Thursday, October 26, 2006

Presenteeism

You're right, this isn't really about technology, but it is about education. It's long been my opinion that teachers don't take sick days when they should. There are many reasons for this including the fact that it's very, very hard to prepare for a sub sometimes. Another reason can only be described as dedication.

I understand these reasons completely, but I've often wondered if we'd be better off as a society if everyone (not just teachers) stayed home when they felt sick. Well, thanks to a Cornell University study, I now have an idea how much it costs our economy.

According to the study, the US economy loses about $150 billion every year due to presenteeism, the habit of going to work when you're not feeling well. This economic loss is caused by poor productivity by sick workers and, of course, the spread of disease from employee to employee.

The CBC has more information on presenteeism and some tips on dealing with the Flu here.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Protopage

So, you want to make a web page?

I've heard this so many times.
  • I want my students to learn how to make web pages.
  • I'd like to learn how to make web pages.
  • I want to learn how to use Dreamweaver.
Forget about what you think you know about making web pages. Forget about Dreamweaver. Forget about all that hard stuff. Start thinking about Protopage.

With new Web 2.0 technology you can create a web page in seconds. Yes, seconds. As in, less than a minute. And anyone can do it. You don't need to be an "expert." Did I mention you can do it in seconds?

Most people don't want anything complex in their web page. Instead, they just want a place they can easily put up some information, maybe a picture or two, and then tell people to visit it. If all you want is something simple and easy to use, then Protopage is perfect. And, you or your students can make web pages instantly and decide if you want anyone else to see them. You can keep part of your website hidden if you want, so only you can see it.

If you want to learn more about Protopage, let me know; I'd love to help you or your students develop an instant web presence.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Making PDFs

Have you ever sent a carefully-made Word document to someone only to have them tell you that it looks completely different on their computer? Sometimes the page layout is different or the fonts don't show up properly. If you've had these problems before, then you might want to learn what a PDF is.

What's a PDF?
PDF stands for Portable Document Format. The copyright is owned by Adobe Systems, the same company that makes Photoshop, but they've designated it as an open standard. This means that anyone can make a program that creates or reads PDF documents. In other words, you don't need to have Adobe Acrobat in order to create or read PDFs. And this is a good thing, because even though Adobe Acrobat Reader is free, Adobe Acrobat Writer is actually a fairly expensive product.

Why Use PDFs?
When you make a PDF you actually print to a file exactly the same way you would print to a printer. The file created will look exactly the same on any computer, regardless of what operating system they have, what software they have, or what fonts they have installed. You can create a PDF using Microsoft Publisher and send that PDF to someone who doesn't have Publisher and they'll be able to view the file and print the file exactly the same as you could.

What Do I Need?
You need to have a PDF reader and a PDF writer. The best thing to use for a reader is Adobe Acrobat Reader. It's free and does a good job of displaying PDFs. The only problem with Adobe Acrobat Reader is that as Adobe adds more and more features, the program is getting bigger and bigger, so it's a long download (27.7 mb as I write this).

The second thing you need is a writer. You could buy Adobe Acrobat (but it's expensive) or you could use a free writer. The best one I've seen is PDF Creator.

How Does It Work?
Once you've downloaded and installed a PDF writer, you'll find that you have another printer installed. When you want to create a PDF, just print to the new printer the same way you'd print to any other printer. Usually the printer is called by the same name as the software you installed (such as PDF Creator or Adobe PDF). Once you select the PDF writer to print to, the program will ask you where you want to save the PDF, because you're really creating a file. Once you save the file, you have a PDF you can share with anyone.

So, if you can print from a program, you can make a PDF from that program, and you won't have to worry about how it looks "on the other end."

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

New Email System for Chinook SD

The new Chinook email interface is now up and running. While it's fairly similar to many email systems, it does look and behave a bit differently than the previous one.

If you need any help with the new email system, please feel free to contact me.

rgeiger@chinooksd.ca

Open Office

A lot of people have asked me what I recommend as an alternative to Microsoft Office. What you need is a software package that includes a Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and Presentation Software. This type of software package is often called an office suite. The best free office suite is, without a doubt, Open Office.

Open Office is a free, open source office suite that runs on many different operating systems. This means you can download and use it for free. It opens Microsoft office files including complex Word and PowerPoint documents.

New Media

Here are some of the websites I discussed in the New Media discussion in Cabri School.

The clips I showed about how the blogospere can affect news coverage and how it can expose bad news are below.