes in the Properties Summary tab, and display those as well. Don’t forget that you can sort each displayed column just by clicking on the header.

That’s all. Except that you have 10,000 files already created that you haven’t got any comments for. You won’t go back to each one, but if you open or create a file then always set the Properties. Gradually you will notice the difference.

Nigel

Don't overdo the PowerPoint!

It's so easy, isn't it? PowerPoint offers a treasure trove of gizmos to wow your audience. From background templates that zing with colour, to a cacophony of sound that announces the latest arrival on the screen. You can flash, drizzle, slide, drop, fade, zoom, dissolve or even spin your events to make your PowerPoint look as if the entire production team of an epic film have been employed to create just this one slideshow.

Wonderful!

Well perhaps not so wonderful. It's true that PowerPoint presentations that just contain text can be very dull and boring. But sitting through the 1812 Overture whilst trying to absorb information is not the way to do it.

So here are some tips for a successful presentation.

The templates that come with PowerPoint tend to be a bit over the top. Design your own template that you can use for all your presentations. It could be at an organisational or individual level, but choose colours carefully and dicreetly. It may just consist of your logo and little else.

Don't put too many words on the slide. Bullet points are better than sentences. That way you will make more effort to expand the point as you talk and not just read the slide out to your audience!

Use Clip Art sparingly. Don't just stick a picture on a slide because you can! Do it because it emphasises or extends your the point you are making. If the point you are making is boring, then reconsider how you present it, but don't just add a picture that will simply act as a distraction from an already boring slide!

And animations go the same way! Neat, crisp transitions are better than falling stars and zooming texts.

Using a hyperlink is a good way of developing a topic during a presentation. But if you are always going to follow the hyperlink then consider ditching it in favour of incorporating the material in the slide show. This keeps the story flow going.

Finally, don't get carried away with the length! If everyone has fallen asleep by the time you finish then ........................zzz zzz zzz zzz

Nigel

More from Google

I have a theory that our choice of home page when we log on to the internet says a lot about our character. So how sad is it that my home page is Google! But I am not alone in this. Apparently we can be divided into two groups - those who think in terms of a search engine being the starting place for everything that we do, and those who have to look at their company website first.

That's an interesting question! What do you set your home page to, assuming you have a choice. Answers on the Elnet Forum please, under the Materials and Website section - the best replies will be highlighted here!

But here is something new from the Google Guys - predictive entry when searching. Only works worldwide at the moment, but I can see a real bonus with this. If I search for a subject such as Literacy I can keep an eye on the suggestions that pop up. So after tying "Liter" Google suggests:

literary terms
literature
literary criticism
literary devices
literature review
literacy
literary agents
literary guild
literary elements
literature circles

This may well lead me to places that I would not have thought about. Try it out for yourselves at http://labs.google.com/ but remember that this is not yet ready for general release.

Good Googling!

At the turn of the year

Now the Christmas and New Year break is over perhaps this is a good time for us to take stock of where we are with e-learning in the centres. What follows is a very brief and personal view. I welcome your own comments in response – either directly on this blog site, or as a response to the related topic on the forum.

Colleges of Further Education have been battling to implement ILT strategies for at least 5 years. Owing to the complexity and size of these organisations I am not surprised that there are still substantial barriers to development. College networks seem to be among the most securely guarded environments in the industry, and having had responsibility for a college network in the past I understand the need for this. However, teams have encountered problems downloading and running software from the web or accessing sites which include any form of embedded program. Even downloading from a memory stick or digital camera will sometimes cause a problem. There has to be a middle way which removes the frustration for curriculum staff trying to find their way through the minefield!

That said, colleges have at least vastly improved the access to PCs both for staff and student use. And this perhaps is the major problem for Adult and Community centres. This sector is now coming to terms with the development of ILT strategies, but the provision of kit is always going to be more of a problem for this sector because of the peripatetic nature of the delivery. Team members are excited by the developments, but currently have major difficulties in getting reliable access to kit in permanent centres and there are many horror stories about the use of laptops in the community.

For our teams in non-statutory training centres the difficulties are just the same as outlined above. These centres often deal with the most difficult to motivate groups in large numbers. They need access to good material quickly. But this is the sector that does not have access to the repository of material through NLN. And they desperately need it.

One last thought for all the sectors. Access to suitable kit for learners is improving. But staff need to be able to gain confidence and develop material themselves. Staff access is still a major issue to be addressed.

If your organisation has got over any of these hurdles or has good practice to share then I would like to see this reflected in the discussion board. Certainly I would like to hear more about the difficulties you encounter and the solutions you have employed.

Get moving!

For some time now I have used a cheap and cheerful piece of software to capture screen shots to incorporate in e-learning materials. Snag-It from www.TechSmith.com is one of the best known and will only set you back about £30 for a single licence, but (just like the Radio Times) there are others on the market that do the job equally well. Where Snag-It scores, though, is its ability to capture a sequence of screen shots as a video clip.

Provided that you are careful to restrict the size of the video (ie don't get carried away and try to store more than a 1 minute clip) then you will find this facility exciting to use. Yesterday in Birmingham we thought of capturing process rather than just the end result - think how that would impress the inspectorate!

You could invest in the same organisation's Camtasia Suite for about £250 or Macromedia's Captivate (formerly Robo Demo) for about £270. There is no denying that the advantage of buying in to these products is their ability to store using Flash technology, thus saving considerable space over the normal avi type of video file.

