Table of Contents - Vol. 21 No. 5 - February 2005

1. Pearls of URLs
   This monthly item will highlight Internet sites which are considered "gems" by educators.
2. Notes and Quotes
   This regular column provides information on a potpourri of technological "tidbits".
3. PDF Creator - Part 1 -A free, software solution for schools
   Brian Metcalfe describes how "Bits and Bytes" can now be accessed in a portable document format (PDF) thanks to a free software resource called "PDFCreator". This product will make life easier for educators and clerks who want to share and distribute school newsletters and children's creations using  the school's web site.
4. PDF Creator - Part 2 - Accessing, Installing, Using and Posting
   MaryLouise Lisi informs readers as to where one can download "PDFCreator" and how to install and use this tool for facilitating the sharing of files via a web site.
5. Publisher created "tent cards" shared using PDFCreator
   Following up on Greg Link's creation of a student name card, Brian Metcalfe created a similar product using Publisher. In order to help readers understand the PDF conversion process, this article describes how the "NameTentCard.pub" file was changed to its corresponding portable document format (PDF) using PDFCreator.
6. If macros are indeed the key ... check that they are virus-free!
   With the help of Kenn Olson of AV and Computer Repair Services, Brian Metcalfe describes what macros are and how readers must be very careful downloading files that contain macros. This article reviews the three step process that readers should follow whenever they download any files containing macros that have been designed or approved of by our Technology Education team. 
7. Who's on 1st? - Let the impartial computer decide!
   Brian Metcalfe shares this Excel spreadsheet resource to help educators choose students or tasks at random. One may download this "RandomizeList.xls" file, approve of the embedded macro that Brian created and then use this resource as described to select students or events at random.
8. Food for Thought: "Enjoy Life. This is not a dress rehearsal."
   These words of wisdom were shared by an 83 year old whose concluding comment says it all.
9. Freebie Favourites
   The first freebie is a "NameTentCard" created in Publisher which is shared in PDF format. Teachers may wish to print these tent cards and use them for student name tags with their discussion hints. The second freebie is the "RandomizeList.xls" file which can be downloaded and when the embedded random macro is enabled educators can use it as a tool for selecting students, tasks or items at random.

Pearls of URLs

   Month To Month Suggestions for Independent Computer Activities ( K - 8) at:   
     http://www.internet4classrooms.com/month2month.htm  - (Michelle Bouchard - Fort Rouge)
   Paper Snowflakes for Everyone at http://www.papersnowflakes.com/

Notes and Quotes

Dr. David Thornburg presents at Victoria Inn on April 25th
Seven Oaks School Division in partnership with Manitoba Education Citizenship & Youth invite you to attend a 2.5 hour workshop with Dr. David Thornburg entitled, “Understanding Generation.com”. Dr. Thornburg advances our understanding that our children are natives of the digital age, and we are the immigrants. Our accent colors everything we do, including our teaching. This dynamic session explores the dominant thinking modalities of today's young people -- the action-oriented generation deeply engaged in multi-tasking experiential volitional learning as they surf the edges of urban chaos in their drive forward into a dynamic future. Based on in-depth studies of youth culture, this presentation examines several attributes of young people that can help us make sure their minds are as attentive in the classroom as they are outside the schoolhouse doors. Further, Dr. Thornburg addresses pragmatic concerns of all educators working in this age of data overwhelm in a presentation entitled – “From Data to Understanding: Navigating Informational Spaces in the Age of Overwhelm”. Practical strategies to help move from the world of highly impersonal data to the domain of personal understanding – a journey we all want students to take as they study any subject at virtually any grade. In addition to big-picture information and practical strategies, this workshop explores powerful tools that ease the path from data to understanding.

Tickets are available for $50.00 per morning (9:00 am - 11:30 am) or afternoon (1:00 pm - 3:00 pm) session. For more information, examine or print the Registration Form, and contact Michael Pohorily, Division Team Leader Educational Technology, Seven Oaks School Division at michael.pohorily@7oaks.org or call (204) 927-3701.

