Saving Money on Teaching Materials Books and Software Part 2

Yesterday I began this article to give teachers suggestions on how to save money by using internet resources. We will continue today with two more great suggestions.

• Find the right forums. My wife actually uses a web site to save money on groceries and saves an average of $400 per month. But this site also lists sales for wide variety things including school and office supplies. The site she uses is http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com. She has found me deals on printers, office supplies, videos, software and more. There are other sites out there, but from what I have seen this is one of the best. The downside to shopping like this is you are likely to find exactly what you need right now, but if you periodically check the site you will come across many great deals.
  
• Open Source is free. Open Source software has saved me a lot of money. It may not be the very best available but many applications are of very high quality. I have written articles about many Open source applications that I feel are of worth to teachers, but the offering are very vast, and do almost anything that you can think of. When you are in the market for a new program take a little time to search for an open source alternative, and in many cases you will be pleasantly surprised by what is available. I recently wrote an article about Blender 3D an open source 3d creation software. This application compares with programs like 3D Studio Max or Maya, which cost nearly $5000. For a school environment Blender 3D is more than ample power, and allows you to introduce students to creative power when using the high end $5000 applications are not in the budget.

Saving Money on Teaching Materials Books and Software Part 1

Our budgets as teachers are very limited, so for me at least it is important to make every penny stretch as far as it can. Over the last year I have manages to save thousands of dollars on my purchases. I'm going to give you a few examples of how I saved money on some of my purchases, and hopefully you can use similar strategies to save money.

• Use academic software dealers. I advertise two dealers on this blog and they can save you a significant amount of money on professional software. For example Adobe Creativity Suite retails for $1200 and on Academic Super Store it is $390. You do need to provide proof that you are either a student or teacher, but it is well worth the hassle. Even better I found that Adobe has a philanthropy arm that provides it's software at even a greater discount. This requires that you write a grant and you are limited to one suite, or four individual products. Our school received the Adobe Premium Production Suite for $140, the Academic version is $700 and the retail version is $2100. Information can be found at https://adobeprograms.giftsinkind.org
  
• Look on eBay and Amazon. When you find a great product in one of those educational catalogs, or you see an infomercial on TV and think that it would be valuable take the time to shop around. I like to use manipulatives in my math instruction and I was looking at getting some reproducible books from ETA Cuisenaire. Because I teach Special Education k-6 I needed a full set for all grade levels. It was well over $500, but I noticed that they also had a cd-rom with all of the content so I could just print worksheets directly to my printer and it was only $200. Wow I can save $300 and I don't have to mess with the books and making copies what a bargain. Well I didn't jump to make the purchase, because I always check eBay, and Amazon. EBay did not have it, but Amazon did. It was on sale at Amazon for a whopping $24.95, For that price I was sure it couldn't be the same thing, but for $25 it was worth the risk, and it paid of. I saved $175 on this one product, and more than $475 of what I original intended to purchase.
  

Continued Tomorrow…

Norton System Works Premiere, A Pleasant Surprise!

Norton System Works Premiere preformed very well during my testing period. I must admit I was a little weary of trying Norton again because in the past I have had trouble with the anti virus significantly slowing my system. An when I installed it, I experienced a very long boot time, and was afraid this program was much of the same if not worse. Fortunately the boot time issue was a one time thing, and now my system works very efficiently. I preformed some benchmarks before and after installing the system, and after running the system optimization tools. there was no loss of speed in most tests before and after the installation, and those that we lower were still very close to original benchmarks. After running the system optimization tools I noticed a boost in boot speed and application launch speed. The benchmarks showed some improvement in most areas, although it was not significant. The tools worked flawlessly, yet the interface could use some improvement. Over all I was pleasantly surprised with the improvement in antivirus performance, and the tools worked well. The price tag is somewhat steep but if you watch for rebates you may even find help in this department. For those of us dismayed by the poor perfomance of System Mechanic 7 this is a good alternative.

