Mac 101 - The Grand Tour

Just because you may know how to create pivot tables in Excel doesn't mean that you know what all the ports on the side of your laptop are used for. There are gaps in everyone's basic knowledge of computers, and this is why I find Macmini.com's Mac 101 - The Grand Tour such a useful resource.

Mac 101 - The Grand Tour is actually just a set of links to Apple's Mac 101 tutorial. The advantage of using The Grand Tour is that Macmin.com has done an excellent job of breaking Apple's tutorial into a more approachable set of links with good descriptions of what each tutorial covers. Instead of paging through Apple's web site, you can use Macmini.com's links to go directly to the entry that you want.

I find this resource particularly helpful for students who have switched from Windows to Macs and are looking for quick answers.

Embedding PowerPoint into Blackboard

Note: If you are having trouble viewing the screen shots, click on them to see an enlarged view. Click your browser's Back button to return to this post.

To embed a PowerPoint slide show into Blackboard, first upload the completed PowerPoint slide show to Google Docs:



From the Google Docs list, select your uploaded PowerPoint document and click the Publish tab:



Highlight and copy the embed code that you are shown:



Open your Blackboard course and decide where you'd like to embed the PowerPoint document. Create a new item at that location:



Give the new item a title. In the Text box, paste in the embed code that you copied from Google Docs. You can also add additional explanatory text if you want. Make sure that either "Smart Text" or "HTML" is selected:



Click the Submit button on Blackboard to post your new item. Your PowerPoint document will now be embedded into Blackboard and can be viewed online without having to download it and open it with PowerPoint:

Adding Formatted Word Documents to Blackboard

There are times when you'd like to have a formatted Word document visible on your Blackboard site without making the viewer download a PDF file--for example, to publish your syllabus or a rubric with a complex table. The disadvantages of using a PDF file include much larger file size, difficulty of updating the document, and (in some cases) not being able to view the document in the Blackboard window.

To include a formatted Word document that can be viewed within Blackboard, try this:

1. Compose your document in Word with all of the formatting that you want.
   
   
   
   
2. Go to the File menu and choose Save as Web Page...
   
   
   
   
3. Save the document, then go to the View menu and choose HTML Source
   
   
   
   
4. Your document will look something like this. (You're looking directly at the HTML code that will dictate how your document will appear on a web page.) Select all of the text and copy it to the clipboard.
   
   
   
   
5. Open Blackboard and navigate to the section into which you'd like to paste your document. Enter Edit Mode and create a New Item.
   
   
   
   
6. Give the new item a title, click the HTML button (important!), and paste in the text that you copied.
   
   
   
   
7. Click the Preview button (see bottom right in the picture directly above) to see how your document will look online.
   
   
   
   
8. Close the Preview window and click the Submit button at the bottom right of the Blackboard page to publish your formatted document.

Documents copied this way will not include headers, footers, or page breaks since these items do no exist in HTML.

Playing Audio Files in your Blogger Blog

An intern dropped by the other day and asked if she could play an audio file in her blog. She had posted some French poems for her students to memorize, but she wanted them to hear the poems spoken by a native French speaker.

Blogger doesn't allow the uploading of audio files. However, it DOES allow uploading of movie files, and that's the solution that is presented here.

If you have trouble viewing any of the images, click once on them to see an enlarged version.

Step One: Record your audio in iMovie 6 (other versions may vary slightly)

1. Start up iMovie and create a new project.
2. Put a photo in the canvas area. It doesn't matter which photo since it will not be seen.
3. Click the Media tab.
   
4. Click the Audio tab.
   
5. Say a few words into your laptop microphone to make sure its picking up sound. You should see a green sound meter activating. Click the red Record button to record your audio, then click it again to stop recording.
   
6. Save your iMovie project.
7. From the Share... menu, choose QuickTime.
   
8. Select CD-ROM.
   
9. Give your movie a name and save it to your desktop. This is the file that you'll upload to your blog.
   

Step Two: Upload your video to Blogger

1. Enable podcasting by turning on enclosure links in Blogger. Go to your blog's Dashboard, go to Settings > Formatting and set the "Show Link fields" option to "Yes."
   
2. Go to your blog and create a new post. Don't forget to give it a descriptive title.
3. Click the Edit HTML tab.
   
4. Click the Add Video button at the end of the new post toolbar.
   
5. Browse for your saved video, give it a title (should be descriptive of the content), agree to the terms, and click the Upload Video button.
   
6. Wait until the video file is uploaded and processed. This can take 5 minutes or more.
7. When the video file has been processed, click on the Edit HTML tab (see #2, above). You should see something like this:
   
8. Select the number "266" (highlighted in blue, above) and change it to 28.
9. Click the Publish Post button and view your blog. You'll see a video player like this:
   
10. Click the Play button to listen to your audio file.

You can also add text to your video file or add an audio file to an existing post.

