Apologies to anyone who was expecting blog postings the last 3 Fridays. I was actually overseas and had planned to blog from there, but found that reliable internet access was surprisingly difficult to find. I’m back now though and ready for another great academic year in Indiana!
By now, most of you have probably already started back to school or will start in the next week or so. Welcome Back! As budgeting for professional development seems to become more and more pressing each year, I want to let you know about the PATINS 2008 State Conference as early as possible.
PATINS 2008 State Conference:
Accessing the Curriculum
November 10th & 11th, 2008
Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, Indianapolis
Keynote Speakers will be Jim Fruchterman and Donald J. Leu! Read more about them HERE.
Download the full conference Registration Booklet and listing of sessions/presentations HERE: http://www.patinsproject.com/Conference/ConferenceBooklet.pdf
Registrations Must Be Received By OCTOBER 17, 2008
NEW UDL PILOT TEAM APPLICATIONS! It’s that time again! There will be 8 new UDL Pilot Teams Selected this October. Pilot Team Applications are due October 6, 2008. You can find out more and download application materials here: http://www.patinsproject.com/udl.html
-Click here for the guidelines on the application process. Click here for the application page-
Mac Fixes: Once of the things that kept me from using a Mac computer for a long time was my understanding that it was difficult to replace parts and work on the hardware components yourself. While this may have been the case for many years, I do believe that it is slowly changing. I’ve started to see more and more parts and pieces for Mac computers in the typical electronics stores. This is also one website intended to not only provide you with a place to purchase parts for your Mac and iPods, but also provide you with great examples, often including photos of how to do repairs/replacements yourself. Thanks Chris for letting me know about this great resource! http://www.ifixit.com/
iTunes U: …is actually part of the iTunes Store. Many people I talk to still think that iTunes and especially the iTunes Store is only for music and videos. Two of the most beneficial parts of the iTunes Store to educators should be the Podcast Section and the Education Section however. Additionally, ALL CONTENT on iTunes U is FREE!!! This includes lectures, audiobooks, language learning, and LOTS more! Of course, if it is in iTunes, it can be used on the computer or made mobile by putting it onto iPods and works great on Macs or PCs. Here is a great introductory video on iTunesU: http://www.apple.com/education/itunesu_mobilelearning/landing.html .
Some of the content may be too advanced for many K-12 students, but don’t forget that Universal Design for Learning (UDL) includes those students who might need some extra challenges or additional content in order to remain engaged in the curriculum.
SIDENOTE: iTunes Problems on Vista Machines: Sometimes, iTunes has trouble accessing the iTunes Store on some PC’s running Windows Vista. Mine happened to be one of them! There are several potential solutions I found, but none of them worked except for THIS ONE:
The “hosts” file may be blocking the iTunes Store
Find and rename your hosts file to “backup-hosts.” Restart the computer to generate a new file. The hosts file is normally found in the following locations:
Windows Vista: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
You might try that if you can’t connect to the iTunes store.
