bct-l: FW: Best Practices Newsletter -- December 13, 2001

["Patti Abraham" <psa1@ra.msstate.edu>]

This message has been posted to the Business and Computer Technology Teachers Discussion List.


-----Original Message-----
From: Best Practices Newsletter
[mailto:Best_Practices_Newsletter@send.familyeducation.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2001 2:25 PM
To: Best Practices Newsletter
Subject: Best Practices Newsletter -- December 13, 2001


Best Practices Newsletter -- December 13, 2001

This biweekly newsletter offers practical tips, advice, and examples of how
teachers are using Learning Network's MyGradeBook, Quiz Lab, and
MySchoolOnline
to integrate technology into their classrooms and motivate students.

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Available online with live links at:
http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.1.1769886

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In This Issue:
*Exporting Grades from MyGradeBook
*Turning Quizzes On and Off in Quiz Lab
*Special Projects Add Excitement to MySchoolOnline
*Specials for Teachers

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This Week's Tips

Each Best Practices Newsletter focuses on one function or specialized use of
our
three main teacher tools:

MyGradeBook, Quiz Lab, and MySchoolOnline. These tips will show you how to
get
the most out of the tools and save you time while you're at it.

Using Mygradebook's export data feature can save you time in several ways.
With
a few mouseclicks you can transfer your grades to your school or district's
report card software, store important information on your computer, and
more.

Quiz Lab's time stamping feature lets you turn quizzes off and on
automatically.
You'll see how easy it is to use this feature to store quizzes for the
following
year.

Project-based learning is a real winner with students and teachers alike. It
motivates students, adds real-life meaning to their work, and builds from
students' strengths and abilities. This issue will show you some projects
featured on MSO sites, link you to a project registry, and highlight several
ongoing project sites.

Cheers!

Pat O'Donnell
Producer, Educator Applications

Got a question or comment? Email me at teachertips@fen.com

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MyGradeBook: Exporting Grades from MyGradeBook

To learn more about MyGradeBook, take our new tour.
http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.2.1769886

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Quiz Lab: Time Stamp Quizzes

Take a look at our Quiz Lab sample page and you'll spot a common problem for
our
"power-users" -- those folks who create and assign many quizzes and games
for
their students. The list of quizzes gets incredibly long, and it becomes
increasingly difficult for our students to find the quiz they're supposed to
complete.  A teacher wrote in and asked if we could alphabetize the quizzes
as a
way to simplify things for students.  Time stamping will do a better job of
solving the problem.

Quiz Lab Sample Page:
http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.3.1769886

What is time stamping?

Time stamping is how you restrict the availability of your quizzes. You set
a
date and time for the quiz to be visible on the student start page and a
date
and time for it to "disappear" from there. Most of us teach the same
material
each year. With time stamping, you can even carry a quiz over from year to
year
without having to rebuild it or try to locate it again in the quiz library.
And
it's quick and easy to do.

How to Restrict the Availability of a Quiz

Log in to your Quiz Lab account. Click on View and Edit Quizzes. Select any
quiz
in your list and click on the name of the quiz. This opens the green
administrator screen for the quiz. Locate the middle section in the bottom
row
of this screen. This is the area where you need to insert your dates and
times.

Administrator screen:
http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.4.1769886

Be sure you use a 24-hour clock or military time for the time column as this
sample shows you. Finally, click on the Submit button to save the changes to
your quiz. This quiz will appear on the student start page between 7 A. M.
on
December 13 and 4 P. M. on December 31. At any time after December 31, you
can
go back to edit the quiz once again and set new dates for the following
school
year.

Not a Quiz Lab subscriber yet? Learn more about how Quiz Lab can work for
you.
If you currently have a Quiz Lab basic account, you can also use this link
to
learn why you should upgrade now.
http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.5.1769886

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MySchoolOnline: Special Projects Enrich Your Curriculum and Your Website

Most of the sites listed in our Best Sites Showcase have included special
project pages on their websites. Some of these are Internet-based; others
are
primarily classroom activities. What they all do is involve students in some
active learning activities and then share the energy and the results with
us.

*A Template Makes the Job Easier

Many of these pages are built using the Student Showcase template. This
template
allows you to insert a total of five sections with a title, photograph, and
text
in each section. Once you upload your image to your image library, it's a
simple
task to add it to the page. If you want to use more than five photographs or
sections, you can follow the directions for adding multiple images into a
page.

The webCreate templates only allow you to have one of each template active
on
your site at one time. If you need more than one Student Showcase, copy the
source code for an existing page and paste it into a new advanced page.
Title
the page and fill in the short description areas. Then you can go back and
rebuild your showcase using new photographs and text.

*Sample These Projects on MSO Sites

When you scan projects on school websites, you'll notice they fit into one
of
two broad categories: linking students for email exchanges and curriculum
units.
Here's a small sampling of what some of our MSO teachers are doing.

Our E Pals
URL: http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.6.1769886

Our Cinderella Internet Project
URL: http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.7.1769886

The Teddy Bear Project
URL: http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.8.1769886

50 States Postcard Exchange
URL: http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.9.1769886

Flat Stanley Project
URL: http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.10.1769886

*Find a Project for Your Class

Internet Projects Registry
URL: http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.11.1769886

The Internet Projects Registry hosts a searchable list of well-defined
projects.
Search by date, age of students, curriculum and/or technology area, and much
more. There are projects here for all age and grade levels. It's a wonderful
place to start your search for a project.

These are two of my favorite projects that you'll also find listed in the
registry. They're easy to do with students of any age and they require very
little special equipment or hardware.

Global Grocery List
URL: http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.12.1769886

Global Grocery List Project gives students a chance to develop several life
skills while learning about life in different areas of the world.

Skittles Challenge 2002
URL: http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.13.1769886

Skittles Challenge 2002 guides students through formulating a hypothesis,
testing it, and drawing conclusions from the experiment. And, of course, you
get
to eat some candy while you work.
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Specials for Teachers

Win a Holiday Shopping Spree on School Cash!
In this sweepstakes, when you win, everyone wins -- you, your family, and
your
school!

These sweepstakes prizes are simply too good to be true. One grand-prize
winner
gets a $2,500 SchoolCash Shopping Spree plus $1,000 for their school. Ten
first
runner-up winners get a $500 SchoolCash Shopping Spree plus $500 for their
school. And 100 second runner-up winners get $50 Learning Network Store Gift
Certificates.

The contest closes this Friday, December 14. Make sure you get your entry in
at
http://send.familyeducation.com:9956/T/A2.101.3003.14.1769886

Best Practices Newsletter is another great service from Learning Network.

Feel free to forward this email to your friends, family, or colleagues!

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