EM-S ISD Tech Tips

Making Images with Pixlr & Gimp

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:50:00 +0000

Images can be fun and easy to create, but it's all about the software and knowing the right steps to take. Two of the best free programs that I have found our Pixlr.com and Gimp. There are advantages to each.

Pixlr.com is a web-based program which means there's nothing to download. It allows to you to have various layers and supply different styles (ie drop-shadow, glow). You can open PSD files in Pixlr and it maintains the layers, including text layers, however you lose the ability to edit the text. This means if you need to add or change text you must add it yourself. The following video highlights the aforementioned items.

Pixlr Tutorial: How to Make a Banner (using layers, style options, and free transform)

Gimp is a very powerful program. It has very similar capabilities to Photoshop with one major difference, it's free. This open-source software has many tools and features (more than Pixlr). The following video does a good job of helping someone get started in Gimp. It's kind of long (10:57) but it explain layers, adding a background, adding text and applying effects, and saving files in Gimp.

GIMP Basics - Introduction + Beginner tutorial example

There are many other tutorial videos available on both of the pieces of software. So if you start using them and think "I wonder if I could.." do some searches and check them out.

EM-S ISD Webmasters this video is for you! Edit PSD in Pixlr

Creating a Group in Outlook 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Fuller) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:36:00 +0000

A Contact Group, known in previous Outlook versions as a distribution list, is a grouping of email addresses collected under one name. A message sent to a Contact Group goes to all recipients that are listed in the group. EM-S ISD has a limit of 500 recipients per day with the email system. Please be mindful of this fact. You can include Contact Groups in messages, task requests, meeting requests, and in other Contact Groups.

There is no maximum number of names that you can include in a Contact Group. Again, email sent from an EM-S ISD address is limited to 500 recipients per day. The CONTACT group created below is located in the Contacts area of Outlook 2010 (or in the Contacts area of the web version). This is not a PUBLIC Group, but is contained in an individual's Contacts area in Outlook 2010 or the Web App system.

Create a Contact Group with new names or names in the Address Book

For Outlook 2010, in Contacts, on the Home tab, in the New group, click New Contact Group.

In the Name box, type a name for the Contact Group.
On the Contact Group tab, in the Members group, click Add Members, and then click From Outlook Contacts, From Address Book or New Email Contact.
If you are adding a new email contact, enter the information for the person in the Add New Member dialog box.

If you are adding a member from Outlook Contacts or an Address Book, do the following:

In the Address Book drop-down list, click the address book that contains the email addresses that you want to include in your Contact Group.
In the list of names, click the names that you want, and then click Members. You can add names from different address books to the same Contact Group.
Do this for each person whom you want to add to the Contact Group, and then click OK. The Contact Group is saved in your Contacts folder under the name that you give it.

Create a Contact Group by copying names from an email message

In the message that you want to copy the names from, click the names in the To or Cc box (To, Cc, and Bcc boxes: A message is sent to the recipients in the To box. Recipients in the Cc (carbon copy) and Bcc (blind carbon copy) boxes also get the message; however, the names of the recipients in the Bcc box aren't visible to other recipients.).
Right-click your selection, and then click Copy.
In Mail, on the Home tab, in the New group, click New Items, then click More Items, and then click Contact Group.
In the Name box, type a name for the Contact Group.
On the Contact Group tab, in the Members group, click Add Members, and then click either From Outlook Contacts or From Address Book.
At the bottom of the Select Members dialog box, in the Members box, right-click, and then click Paste.

Note: A member doesn’t have to be in your Address Book to be added to the Contact Group. The member's name and email address are included when you copy and paste from the original email message.

Add a Contact Group received from someone

When you receive a message that includes a Contact Group that you want to use, you can save it to your Contacts.
Open the message that contains the Contact Group.
In the To or Cc box, right-click the Contact Group, and then click Add to Outlook Contacts.

Add or delete a name in a Contact Group

In Contacts, open the Contact Group.
Note: In list views, Contact Groups are marked with the Contact Group icon.

Add an address from an address book or a contacts folder

On the Contact Group tab, in the Members group, click Add Members, and then click From outlook Contacts or From Address Book.
In the Address Book drop-down list, click the address book that contains the email addresses that you want in your Contact Group.

