COLLABORATORY

5 Great Tools for Creating Your Own Educational Infographics

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:30:36 -0400

5 Great Tools for Creating Your Own Educational Infographics:

These fun, mostly free tools can help educators easily create their own Infographics, and bring a very modern twist to instruction. “A picture is worth a thousand words”.

Mohawk College Broadcasting - Television students win national award

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:00:50 -0400

Mohawk College Broadcasting - Television students win national award:

Congratulations to Ida, Maggie, Jason, Chris, Kyle, Daniel and Chayli! Your video is outstanding and is a great example of collaboration between Mohawk students, as well as the collaboration between a father and daughter who share a passion for photography.

When we opened the doors of the Cummings Library & Collaboratory in 2011, Ida was one of the first students to approach us with her ideas for making a public service announcement promoting our new space.

Spring Cleaning: How to Speed Up, Clean Up, and Revive All Your Tech

Mon, 06 May 2013 08:56:34 -0400

Take time to think about your technology this spring with these great tech tips from Whitson Gordon at Lifehacker.com!

Dear College Students: LinkedIn Is Not The Same As Facebook http://t.co/cVQOmMVlDq

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:22:42 -0400

Dear College Students: LinkedIn Is Not The Same As Facebook http://bit.ly/10YBTWo

via from:MohawkCollab - Twitter Search http://bit.ly/10YBSBI

Google Now makes your smartphone even smarter

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:29:00 -0400

Google Now is a personal assistant that is often compared to Apples Siri app. It was originally only available for Android devices but recently found its way to iOS as well.

Here are some reasons why you should use Google Now:

Stay connected with important information on the go
Google Now acts as power search engine with both voice searches and camera searches
Google Now is available free for any Android Devices running Android 4.1 (Jellybeans) and iOS ver.6 and above
Simple to use

Managing daily life
Get directions from your current location instantly, either driving, walking or by public transit
Check the weather
Check traffic updates

Entertainment:

Receive reminders of events as well as the shortest route to those events
Look up movie schedules and buy tickets for a theatre near you
Pick your favorite sports teams and Google Now will keep you updated on those teams

For travelling:

Checking flight status
Off-line language translation
Currency conversion rates
Be reminded of reservations based on live traffic information

For business:

Track your stocks
Get updates on your shipments and orders
Reminders about upcoming appointments

How Well Can You Multi Task?

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:39:27 -0400

Created by http://Open-Site.org

Bring the Fun in Reading Back!

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:30:00 -0400

Overwhelmed with tracking your favourite reading materials? Pulse makes reading fun and fast! This interactive visual news reader is customized with your choice of content – blogs, newspapers, magazines or social networks. Read on the go by syncing to all your devices (iOS, Android and Blackberry) or use Pulse for web on your favourite browser.

Ready to get started?

Step 1 – Sign up!

Step 2 – Pick your content.

Add your favourites or search by subject to find topics that inspire you.

Pulse is organized into pages and sources inside those pages. The interactive layout makes it easy to scan, swipe, tap, click or save to read later by tapping the star.

Step 3 – Connect your social media feeds – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and more.

Say good-bye to Google Reader – hello Pulse!

Step 4 – Find an article that you’d like to share, post it easily with a tap and send to Facebook or Twitter.

The pulse web and mobile apps will make help you keep up with the news that matters to you. Tackle information overload with Pulse!

If you’d like a demo of Pulse, or help getting started, drop by the Collaboratory or the Library Tech Bar.

G R I M E S: how to make music for (almost) free (u should prob buy a mic/ interface and u might appreciate some instruments)

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:06:30 -0500

G R I M E S: how to make music for (almost) free (u should prob buy a mic/ interface and u might appreciate some instruments):

actuallygrimes:

and i guess you’ll need a computer… so that might be expensive. BUT if ur reading this you probably have one :)

so yeah, ppl always ask me to make a tumblr tutorial on how to make music, so here it is

first off, the best program (in my opinion) is ableton live. however, garageband is perfectly…

3 Places to Find the Best Free Apps

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 09:46:00 -0500

3 Places to Find the Best Free Apps :

It’s mobile device week in the TECH BAR. Drop by the TECH BAR for our Android and Apple demos. We’ll share our tips, recommend apps, and show you some hidden features.

