Avatar research

"You're mission Ethan, should you choose to accept it is..." (Mission Impossible? C'mon people work with me!)

We got a bit sidetracked last lesson, (which is fine, there were some great questions being asked) but we need to get things back on track. That means sinking your teeth into the Avatar research task. There's a link to the task sheet in a previous post, but I will put it in for you again here. (On a scale of one to ten how nice am I? You can answer that in the comments.)
View 9it-avatar-research-pdf
Go grab it, have a read then get cracking.

You may find the following "advanced web search" tutorials on Atomic Learning helpful with your research. I would also encourage the use of a data grid but as the task says, it's up to you. If you can't remember the school user name and password for Atomic Learning ask your teacher or at HelpDesk.

When your avatar task is complete, as a reward for your hard work you will receive an invitation to class social network.

The consultation has begun

The consultations have started. If you haven't had a consultation yet here are some things your group should check/work on before you get there.

1. Fill out the document templates - You can't collaborate if all the stuff is written in one person's book. Get it into the shared document.
2. Ask better questions - The quality of your questions directly affect the quality of your answers. Better questions better answers! Ask for help if you're struggling
3. Consult the assessment rubrics - They're the goal posts. They can be found on the Resources page.

I still think some groups are taking the project a bit lightly. You have to create an informative high quality presentation and that stuff doesn't happen by itself. It takes time, effort and cooperation. A true test of of character and self discipline. Get organised and get working.
To assist with the research and presentation planning stuff (like what's on the list above) everyone should complete the following tutorials on Atomic Learning. Each section takes about 20 minutes and is well worth the time investment. Don't forget to plug in those headphones.

• Affecting Change: Our Greenhouse Earth
  
  
  
  • B. Gathering Information
    
    • Searching on "climate change"
    • Identifying the origin of source material
    • Finding copyright information
    • Recording information in a Google Doc
    • Formatting text in a Google document
    • Adding a hyperlink to your Google Doc
    • Adding a table to outline the presentation
  • C. Creating the Presentation
    
    • Creating a new presentation from a template
    • Modifying the title slide
    • Adding key points to other slides
    • Adding images to a slide
    • Inserting text, images, videos, and shapes
    • Adding hyperlinks to your slides
    • Citing your sources properly
    • Showing a presentation

Persistence

This continues with the theme from the last post. It's by presentation ninja Garr Reynolds inspired by a book by Daniel Pink called Johnny Bunko.

Lesson 4 from Johnny Bunko

View more documents from garr.

I think this may have super relevance to the task you have just begun. Does it seem big and confusing at the moment? Of course it does. When you start out many things can appear overwhelming even insurmountable. Take Dory's advice and, "keep on swimming". Revisit the task pages as often as you need to and, "keep on swimming". Work through the Our Greenhouse Earth project launcher on Atomic Learning and, "keep on swimming."

Dump the screen dump

What were we thinking? Print screen? That's crazy talk!
If you haven't done the Tech Skills Assesment yet when you get to the end don't go with the "print screen" option (as stated in previous post). Problem is only get the top part of your results appear on the screen (you have to scroll down to view it all) and you want all of it right?! Much better to do a "save as" from the file menu of Internet Explorer, change the save format to "single html file" (if you don't know where that is just ask someone) and save it to your network drive or memory stick. Preferably both. That way you get all your results with details and the links to the "workshops" for areas of improvement.
So just repeating...

1. Dump the screen dump
2. Select "save as" from file menu (in IE)
3. Change the save format to html
4. Save somewhere and back up

Now why didn't we do that the first time?!
(I'm not using Windows at the minute so if someone wants to send me a screen shot of the "save as" dialogue box I can add it to the post)

Technology skills assessment

screenshot by “coach_robbo”

It's a new semester with new people. ENow strap yourself in for some exciting times. Two small pieces of advice first though...

1. Read ALL the instructions before you start ANYTHING (it hurts less that way)
   
2. Read the instructions again
   

Got it? Great!
Now, we are super interested in what you know. (There's nothing worse than someone telling you how to do something that you already know how to do, right?) So with this in mind, before we get started, everyone's going to do a "pre-assessment". But before everyone gets all up tight, wait till you find out what it's for. This is good assessment!
You're going to take the Tech Skills Assessment on Atomic Learning to figure out what sort of things you know. Based on the results you get an idea of the things you're good at and the things you need to work on. Atomic Learning; then directs you to learning activities and projects that best suit you. So if you're a full on "tech-web-geek machine" (like us) you get pointed to some of the hard core tricky stuff and if you're just starting out you get pointed to the "just show me how to get the job done" stuff.
I told you it was good assessment!
Then later on, once you're done, you can test yourself out again to see how you're going.

Let's do it!

1. Read all the instructions BEFORE YOU YOU DO ANYTHING


2. Find out how to take screen shots, you will need this later


3. Hit the Atomic Learning site


4. Log in (blank boxes up the top of the page) - see your teacher for username and password


5. Hit the "Tech Skills Assessment" button on the right hand side (like the picture)


6. Click on the big blue button to "start the test"


7. For name and ID put your student number followed by your surname, first name and home group (i.e. 12345 PAVAROTTI Luciano 7ABC)


8. The test will take you about 50 minutes


9. When you finish you will get assessment results and recommendations. Take a screen shot of the results and recommendations and email it to you teacher (I told you you'd need it didn't I?)


10. Give yourself a pat on the head for reading all the instructions now go back to Step 2 and get cracking! There's 48 questions to complete so don't muck around or you'll be there all day.

Struggling? This might help

Some people have said they are struggling so I will "Throw you a bone here!" as Dr Evil would say.
Lee and Sachi LeFever at CommonCraft make heaps of explanatory videos on a variety of topics. Lots of them are about online web services. Check out Lee's member page over at DotSub and go through the list. The subtitles can make it easier to follow sometimes.
Another place to get more information about your topic or background information is on Atomic Learning. Many of the services are covered in Atomic Learning tutorials so hit the site, log in, do a search and see what comes up. You may be pleasantly suprised.

Who's an average kid?

You will have started averages and other stuff in Maths class already. Next term you will be doing an inquiry project using spreadsheet to examine some of this stuff further. To help with this you will be working through a couple of projects on Atomic Learning. To help you complete the project though you first have to go to the shared drive on the server and get some instructions and data (your teacher will show you where to get it)
Then go to Average Kid and work through the lessons.