Start off with Snag-it and try it out for the screen shot capture before moving on to video capture. Then download the trial versions of both Camtasia and Captivate before making your own decision as to which one to invest in.

To see more http://www.techsmith.com/
http://www.macromedia.com/

Only go here if you have an odd hour to spare!

Keeping up to date with the exploding e-learning field is not easy. One of the best sites I have come across is Jane Knight’s e-Learning Centre at http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/.

I visit this site a few times each week and always find something that will set me on a learning path. If you do nothing else today then follow the link and then click on
A-Z of e-Learning.

My favourite letters are:

D …….. Choose the “Using online interaction to break your addiction to classroom teaching” and then scroll down to the Sales Presentation Exercise. There are other exercises – all related to the Distribution Industry.

K………Keeping up to date. Choose “Guide to e-Learning”.

X………Examples. Follow the link to “Showcase”. If you haven’t the time to go anywhere else then go to “College and University e-Learning Showcase” and then try the “Physics Flashlets”. I’m not much of a planetary expert, but even I could see the effect of a Jupiter Slingshot! Pythagoras is good as well.

The only problem is that you will probably spend too much time in this site. But none of it will be wasted!

Nigel

Read on!

Edited!

There are times when I want to incorporate speech in a document or presentation. This means setting up the microphone recording my dulcet tones. An alternative is to use a text to speech converter. You can download a free version of Natural Voice Reader software from http://www.naturalreaders.com/ and, although the voices available are limited to the standard Microsoft voices, they are certainly acceptable for experimenting with using speech. Of the three voices available “Michelle” is probably the most acceptable, but this will depend upon your own taste. Apart from reading text the software will let you create a WAV file that you can then incorporate in a document or presentation.

And this software is fun for learners to use as well. They can try typing a few words into the window and listen to the results!

A word of warning though! The first time you open up the software make sure that your clipboard is empty and then uncheck the Read Clipboard Automatically box. You can imagine what would happen if you had a substantial amount on your clipboard!

Finally try clicking on Website in the Menu. You will discover that Natural Voice Reader acts as a Browser and will let you type in any website for reading. This is useful for Module 9.

Have fun!

Nigel

Google comes home!

Have you ever had that moment of panic when you can't find a file or source of information on your desktop. Panic sets in as you realise that, once again, you are going to have to admit that you have "lost" a file. Or perhaps you can remember reading the information that has come from the LSDA, but which of the many received files is it in? And, of course, you need it straight away!

Google have introduced a search engine that will index your desktop and allow immediate searching of resources on your computer in much the same way as it searches the web. I downloaded the free software yesterday (less than 1 minute on a 64K ISDN link) and installed it without difficulty. Since then Google has been quietly beavering away indexing the entire contents of the hard drives, including web history, documents, chats and emails. Even though it hasn't finished this task I am getting some amazing results when I search for words or phrases.

Unlike windows explorer, which delivers a list of files in response to a search, Google presents the location and context just like it does from a web search. So finding the exact file required is now a doddle.

To test it I searched for "LSDA Handbook". Not only was I presented with the original e-mail (which frankly I have been unable to find for some time) but no less than 10 word documents referring to it, including the handbook itself. And it gave me the web history Elnet page.

So, if like me, you are not the best organised person in the world, and you need help making sense of your desktop, then you won't regret installing this particular gem.

www.google.co.uk for more information

E-learning becoming embedded, but more work needed on implementation

18/11/2004 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

E-learning is now accepted as an essential feature of training delivery, but more practical work needs to be done on the implementation side if it is to be successful, according to a new survey carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the professional body for all those involved in people management and development. The survey was carried out to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the term e-learning being adopted.

Read the full story here.....................

http://www.cipd.co.uk/press/PressRelease/Default.htm

I guess that many of us will be able to relate to the findings of this survey - particularly with the quotes from employees.

A definition of e-learning?

A definition of e-learning?

I am always amused by the way in which definitions are conceived. Organisations all over the world seem to be devoting valuable resources to the creation of their understanding of e-learning. Of course, it means different things in different contexts, but how far are we along the road to uniformity?

Closer than you think, perhaps.

With a certain amount of trepidation I tried getting a definition from Google.

You can explore these definitions yourself by simply typing

define: e-learning

into the Google search window

I think there may be a consensus appearing slowly!

Photo Editor, Photo Editor, wherefore art thou, Photo Editor?

If, like me, you are a devotee of Microsoft Photo Editor then you will be sad to learn that it's been dropped from the 2003 version of Microsoft Office. This neat and user friendly picture editor worked well for the teams in ELNET, especially for those who were somewhat fazed by the idea of using Photoshop. We have had some fun using "Effects" to change photos into unrecognizable, but creatively stimulating resources.

But now it's gone! It has been replaced by Microsoft Picture Manager which does exactly what it says on the tin, but not a lot else. So we will have to go elsewhere for our fix of photo dabbling.

Or perhaps not. For anyone thinking of upgrading to Office 2003 it's worth choosing to keep the original version of Office. That way you know that you will always have access to Microsoft Photo Editor. You can if you wish uninstall the main components at a later date, but there will be no conflict. Alternatively, if you have already dumped XP in favour of 2003, then just go back to the original disk and navigate to the installation of Photo Editor listed under Office Tools. After all, you paid for it - so why have it taken away from you!

Then when you right click on the picture file in future you can choose OPEN WITH to use Photo Editor and play to your heart's content.