Browse for the name that you ant, or type it in the Search box.
In the Name list, click the name, and then click Members. Do this for each person whom you want to add to the Contact Group, and then click OK.

Add an address that is not in a contacts folder or an address book

On the Contact Group tab, in the Members group, click Add Members, and then click New E-mail Contact.
Type the information from the email address, and then click OK

Remove a name

In the list of names, click the name that you want to remove
On the Contact Group tab, in the Members group, click Remove Member

I can get Microsoft Office 2010 for $9.75?!!!

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:04:00 +0000

YES! It is true AND it gets even better! I'm not normally one for extreme caps speak, but this time it's necessary. Our district has partnered with Microsoft to bring the staff and students of our district an exceptional deal! Are you ready for this...

Microsoft Office 2010 for PC: $9.75
Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac: $9.75
Windows 7 Operating System: $9.75

This is an unbelievable opportunity for you to have these applications on your home computer. Just go to ems.onthehub.com , that's right, e m s dot on the hub dot com (sorry I couldn't resist!).

**You will need to register with your school email address and your Novell password on the site in order to get this deal.

Setting up Outlook on your Teacher Computer

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:45:00 +0000

This is a cross-post from my own blog, Tech Tips and Such =)

I think I've been right along with everyone else in the craziness of this week. We had a wonderful convocation with an inspiring speaker, Mark Sharenbroich (see his story and more info at http://www.nicebike.com) and I know since then we've all been running full pace getting things ready and re-evaluating what we can do differently and improve upon. On the note of getting things ready...in our district we all came back to a wonderful addition on our computers, Microsoft Office 2010 (a special thank you is deserved to all of the technicians that worked hard through the summer to get this done). The application I'm going to give you steps for today is Microsoft Outlook 2010. This is a great way to streamline efficiency in your email program and much faster than accessing email through going to the website. It takes about a minute (yes I'm serious, one minute) to setup and it's super duper easy, so let's get started...

Open Outlook 2010 (Go to Start > Programs > Office 2010 > Outlook 2010)
Click Next
On the window that asks “Would you like to configure an Email account? Select Yes and then Next.
Enter your account information for your Live Email.

Make sure that you enter your complete email address.
Click Next

You will see Outlook process your account information, this should go pretty quickly.
If you see a window prompting you for your password, enter your Windows Live sign-in information.

You will probably want to click for it to “Remember my password” but if you do this, just make sure you are on your personal or teacher dedicated computer, and that if you step away from your computer you lock it (Ctrl + Alt + Delete, Lock this Computer).

Next you should see a window that says “Your email account is successfully configured." Click Finish.
When you are prompted with “Would you like to add a Hotmail Account?” Select No.
Select to “Use Recommended Settings” and click OK.

View Full PDF

Some Good Updates to Skydrive

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:53:00 +0000

There are some big updates that have come to SkyDrive. The updates make it easier to see and manage all of your documents.

The first difference I noticed is that with each file in your SkyDrive there is a small "i" icon to the right, that when clicked, displays a selection pane for the selected file. The next difference I observed was the massive improvement is speed of browsing through your files.

Take a look at the post below for more info.
SkyDrive Refreshed with New Features and HTML5

Cruise Through Technology

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Tucker) — Thu, 26 May 2011 20:19:00 +0000

Join us on Wednesday, June 8 for a two hour Cruise Through Technology. We will have more than a dozen activities/excursions that will highlight a variety of technology tools that are available to you in district. Spend as much or as little time at each stop - it's called Freestyle cruising!

GoAnimate.com: Cruise Through Technology by ctucker

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Be sure to sign up in Eduphoria today!

Technology Integration Conference THIS SUMMER!

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Fri, 20 May 2011 21:00:00 +0000

We are super excited to be having our first Technology Integration Conference this summer on August 3rd & 4th! There will be sessions on Windows Live as well as many other cool technology tools and resources. For more info, check out the video below.

