So...this is a bit of a problem, but we are good problem solvers. I believe it is because we used the drag and drop templates based on my reading of this tip.
Greetings from Minnesota! Dave told me it was okay if I posted to your blog. Our Literacy Session at Camp Courage also is going to be creating a blog and you are will all be welcome to contribute to that, too. It would be great to have a wider community of folks interested in literacy in order to help solve literacy and technology issues.
I'm afraid the problem you have described is a platform issue. Even though you should be able to use PowerPoint presentations that were created on a Mac on a pc, I have found that that is not always the case. Sometimes it seems to be a version issue and sometimes it just seems that pc's ask for things like a tiff or video decompressor. I like to send the books that we create home so that our students have access to them outside of school. The majority of my students who have computers at home have pc's and many parents have told me that our PowerPoint books just wouldn't open on their home computer.
After trying to solve problems like yours for several years, I decided it was easier and worth the cost to purchase My Own Bookshelf. SoftTouch sells all their software at half price at conferences like Closing the Gap ($70). My Own Bookshelf will create a free player for both platforms, so I no longer have a problem with getting books to run on pc's. Also, it is so easy to use that my students can write books independently.
Best wishes, Barb Wollak,coordinator of the Literacy Session at Camp Courage
I think Barb's point is well taken, that there are surely more elegant solutions. Personally, I like the flexibility of Classroom Suite.
Yet, there is something to this PowerPoint thing. Simply, it is available on more machines that are in front of more learners. Creating a very clear set of directions and a nice template can make this work. It seems for most versions of PowerPoint, you just need to import rather than cut and paste.
Please don't get me wrong. I love ICS and the other tools of the same genre.
Yet, I saw a behavior based classroom come alive as they saw Otis go to the Beach and other PowerPoint books. If I give the ICS files to that teacher they may never get used again. I know for a fact that reading on the computer will be a part of her class next year with the PowerPoint books.
6 comments:
Teresa, I couldn't open the power point books either. Anyone have any ideas?
So...this is a bit of a problem, but we are good problem solvers. I believe it is because we used the drag and drop templates based on my reading of this tip.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070611013447160
Yet, we will figure out how to fix it...
It seems like cutting and pasting, as well as dragging and dropping is our culprit.
It looks like you have to import each one through the menu...
Let's keep on this one, as it is so easy to do the drag and drop method...
Thanks Sam,
I have great faith in your ability to figure this out...
Please post instructions on how to get around this issues when you can.
Greetings from Minnesota! Dave told me it was okay if I posted to your blog. Our Literacy Session at Camp Courage also is going to be creating a blog and you are will all be welcome to contribute to that, too. It would be great to have a wider community of folks interested in literacy in order to help solve literacy and technology issues.
I'm afraid the problem you have described is a platform issue. Even though you should be able to use PowerPoint presentations that were created on a Mac on a pc, I have found that that is not always the case. Sometimes it seems to be a version issue and sometimes it just seems that pc's ask for things like a tiff or video decompressor. I like to send the books that we create home so that our students have access to them outside of school. The majority of my students who have computers at home have pc's and many parents have told me that our PowerPoint books just wouldn't open on their home computer.
After trying to solve problems like yours for several years, I decided it was easier and worth the cost to purchase My Own Bookshelf. SoftTouch sells all their software at half price at conferences like Closing the Gap ($70). My Own Bookshelf will create a free player for both platforms, so I no longer have a problem with getting books to run on pc's. Also, it is so easy to use that my students can write books independently.
Best wishes,
Barb Wollak,coordinator of the Literacy Session at Camp Courage
I think Barb's point is well taken, that there are surely more elegant solutions. Personally, I like the flexibility of Classroom Suite.
Yet, there is something to this PowerPoint thing. Simply, it is available on more machines that are in front of more learners. Creating a very clear set of directions and a nice template can make this work. It seems for most versions of PowerPoint, you just need to import rather than cut and paste.
Please don't get me wrong. I love ICS and the other tools of the same genre.
Yet, I saw a behavior based classroom come alive as they saw Otis go to the Beach and other PowerPoint books. If I give the ICS files to that teacher they may never get used again. I know for a fact that reading on the computer will be a part of her class next year with the PowerPoint books.
Hmmm...
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