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Minggu, 31 Maret 2013
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Day 20 – Wireless Xbox controller works with Surface Pro and Worldwide Telescope

Teaching and Learning with a Windows 8 Tablet
3/31/2013 
 
Welcome to Day 20 of working with a Microsoft Surface Pro Windows 8 tablet for educators.


Just a short entry today as it is Easter Sunday.
I noticed when I setup the Worldwide Telescope program that it made reference to using a Xbox controller. Being the curious person I am, I just had to try it for myself.
I used a wireless Xbox controller and hooked up the receiver to the USB port on the Surface Pro. I installed the controller software that came with it and then started the Worldwide Telescope program. I paired up the controller with the wireless receiver and was ready for testing.
It works!
This essentially turns the Worldwide Telescope into a game-like experience that anyone using an Xbox will be familiar with. I can use the triggers on the controller to zoom in and zoom out and the directional stick to move about in 3-D space. The D-pad can be used to rotate a planet on its axis.
There are some things the Xbox controller cannot select so you will have to use the touch interface on the Surface Pro to navigate some of the options in the program.

Using the Xbox controller feels very much like you are controlling a spaceship as you navigate throughout the solar system, pretty cool! I used it to zoom from planet to planet and it was interesting changing viewpoints to see the moons orbiting a particular planet. It gives you a sense of perspective as I was able to navigate around Planet Earth and see Saturn in the distant background floating in Space. This experience gives one pause to ponder the vastness of Space and just how tiny we are in the scheme of things.
This success has also left me with another question. Now that I have the wireless Xbox controller working in the Worldwide Telescope program I would also like to use it for navigating around Desktop applications like PowerPoint.

I have not been successful with PowerPoint although I have found some hacks on the Internet that might work. If anyone out there has already solved this problem please email me at techtalk@eiu.edu and let me know a solution.
All I am wanting to do is use the Xbox controller to move the mouse around on the Desktop and be able to use the right click and left click mouse buttons mapped to the Xbox controller. I would think that Microsoft would have a driver already mapped for this, anyone know?
 

Until next time...
Keep on Learning,

Tom Grissom, PhD

Follow me on Twitter @tomgrissom

 

Interested in Teaching and Learning with Technology?
http://www.eiu.edu/itc/

Please subscribe and listen to the TechTalk4Teachers Podcast:
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/
Sabtu, 30 Maret 2013
Day 19 – Sent from my Surface Pro ...at McDonalds

Day 19 – Sent from my Surface Pro ...at McDonalds

Teaching and Learning with a Windows 8 Tablet
3/30/2013 
 
Welcome to Day 19 of working with a Microsoft Surface Pro Windows 8 tablet for educators.


It’s the weekend and I am experiencing another Internet outage. For those of us not living in a major metropolitan city this unfortunately happens way too often in the country.

My electricity service also “blinked” this morning temporarily knocking off all electrical devices in our house. It only lasted one second, and returned immediately, but that blink is all it takes to disrupt modern life.

It is also a reminder to the digerati that while popular culture is increasingly pushing the analog world into the Cloud that there are downsides as well. We need to always have a Plan B.

We also need to keep in mind that reliable Internet access is not available to all of our students. With all the hype around the flip classroom approach to learning there are significant access issues to deal with when expecting students to use technological tools that require Internet access at home. This is exacerbated in lower-income neighborhoods that could benefit most.

Once again, I find myself typing this post on this Surface Pro that is not connected to the Internet. No fault of the Surface Pro, but fault does not matter here, it is a reality for me right now. Since the Surface Pro is a hybrid device, it still works as a stand-alone device, but it is a major inconvenience when I cannot access the Internet.

I have learned to work around these Internet access hiccups and I approach these situations as challenges. If I was “all in” on the cloud computing paradigm my device would currently be useless. I cannot access anything on the Internet, no email, YouTube search engines, Twitter, Facebook, Skydrive, online music, etc… it’s all unavailable to me right now.

So, I have elected to type this post in Word 2013 and find a way to post it later today. This afternoon we are going shopping so I am taking the Surface Pro with me. Hopefully I can find public wireless access somewhere on the road, maybe a McDonalds?

