2012-12-RMS
Hi all,
We're going to be trying something new to streamline some helpful info coming out of the technology department. Let me know if there's a topic you'd like addressed or covered. If this seems long, scan for the bold words and decide whether that topic is relevant to you and either read it or move on.
Covered below:
- Tech Workshops
- Reminder: Adding Apps and Books to the iPad
- A helpful change for Google Drive
- Saving from Office in Student Accounts
- Fixing "Save As" in Pages for Lion
Upcoming Tech Workshops!
Monday, 12/10: Internet Search Strategies - Laura will cover how to find what you're looking for online quickly and efficiently.
Monday, 12/17: VoiceThread - Marty and Elise will teach you about this great way of hosting interactive conversations online. Comments and postings can be made by text, voice, video or phone. Come see how VoiceThread works and brainstorm ways you can use it in your classes.
At some point in the new year, we may repeat some of the technology workshops. If there's been one that you couldn't attend but would like to see done again or you'd like more info on, please let us know. We've had repeat demand for the cloud workshop, so that will likely be our jumping off point.
Reminder: iPad App Procedure
We are happy to accomodate any requests for new applications or books on each iPad cart. You must fill out this form to request new apps or books. Note that the turnaround time for adding applications or books (particularly paid applications) is not trivial, so to guarantee an app or book's installation, planning ahead is your best bet.
Helpful Change to Google Drive and GMail for Big Files
Good news for those of us who work with bigger files: GMail and Google Drive are now supporting the attachment of any file up to 10GB (400x the previous limit of 25mb) that is stored in your Google Drive. This feature is only available with GMail's new "compose experience" enabled.
To send something that big, all you'd have to do is upload the file to your Drive. When you compose a message and hover over the paperclip for attachments, the Google Drive logo will appear as an option:
After you have chosen the file from your Drive, it will automatically prompt you with the sharing options for that document if it is not already shared with each recipient:
For more information, see Google's blog post on the matter. This feature should currently show up for those who have enabled the new "compose experience."
Saving and Opening Office files in Student Accounts
As many of you have already experienced, we have run into some issues with saving from Microsoft Office (Word/Excel/Powerpoint) with our students' accounts. Most notably, due to this bug, students are not allowed to open from or save to the Desktop or Documents folders (the two folders that travel with them from computer to computer).
The best workaround we have right now is for students to save to a different folder, "Pictures" for instance. Then once they have quit whichever Office application they were using, they should drag the item from "Pictures" (or whichever folder they used) to either Desktop or Documents (to ensure it will be accessible from a different computer.
When opening an existing file, students must move the file to a folder that is NOT Desktop or Documents to get the file to open. When saving the file and exiting the computer, they must drag it back to Desktop or Documents to ensure it will be accessible from a different computer.
If the student leaves the file in a folder other than Desktop or Documents, he or she will only be able to access it on that specific computer. Yet another reason to guide your students towards Google Drive when possible.
Save As Fix for Pages
As stated above, we - as a department - would like to encourage the use of Google Drive and its features as much as possible, but for those still enamored with Pages, Rob Gere, my colleague at HHS, has recorded a short video to demonstrate how to get around the removal of the "Save As..." function. If you don't use Pages, don't click on that link, it's not important to you.
Thanks for reading,
Your RMS Technology Department