If you are looking for free apps (who isn’t?), then check out Adam Harvey’s review.

Test Drive the Microsoft Surface Tablet!

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:18:00 -0500

Stop by the TECH BAR to check out our newest device – the Microsoft Surface Tablet. We’ve set up the Surface to give students and staff an opportunity to check out the features of a Windows-based tablet.

The surface runs Office 2013, includes video and music services, and several ports that make it easy to connect and share. Use the USB port to plug in a hard drive, thumb drive or charge your phone. The microSD card slot allows you to expand your storage with up to 64 GB. The Type Cover with keyboard makes this tablet feel more like a laptop.

Drop by for a test drive and let us know what you think!

Adobe: Build Your Own Adobe Creative Suite with Free and Cheap Software(via @Lifehacker)

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:14:27 -0500

Adobe: Build Your Own Adobe Creative Suite with Free and Cheap Software(via @Lifehacker):

Adobe’s Creative Suite is one of the best software packs out there for professionals, but the suite is prohibitively expensive for most people. If you can’t drop the cash, you can still get a similar experience with free or cheap software.

Check out this list of free resources!

Drop by the TECH BAR November 6th - 8th between 11:00 am and...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:14:29 -0500

Drop by the TECH BAR November 6th - 8th between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm for tips on customizing your browser.

New features galore in MindMeister – our favourite mind mapping...

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:10:17 -0400

New features galore in MindMeister – our favourite mind mapping tool!

All-New Presentation Mode – new cutting edge, Prezi-style slideshow module.

Floating Topics – the freedom to connect topics that are not connected to the center topic.

Connection Labels – easily visualize relationships between sets of information.

Easier sharing – easily switch between private, shared and public settings or generate a secure link to invite friends to collaborate.

Smooth CSS Zoom – zoom feature now uses modern CSS scaling resulting in faster and smoother zooming and accurate down scaling.

New Map Footer Tool – easily navigate to mind map settings; properties, sharing exporting and printing.

Back To School: 5 Evernote Tips for Students

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 09:18:02 -0400

Back To School: 5 Evernote Tips for Students:

Great article on how to use Evernote to keep organized.

Should I listen to music, study or both?

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:11:00 -0400

Let’s take a break from the hard-core school stuff and think about – music. It’s what helps our mood, takes us to another place or time and gives us enjoyment.

So how do we include that when we are studying for exams ? Well, let’s just say TAAFT, aka “There’s An App For That”. It’s called Songza. Create a playlist by genre (blues, jazz, etc.), activities (barbequing, coding, energy boost, working/studying (with and without lyrics), and the list goes on. Note some activities are a bit risqué. ;)

If you can’t think of a playlist by activity, try my favourite – moods. Are you broody? Gloomy? Energetic? Soothing? Songza is music for all moods, including what you would like to listen to every Tuesday morning at 7:00am, depending on your schedule. My favourite playlist is Sunshine Indie Pop.

Check it out during exams or get a heads up for the next semester. It’s music streaming at its best. Available for the iPhone, iPad, Android or Kindle.

Posted by

Prepare for your exam with Quizlet!

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 15:39:36 -0400

Quizlet is an online study tool that helps you to memorize your subject so that you can ace your exams!.

Take advantage of any or all of the five different study methods available to you with Quizlet.

The five styles are:

- Speller: A word or phrase is played by audio to you and you have to type in what you hear.

- Learn: A question and answer tool that gives you live scoring and tells you the correct answers when you get them wrong.

- Test: This is your standard exam style test with multiple choice, true/false, question matching, and many more!

- Scatter: This game style tool displays many questions and answers on the screen and you have to match them together in the fastest time possible!

- Space Race: This game scrolls questions across the screen and you have to answer them correctly before they reach the end of the screen or you lose points!

Quizlet is a free to use program that is available in your web browser, smart phone, or mobile device (even some e-book readers!).

If you would like additional information about this or any other technical matter, feel free to schedule a one-on-one meeting with a member of our Technical Support Staff.

Exam Study Tools: Pomodoro Technique (Slightly Tech Version):

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:32:10 -0400

What is it?

