I'm the tech support person for the School of Education (at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks) and I created this wiki to extend the support that I provide.  As the school year moves along, I'll add technology tips and tricks to help you make the best use of your computer and peripherals.  Plus, check the calendar for "Open Garage" times when you can come by for a quick training or stop in with questions and concerns regarding your specific technology needs.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    August 6, 2007

 

Microsoft's VISTA has been in the news of course, and associate with it is the recent release of Office 2007 (for Windows).  So ... what's a Mac user to do?

Well .... surprise surprise, right now, you can read Word 2007 files and even save in files in Word 2007 format, and you can do this using a Mac application

that's already on your computer (now I can't say how far back in OS X this extends but it sure works on 10.4.10).  Well, what is this mystery app? 

It's the under appreciated TextEdit. When you go to save, right there under the File Format pull down box is Word XML which is the format used by Word 2007.

 

 

    July 25, 2007

 

Are you an Apple iLife user?  iLife's components (GarageBand, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, and iTunes) provide all the tools you and/or your students

might need in order to share a story of some kind (aural and/or visual).  If you've never considered using these tools either personally or with your

students, take a look at the following links for suggestions and how-to's!

 

Apple Learning Exchange - http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali                    Apple Professional Development - http://www.apple.com/education/apd

iLife in the Classroom - http://www.apple.com/education/ilife                     iPhoto in the Classroom - http://www.apple.com/education/iphoto

iPhoto Support and Tutorials - http://www.apple.com/support/iphoto

 

    July 24, 2007

 

Today's tip comes from Apple and is a quick video tutorial on how to take screen shots - take a look at: http://www.apple.com/business/videotips/

while you are there take a look at how to better use the built in dictionary in OS X - http://www.apple.com/business/videotips/?movie=word

and how to make your dock the home of one-click applications - http://www.apple.com/business/videotips/?movie=apps

 

    August 23, 2007

 

 

There are many ways to bring a math equation into a document (and many external programs MathPad being one that will allow you to create an equation and Word does as well sort of ....) but one of the easiest to use and of course already resides on your Mac is Grapher.  Ok ... now raise your hands - how many of you even have looked at (or are aware of) Grapher? 

 

Well ..... first and foremost Grapher is designed to graphically display what ever math equation you can conjure up (works great with students too!)

Once you have an equation entered into Grapher (displayed in the light blue highlight)

 

 

you can use the Edit->Copy command to grab a copy to the clipboard and then use the Edit-->Paste to place it into a document

 

 

 

and that's it!

 

and then there is a bit of a wait since the last tip ....

 

 

     August 19, 2008

 

 

If you are looking for tutorials to help you learn more about the "Macintosh" computer you are using, try the Apple web site

 

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/ - this is the "current" source for Apple's user friendly tutorials

 

 

 

Check the calendar for what's on tap ....

 

and now there is leave me a video message via TokBox  .....