Technology has always been a double-edged sword. Technology offers amazing possibilities when it works, but it is frustrating when things do not work as planned. However, as much as I sometimes get frustrated by things when they do not work, I would not trade my frustration for all the good things that tech allows us to do the other 99% of the time.

As teachers, we are becoming more and more reliant upon technology. Technology is becoming more reliable and thus is being used more and more in the classroom. This is a great thing as it makes possible things that were previously impossible to do in the classroom. Amazing things, like the Worldwide Telescope Project I wrote about yesterday. But, things do go wrong from time-to-time in the classroom and you will have to occasionally adapt your lessons to work around “technical difficulties”.

Do not be the teacher that throws up your hands in frustration and “quit” the lesson and blame the technology. Take it on as a challenge and work around the obstacles. Adapt, adjust, change lessons, there is always something new to be learned. It is sometimes refreshing to take technology completely out of the lesson and focus only on the content and context.


Now for my challenge. Time for a road trip and find a McDonalds.


If you are reading this, mission accomplished.

How many of your students are doing homework at McDonald's?

Until next time...
Keep on Learning,


Tom Grissom, PhD

Follow me on Twitter @tomgrissom

 
Interested in Teaching and Learning with Technology?
http://www.eiu.edu/itc/

Please subscribe and listen to the TechTalk4Teachers Podcast:
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/

 
Jumat, 29 Maret 2013
Day 18 – Microsoft’s Worldwide Telescope Brings the Universe to Your Fingertips with the Surface Pro

Day 18 – Microsoft’s Worldwide Telescope Brings the Universe to Your Fingertips with the Surface Pro

Teaching and Learning with a Windows 8 Tablet
3/29/2013 
 
Welcome to Day 18 of working with a Microsoft Surface Pro Windows 8 tablet for educators. Today I would like to let serendipity take its course and introduce you to the Worldwide Telescope Project from Microsoft Research.


I happened to come upon a link from my Twitter feed this morning about the Worldwide Telescope that made me curious about what updates Microsoft have completed since I last reviewed the project over a year ago.
Here is a link to the article from my Twitter feed: 
Microsoft’s Worldwide Telescope Brings the Universe to Your Fingertips
http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/28/microsofts-worldwide-telescope-maps-the-universe-with-nasas-data/

Please take a moment to read the article if you would like a quick overview of the project.
After reading the article, I downloaded the Worldwide Telescope application onto the Surface Pro. Since the Surface Pro is a “real PC” I used the Desktop IE 10 browser to download the program. In less than 10 minutes I had the Universe in my hands.


You may have noticed that the title of this blog post is similar to the article mentioned, but I added “with the Surface Pro” to the title as it more aptly describes the experience you will have with the Worldwide Telescope application in combination with the Surface Pro.
With this free application the Universe is available to explore with your fingertips and with “real” data from NASA.
My initial experience was another “WOW” moment. I was using my fingers to pinch, zoom in and out, and swipe my way across the massive NASA data collection Microsoft Research has cataloged. I could see in real-time how my finger manipulations interacted with the data as I bent the laws of the Universe to my command. WOW!

As a former science teacher and astronomy buff, it does not get much better than this resource for studying Astronomy. It is amazing, absolutely amazing! Who needs a textbook when there is a treasure trove of real data and images? Let your students’ imaginations soar as they discover for themselves the mysteries and vastness of the Universe.
It is also important to get students outside in a safe environment to experience the wonder of the night sky. I used to have “Star Nights” at school many years ago when I was teaching Earth Science. Seeing the wonder and curiosity in your students’ eyes is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a teacher. Screen-time is great but let us not forget the “real world” that we are seeking to understand.  