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management and information retention method that can be very useful when studying for exams. The technique uses a timer to break down work periods into 25-minute internals called “Pomodoros” (Italian for tomato, the shape of the timer originally used). The method is based on the idea that precise time organization and frequent, fixed-length breaks can improve information retention. Additionally, the act of plotting out your time can help you estimate the time required to complete a task.

How is it done?

There are FIVE basic steps to the Pomodoro Technique:

1. Decide on the task to be done and write it down

2. Set the timer to 25 minutes

3. Work on the task until the timer rings, then record an X indicating that one period has elapsed for that task

4. Take a short break (5 minutes)

5. Every FOUR periods take a longer break (15-20 minutes)

*** NOTE: if there happens to be an interruption during one of the 25-minute periods, you have TWO options: if important, the interruption can be recorded on your list of tasks and done later OR, the current, entire 25-minute period must be abandoned ***

What about the Tech Angle?

Typically during our study session we will have a computer of some sort (desktop, laptop or smartphone) nearby. Therefore, the following describes an entirely web-based implementation of the Pomodoro Technique using only two entirely free online tools.

1. For the timer go to: online-stopwatch.com

2. For the recording tool: Google Spreadsheet App (this will require a Google account)

If you would like additional information about this or any other technical matter, feel free to schedule a one-on-one meeting with a member of our Technical Support Staff.

Time Saving Word Tips..!!

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:32:04 -0400

Paste Your Formats. If you want to apply your formatting and styles for a given paragraph or document to a new paragraph or document, hit Ctrl+Shift+C to copy, select the text you want to apply the formatting to, then hit Ctrl+Shift+V. Colors, fonts, styles and all other formatting will be applied.
Save Many Documents at Once. Do you have eight Word documents open and need to take a break? To rapidly save all open documents, hold down the Shift key and go to Word’s File menu. The usual Save menu choice will show up as Save All.
Ctrl+1 makes the selection single-spaced, ctrl+2 makes it double spaced, and Ctrl+5 makes it 1.5 spaced.
Beginnings and Endings. Hit Ctrl+Home or Ctrl+End to go to the beginning or end of a document.
Subscript or Superscript? Hit Ctrl+ when you have a word, sentence or paragraph selected for subscript. Hit Ctrl, Shift+ for superscript.

And..

Did you know :

Insert a Horizontal Line- To create a horizontal line across the width of a document, hit the hyphen key three times and then press Enter.

If you would like additional information about this or any other technical matter, feel free to schedule a one-on-one meeting with a member of our Technical Support Staff.

Inserting a Table of Contents in MS Word

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:32:00 -0400

Adding a Table of Contents in MS Word

Adding a Table of Contents in MS Word is a quick and easy process and will greatly improve the look of your document.

Before you can add a Table of Contents to your document you must first have the document headers and sections created. The Table of Contents generator in MS word will search your document and every time it finds a line that is formatted as a “Heading 1” it will create a listing in the Table of Contents for that line. “Heading 2” and “Heading 3” will also be inserted into the Table of Contents but they will be sub listings to the previous “Heading 1” line as shown below.

How do I insert a Table of Contents?

To add a Table of Contents simply click on the References tab at the top of the page and then click the Table of Contents button.

Choose one of the options in the Table of Contents section and it will automatically be inserted into your document.

If you would like additional information about this or any other technical matter, feel free to schedule a one-on-one meeting with a member of our Technical Support Staff.

Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word: Advanced Tips

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 11:13:00 -0400

First Page Headers and Footers:

- go to the first page of the document and double-click the header or footer area

- the Header and Footer Tools tab should open, go to the Options group and select Different First Page

- enter whatever text you want to appear in the first page header or footer

- note that this technique can also be used to remove a header/ footer from the first page, simply select different first page header/footer and leave the first page header/footer blank

Different Odd/Even Headers and Footers:

- double-click the header or footer area and the Header and Footer Tools tab should open

- go to the Options group and select Different Odd & Even Pages

- go to an odd page and add the text in the header/footer that you wish to appear on all odd pages

- go to an even page and add the text in the header/footer that you wish to appear on all even pages

Additional Tips:

If your thirst for header and footer tips is still unsated, please browse over to this page to see the above tips in more detail as well as several others.

If you would like additional information about this or any other technical matter, feel free to schedule a one-on-one meeting with a member of our Technical Support Staff.