Finally, here is an example from Judy Armance-Sidwell. Click the Play button to hear it.

More on Backups

While you can backup most of your data by dragging and dropping documents or folders from your laptop to your backup device, there are many times when using a program to assist you in making your backups makes sense. For example, I have a rather large Documents folder and huge Movies and Pictures folders. Dragging and dropping these folders to a backup device causes every item in each folder to be copied even if only a few of the items are new or have been revised since the last time I backed them up. Copying and entire 5 gigabyte Movies folder just because I have recently added a 5 megabyte movie to the folder takes a lot of time.

If you have a DotMac account with Apple, you already have access to an excellent backup program called, appropriately enough, Backup. This program can be configured to back up a variety of folders and documents and will backup on those items that have changed since your last backup, making the process quick and easy. DotMac accounts cost $99 per year and provide other services as well.

If you do not have a DotMac account, I highly recommend a program called SuperDuper for your backup needs. In its basic configuration, it's free. The free version will backup your entire laptop drive to an external hard drive. This process can take a couple of hours depending on the contents of your laptop drive, but the result is a bootable external drive from which you can recover everything that you may have lost.

It gets better if you pay the $27.95 shareware fee. The fee-based version has a feature called "Smart Update" which backs up only those files that have changed or been added since the last time you backed up your disk. While your initial backup may take a couple of hours, subsequent backups may take only 15-20 minutes to make a complete copy of your laptop drive. I perform this process weekly so that I always have a current "snapshot" of my drive. Performing daily backups of my Documents folder takes only seconds since only recently changed or added documents are backed up.

Whatever you choose, make backing up your data a regular activity. It's a lot less trouble than recreating your documents from scratch.

We'll be glad to help you configure a backup program. Stop by the lab...

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Setting up SMART Boards

There are four things you need to remember about using SMART Boards in your classes.

1. Install the SMART Board software on your laptop.
   
   All faculty laptops have this installed, but students wanting to use the SMART Boards for their presentations will need to install the software. There are installation CDs available in the lab and in room 160, and they will work with both Macs and Windows.
   
   
2. Connect your laptop to the ceiling-mounted projector.
   
   In rooms 150, 160, and 162, there are black video cables with white adapters attached. The adapters are used for different models of Mac laptops. Most Windows laptops do not need the adapters at all--simply detach the adapters and use the cable itself to attach to the laptop.
   
   Make sure that the adapter that you use is attached to the black video cable.
   
   
3. Connect your laptop to the SMART Board through a USB port.
   
   Each SMART Board has a long, black USB cable that fits into a USB port on your laptop. It is that cable that allows you actually use the SMART Board.
   
   
4. Orient the SMART Board to your laptop.
   
   Once you have the software installed and the video and USB cables attached, run the SMART Board software on your laptop. You will use this software to orient your laptop screen to the SMART Board.
   
   
   
   Click on the Control Panel icon (yellow-handled wrench) and choose Orient/Align the SMART Board. Touch the SMART Board with your index finger at each indicated location to align the board.
   

Troubleshooting

If you are not seeing an image from the projector, make sure:

1. The projector is turned on and warmed up.
2. The video cable is plugged into your laptop (and the correct adapter is attached to the video cable).
3. You have Mirroring turned on on your Mac laptop (Apple Menu...System Preferences...Displays...Turning Mirroring On).

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Laptop Batteries

You should be getting around 2-3 hours of battery time from your laptop depending on how you use it when you are not plugged in. Some activities--e.g., watching a DVD or burning CDs--use up large amounts of battery power and will result in shorter times between recharging.

If you are experiencing times between recharging of less than 1 hour or your battery does not seem to take a charge, you may have one of several problems that need correcting.

1. You may have a faulty battery. Bring your laptop to Gary's Garage on Friday afternoons (or stop by the lab just about any afternoon) and let us check it out.
2. You may need to reset your System Management Controller. Do this:
1. If the computer is on, turn it off.
2. Disconnect the AC Adapter and remove the computer's battery.
3. Press and hold down the power button for 5 seconds and then release the button.
4. Reconnect the battery and AC Adapter.
5. Press the Power button to restart the computer.

Remember that running your laptop always plugged in will decrease your battery life over time. Try and run it at least some time each day unplugged. It's not necessary to run it completely down--just get the electrons flowing for 30 minutes or so.

Finally--once every month or so it's a good idea to let your battery completely discharge, then plug your laptop in and let it reach a full charge. This will contribute to longer battery life. You can use your laptop while it's recharging, but it's important to keep it plugged in until it's filly recharged.