AVG Antivirus still free and works great

Grade:

AVG has been the go to for free virus protection for years, but recently I have seen many rumors that AVG would no longer be offering a free version of their software. It is true that AVG will no longer support previous versions of AVG free, but they have released a new version 7.5 of AVG Free available at http://free.grisoft.com. The new version has performance enhancements and is fully compatible with Windows Vista.
AVG has a few advantages over much of the competition in the antivirus market. First it has a relatively small footprint. This enables it to run effectively without causing much strain on your system resources. Second are the rapid updates. Grissoft Frequently updates the virus definitions so you can remain safe from new viruses. The free version still covers your basic virus scanning needs with mail scan, resident memory scan, and full system scans. For most people it is all you need. If you do need to step up with more features the commercial versions of AVG hold up very well against the competition.

Protecting Teachers from Jail Time.

I read about the story below and was a little bit surprised that lack of knowledge and caution could lead to such big problems. The legal fact is that whether we intend to or not it phonographic material is shown to students we are liable. If you read further the material was left on the screen for some time because the teacher involved did not turn the computer off. As teachers we are responsible to take basic steps to protect our students and protect our computers from inappropriate content. Here are a few things that we can do help protect our PC's from unwanted intrusions.

• Use recent windows software. The machine she was using was running windows 98 which is no longer supported by Microsoft which means it is no longer getting security updates. You may not need Vista but you should have a version that still receives support which is currently Windows 2000 and above.
• Keep your Operating Systems security updates up to date.
• Use anti virus software and keep it up to date.
• Use spy ware software and run on a regular basis.
• Turn of pictures in your email program. Many times we receive junk email or spam that have pornographic pictures. Most programs will let you download the pictures in individual emails that you approve when you turn photos off.
• If problems arise turn it off and try to fix it when students are gone. If you get one pop up you will likely get more. It is best not to deal with it until students are gone.
• Never leave students unsupervised!!!

There are a lot of technical challenges that arise when a machine gets infected, and it is impossible to stop everything, but if you are making the best effort possible to protect children and documenting your efforts you will likely avoid the challenges this teacher faced

This article is from http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070214-8850.html

Teacher faces jail time for porn pop-ups

2/14/2007 3:31:53 PM, by

Who is responsible for keeping the computers at school clean and child-safe? A Connecticut court is siding with the school system in the case of substitute teacher Julie Amero, who has been convicted for four counts of "risking injury to a child." Amero now faces up to 40 years of jail time for pornographic pop-ups that appeared on a computer she was using in a classroom—pop-ups that she and her lawyers argue were a result of spy and adware on the computer, out-of-date virus software, and an expired firewall license—the perfect storm for pornographic pop-ups, all on a Windows 98 machine running Internet Explorer 5.

More

Protecting Teachers from Jail Time.

I read about the story below and was a little bit surprised that lack of knowledge and caution could lead to such big problems. The legal fact is that whether we intend to or not it phonographic material is shown to students we are liable. If you read further the material was left on the screen for some time because the teacher involved did not turn the computer off. As teachers we are responsible to take basic steps to protect our students and protect our computers from inappropriate content. Here are a few things that we can do help protect our PC's from unwanted intrusions.

• Use recent windows software. The machine she was using was running windows 98 which is no longer supported by Microsoft which means it is no longer getting security updates. You may not need Vista but you should have a version that still receives support which is currently Windows 2000 and above.
• Keep your Operating Systems security updates up to date.
• Use anti virus software and keep it up to date.
• Use spy ware software and run on a regular basis.
• Turn of pictures in your email program. Many times we receive junk email or spam that have pornographic pictures. Most programs will let you download the pictures in individual emails that you approve when you turn photos off.
• If problems arise turn it off and try to fix it when students are gone. If you get one pop up you will likely get more. It is best not to deal with it until students are gone.
• Never leave students unsupervised!!!

There are a lot of technical challenges that arise when a machine gets infected, and it is impossible to stop everything, but if you are making the best effort possible to protect children and documenting your efforts you will likely avoid the challenges this teacher faced

This article is from http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070214-8850.html

Teacher faces jail time for porn pop-ups

2/14/2007 3:31:53 PM, by

Who is responsible for keeping the computers at school clean and child-safe? A Connecticut court is siding with the school system in the case of substitute teacher Julie Amero, who has been convicted for four counts of "risking injury to a child." Amero now faces up to 40 years of jail time for pornographic pop-ups that appeared on a computer she was using in a classroom—pop-ups that she and her lawyers argue were a result of spy and adware on the computer, out-of-date virus software, and an expired firewall license—the perfect storm for pornographic pop-ups, all on a Windows 98 machine running Internet Explorer 5.

