Thing 14 - Productivity Tools

Well, I'm not overly impressed with ZamZar because it took to look for my file to be emailed to me, then once it was, I had to go back into ZAMZAR to download it. I converted my weebly rubric that I created using Rubistar on a earlier "Thing" to a .pdf.  I do this very frequently because I put all my files on Moodle for my students to access. We use Word 2010. When I go to Save As, I have the option to save my .doc to a .pdf. That is very fast and it is done using the same progam I am working with. It streamlines my work and that makes me more productive. I doubt I would use ZAMZAR while I'm at work, but it is a good resource.

I was impressed at the number of available outputs. There are image formats, document formats, music, video and E-book. That was impressive. There were may options that I have never heard of, but I did recognize the .rtf, .txt, .html, .ppt, .pdf. My students are always looking for ways to convert their music files so we can import them into Movie Maker and oftentimes we need to convert their .wmv files to be compatible with a DVD player.  The only problem is this site is blocked because it is categorized as computers.filehosting.

I made a google calendar for this last week of my middle school rotation. I listed what the students need to get done this week. It is a good idea to keep them on task. I have been playing with Google docs more since we have had these "Things." I think they are pretty intuitive and there is ample assistance available. It was a little hidden on how to "share" the calendar, but I was able to look under the help and find it. Once there, it was easy to put in the email addresses. Our principal using Google Calendars with the secretaries so they are all on the same page and we have an interactive Google Calendar on our school's webpage where users can view events for the weeks or months ahead. This would be easy to share with parents and colleagues. Many parents ask for their students' work and like to be informed. By "sharing" this calendar with them, they can see the same deadlines the students see. These dates should coincide with the dates in PowerSchool so parents can be informed up to the minute.