Friday, September 28, 2012
Hype 2: It's Finished
I finished the first interactive Hype widget on analyzing primary source cartoons. I've recorded a quick video, that also gives you a brief look at the behind-the scenes organization of the app.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Mental Health Break
I laughed 'til I cried. Maybe it helped that we sang the Carmina when I was in high school.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
ISHTOT: Promote the Library on Your Screensaver
OK, this entry into the "I Should Have Thought of That" series is embarrassing, because it seems like such a no-brainer that I almost decided not to write this (also because I figured everyone else already knows this and will be thinking, "Well, DUH, Jeri!")
Never one to be afraid of looking well, challenged, I shall post, nevertheless. And if you're already doing this, you can definitely feel superior!
As I walked out of a meeting into the library today, I glanced at the student computers. The screensaver was on and--lo and behold!--they were running a slideshow promoting new books we just added to the collection. Curious, I opened up the system preferences, clicked on the screensaver icon, and there was a folder of slides.
I have three (yes, THREE! I keep telling you--work overseas!) great support staff, and they just quietly added this last week without me noticing. Of course, you can do the same thing with a digital frame or a large screen display (if, like us, you're lucky enough to have one of those on your wall), and I've done that. But--duh--it never occurred to me to use the library screensavers.
If it hadn't occurred to you, either, here's how (for a Mac. I'm sure the process is similar for a Windows-based computer, but I don't have one here to test it out).
1) Create an empty folder on your desktop.
2) In Power Point or Keynote, create your slides, adding whatever text/images you want. Save them as a JPEG file in the folder you created.
KEYNOTE
POWER POINT
3. Load the folder onto your student computers. Open System Preferences>Desktop/Screensaver and select the Screensaver tab.
4. Click the + button and choose "Add folder of pictures" in the pop-up menu, then navigate to your folder and select it.
5. Choose your display style and preview it with the "Test" button. When you're happy, set the display timer to 3 minutes and you're good to go!
Never one to be afraid of looking well, challenged, I shall post, nevertheless. And if you're already doing this, you can definitely feel superior!
As I walked out of a meeting into the library today, I glanced at the student computers. The screensaver was on and--lo and behold!--they were running a slideshow promoting new books we just added to the collection. Curious, I opened up the system preferences, clicked on the screensaver icon, and there was a folder of slides.
I have three (yes, THREE! I keep telling you--work overseas!) great support staff, and they just quietly added this last week without me noticing. Of course, you can do the same thing with a digital frame or a large screen display (if, like us, you're lucky enough to have one of those on your wall), and I've done that. But--duh--it never occurred to me to use the library screensavers.
If it hadn't occurred to you, either, here's how (for a Mac. I'm sure the process is similar for a Windows-based computer, but I don't have one here to test it out).
1) Create an empty folder on your desktop.
2) In Power Point or Keynote, create your slides, adding whatever text/images you want. Save them as a JPEG file in the folder you created.
POWER POINT
3. Load the folder onto your student computers. Open System Preferences>Desktop/Screensaver and select the Screensaver tab.
4. Click the + button and choose "Add folder of pictures" in the pop-up menu, then navigate to your folder and select it.
5. Choose your display style and preview it with the "Test" button. When you're happy, set the display timer to 3 minutes and you're good to go!
Friday, September 21, 2012
Animate Your Lessons with Hype
Wow. Sorry for the dearth of blogging. Between apartment hunting, dealing with my shipping, and trying to get my head around the myriad activities, meetings, and general goings-on at the new school, Bib 2.0 has been pretty low on my list of "Things I Have To Do!"
But I hope to start blogging more regularly (grin--well, as regularly as I ever blog!) in a couple weeks.
In the meantime, as you may or may not remember, I'm working on putting my lessons into digital format, and awhile ago I posted a link to the iBooks version of my lesson on primary sources. I wasn't completely happy with it, but I was a) doing it for a class and just needed to finish it and b) trying to figure out all the ins, outs, and widgets of the iBooks Author app.
I started revising it yesterday. Basically, I wanted it to have more meaningful interactive elements, and I needed widgets not available in the iBA app itself. While digging around online trying to find them, I ran across an incredibly awesome app: Tumult's Hype.
Hype let's you create animated, interactive HTML5 widgets to add to websites or iBooks Author. If you're familiar with the iWorks suite interface, you'll feel at home with Hype. It does take a while to figure out the organizational structure for creating a widget (it's based on keyframes), but there are two video tutorials to give you the basics.
The site also has a page of professional looking examples that you can both view AND download, which lets you open up the file and see how they put it all together. VERY helpful!
Here's my own brief demo of the first part of my interactive lesson on working with cartoons, to give you an idea of what Hype can do. Not bad for $49.99!
But I hope to start blogging more regularly (grin--well, as regularly as I ever blog!) in a couple weeks.
In the meantime, as you may or may not remember, I'm working on putting my lessons into digital format, and awhile ago I posted a link to the iBooks version of my lesson on primary sources. I wasn't completely happy with it, but I was a) doing it for a class and just needed to finish it and b) trying to figure out all the ins, outs, and widgets of the iBooks Author app.
I started revising it yesterday. Basically, I wanted it to have more meaningful interactive elements, and I needed widgets not available in the iBA app itself. While digging around online trying to find them, I ran across an incredibly awesome app: Tumult's Hype.
Hype let's you create animated, interactive HTML5 widgets to add to websites or iBooks Author. If you're familiar with the iWorks suite interface, you'll feel at home with Hype. It does take a while to figure out the organizational structure for creating a widget (it's based on keyframes), but there are two video tutorials to give you the basics.
The site also has a page of professional looking examples that you can both view AND download, which lets you open up the file and see how they put it all together. VERY helpful!
Here's my own brief demo of the first part of my interactive lesson on working with cartoons, to give you an idea of what Hype can do. Not bad for $49.99!
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