GoAnimate.com: Summer Technology Integration Academy 2011 by Becky501

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Changing the Time Settings in LIVE

noreply@blogger.com (lizzyliz) — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:35:00 +0000

Time settings in LIVE can affect your use of the calendar and all of its features. IF the time is incorrect, click Options

and See All Options

Choose Settings and Regional to change the Time Zone

Organizing Email in Live.com (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Thu, 12 May 2011 02:11:00 +0000

This is the 2nd post of a series for Organizing Email in Live.com and is a cross post from Becky Burnett's blog, Tech Tips & Such...

There are a variety of options for organizing emails in Live.com. Last week I posted about using categories to organize your email. This week we will be looking at how to create folders and add emails to the folders in Live Mail.

Log into live.com
Right-click on your name from the left-pane
Select Create New Folder
Type in the name of your folder and press Enter
From this point it's easy to move emails into folders

Select one or multiple emails and either drag and drop them into the desired folder, OR
Once emails are selected, click Move and choose Move to Folder, then select the folder you would like to move emails to.

Creating a Shared Calendar

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Tucker) — Tue, 10 May 2011 20:17:00 +0000

Creating a Calendar that can be shared by other EM-S ISD folks is easy to do. This will be especially helpful for teams that plan together, campuses that want to create a "Computer Lab Check-Out Schedule" and more.

Creating a Calendar

Click Calendar from the lower left corner of your Windows LIVE inbox
Right-Click on My Calendars in the left column, and choose Create New Calendar ...
Name your new Calendar (give it a different name than any of your other calendars!)

Sharing a Calendar (and granting others editing privileges)

Select and right-click on the desired calendar
Click Share
Click Share this Calendar
Enter the email addresses for the desired recipients (or click To... to select recipients from the Global Address Book)
Be sure to select the appropriate option in the "Share" box before sending the email

All information will allow recipients to see everything on the calendar
All information with permission to add, edit, and delete will allow recipients (in district contacts only) to edit the calendar events.

Send the email. The recipients will need to click the "Add Calendar" link in the email in order to have access.

Organizing Email in Live.com (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Wed, 04 May 2011 21:13:00 +0000

This is a cross-post from Becky Burnett's blog, Tech Tips and Such...

So this week has marked the beginning of using Windows Live (specifically live@edu) as our primary email service in our school district. In light of that, I thought I'd do a cross-post series for organizing emails in live.com. You have multiple options for organizing emails. You can assign categories, make an email a task, and/or put your emails in folders. For this post I'm going to go over sorting your emails into categories.

To use categories in your email...

Hover your mouse on an email.
On the right side of the email bar you will see a grayed out rectangle, click it.
If you don't care about the names of the categories and just want to apply a color, then select a color to apply it to an email. If you wish to change the names/colors of your categories, click on Manage Categories and follow the steps below.

Delete the current categories by selecting them, then clicking Delete Category. Do this for all existing categories.
Click Create New Category and assign a color and name for the categories you want to have.
When you are finished, click OK and assign categories as described above.

Note - You can apply more than one category to an email =)
Another Note - You can filter by categories! At the top of your email just select Filter, then Category, and select your category.

Entering Security Question/Answer (so that you can reset your password)

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:37:00 +0000

In Windows LIVE you have the option to reset your own password if you forget it, however, this will only work if you have entered a security question and answer. To do this, follow the easy steps below.

Login to www.live.com
At the top of the page, go to More then select All Services
At the top-right of this page, click the small arrow
that is next to your name, then select Account
Under Password reset information, next to Default secret question click on Change
Enter your password at the top to confirm, and then select your security question and enter an answer
*security tip* - Consider using a unique answer to the security question, i.e. something people could not easily find out, or if you don't think you can remember a different answer, consider adding a word or characters to your answer so that it cannot be easily found.

Now if in the future you find yourself forgetting your password, just click the Forgot your password? link from the login page. Then when you get to the part of selecting an option to reset your password, choose Security question. Just enter the answer you set and then you will be able to type in a new password.

Forgot Your Password?

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:00:00 +0000

In order to reset your own password you must have set your security question and answer. To find out how to do this, click here. If you have previously entered your security question and answer and find yourself in the situation of having forgot your password (of course that has never happened to me!?!) just follow the simple steps below.

