the big house library

i made SlideRockets w/ a class 4 the 1st time this week! woo hoo! =)

(for more info about making SlideRockets with classes, click here.)

well, it went well but w/ a few glitches...

1. in SlideRocket u can't edit html except 2 hyperlink

2. in SlideRocket u can't embed a YouTube video easily (if you can even view YouTube video that isn't blocked @ school)

i tweeted SlideRocket 4 tech support and they said this:

1. "We don't let you edit HTML in SlideRocket but you can add an HTML link to an object. Just select your object then go to the Tools menu and Select Hyperlink. You can link your presentation to another slide or to an external link."

2. "We don't have a super tight integration with YouTube just yet, it's still in development but we do have a work around. At this time SlideRocket cannot directly embed a YouTube video. Instead you will need to use a free 3rd party service such as http://kej.tw/flvretriever/ which will allow you to save any YouTube video to your hard drive as a flash video. You can then import a flash video into your SlideRocket presentation."

nice. this helps. thanks, SlideRocket! =)

but now for glitches 3 & 4...

3. the teacher wanted each student to create 5 slides and then combine the slides of 3 or 4 students into 1 sliderocket. but how to combine slides created by different users prior to publishing the sliderocket as a webpage? 2 options:

a. invite a user to view your slide rocket: in the presentations tab, click the invite icon

OR...

b. add the slides to your sliderocket library click tools > add slide to library > under permissions, click the advanced tab > then click the + to add a user or group by email do this for each slide > then 1 user inserts all shared slides into 1 SlideRocket

the problem with both of these workarounds was glitch 4:

the limitations of the free account...

because the students had just signed up for new accounts w/ no previous usage history, they were able to invite people their teacher to view their presentations. (this was a good thing for them, because if she couldn't see them, she couldn't grade them!)

i, on the other hand, was not so lucky. i must have exceeded what was available to me for free from SlideRocket because i could not (and still cannot) invite others to view my presentations, nor can i share them.

the error message i get says: "We're sorry but this feature is not available to your current account level. If you'd like access to this and any of these other great SlideRocket features, please click the Upgrade my account button below."

and yet on SlideRocket's solutions page it says this:

"SlideRocket will always have a free account option for everyone." but i can't "spread the presentation love" if i can't share my presentations. ugh. i'll tweet them back and let you know what they say.

i'm still a SlideRocket lover, because i'm a PowerPoint hater, but they've obviously still got some kinks to work out. i just hope they do soon! =)

p.s. the SlideRocket team told me every time i tweet about them i'm entered into a monthly drawing for a free account. they suggested i re-tweet their tweets to increase my chances of winning. while i'm tempted by the lure of free stuff, i am ideologically opposed to spam. sorry, SlideRocket. guess i'll just have to play to pay! =P

 
hey guess what?! february is library lovers' month! :)

so go on and show us some public displays of affection! :) you don't have to give us a big wet kiss or agroping fondling hug, but you could donate your time, some spare change, or a few fairly new & gently used books! :)

these are all appropriate and appreciated ways you can show a little more love to the library you love. :)

happy library lovers' month! :) 

by the way, if you love our I Love Lucy-like image, you can buy a magnet of it for just a quarter each! email me for the how-to! :)

kudos and thanks to scott hess for the stellar design! :)

 
Tonight when speaking about how to fix our failing economy, President Obama said we need jobs: "jobs doing the work that America desperately needs done... jobs creating the 21st century schools, libraries, and labs for millions of children across America..." That's right, he said libraries! And during National Library Lovers' Month, I hope you, too, will say libraries matter as we work together to make the U.S.A. awesome again. Thank you, Mr. President. :)

www.outbrain.com allows blog readers to give ratings and recommendations to posts they read. i'm giving it a try. let me know what you think. :)

this weekend i became seriously infatuated with all the sexy new smartphones on the market. yeah, yeah, yeah, i know full well that the economy's in the toilet, and i should probably be saving every spare penny (not that there are many of those these days) in the event that i don't have a job next year, but... i can't help it... i'm in love with smartphones!!! :)

a_musical_collaboration.mp3
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what_music_can_teach_teachers.mp3
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On January 29th, 2009, Casa faculty gathered in the new multi-use room for an unusual but beauitiful introduction to their professional development day: a quintet of Casa students demonstrating musical collaboration and Assistant Principal Eric Backman explaining the symbolism of it. We hope you enjoy our first Casa podcast. :)

 
if you answered "yeah huh!" click here to help us get some seat cushions stat! :)
 

isn't this just the cheesiest (or the savviest) idea you've ever heard of?! a library with a gift registry! i know! what was i thinking, right? :) well, i was thinking that times are tough and getting tougher, but some folks are still able to and want to help out. so here's yet another way to make a fully-tax-deductible donation to your favorite library! :)