Learning Together Conference Activities at: http://www.wsd1.org/LTCActivities/
Educators will want to bookmark this site and return often to gain access to a wealth of educational activities that showcase and demonstrate how technology can enhance teaching. Over the past four years the "Learning Together Conference" in January has been the catalyst which brings master educators together to share creative classroom activities. This year's team of Signy Stewart (Teacher Librarian & Lab Facilitator at Champlain School), Bob Angst (Teacher Librarian & Lab Facilitator at Garden Grove School), Keith Benson (North District Technology Support Teacher), Leslie Gentes (South District Technology Support Teacher), and MaryLouise Lisi (Divisional Educational Technology Support Teacher) has created and shared activities to foster the theme of "Artful Teaching - Joyful Learning". Under this year's heading of "Artful Prestidigitation", one will find activities on "Symmetry", "Op Art", "Hidden Images", "Mystery Photos", "Tessellations", "Art Study & Creation", "Collage", "Landscapes", "Tools" and "Web Sites". All of the shared activities use software available on most Winnipeg School Division computers including "HyperStudio", "Paint", "Word", "IrfanView", "602 Photo", "PowerPoint" and one's favourite browser. Check out the activity resources on this web site. You won't be sorry!

by Brian Metcalfe - Technology Education

Last Fall I attended an after-school meeting to discuss the International Schools CyberFair challenge with Greg Link at Tec Voc. During the meeting he shared with me a resource that he used with his students. It was an 8.5" x 11" piece of card stock that was folded down the middle to make a "tent card" with a side dimension of 4.25" x 11". Greg indicated that he used these "tent cards" as seating name tags whenever his students gathered to hear a guest speaker or if they were engaged in discussing a particular educational topic. On the blank 4.25" X 11" side facing outward, each student prints her/his name with a felt marker. On the other side, facing the student, was the heading "HOW TO BE AN EFFECTIVE PARTICIPANT" with explanations of the following tips:

- Come to the Meetings with Questions in Mind
- Listen Thoughtfully and Critically to Others
- Speak Your Mind Freely
- Don't Monopolize the Discussion
- Don't Let the Discussion Get Away From You
- Don't Engage in Side Conversations With Your Neighbour
- Take Part in Friendly Disagreement
- Strike While the Idea id Hot
- Be Action-Minded
- Above All  - develop the art of listening
- After the Meeting - Ask yourself "What did I contribute?"

In order to share this resource and to help explain the PDF Creator process to readers, I have created a "tent card" file using Publisher called "NameTentCard.pub". Hopefully the steps and screen shots will help reinforce the process to convert one's "hard copy" print-outs to PDF files for easy sharing.

1. Publisher was used to create the "tent card" and the results were saved as the file "NameTentCard.pub" to my desktop or to a specific folder.

2. Next, I clicked on the File>Print menu items in Publisher and rather than select my usual printer, I clicked the printer "Name:" drop down list box and chose "PDFCreator" as shown at right. The "OK" button in the lower right was clicked to proceed.

3. On the next "PDFCreator" screen,  simply click the "Save" button in the bottom right corner. Note that because a check mark is placed in front of "After saving, open the document with the default program.", my "NameTentCard.PDF" file will automatically display in Acrobat Reader which is the free software which displays PDF files.

4. Navigate to the desktop or same folder in which you saved the original document.  However be careful that you do not create a "double dot" filename as illustrated. If the filename displays the original program's 3 character extension (e. g. pub) followed by a dot and the portable document format 3 character extension of "pdf", there will be a problem. I f you notice a double "dot file" being created, you must delete the initial 3 character extension so that the file name is followed immediately by ".pdf" (without quotes) as illustrated by the filename "NameTentCard.pdf". Click "Save" to proceed.

5. When you are successful, your PDF creation will automatically open up in Adobe Acrobat (if the option in Step #3 was checked) as shown below. Users may wish to explore the various options on both toolbars including the "highlighter" and the "binoculars" for searching for words throughout the document.

Readers wishing to view and print Greg Link's Publisher-created name tag resource can click on this "NameTentCard.PDF" link or select it from the "freebies" at the end of this newsletter. 

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by Brian Metcalfe - Technology Education

What is a macro?
The Symantec web site glossary at: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/refa.html defines a "macro" as: "A set of keystrokes and instructions that are recorded, saved, and assigned to a short key code. When the key code is typed, the recorded keystrokes and instructions execute (play back). Macros can simplify day-to-day operations, which otherwise become tedious."

I recall a colleague who used to work for the former "Transcona-Springfield School Division No. 12". Since he often had to enter this string of characters into his correspondence, he designed a macro which automatically typed his school division name whenever he entered a particular key combination such as <Ctrl><Alt><T>. Today macros can be much more complex and can in fact make life much easier for the user. However because macros may be stored in a Visual Basic module they could contain a virus and any person who downloads a Word document or Excel spreadsheet with embedded macros could possibly infect their computer by simply permitting an embedded macro to "do its thing".

