John Schneider – Page 2 – ACADEMIC TECH TIPS

Use iTunes to Convert Audio Files to MP3

By John Schneider | August 26, 2010 | Comments 0 Comment

If you have an audio recording that you plan to post to Blackboard, you should make sure that your audio file is in a high-quality compressed format, like MP3. With iTunes , a free media player for Mac and PC, you can easily convert WAV, AIFF, AAC, and M4a files to MP3.

Follow these steps in iTunes 9 to convert a file to MP3:

Open iTunes and select Edit > Preferences > Import Settings.
Under the Import Using dropdown menu, choose MP3 encoder.
From your music library, select the file you would like to convert.
Go to the Advanced tab and select Create MP3 Version.
You’ll notice that a duplicate of the original track will show up in your Library, which will be in MP3 format. Simply drag and drop the MP3 from your iTunes Library to your computer’s Desktop. You’ll now be able to upload your MP3 to Blackboard.

For Older Versions of iTunes

To convert an audio recording to MP3, drag and drop the audio file into your iTunes Library. Single-click on the track that you would like to convert from your Library. Next, click on the Advanced menu and select Convert Selection to MP3.

Using Formatting Styles in Word 2007

By John Schneider | July 29, 2010 | Comments 0 Comment

If you want to create a professional looking document, the preset styles in Word 2007 make it easy to choose headings, subheadings, and font themes that are designed to complement one another. Using the Quick Styles feature can help save you time and make your document look more polished. To get started, go to the Home tab and find the Styles box on the right. In this box, you can choose from a range of styles and color schemes. To apply a style to a section, just highlight your text then click on the style you want. You can also use the Change Styles button to quickly change style sets, colors and fonts.

Setting your Default Web Browser

By John Schneider | July 15, 2010 | Comments 0 Comment

When you click on links from emails or documents, your default Web browser will open these URLs. For example, if you use Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer is usually set as the default Web browser, unless you change it. If you install another Web browser, such as Firefox, you will most likely be prompted to change your default browser during installation. You can easily change your default Web browser at any time by opening the browser you would like to set as the default and adjusting the settings.

Firefox 3: Open Firefox; from the Tools menu, select Options. Click on the Advanced tab. Then make sure the General tab is selected. Click Check Now to see if Firefox is set as your default browser. If it is not set to default, you will be prompted to select Firefox.

Internet Explorer: Open Internet Explorer, under Tools, select Internet Options. Click on the Programs tab. Click on the Make Default button to set Internet Explorer as your default.

Safari: Open Safari; from the Safari menu, select Preferences. From the Main tab, choose your default browser from the drop-down menu.

Record a Webcam Video with QuickTime Pro

By John Schneider | June 3, 2010

With QuickTime Pro for Mac, you can easily record a webcam video directly to your hard drive. Quicktime Pro offers a straightforward interface to record your video, as well as provides as the option to convert video files into a variety of formats. Take note that Quicktime Pro for Windows only supports audio capture.

If you don’t already have QuickTime Pro, you can purchase the download for about $30 at the Apple Store.

Here are a few steps to record a video from your webcam:

If you don’t have a built-in camera, you must attach an external webcam
Go to File > New Movie Recording
A video screen will appear; when you are ready, press the red-circle record button
After you are finished recording, the video will automatically save as a .mov file to your desktop. If you want to export it as a different format, select File > Export

Digitally Manage your Notes with Evernote

By John Schneider | May 12, 2010 | Comments 0 Comment

Writing out notes and keeping track of all of those bits of paper can be a hard task to manage. Evernote has developed a free digital management system for all of your notes. Evernote incorporates the use of your computer, your mobile devices and the Internet to make your information accessible all of the time. If you are at a meeting or a class and you want to quickly remember the information, you can take a picture of the whiteboard and add it to your notes. Evernote also has a useful feature that can read text in photographs or handwritten notes to make them easily searchable. Some other ways to add information are through to-do lists, notes, web selections and voice memos. Once you have many notes, it is easy to organize them into categories and add tags.

Overall, Evernote is a helpful tool that acts like your own digital file cabinet. If you want to learn more or try it out, visit the Evernote homepage.

Easily Capture a Screenshot

By John Schneider | April 22, 2010 | Comments 0 Comment

A screenshot is an image taken of the computer screen or a portion of the screen. These images can be useful for creating a demonstration of a program or even for recording a problem on your computer. You can easily take a screenshot on a Mac or PC without installing additional software.

