English and Digital Literacy

Free Teaching Resources. Throughout the digital revolution there has always been one consistent feature of every desktop and laptop ever made... The keyboard. And I don’t think our qwerty layout is going anywhere.

English Literacy is obviously a teaching priority. Learning correct spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting are schooling “101’s”. But there has never before been such focus on digital literacy.

Learning how to hand address a letter with attention to your word spacing (Tracking) and word height (Leading) was something I remember spending hours studying in junior school. So why do we assume that student can just transfer these skills when using a PC or indeed iPad? And using an Apple style template is not enough for me.

Being able to create a text document is surely high on the list of our Digital Literacy 101, right? Basic understanding of bullets and indents are essential for constructing an efficiently produced email, wiki or blog entry. Paragraph styles are always referenced in any HTML coding. These basic skills deserve to be featured with greater prominence in the curriculum.

So to support such an effort I have created you a Pages Essentials document. Please download it from the "Apple in the Classroom" tab in the menu at iSupport.com.au. Here you will find what I consider to be essential features of the creating a text document.

Apple support for teachers

At iSupport we have made it easy for teachers who find themselves in an Apple 1:1 environment. If you require a basic introduction to the Apple iLife or iWork suite then head over to our new Apple in the Classroom page. We have created a selection of PDF documents which you can download and use in class. New and old teachers will find our free resources very useful.

Please visit: http://isupport.com.au/apple-in-the-classroom/

We have been contacted by a few people and some requests have been put in for a demo of 'Green Screen in iMovie' and also using a 'wiki or  blog in the classroom'. We will have these documents prepared in the coming weeks - we promise! But please keep the request & comments coming in.

Also we are preparing video guides on the use of the iPad in a learning environment - due out this week. We look forward to seeing you on the site soon!

Remove backgrounds easily with a hidden gem inside Keynote

Often I will be sent a photograph or graphic and I need a quick solution for removing the background. My first choice would be to import the image into Photoshop. As ever with Photoshop there are a few different methods you can use to cut out the focus of the picture, but sometimes the task can be tedious and if you are not familiar with Photoshop the task can be very time consuming.

Using the Alpha Tool in Keynote, removing backgrounds can take seconds.

Keynotes Alpha tool.

• Launch Keynote and select the black - blank template.
• Command-a to select all of the objects on the page then delete.
• Drag the image from your Finder onto the blank slide.
• In my example I have a picture of Paris Hilton, this image will work perfectly due to the simple background.

• With the picture enabled click once on the Alpha tool.
• Move your cursor onto the blue background, click once, hold the click and expand your selection.

• You’ll notice as you increase the diameter of the circle the blue that features in the picture is made transparent. As you drag, the selection grows to include the neighbouring area that uses similar colours.
• So now that you have added a transparent background how can you get the picture out of Keynote and into Photoshop? Just select the picture once and press command-C.
• Command C copies the picture including the transparent area. Now you can flick over to Photoshop create a new layer and press command-V.

• Try removing more than just the background and some of the effects can be very inspiring.

Hopefully you are already thinking of ways to utilise this method, for quick mock ups or short deadlines this technique has saved the day many times for me.

Word Processing basics

These notes are for young students are those who are new to word processing. Please feel free to copy these notes but please include a credit. The basics

Most students will have to teach themselves the basics of word processing, most develop some very bad habits which will permanently hinder them throughout their careers.  I would like to see more students adopting some very basic terminology and practices from an early age.  This short tutorial will look at page formatting, layout and design as well as printing and file handling.

Steps to produce a document

• Specify the page size and orientation.  Go to File - Page Setup.  Default is A4 portrait.
• Create
• Save through out in a memorable place in your Home folder
• Edit
• Format
• Print
• Save (often!!)

As the content of the document is of overall importance I often encourage people to not focus on any formatting until the majority of text has been entered.  Aside from using the enter key to create new paragraphs, the student should focus on correct grammar and punctuation at this stage.

After a document is written and edited you may wish to experiment with fonts.  A document at this level should not consist of more than 2 fonts.  However the student may want to incorporate the use of italics and bold typeface to quote or highlight certain text.

A document will generally have 3 text elements which you may use different fonts and/or weight (bold):

1. The Body text.  Your paragraphs will be full of Body text.
2. The Heading text.  Used to highlight text or add new sub headings.
3. The Title text.  Used for new sections and titles.

Lists should also be mentioned here, offering the use of bullets or numbered lists.  As used below for a list of some basic terminology (after an invisible page break has been inserted here).

Basic terminology

• Cursor - symbol for where text will appear
• Edit - make changes
• Cut - remove selection from document and store temporarily on the Clipboard, which is a section of computer memory.  Generally you can only store one thing at a time
• Copy - duplicate selection onto Clipboard
• Paste - place contents of the Clipboard at cursor location
• Undo - reverses whatever change you just made
• Insert - add text at location without overwriting existing text
• Delete - remove text (not saved anywhere)
• Search - look for specific word(s) or character(s)
• Replace - can replace specific word(s) or character(s) with stated text
• Template - a document that serves as a pattern for a new document
• Thesaurus - looks for synonyms for selected word
• Spelling check - looks for spelling errors
• Grammar check - looks for grammar/style errors (of limited help)

Printing

A decision should be early on if  you need your document printed on paper size any different to A4.  Your word processor will not automatically convert your document to a new page size if you change your mind later on.  Select File - Page setup to adjust paper size and orientation.

Saving

As soon as you start you first sentence please select File - Save.  The first time you do this you will be presented with the ‘save as’ dialogue box.  Please choose a relevant place inside your Home folder to keep the document.  Use cmd-S every time you take a pause to save the document as the Apple Mac does not do this for you!

Headers and footers

Headers and footers are repeated across each page in your document.  You can Insert date, page numbers, the file name or a personal message into your headers and footers.

Margins and columns

By default your margins are set to 2cms.  Please have a look in the Inspector Window.  The first category is the Document Inspector.

Please familiarise yourself with the properties on this page and see how the page has been laid out for you.  Agin this is all standard layout for word processors.

Spell check tips

When a word is misspelt it will be underlined in a red line.  If you right-click the word spelling suggestions will be revealed.

• Another great tip is to hover your mouse pointer over a word, and press ctl-cmd-d.  Keep the ctl and cmd key held down.  Move the mouse over other words and you will have a constant window open showing you a dictionary definition and thesaurus entry.

The correct use of text boxes

Generally I would recommend against using text boxes.  Text boxes are quick solution to placing text and pictures onto the page exactly where you need them.  However it is better to master the use of using the return key and a combination of line spacing and paragraph spacing first.  Text boxes are objects on your page which can be customised with colour backgrounds and picture backgrounds, as well as line strokes and picture frames.

Inserting pictures and wraps

The best method to inserting pictures is to position the cursor where you would like the file (or picture) to be.  Then select Insert - Choose from the top menu.  Select the picture from your home folder (or where ever it may be) and the picture will be placed in position on the page.  The picture is placed ‘Inline‘ meaning it behave just like any other letter in your document.  You can adjust the size of the picture by pulling the small square handles at the pictures edge.  Once the picture is the correct size please experiment with the way the text wraps around the picture.

Keynote inspiration! Animated lines

In this Keynote tutorial learn a nice tip to animate your lines as if they were drawing themselves !!! ;)We always try to encourage our students to think 'outside the box' and this video shows how layering objects can create a very cool effect. And remember this effect is not standard in Keynote

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBbQc164I3U]