From the login page of www.live.com click the Forgot your password link
Select the top choice, I forgot your password on the next screen then select the reset your password link
Enter the characters from the image and click Next
Choose the option Security Question and enter your Secret Answer
Enter a New Password

Creating Public Address Books

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Tue, 03 May 2011 22:27:00 +0000

In order to create a group that can be shared with others and given a group email address that emails all members of the group, you must create a public address book. Please follow the steps below for doing this in EM-S ISD and pay special attention to the naming of your public group.
(Click here to view a full handout with screenies.)

Login to Windows LIVE Mail (www.live.com)
Click on Options > See All Options
Click Groups (found on the left-side of page)
Click New under "Public Groups I Own"
Define your Group

Display Name – You MUST start your display name with the either your campus/department/group initials (ex. Lake Pointe Elementary groups begin with LPE).
Alias – This name is used to generate the e-mail address for your group (ex. emstech entered here would result in the email address emstech@ems-isd.net being created for the group).
Description – Optional
Ownership – The creator owns the group by default. Add other people as owners that you want to be able to make changes to the group settings if so desired.
Membership – Click Add here to add members to your group.
Membership Approval – Choose whether you want your group to be…

Open – Anyone can join the group if they choose
Closed – Nobody else can join the group unless a group owner adds them
Owner Approval – Owner(s) must approve people that request to join the group

Click SAVE when you are finished defining your group

View a Video about adding groups in LIVE

Important Notes

Your group is now available in the Global Address Book and can be searched for.

Use your group’s email address to email ALL members of the group. This email address only counts as one recipient even though it is going to all members.

We're "Going Live"!

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:00:00 +0000

On Monday, May 2, EM-S ISD will transition from our current GroupWise email system to our new and improved Outlook LIVE online communication and collaboration services.

You will begin receiving email in your Outlook LIVE mailbox as early as Monday evening, but the transition can take up to 48 hours. NO email will be lost during this change, but some messages may still appear in GroupWise during these first few hours and days. Please be sure to check email in Groupwise and Outlook LIVE next week to be sure you don't miss any important emails.

Important:

Begin using your Outlook LIVE as your primary email account
Tuesday, May 3.
Check your email in GroupWise and Outlook LIVE all week.

Thanks for making our transition to Outlook LIVE a great success! If you have any questions about our transition to Outlook LIVE please contact your CTI, Instructional Technologist, or Campus Repair Tech.

Importing Contacts to LIVE

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Tucker) — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:20:00 +0000

Take a look in your LIVE Address Book and you will notice that all of the district contacts have already been uploaded. In just a few steps, you can export any non-district email addresses from Groupwise and import them into your Contacts in LIVE.

GROUPS and ADDRESS BOOKS in Groupwise need to be addressed differently. If you have not created any GROUPS in Groupwise, skip down to the steps for Importing/Exporting Address Books. If you have created GROUPS, please follow both sets of instructions below.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saving Contacts from GROUPS in Groupwise

Groups do not import correctly into LIVE, so you will need to follow the directions below (video or written instructions) to create an Address Book for all of the contacts in your groups.

Reminder: This process will not work in Groupwise 7 (what you likely have on your desktop).
The first step in the process is to run the Groupwise 8 application from the Novell Delivered Application window.

Written Instructions to Save a GROUP into an ADDRESS BOOK

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Exporting ADDRESS BOOKS from Groupwise and Importing them to LIVE

Written Instructions to Import a .CSV File into your LIVE Address Book

Creating a Desktop Shortcut

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Tucker) — Sun, 01 May 2011 20:17:00 +0000

Do you prefer using a shortcut on your desktop to get to your LIVE login page rather than typing in the address (www.live.com) or using the link on the Employee page of the district site? Creating a desktop shortcut is easy to do!

Go to www.live.com
Minimize your window (if necessary) to be able to see a little bit of your desktop in the background.
Drag the icon in front of the URL to your desktop.
Right-click the icon to rename it if desired.

Now you've got EASY access to your inbox!

Spam in Windows Live

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:13:00 +0000

As our transition to Windows Live is coming very soon we wanted to make sure that you understand that you will notice an increase in the amount of spam that you will receive at the beginning of this transition, however, this will not be the case forever. Windows Live must "learn" what is spam to those of us in EM-S ISD. To help speed up this process we're asking YOU to play a very important part...