How can macros assist the end-user?
Macros, like the example above, can speed up a process by doing a number of steps which can be activated by a keystroke combination or by clicking on a button. For example, I have created an Excel freebie called "Twenty Questions" which utilizes macros in a mathematical sequence quiz. For example, when the student clicks on the "Start" button, a macro is activated which performs eight steps including clearing previous answers, starting the timer and capturing the start time, creating a set of random questions within the ranges specified and copying and pasting these problems into the student's work area. Undoubtedly the macro automates actions and makes it easier for the end user.

Therefore one should always have their macro security set for "High" to block potential viruses embedded in macros and more importantly, if warned that the download file may contain macros make certain that you determine if the software is being downloaded from a "trusted" resource.

How do I know if a file contains a macro?
When the user opens, for example, an Excel file that contains a macro, one may see the following precautionary display. Thankfully this person's "Security Level" is set to "High" (accessed in Excel through Tools>Macro>Security). Although the prompt indicates "To run the macros, change the security level to a lower setting", it is DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMENDED. Reducing the security below the "High" setting makes the computer vulnerable to macro-borne viruses. The following display indicates that the file does not have a "digitally signed Trusted Certificate" which larger corporations include with macro-embedded files to indicate that the macros are virus-free.

About a year ago, I started exploring how I could distribute freebies with embedded macros and also indicate to the person downloading and running these resources that the macros did not contain any viruses. After finding out that the process for acquiring a "Trusted Certificate" was going to be costly, I put my macro-sharing files project on the back-burner. However it was Kenn Olson, in AV and Computer Repair Services, who came up with a process whereby our department could embed a "Technology Education" signature to indicate that our files contain virus-free macros. The user, who attempts to open or run such a file containing macro(s), that have been created or approved by "Technology Education", will be prompted as shown. This three-step process will open them safely:

1. Below the file name (e.g. "testwithmacros.xls"), check to see if it includes the digital signature "Technology Education". If it does not, disable the macros and don't use the file;

2. Click in the box to the left of "Always trust macros from this source". If you do so, you will no longer see this "Security Warning" on your computer when you choose, in future, to open any files containing macros created or approved by the staff in Technology Education; and

3. Click the "Enable Macros" button to open the file and use the macro(s) safely.

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by Brian Metcalfe - Technology Education

When I was teaching in the classroom there always seemed to be a need to select tasks or students in an impartial fashion. Whether it was the order in which classroom presentations were to occur or deciding on what students would be grouped together for team projects, there was always seemed to be pressure on me as a teacher since some students often questioned my selection process. Once I became familiar with programming and, in particular, the random number function, I shifted any student pressure from me to the computer. This article will describe a simple random ordering procedure incorporated into an Excel macro. Once this Excel "RandomizeList.xls" spreadsheet freebie is downloaded and the three steps to enable the embedded macros (as outlined in the previous article) are done, this procedure will help relieve stress in your classroom. When one enables the macro and opens "RandomizeList.xls", one sees the following display:

.

The teacher can proceed down column "A" replacing the generic "Student 1", "Student 2", "Student 3" ... with the names of students in her/his class. When all the students have been added, one clicks in the green "Done" cell at location "D1" and presses the "RANDOMIZE" button to produce a randomly sorted list of students, or tasks, in column "A" to the right of the ordered line numbers. Since the teacher has been removed from the selection process, the students are more willing to accept the impartiality of the computer and its embedded random macro.

The "Teachable Moment" - How does the embedded macro work?
Upon examining the previous display, experienced Excel users will note that only columns "A" , "D", and "E" are shown because columns "B" and "C" are hidden. One can display these hidden columns by clicking in the "A" title bar and dragging over to its adjacent "D" column. When both of these columns ("A" & "D") are highlighted, one can click on the "Format>Column>Unhide" menu items to display the hidden columns "B" & "C" with their respective random numbers as shown:

New users of spreadsheets often tend to look somewhat superficially at the top visible layer of a spreadsheet. In this case, one notes that on this top layer there is a list of students or items in column "A". The previously hidden columns "B" and "C" reveal two columns of random whole numbers in a "Captured" and "Volatile" column. However, users of spreadsheets are quick to learn that the power of a spreadsheet is dependant on the calculations and functions that take place below this top layer as this surface layer only displays the outcome of these numerical manipulations.

As previously stated, a macro is a series of steps that can be executed by pressing a key combination or in this case the "RANDOMIZE" button. Although the mathematics behind the random number generation is beyond the scope of this article, an outline of the steps that are accomplished within this macro will provide interested readers with a better understanding of how the students or tasks are randomized.

