F.A.Q.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Hey, I used to use this site awhile ago, why does everything look different?

The site looked like it was old, because it was old. I wanted a redesign to go along with my new Disney design focus. I hope you like it! I have not gone through every single page because I'm not a crazy person. If you find pages where things look wrong in any way please let me know.

2. Hey, why isn't X working?!

Most likely if links are stalling out it is because you are using Internet Explorer. My new host (Google Sites) doesn't always play nice with older versions of IE. Firefox, Chrome and newer versions of IE should work fine. If you do find links that just plain don't work please let me know. Some links didn't transfer over cleanly in the site move and I haven't checked every single one.

3. I used to be able to download your PowerPoints, now I can't, what happened?

Either A) the links got messed up in the redesign or B) you are trying to connect from your school account and it blocks out of domain downloads. Let me know if the link is bad or sign in on your personal Google account.

4. Can I use this stuff in my classroom?

Yes.

5. Really? For free?

Yes.

6. What's the catch?

I'd hope you'd be willing to share your work with others as well and when something works particularly well for you and your class let me know! That's all. The fact that so little sharing goes on among teachers even with the Internet is not good for education. We can do better.

7. What do I need to make the site work best?

A Google account will help for accessing the files but is not necessary. Firefox or Google Chrome as your browser helps a ton too. That's it.

8. My district blocks Youtube - any ideas?

The best way to handle this is to download the videos on your home computer. I use a Firefox/Chrome add-on called Easy YouTube Downloader. The files save as .mp4 which work great in Powerpoint 2010 and later.

9. How do you make your lecture videos?

I start with the lecture notes that I use in class and output them as a video using PowerPoint 2010. I used to use xtranormal for the host but they've shut down. Thankfully, CrazyTalk has become very good at animating avatars so all future videos will use that. I use Adobe Premiere Elements to mash the two videos together and make any extra needed credits or titles. It sounds easy and it is once you've done it about five times. It is, however, always time consuming.