There are tutorials and tours that will get teachers and students off to a great start exploring the Universe with the Worldwide Telescope Project.
I would advise not to structure your lessons too much as we should encourage students to experience the sense of curiosity and inquire on their own. As teachers we want to let students mentally roam from time-to-time and exploring the Worldwide Telescope application is one of those times.
I suspect I will be roaming quite a bit myself this weekend as I explore the wonders of the Universe on the Surface Pro.
Until next time...
Keep on Learning,
 
Tom Grissom, PhD
 
Follow me on Twitter @tomgrissom

 
Interested in Teaching and Learning with Technology?
http://www.eiu.edu/itc/

Please subscribe and listen to the TechTalk4Teachers Podcast:
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/

 
Kamis, 28 Maret 2013
Day 17 – The Mighty Pen and Microsoft Word 2013

Day 17 – The Mighty Pen and Microsoft Word 2013

Teaching and Learning with a Windows 8 Tablet
3/28/2013 

Welcome to Day 17 of working with a Microsoft Surface Pro Windows 8 tablet for educators. Today I would like to bring your attention to one of the magical features of the Microsoft Surface Pro, the mighty Pen.


I will start with an unlikely application in discussing the digital Pen, Word 2013.
The Surface Pro comes standard with a digital stylus that allows for the input of “digital ink”. The digital Pen allows for you to write on the Surface Pro just like the analog equivalent of pen and paper. The digital Pen feels fairly natural as it glides across the glass of the Surface Pro. This is the best writing experience I have had using a tablet.
The Pen can also be used as an input device like a mouse when you need really precise and accurate selection. I mentioned yesterday that I sometimes use the digital stylus for Desktop applications because the touch targets of Desktop applications are often too small for using your finger for selection.
There is a button on the Pen that if you depress it while selecting something acts as a right mouse click. Another helpful feature is that you can use the Pen as an eraser if you turn it upside down, very handy.
The digital Pen features 1024 levels of pressure that you can use to vary the weight of your pen strokes. Press with a heavy hand and you get bold thick lines, a lighter touch will feather out the pen stoke
Many artists are finding the built-in Wacom technology of great benefit and are using the Surface Pro to create artwork. The link below is from a YouTube video demonstrating an artist inking a cartoon using the Surface Pro. Notice the varying widths of the lines being drawn as the artist varies the pressure used on the Pen.
This digital inking makes the Surface Pro a breakout product for artists and the $999 price tag suddenly seems like a bargain compared to the thousands of dollars artists often spend on other digital tablets like the Cintiq.
Digital ink also offers several advantages, chief among them is the ability to immediately share your digital creations with the world using Skydrive or some other digital sharing service. Need a different color of Pen, no problem, you have a choice of thousands of colors, along with many different styles and widths of pens and highighters.
Now, for a secret use of Word 2013 for teachers using the Surface Pro.
It is very easy to use the Surface Pro and Word 2013 together as a digital whiteboard when you connect the Surface Pro to a projector or HDTV. Of course, you could also use OneNote and I will be discussing OneNote in a future post. I just want to point out the incredible flexibility teachers can now have access to with the Surface Pro and encourage you to explore new and innovative uses.
Here is how the magic works. When you take the digital Pen that comes with the Surface Pro and bring the tip of the digital pen close to the Word 2013 menu tabs along the top of the screen you will see a new tab appear that says “Ink Tools – Pens”.
The digital stylus activates the “Ink Tools” option and since Word 2013 is “pen-enabled” you essentially have a blank document that you would normally start typing words but why not consider it a blank slate like a whiteboard? Best of all your digital notes can be saved as a Word document of PDF and posted or emailed for your students.
The obvious choice of using a Pen while in Word 2013 is for marking student work. It works great inking over students work submitted in Word. Since you can save your ink notes alone with the student’s original document you can have a 100% paperless workflow while still using traditional handwritten comments. Just save the marked up copy under a different filename and return to the student either as a Word document or PDF. This works great for online learning management systems like BlackBoard, WebCT, Desire2Learn, or Canvas…

I have provided screenshots below. The first shows the normal menu tabs across the top of Word 2013. The second and third, is a screenshot that illustrates the new “Ink Tools” menu option that appears when you bring the Pen close to the Surface Pro that activates the additional “Ink Tools” options. The fourth shows some digital inking in Word 2013.

 

 

 


The Surface Pro takes advantage of over a decade of practical research that Microsoft has developed through the Tablet PC days and this research is now paying off in the features of the Surface Pro.


Having a digital stylus takes your work to the next level and eliminates some of the deficiencies of capacitive touch screens that only allow finger input. Having the precision of pen input is very beneficial for teachers.