More

Utah Education Network for Utah Teachers and Students

The State of Utah provides a great deal of resources to it's teachers and students over the internet. Most of these resources can be found of the UEN (Utah Education Network) website. UEN is funded and administered through the Utah State Office of Education.

Some of these resources include:

• Free or low cost in service and training for learning Dreamweaver, Flash, Blogging, Microsoft Office, and more.
  
• Utah teachers can develop their own web page with links, homeworks lists, and general information.
• Free .pdf Conversion
• a list of Multimedia resources for teachers
• Interactive Learning games
• EMedia a collection of educational videos ready to stream via the internet.
• The Pioneer Library. World Book Encyclopedia, SIRS, Culture Grams, Utah Newspaper archives, State Archives, Visual Thesaurus and much more.

Many of these resources in the Pioneer Library are available commercially and would cost hundreds a month to have access to them. You have automatic access to the pioneer library when you log in through any state Library or School. On the site they have a password so you can log on from home.

Check your State Education for Resources!

This Blog has a Worldwide audience, and I have hesitated to discuss a resource that is helpful to Utah only Teacher's when only a small percentage of my audience comes from Utah. Utah; however provides great resources for it's teachers through it's UEN (Utah Education Network) website. As I thought about this I decided to call upon the help of other teachers from many states so that we can create list of resources by state. As I receive information I will post it on this blog and hopefully we will be able to create a valuable resource that would have a list of resources for any state Providence or country. If you have some Knowledge of your states internet resources please send me an email at mike@expeditionproductions.com

My next post will provide a List of what Utah provides on it's network.

Cricut Daicut Machine Perfect for Teachers

As teachers we have probably all used a daicut machine and were very happy with the effective way it cut letters and shapes. In my previous school we had what was considered a vast library of dais we had both upper case and lower case letters, and an additional stylized uppercase alphabet. In addition to the alphabets we had almost 50 shapes. This vast collection cost the school thousands of dollars, but it was a solid investment in a machine that will last years of heavy use.

I have discovered a machine that is truely an amazing that provides you with so much more power than a traditional daicut machine. It is the Cricut Daicut Machine from Provo Craft. This machine was designed for scrap bookers, but can be of great benefit to teachers as well.

Get one through Cricut Direct And save over other retail stores.

The Cricut machine offers portability. Just plug it in and turn it on, no computer or software required! Lightweight and compact with a comfortable handle that makes it easy to take to crops and parties. The Cricut machine can cut images up to 5.5" tall and up to 11.5" long. The cartridge-based system allows you to cut thousands of shapes, letters, and phrases in a variety of sizes and styles with the ease of a touch of a button. Package includes George and Basic Shapes Cartridge with Keypad overlay and manual, power adapter, cutting mat and quick start guide.

Cartridges can be purchased for around $65 that add a great deal of capability. The Machine retails for almost $300 but most craft stores are selling them for $250 Through Cricut Direct you can get a machine for just over $200.

The down side is that this is a consumer level product. It would not be adequate for a whole school to use, but would be perfect for 1-3 teachers to share. The versatility of this machine is well worth the cost and makes bulletin boards a breeze.

Computer Maintenance "Free Solutions"

I have received a significant amount of response from my consumer alert regarding System Mechanic 7 Professional. Many others have had great challenges and problems with System Mechanic. The challenge we are faced with is how do we keep our XP systems running efficiently. I am currently looking at the other alternative of System Mechanic, from Norton. It is Norton System Works Premiere. I'll wait to post a review of this software until I have had time to sufficiently try it out. The problem with Windows systems is over time things happen under the hood that gradually slow the system down. It becomes necessary to preform a little maintenance to keep your machine running smooth. I like the idea of having an all in one location where I can fix these issues, but as we found out with SM7 that is not always helpful.

In this article I will cover the basics of keeping your computer up and running correctly. These solutions can be done using software included with windows or with free downloadable software. Here are the steps you should take and the recommended frequency of the tasks.

1. Run Disk Cleanup (once a month) run on computer by going to Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Cleanup.
   
