Lrng.

My name is Chris Pultz. I work for the Computing Services department of Lincoln Public Schools in Lincoln, NE. Please note that this page is "all opinion all the time." If you are looking for officially sanctioned LPS related news, look here, not on this page. This page is rubbish, I assure you. And if you think this is awful, you definitely do not want to follow me on Twitter. That would drive you mad!

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October 8

Alltop: kidslit

Alltop has added an aggregation page for the top children’s literature news from the internet.

As an aside - I have started using Alltop as a resource, but not for it’s intended purpose. don’t actually visit the site for the news, or grab the RSS for any of their aggregation pages. Instead, if there is a topic I am investigating, I check to see if Alltop has it covered. If they do, I check out the sites they aggregate for my first pass of info. I also find Alltop pages useful when someone is asking me about a topic that they want to know more about. Makes more sense to send them to an existing resource than recreate the wheel with my own spin on it.

October 6

Old Scanner? New Mac? No Problem!

Like bajillions of other people, I bought a scanner many years ago. In my case it was a CanoScan, and I have nothing bad to say about it. It has been and still is a workhorse for me. Unfortunately, as Mac OS has evolved, the scanner drivers and software the devices are locked into has not. In fact, if you are using an Intel based Mac you may find it extremely difficult to even get your computer to recognize your TWAIN scanner. This is a huge pain for classrooms who can’t afford to upgrade scanners.

Fear not! After some poking around on “ye vast interwebs,” I came across a fellow in Sweeden named Mattias Ellert. Mattias has writen an Intel based (10.3-4-5) interface that should allow your Mac to recognize and utilize just about any major scanner made in the past decade that used TWAIN as the connection, whether it was USB or SCSI. It’s called:

TWAIN SANE

It is all open source, and is pretty easy to install if you follow the directions on the page. Just download 4 packages for your particular Mac and run the installers. Done! Your Mac will now probably be able to use that scanner again, from right inside Image Capture, PhotoShop, MS Word, or many other software applications.

I know a lot of K-12 classroom teachers who would kiss this guy if they ever met him! Since you aren’t likely to run into him at the grocery store, you can feel free to give him a call to say thanks, though the long distance might be steep, and you’ll need to know Swedish.

October 1

Additional Search Attributes

When working with nervous teachers trying to struggle their way through tasks on the computer, I often try to console them by sharing that I have considered myself a “power user” for 15 years, but still come across things now and again that I had no idea existed. Today is aperfect example of that.

When using Spotlight to search for a file just now, I learned that when choosing “Other…” from the drop down menu provided when constructing an advanced search (click the “Add +” button) you are presented with a STUNNING number of data types to search by. A few examples:

File invisible (to find invisible files)
File type
ISO, f value, Focal length, Exposure, Aperture, Resolution, etc. of a photo
Any MP3 tag info
Orientation (Landscape or Portrait)
Height or Width in points or pixels

September 29

Since Dashboard came along in Macintosh v10.4, I have periodically had two different issues, and they have plagued me clear through v10.5. Once a week or so, the weather widget just dissapears. Other times, it decides to duplicate, or sometimes reproduce like crazy so that i see 10-15 weather widgets when i give the old F12 key a nudge. I’ve never complained or done anything about it, because - hey - it’s the temperature. This is data that I can do without, really.

Today’s issue made me laugh however, because not only did it decide to duplicate itself, they can’t even get on the same page about the temperature.

September 26

I guarantee that you will hug your children closer tonight after viewing these images of families dealing with childhood cancer.

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
via The Big Picture

September 22

What $700 billion could buy

Jeff Jarvis blogs about the things we COULD do in America for far less than $700 billion dollars.

September 19

“ I had children in my class that were very capable at using technology and were motivated and enthused at its use in our lessons but who often struggled with their literacy or maths, they were more confident when collaborating with Google Docs because of their own personal comfort with technology in the classroom. They pushed themselves forward to take a lead and be more involved when in a more traditional paper-based activity they may not have done. Similarly, the flip side of this is children who are very confident and capable in literacy who perhaps have less confidence when using technology. Even though composing groups within your class to collaborate is similar for any activity, it is important to consider the type of characters who grows in confidence when embedding technology in their learning. Tom Barrett
‘It’s about communication, not the tool’
Official Google Docs Blog

September 12

50 Ways to Tell a Story - Alan Levine

It was not long ago that producing multimedia digital content required expensive equipment and technical expertise; we are at the point now where we can do some very compelling content creation with…

The EepyBird.com fellows have taken their Diet Coke & Mentos notoriety and parlayed it into higher production value. Their inspiration & materials this time around are just as inexpensive though - stcky notes!

They are a great model for students who want to make interesting videos, but have no budget. Look at what’s lying around you and be creative!

September 11

“ …schools aren’t stores and teachers aren’t cashiers. David Walsh, Ph. D. - ‘Kids Need Parents and Teachers on the Same Page’