Until next time...
Keep on Learning,

Tom Grissom, PhD

 Follow me on Twitter @tomgrissom
Interested in Teaching and Learning with Technology?
http://www.eiu.edu/itc/


Please subscribe and listen to the TechTalk4Teachers Podcast:
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/

 
 
Rabu, 27 Maret 2013
Day 16 – Microsoft Word 2013 adds a special touch

Day 16 – Microsoft Word 2013 adds a special touch

Teaching and Learning with a Windows 8 Tablet
3/27/2013 
 
Welcome to Day 16 of working with a Microsoft Surface Pro Windows 8 tablet for educators. Today I would like to discuss some of the new features in the Microsoft Office 2013 suite of programs as well as share some of the adjustments I have made while using Desktop applications on the Surface Pro.


Yesterday, I mentioned the dual-personality of Windows 8 having both the traditional Desktop mode as well as the new modern Start Screen Live Tile mode. This distinction is important to recognize while using the Surface Pro. Each mode has its strengths and weaknesses.

For getting heads-down intensive work done the Desktop interface still has much to offer, but there are drawbacks as well.

One of the biggest frustrations that many have while using a Surface Pro, and Windows 8 in general, is how small some of the items on the Desktop appear on the 10.6 inch screen. This is due to the “high-resolution” 1920x1080 (1080p) Desktop display. While the high-resolution display provides a crisp viewing experience for Desktop applications it can make for very small icons that are difficult to select, especially using your finger. I think this is another reason Microsoft includes the very precise digital Pen that can be used to select small targets on the Desktop of the Surface Pro.

One of the first things I did when I received the Surface Pro was change the Desktop resolution to 1600 x 900. I also deselected the auto-rotate radio button under display settings. Since I use the Surface Pro in Landscape orientation 99 percent of the time I did not want the display switching back-and-forth between portrait and landscape. Deselecting “Allow auto-rotate” prevents this switching. I can always change this setting back in the future if I decide I want to use portrait mode. I have provided a screenshot of “change display settings” options below.

 
If you are connecting the Surface Pro to a projector you may want to select a lower resolution as some older projectors will not support higher resolutions. The lower the resolution the larger items on the Desktop will appear.

If you are only using your finger to select items on the Desktop you may find them too close to accurately select by touch. This can lead to frustration as many people expect to be able to “touch” the screen to make selections on a tablet.

If you remember that you are in the Desktop environment you do have the option to completely ignore touch and only use the keyboard/touchpad. Or, you can use an external mouse as I often do. I use the very portable Microsoft Arc mouse that has a small USB transceiver that magnetically connects to the back of the Arc mouse for storage. The Arc mouse gets its name from the way that it flexes into an Arc when in use. When you are finished you flatten it and turns itself off. This makes for easy transport when you are finished using it.

Here is a link to the Arc mouse I use:


Microsoft is also advertising a Surface Pro edition of a “Wedge Mouse” that uses Bluetooth. Since Bluetooth is built into the Surface Pro you won’t need a transceiver like the Arc mouse requires. This would free up the only USB port so it may be an option for you if you regularly use the USB port for other things. The downside is Bluetooth may reduce battery-life but I have not tested how much impact this might be.


Adding an external mouse to the Surface Pro when using Desktop applications like Word 2013 gives you the precision that is sometimes needed for applications originally designed for the Desktop. If you are frustrated by the smallness of items on the Desktop an external mouse may be the solution for you.

 
Now back to new changes in Word 2013…

I would like to bring your attention to a couple of subtle interface changes to the Microsoft Word 2013 interface that will make your experience with a touch tablet more productive.

There is a very tiny icon located on the quick access toolbar located in the top left-hand corner of Word 2013 that looks like a little hand with a finger pointing and sparks coming from the finger. This is the icon to “switch” the Word 2013 interface back-and-forth between “mouse mode” to “touch mode”
 
 

I have provided screenshots below of the difference between selecting mouse mode and touch mode in Word 2013. Can you tell the difference?
 
Mouse Mode

Touch Mode
 


You can see that when Word 2013 is in “touch mode” the icons are spread apart just a little bit more in an effort to make them easier to select using your finger. This touch mode is also available in Excel 2013 and PowerPoint 2013. Nice “touch” Microsoft! Sorry couldn’t resist.