For PC

On the upper right-hand side of your keyboard, press PrtScn.
The screenshot will be copied onto your clipboard. Open any image-editing program like Paint and click on Paste or use the keyboard command: Control-V.
Save the image.

For Mac

On your keyboard, press Command (Apple Key) – Shift – 3, in this order, to capture the entire screen. Or press, Command – Shift – 4 to highlight and select an area of the screen to capture.
The image will be saved to your desktop.

Screen Capture Software

If you are interested in more advanced features for taking screen captures, there are quite a few useful programs out there. SnagIt, for PC, allows you to edit your image by highlighting areas, adding call-outs, arrows, text and more. Snagit is very useful for creating tutorials; it runs about $50. SnapzPro, for Mac, enables you to record anything on your screen and save as a Quicktime movie; it runs about $70.

Save Web Forms as you Type with Lazarus

By John Schneider | April 15, 2010 | Comments 0 Comment

If you’ve ever lost your work when typing in an online form, posting content to Blackboard or writing webmail, then you know how frustrating it can be! Next time you can prevent this inconvenience by installing a very helpful Firefox add-on, Lazarus: Form Recovery. Lazarus automatically saves the text you have entered in a form, blog response or even an email and allows you to easily recover your work.

After installing Lazarus, all you have to do to recover text in a Web document is return to the Web page and right-click on the field where you lost the data. You will have the option to recover text or to recover a form depending on what you need. After you select an option, the text is automatically re-entered. You can also keep your data secure by setting Lazarus to require a password to restore your forms.

Track Changes as you Edit in Word

By John Schneider | April 7, 2010 | Comments 0 Comment

Track Changes in Microsoft Word is a helpful feature for viewing and editing revisions while you work in a document. This tool can be incredibly useful when multiple users are editing the same document. Also, if you are a professor, you can use Track Changes to add comments and make revisions to a paper. The author of the document can accept or reject each change once the document is ready to be finalized. Here are a few steps to get started with Track Changes:

Turn on Track Changes

Under the Review tab, select Track Changes. (For older versions of Word, go to Tools and select Track Changes.)

You can also use a shortcut to turn on and off track changes (CTRL-SHIFT-E).

Add Changes or Comments

1. Turn on Track Changes.
2. Make revisions directly into the document and they will show up in red.
3. Click on the New Comment button to add remarks.

track-changes-new-comment2

Here is what each displays:
Final Showing Markup: Document with changes
Final: Document including proposed changes
Original Showing Markup: Original document with proposed changes
Original: Document before any editing

Accept or Reject Changes

To accept or reject changes, click on the appropriate button on the top menu.

accept-changes

Or you can right click on the change and a drop-down menu will appear with options to accept or reject.

To learn more visit:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA012186901033.aspx

Customize your Web Print Size

By John Schneider | March 25, 2010 | Comments 0 Comment

When printing from the Web, components of a webpage such as headers, side menus or ads can take up a large portion of the printed page. In some cases, the text font-size on a webpage may be too small for printing. With Aardvark, a Firefox add-on, you can easily clean up a webpage for easier viewing and printing.

Once you install the add-on to Firefox, to get started, just right-click on a page and select Start Aardvark. With your mouse, you can select areas and use simple keystrokes such as R – to remove, I – to isolate or W – to widen the area.
For pages with small text, follow these steps to isolate a portion of a webpage and increase the text-size for printing:

1. Right-click and select Start Aardvark.
2. Use the red rectangle to select an area.

aardvark_reds_quare1

3. Use the keystroke “I” to isolate the selection.
4. Once you have customized the webpage, make sure to move your cursor off of the page (so you do not print any red rectangles) then select File > Print Preview. In Print Preview, adjust the scale to a higher percentage to increase the text size.
5. Select Print.
Note: Your computer might save the print preview scale setting for future printing. Also, Aardvark is not being supported anymore. If you’re running an old version of Firefox (10 or earlier) it will still work. It is not available for later versions.

Adjusting Auto-Save in Office 2007

By John Schneider | March 18, 2010 | Comments 0 Comment

If you’ve ever lost your work due to a computer freeze or power loss then you know how frustrating it can be. In Microsoft Office, there is a way to help prevent such a disaster. All you need to do is adjust the auto-save interval time so that you know how often and where your documents will be saved. Here are the steps in Microsoft Word to set up this option; note that the steps are the same for PowerPoint and Excel:

1. Click on the Microsoft Logo in the top left corner.
2. At the bottom of the screen, select Word Options.
3. Go to the Save tab. Here you can select an interval time and location for auto-saving your documents.