Posts Tagged ‘apple’

Posting Keynote to web

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Apple-folks, I was asked how to post Keynote presentations to the web for students to review.

First, know that Keynote files are Apple-only. There is a simple export function that will allow you to convert your Keynote presentation into a PC-compatible Powerpoint file. Under the Share menu, choose "Export", and then select Powerpoint.

Keynote export menu

Second, know that Keynote files are not files in the way that we normally think of files, they are containers. That is to say, a Keynote "file" is most similar to a folder. Your Mac knows that this folder belongs to Keynote and that everything inside of it is related, so it treats it as a file - but not all applications know this, and other computers certainly don't. This is why it is sometimes difficult to email a Keynote file; it's like emailing a whole folder - which can rarely be done. And this is why you cannot simply post a Keynote file to your website or CatLink (our in-house Moodle install, for our outside readers).

Back to the original question then, how can we post Keynote files to the web for students? I recommend converting to PDF. You could do it through the Share menu and the conversion dialog shown above - simply choose PDF instead of PPT. This will put one slide on one 8.5x11 page, if students print. That strikes me as wasteful, and so I recommend using the Print dialog, and placing multiple slides on a single piece of paper.

Begin through File > Print, and then follow the screenshots below.

At the PDF button (step 3 above), choose "Save as PDF." This will result in a PDF suitable for students to print, whether they are on Macs or PCs.

As always, if you have questions, please let me know.

Apple Keynote Demo

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Keynote iconBecause Keynote is different enough from Microsoft Powerpoint, and more Mac-folks are using it now, I ran three sessions of a workshop for the application last week. The Apple website does a better job of describing Keynote than I could, so I merely point you in that direction if you are interested in an overview of how Keynote is different from Powerpoint.

If you were not able to come to the workshop but would still like to see what was covered, here is the demo file that was used:

Keynote Demo

There are hints, descriptions, and directions in the Presenter Notes. To see them, go to View > Show Presenter Notes.

I recommend setting your Keynote application to look similar to the screenshot below.

 

Keynote setup
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

 

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Blogs for Teachers

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

If you are considering following a blog, as part of your own ongoing professional development, here is a great list to get you started:

100 Best Blogs for Teachers of the Future

There are categories for teaching in general, technology, blogging teachers, teachers as students, special education, other educators (such as librarians), professional education blogs, education news, and education policy.

Some from this list that I really like and read regularly include:

Not sure how to really use a blog? RSS is the key. You can subscribe via Outlook or Mail1 (but not Entourage), or you can use iGoogle as your browser startpage, or Google Reader if you're a real info junkie. If you would like to learn more about using RSS, please let me know; it is one piece of technology that I really believe in the benefits of.


  1. I could not find any decent directions online for using RSS with Apple's Mail, but that might be because it's so easy! Go to File > Add RSS Feeds, click "Specifiy a custom..." and paste the URL from the blog. Done!

iCal Calendars

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Just as our Outlook-using brethren can subscribe to internet calendars, so too can we Mac-folks with the elegant iCal that can with your laptop. The first step is to open iCal. Second, click on one of the links below:

Then click on the (1) iCal button and (2) copy the long URL that appears:

Daily Events

Next, in iCal, click "Calendar" from the menu bar, select the Subscribe command and paste the long url from the Google calendar page into the box:

iCal subscribe

Give the calendar a name that you will recognize, and you're done!

Remember that you can only change calendars that you own, not calendars that you are subscribed to. If there is something amiss with a subscribed calendar, send an email to the author - in this case, Tom Casey.