We are seeing Microsoft evolve the Office suite of tools toward a more touch-friendly interface. I believe this is just a beginning and we will see larger touch targets in future versions of Office products.

As I have stated before, the Surface Pro is a transition device. Both the hardware and the software are evolving into what Microsoft calls a “touch-first” experience.
 
I am very interested in seeing what Microsoft will do with the Surface Pro 2.

Until next time...
Keep on Learning,

Tom Grissom, PhD


Follow me on Twitter @tomgrissom

Interested in Teaching and Learning with Technology?
http://www.eiu.edu/itc/

Please subscribe and listen to the TechTalk4Teachers Podcast:
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/

 
Selasa, 26 Maret 2013
Day 15 – Surface Pro: Exploring applications and impact on storage space

Day 15 – Surface Pro: Exploring applications and impact on storage space

Teaching and Learning with a Windows 8 Tablet
3/26/2013 
 
Welcome to Day 15 of working with a Microsoft Surface Pro Windows 8 tablet for educators. Today I would like to discuss some of the applications we have been installing on the Surface Pro and the impact it has on storage space.


Yesterday, I gave an overview of the 64GB and 128GB models of the Surface Pro and why we elected to go with the larger capacity model. The main reason was that I knew we would be installing “full-blown” Windows 8 applications including Office 2013 as well as some selected software that will be used for creative purposes for teachers and students. Below is a screenshot of some of the apps and applications that we have installed so far.
I also mentioned yesterday that the Surface Pro is a transformative device that can be thought of as a hybrid between an Ultrabook class machine and a tablet.
This device evolution leaves us with the predicament of trying to categorize this machine into something that we have not experienced before. The Surface Pro is a PC, a tablet, and a Tablet PC all rolled into one.

Because the Surface Pro is a transitional device it has a dual-personality with the traditional Desktop as well as the modern-style Start Screen apps available for use at all times. This allows you to easily switch back and forth between the best computing environment, at will, for the intended job.

This flexibility does require an adjustment of wrapping your head around the two different computing environments. You need to realize that you can use both full-blown Desktop applications with all the power and sophistication we have come to expect with PC’s AND also the more “light-weight” modern apps with a touch-friendly interface. Meshing the two together requires a change in mindset to fully appreciate the benefits.

One of the intents of this blog is to document the experience and share new possibilities for teaching and learning. Since this is a hybrid model we are exploring I am interested in both the Desktop and App worlds.

I began by installing the PC applications that I regularly use on the Surface Pro. These are the full applications that we are accustomed to running on a standard PC.

To begin with the reported amount of storage space available on the brand new Surface Pro we purchased was 89.3GB free out of the box. The rest of the 128GB SSD storage is used by the operating system and a recovery partition. You can get an approximately 7 GB of space returned if you backup the recovery partition to a USB drive if you absolutely need additional space. But if you remove the recovery partition you will not be able to do a factory reset. You will need the recovery USB drive that you will need to make if you delete the recovery partition, so be careful. Since the Surface Pro also has expandable storage I am leaving the recovery partition on the device. I will use expandable storage if I need it.

So here are the practical results from the programs that I have chosen to install to date. I have installed the following programs on the Surface Pro:

Microsoft Office 2013 – including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and OneNote
Symantec 12 – antivirus
SafeConnect – wireless client to access university network
Camtasia Studio 8 – screencasting
Mixcraft 6 – for music and audio creation
Paint.net – free image editing tool (Desktop)
Ink2Go - Screen annotation & recording (Win 7)
Audacity – free sound editing tool (Desktop)
ScreenBeam – wireless HDMI display transmitter for use with HDTV

The above programs are all PC applications that are robust and full featured.
I am exploring the practical applications for teaching and learning purposes with a teachers eye. What do you need a computer to do?

I want to be able to use the de facto standard Office programs as well as have the ability to create music and audio for podcasts, produce videos, edit images, and produce screencasts. With the selected programs above the Surface Pro is becoming a powerhouse for teaching and learning purposes.
After installing the above applications and doing the Windows Updates the total amount of free space available on the 128GB Surface Pro was 71.6 GB. Not bad, not bad at all. This leaves plenty of space for additional programs and data.