1. When the "RANDOMIZE" button is pressed, the macro begins by checking the contents of column "A" scanning down the 100 cells from "A2" to "A101". I arbitrarily decided that 100 entries would be adequate for most classes, teams or task lists. Whenever a student name or task is found in column "A", a random integer in the range 1-100 is generated and placed on the same row in column "C" under the "Volatile Random #" heading. If there is no student name or task in a cell in column "A", then no random number is generated and a blank entry is assigned to the corresponding cell in column "C". The random values created in column "C" (which were based on whether the corresponding cell in column "A" contained an entry or not), were generated with a function like:
   
                                    =IF(A2<>"",INT(RAND()*100) + 1,"")
   
   Examining the screen shot above, we note that this macro proceeded as follows:
   - "A2" contains "Student 1" so the random number 51 is generated and placed in cell "C2"
   - "A3" contains "Student 2" so the random number 22 is generated and placed in cell "C3"
   - "A12" is an empty cell so no random number is generated and a blank in entered in "C12"
   

2. Unfortunately the random numbers generated and entered in column "C" are "volatile" in that they change whenever the macro attempts to carry out an operation or perform a new calculation. Those who have downloaded this "RandomizeList.xls" freebie and have followed the three steps identified in the previous article to enable the embedded macro can examine the random volatility of column "C". To do so, one must "unhide" columns "B" & "C". Next click in any cell in the spreadsheet and press the <F9> function key which will force a new set of random numbers to be generated. Although the numbers in column "C" change with each press of the <F9> function key, the "Captured Random #" values in column "B" remain fixed.

3. In order to capture the random values generated in column "C", I instructed the macro to copy all the random numbers and blanks in column "C" from "C2 through "C101" and invoke the "Paste Special" command to paste only their respective "values" into the corresponding cells "B2" through "B101". These values in column "B" now remain fixed regardless of the volatility of the random numbers being generated in column "C".

4. The next step that the macro executes is a standard procedure used in gaming to simulate the shuffling or "randomizing" of events. For example, if one wanted a computer to simulate shuffling a deck of 52 playing cards, one would assign a random number to each playing card. The shuffling process is simulated by sorting all the random numbers in order from smallest to largest. Whenever a random number is moved to a new location based on its sorted order, the corresponding playing card is also moved accordingly. This same process was used in this macro to simulate the random selection of students or tasks. For example, if one begins sorting the fixed "Captured Random #" in column "B" from lowest to highest value, making certain that their corresponding student name or task gets shifted in the same manner, the first five students when "sorted" or "randomly picked" would appear as follows::

   STUDENT or ITEM LIST    ... etc ... Student 4 Student 8 Student 5 Student 2

   Captured Random # 12 17 66 70 71

Enjoy using this Excel freebie macro to select students or tasks randomly. Just remind your students that the computer never plays favourites and never makes "misteaks". (:-)

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from http://www.birthfamily.com/bertha.htm

This was written by an 83 year old...The last line says it all.

Dear Bertha,

I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting in the yard and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time working. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experiences to savor, not to endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.

I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, or the first Amaryllis blossom.

I wear my good blazer to the market. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries..

I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties, but wearing it for clerks in the hardware store and tellers at the bank.

"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary; if it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now.

I'm not sure what others would've done had they known they wouldn't be here for the tomorrow that we all take for granted.

I think they would have called family members and a few close friends. They might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles.

I like to think they would have gone out for a Chinese dinner or for whatever their favorite food was.

I'm guessing; I'll never know.

It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew my hours were limited. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and parents often enough how much I truly love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives.

And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every minute, every breath truly is a gift from God.

If you received this, it is because someone cares for you.

If you're too busy to take the few minutes that it takes right now to forward this, would it be the first time you didn't do the little thing that would make a difference in your relationships? I can tell you it certainly won't be the last.

Take a few minutes to send this to a few people you care about, just to let them know that you're thinking of them.

"People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there."

I don't believe in miracles. I rely on them.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.

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The following "freebies" are shared with our readers. One is encouraged to download the resources to your own computer in one of two ways. In most cases, one simply needs to click on the link and the browser will ask if one wishes to "Open" the file and view its contents or "Save" the file to the local hard drive. The "Save" option allows users to download the "freebie" and store it in a particular folder on one's local hard drive for later use. An alternative way of downloading "freebie" files is to navigate to the "Freebie Favourites" page with one's browser and if clicking on the link, as noted above, does not prompt one to save the file to one's own computer, one can right-click on the "freebie" link. When one right-clicks to download a file, the browser will prompt one to "Save Target/Link As". Left-clicking this option will allow one to navigate to an appropriate folder on one's hard drive and save the filename specified for later use.

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