Last week I discussed uploading the multiple files necessary to creating a Camtasia-produced screen video and then creating a file link to them in Blackboard 9.1.  In the course of that discussion I mentioned that you must zip the files into a compressed folder (what Blackboard calls a “package” file) before uploading them.  The procedure is simple, but just to be clear, here’s how: How to create the ZIP folder 1.  Navigate to the folder that contains the files you wish to zip into a compressed folder. 2.  Select the files 3.  Right-click the selection and choose “Send to compressed...

Every semester I conduct a workshop titled “Basic Computer Basic Basics,” whose tag line is: “No question is too basic, no observation too un-profound for this workshop.”  In it we truly do try to keep it basic, but one man’s basic is another man’s advanced, so this gets to be a bit problematic.  Nevertheless, one topic that is often considered “advanced,” but should really be part of everyone’s computer toolkit is mouse button control.  Quick:  How do you control the size and speed of your mouse pointer?  How do you switch left and right mouse...

Picking up the thread from yesterday’s post… As you recall, yesterday we created a glossary in a Blackboard 9 course, exported it as a tab delimited XLS file, imported that file into a flash authoring tool called StudyMate, created a set of self-test flash cards (flash in the old sense, that is), and then saved the files from StudyMate to our desktop.  Today we want to zip up those files into a package file (in Blackboard parlance–in Windows this is called a “compressed, zipped folder”), and then finally upload the package file to Blackboard and create a link to it in a...

This Tuesday an upgrade was released for Windows Live Essentials.  Live Essentials are a bundle of the software that Microsoft used to include with the operating system–messenger, mail, photo gallery, movie maker–and a set of other related tools–live writer, family safety, live toolbar.  Microsoft unbundled them from the OS because, probably, they just got tired of being sued for monopolistic practices.  These excellent tools are now for download instead.  Which is fine by me.  I got tired of uninstalling/disabling messenger, ignoring mail, and figuring out when I actually needed...

We had a terrific summer Tech Camp.  Thanks to all who attended.  I feel that valuable skills were obtained and hope that they will be used in your instruction in coming semesters.  We featured a number of educational tools and products during camp, and I thought I would summarize the highlights here for those who have lost their notes. The real-time Twitter polls we used were from Polls Everywhere.  The free, educational version allows a max of 32 votes.  With a little creativity and multiple instances of a poll, even a class larger than 32 can use this fun feature.  Remember, you are not limited to...