In addition to the Desktop applications there are many “modern” apps available including, News, Videos, Travel, Finance, Xbox Music, Bing, Camera, Skype, Skydrive, Maps, Store, etc…

So, there you have it, well over half of the 128GB Surface Pro is still available as free space even after installing some of the heavy-weight programs listed above. I do have a couple more programs I will be installing in the future but I do have the space available when I need it.

Until next time...
Keep on Learning,

Tom Grissom, PhD

Follow me on Twitter @tomgrissom

Interested in Teaching and Learning with Technology?
http://www.eiu.edu/itc/

Please subscribe and listen to the TechTalk4Teachers Podcast:
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/
Senin, 25 Maret 2013
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Day 14 – Surface Pro: 64GB or 128GB?

Day 14 – Surface Pro: 64GB or 128GB?

Teaching and Learning with a Windows 8 Tablet
3/24/2013 
 
Welcome to Day 14 of working with a Microsoft Surface Pro Windows 8 tablet for educators. Today I will address the issue of expandable storage options available on the Surface Pro.

The ability to have expandable storage space is yet another advantage of the Surface Pro over other tablets on the market. It is also a very convenient way to get student work on and off the tablet.

There have been press reports that 64 GB of storage on the entry model of the Surface Pro is not enough, especially since the operating system takes up a large chunk of it. Many have pointed out that a large portion of the hard drive is consumed by the Windows 8 operating system and recovery partition.


PC World reports that the advertised space of a 64GB Surface Pro, “will only have 23GB available for use out of the box – that’s just under 36% of the advertised capacity”.

Some in the blogosphere have tried to make a big deal out of the storage space issue on the Surface Pro comparing it to the 16GB iPad that has 75% of advertised storage space available. The 16GB iPad has 12GB available storage, about half of the 23GB available on the Surface Pro 64GB model.

What many are missing is that the Surface Pro is really a new class of device and making such comparisons are invalid. Windows 8 and iOS are two completely different operating systems, one a full-featured enterprise class device, the other a consumer level device.

If a comparison need be made it would be more relevant to compare the Surface Pro to the Macbook Air model as Ed Bott has done in the article below.


You can see the results are similar for the amount of advertised space available between the Air and the Surface Pro. The Surface Pro is more of an Ultrabook class device dressed up in a tablet form factor, but it is much more than an Ultrabook. It really is a new class of device as we make the transformation to new touch-centric devices that have the full power of a PC.

So the bickering goes back and forth in the blogosphere about storage availability on the Surface Pro. But, the big story here, the one that most are missing, is that the Surface Pro has a USB 3.0 port that offers essentially unlimited storage capacity.

Think the 128GB SSD hard drive in the Surface Pro is not big enough? No problem, just plug in a 1 Terabyte hard drive into the USB 3.0 port. Is that enough storage for you?

True, it is detachable storage but as I have said before this capability is a huge plus in my daily workflow of working with large video files. Having something stick out the side of the Surface Pro however, is limiting and in a perfect world more internal storage would be preferable.

So, 64GB or 128GB?

More is better in this case and thus we elected to go with the 128 GB Surface Pro, at a cost of $100 more than the 64GB model. The main reason is that I do work with large files regularly and the additional space is warranted. I also plan on installing some full-featured programs that will take up additional disk space.

In addition, the Surface Pro also offers a microSD slot that allows you to add up to 64GB of additional storage. The advantage of the microSD card is that it becomes essentially hidden (does not stick out) and disappears into the Surface Pro.  

Since the Surface Pro features full Windows 8 file management capability (it is Windows after all), the microSD card just appears like any other drive would on the Surface Pro in File Explorer. That’s 64GB of “extra” storage space, beyond the internal 128GB SSD drive if you need it.

Until next time...
Keep on Learning,

Tom Grissom, PhD
 Follow me on Twitter @tomgrissom

Interested in Teaching and Learning with Technology?http://www.eiu.edu/itc/
Please subscribe and listen to the TechTalk4Teachers Podcast:http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/

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