In the past, high school students taking Advanced Placement European History (APEH) have looked to traditional sources for review material. Now, thanks to Apple’s innovative technology, many are turning to their iPods. For New Hartford’s Class of 2008, the thought of taking their first Advanced Placement exam has provided some healthy inspiration for disciplined studying. Chat with almost any AP sophomore these days and you’ll find they’re attending review classes, combing through review books and taking practice exams. All are tried and true methods of preparation. You may also find them with their iPod’s earbuds securely planted. You may assume their listening to the latest track from Nickelback or Death Cab for Cutie, but in fact they’re tuned into an AP European History podcast comparing 20th century art to that of the Baroque period. Podcasting is one of the latest tech trends to hit the world of education. As stated on Apple Computer's website about podcasting in education, a podcast is "an audio or visual content that is automatically delivered over a network via free subscription. Once subscribed to, podcasts can be regularly distributed over the Internet or within your school’s network and accessed with an iPod, laptop, or desktop computer (both Macs and PCs)." Veteran social studies teachers J.F. Walters and George W. Whitton have begun producing their own podcasts, ones personally written for their students. The podcasts are custom creations, strategically designed to address their specific learning outcomes. Podcasting not only allows teachers to customize their lessons, it provides students with a flexible medium for acquiring the material. They can listen to a podcast lesson when it fits into their schedule or when they most need the information. The anywhere, anytime nature of podcasts also holds true for those that produce podcasts. Mr. Walters, pictured above in a photo taken by his wife Danielle Walters, is producing a podcast in his home office. Walters says he prefers to work there as he can focus on the content and have plenty of time to research and organize content that goes into each episode. “How fantastic for a student,” Walters explained. “Now while riding the bus home from school or working out on the elliptical at the gym, a student can be listening to a fascinating lesson on the policy of appeasement or some other gripping topic.” The podcasts are available to anyone that has internet access, whenever and wherever they are. Although an Apple iPod gives added mobility, it’s not required. The podcasts are written in such a way that they can be listened to directly on a computer through a web browser such as Safari or Firefox. “What student wouldn’t want to be able to listen to their teacher 24/7?,” Walters added. If you want to sample and AP Euro podcast visit Walters' or Whitton’s school web sites and then click on the AP European History link on their respective homepages. Once on the AP European History homepage, a click on the PODCAST link will take you to their small but growing collection of podcasts. For more information about podcating in education, you can also visit Apple's website on Podcasting in Education.

After you have used OS X just a few times, you quickly learn that the Dock is where can find applications that you want easy access to open. However, did you know you can also use the Dock as a place to manage many of your programs and windows? For example, your Trash Can, which is on the bottom of Dock, can be emptied using the good old File > Empty Trash command from the pull-down menu at the top of your screen. However, you can empty the trash much quicker by clicking and holding down the mouse button until a little popup window appears with the command to Empty Trash. Just select that command with your mouse pointer and the trash will be emptied immediately! Speaking of clicking and holding on Dock icons, with almost every program in OS X, you can manage or select any of your open windows or quit apps without even needing to have them visible onscreen! For example, looking at the screenshot below, after clicking and hold on the Word icon in the Dock, you can there are three open documents and you can quickly pick the one you want to use.

Simply pick the document's name from the popup window and Mac OS X will bring that window to the foreground immediately! Notice, the options to Remove from Dock, Hide and Quit are also available. The other choice you see available is Reveal In Finder, which opens the folder in which the Word application is stored. Using the Dock to control your open documents and programs is quick and easy. It can save you lots of time, especially if you have several programs running and lots of document windows open. Here are some final tips that can make working with the Dock to control apps even better:

• Option-Clicking on an app icon in the Dock hides the current open application and brings the clicked-on app to the front.
• Option-Command-Clicking on an app icon on the Dock hides all other open applications leaving the clicked-on app as the only visible app.
• Command-Clicking on an app in the Dock reveals that application in the Finder.

Xpeditions is home of the U.S. National Geography Standards—and to thousands of ideas, tools, and interactive adventures that bring them to life. Xpeditions, which has been developed by National Geographic, aims to provide free standards-based tools for teachers, students, and families to aid them in studying geography worldwide on the Web. National Geographic has a long history of bringing the world into our living rooms using images, text, and television specials. They are now continuing that tradition by providing access to the world, and everything in it, over the Internet. The lesson plans on the Xpeditions website were written by educators and have been tested in the classroom. Together, they address all of the U.S. National Geography Standards, the five geography skills, and the main geographic perspectives. Serving a variety of needs, the plans include a wide range of teaching strategies. The assessment component of each lesson focuses on the knowledge and skills that students will use to answer a guiding geographic question as they address real-world issues. Many resources from this site—the Atlas, Blue Ribbon Links, Xpedition Hall, and Activities—are incorporated into the lessons. The Xpeditions Atlas offers maps specifically made for printing and copying. Maps can produced of all major continents and many countries. They can also be accessed as detailed maps with or without borders that are perfect for those worksheet or test questions!

One of the most interesting features of the site, Xpedition Hall, features an interactive learning "museum" that allows visitors to take geography journeys. Exhibits in the hall let you climb a mountain, hover over the Earth, speed across Europe, visit an archeological dig, play games, view cool animations, and more! For lots of other great activities and exciting ways to teach geography in your classroom, check out the site. The Quick Links above in this newsletter link directly to some of its many excellent resources.

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Eager to learn about new ways to use Mac OS X even better? Come to our monthly OS X "Talk, Tips & Tricks" session. Find out more.

Below are select technology courses to be offered by the Teacher Center next month! Click on the course to learn more. Email the Teacher Center or call X1201 to register today!

Tuesday, May 2
DVD Playback on a Mac: Tips & Pointers

Wednesday, May 10
Summer Technology Projects: Great Ideas for Rainy Days

Thursday, May 11
Marco Polo for Math and Science Teachers

Wednesday, May 17
PDF Manipulation & Management

Thursday, May 18
Switching Your Files From OS9 to OSX Server

Wednesday, May 31
File Backup for Summer

Download May Events