1. Don't just ignore the spam that you see in your email.
2. Mark spam as spam by right-clicking on a spam email, then under Junk E-Mail choose Add Sender to Blocked Senders List.

Miss the Training?

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:02:00 +0000

Did you miss the training on your campus or for your department on the new email system, or maybe you loved the training so much you'd like to see it again? Well we've got good news for you! Mary Fuller has been kind enough to put together a video that goes through the same presentation that was conducted in the district.

Addressing & Sending an Email

noreply@blogger.com ( Becky) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:58:00 +0000

Sending a new email is super easy with Windows LIVE mail. Once you login to your LIVE email (www.live.com) just follow the steps below.

Click the New button, or click the small arrow next to New and choose Message.
In the New Mail window that displays either type the email addresses for your recipients, or for district contacts, click on the word To.
Once you click on To you will see a window display that has a search feature at
the top. Type the name (or even just part of the name) you are searching for. In the results just Double-Click on a name to add the person to your email recipient list. Repeat this for as many people as you need, just search and double-click another name to add them to the email. Click OK when you have selected all recipients and see them displayed at the bottom of this window.
Click Send to send the email and close the window.

Accessing the District Address Book

noreply@blogger.com (lizzyliz) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:29:00 +0000

Accessing the District Address Book

Are you looking for the address book? To access the address book in Windows live, open a new Message/Email.

After you click New Message, click To.

From the Default Global Address book, you can search by first or last name.

Changing Your Views in Live!

noreply@blogger.com (lizzyliz) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Have you been trying to view your email the same way you did in Groupwise? You can do this by changing your view options.

Changing Views in Live!
With all the changes occurring in email, you can have some familiarity with setting up your email View options or change to the Windows Live way. You can view your email the traditional “Groupwise” way or by Conversation.
To change your view to a traditional view, click the small arrow next to Conversations by Date. Then uncheck the conversation choice. This will list your email by date just as Groupwise did.

However, you may enjoy the new format of having conversations grouped together. You can leave this option as it is and view the emails that are related to each other by subject.

Another option under the View tab is to view the email in the window. You can choose to view the Reading Pane to the right or below.

Changing your Display Name

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Tucker) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 01:29:00 +0000

If you're one of those people who go by the lovely name their parents gave them, this probably isn't the post for you. However, if you're like me (and a lot of us!), you may go by another name.

Your email address was created back at the beginning of time (well, at least the beginning of email in the district) or when you were hired. In most cases, the email addresses were created using legal names. Your Display name is another matter. This is the name you would like to appear in address books, contact lists, and in the To/From field of emails. With Windows Live, you have the ability to change that Display name so people have an easier time finding you.

To change your Display name,

Click Options in the upper right corner of your Windows Live Mail page.
Choose See All Options ...
Click the Edit button in the lower right corner of the Account Information section.
Update your Display Name and Save.

Remember that this is your professional education account, so be sure to change your Display name to the professional name you use. If you need to change your legal name, please contact Human Resources.

If you have any questions about these or other option changes in Windows Live, please see your CTI, your IT, or leave a comment below.

Logging in to LIVE

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Tucker) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:21:00 +0000

To log in to your new EM-S ISD Live@EDU account, go to www.live.com. There is also a link available on the Employees page of the district site.

On the right, under sign in, your username for all things LIVE (email, calendar, skydrive, etc.) is your FULL email address.

For your first time logging in, you will need to use the default password. If you do not know the default password, please contact your CTI or IT. If you have logged in before, please use the password you created.

We're Going LIVE!

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Tucker) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Yep, the rumors you've heard are true ... we're going Live! Windows Live, that is.

Windows Live is Big. It's more than just email. It's more than just a calendar. It's a collection of online applications that EM-S ISD employees will begin using in May 2011.

The EM-S ISD Technology and Instructional Technology departments have been working hard to prepare for the transition from Groupwise to Windows Live. ITs and Tech Department representatives will be training all district employees during the month of April on this new system.

Check back here for regular updates, tips and tricks that will come in handy as you begin using your Live account. If you have questions you would like to be addressed here, please add a comment below. We look forward to answering your questions.

~EM-S ISD Instructional Technology Team