2. De fragment the hard drive. (once a month) run on computer by going to Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter
   
3. Remove unnecessary programs from Startup. (When new software is installed) Go to Start>Startup>Right click on unwanted programs and select delete. This does not uninstall or disable the program. You can still start it through the start menu all it does is keep the program from starting every time you start your computer.
4. Clean up your desktop. Remove all unessisary files and start buttons from your desktop. Files should be put in folders. I even group my applications in folders. The more icons you have the slower your machine boots up.
5. Install and run Spy ware software. (Weekly) I recommend Spybot Search and Destroy

One other major issue is registry problems. There is some fine software to assist you with this like Registry Mechanic, but you need to pay for it. Unfortunately I have yet to find a free tool to do this well

Blender 3D Free Raw 3D Creation Power

Blender 3d is a very powerful 3D creation and animation software that rivals the big boys that cost thousands of dollars at the low, low price of FREE. The learning curve is steep as it is with any 3d software, but I was able to get a few of my interested 6^th graders to create a few very nice 3d models. Blender is a full functional integrated 3D creation software suite. It lets users create high quality 3D graphics, movies and replay real-time, interactive 3D content. Over the last decade, Blender has evolved as an in-house tool for a leading European animation studio. Blender is powerful technology used for creating broadcast quality 3D content.

Get Blender 3D Free at http://www.blender3d.org

YouTube in the Classroom?

I recently read an article in Technology & Learning Magazine that proposed that we begin using YouTube content to enhance our lessons, and to improve educational practices. I must admit that my first gut reaction was somewhat negative due to the inability to ensure school appropriate content. Although YouTube does a pretty good job of keeping pornographic content off there are many things that still don't belong in our schools. As I read the article I began to change my mind. There are many videos that have very valid teaching points that are also of high interest to students. In fact my sons teacher frequently uses YouTube type content in many of his lessons, and my son has shown a remarkable ability to not only remember the video but also the teaching point that the teacher used in relation to it.

Our school blocks YouTube and many other sites as they probably should. I don't think there is any educational value in turning a 6th grade class loose in the lab to look at videos. But with carefully selected videos, it is possible to create very engaging lessons.

Google Mars is now in Google Labs

The next time you teach about our solar system, you have a new tool that is very fun. Google who brought us Google Earth has teamed with NASA to bring us Google Mars. I mentioned this in a previous post and mentioned that it would be later in the year before we saw the results. Well we can now get a sneak peak into this cool tool through Google Labs. This tool allows us to Mars with three different views. You can also zoom and pan to see the planet. At the top you can click on several options that will take you to points of interest. This is fun.

Free Office Programs

With the release of Microsoft Office 2007, there has been little attention given to other office applications. On my Primary PC I did shell out the cash for the new office application because it is a well thought out system. For student computers and donated computers I can not afford to pay the price for the upgrade and free applications are powerful and will meet the needs for these computers. Here is a list of applications that are free and do a good job of creating documents.

Openoffice 2.0: Open office is the most well known office system, and is a good full fledged office system. It is easy to learn, and is a very solid system.

Google Docs: Google docs is a online system that allows you to create and work on documents from anywhere with internet access. This system includes both a word processor and a spreadsheet application. There is no PowerPoint like presentation program at this time but I have heard that this will soon change. It provides good functionality and ability to format is good. For a class or school based system the downside is that each user would need an account.

GNOME Office: GNOME Office is another open source office system that is also very solid. It is easy to use and works well. It only has a word processor, and a spreadsheet application. If you are running Linux it also has a database application.

Each of these applications works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux

Elementary Advantage 2007 Review

What it is:
Elementary Advandace is a collection of various educational software that covers a wide variety of subjects. Each subject has it's own disc and application for ten applications in all. The applications in general seem somewhat primitive, but are effective.
What it's not:
It is not a well thought out learning system where programs are tied together in an easily manageable system. It is not even interlinked in it's tracking system so that monitoring progress is a tedious task.

My Opinion:
Elementary Advantage 2007 is a reasoably priced collection of software, but because of the dated programs, and the lack of interactivity between the applications it is not a bargain. The 2007 on the box basically means that they reprinted the box from the 2006 version, but it appears that there are no significant upgrades to the software, with the exception of the encyclopedia. I purchased this product and for the price am satisfied, but hoped for much more.