Apple once again wows gadget loving types (like the Ninja) everywhere with their new tablet “computer.” As with the iPhone, there has been much clamoring and hand wringing over the iPad. The Ninja preordered his iPad 3G 32 GB iPad and has spent a little over a month with it. The Tech Ninja certifies the iPad as way cool! No longer does the Ninja reach for the laptop to look at the Interwebs,...

Publisher is an easy to use application that comes with many versions of Microsoft Office for PC. Teachers can create nice looking newsletters in Publisher. Teachers can also have students creating documents in Publisher to support their learning. Below is a How-To Guide on how to use Publisher. The docuement also contains ideas on how teachers and students alike can use Publisher in the class. The...

The Tech Ninja has many different weapons in his arsenal of educational goodness. A tool that the ninja frequently relies on is mail merge. Mail merge is the ability to take data (for example names and addresses) from a spreadsheet or database and insert them into some kind of printed document (a letter, catalog, etc.). This is a quick and easy way to make personalized letters to students or parents....

Google Docs is a very cool online Office suite of apps. It includes a word processor, a spreadsheet, presentation software (like PowerPoint), and a online form creator. The form creator will allow you to create an online survey or even an online quiz for students to take. And that’s not all that Google Docs can do. As a bonus, it is all free! There are several video tutorials on how to create...

Another frequently asked question is how to get PowerPoint files into SMART Notebook. The easy answer is to do a Smart Print Capture. First open your PowerPoint file and go to File and then choose Print. In the drop down menu tha allows you to choose which printer you want to use, select Smart Print Capture. Choose your other options for example do you want a note taking page with three slides or each...

Two websites that I like to use for storytelling/story writing are Kerpoof and Big Universe. The first, Kerpoof, will allow students to choose a scene and then add characters to the scene. You can add motions and effects to the characters making for a really cool little “movie making” lite experience. The other allows students to create online books. Students can write story and then add...

Presidential Elections are coming up in the United States. Even among children there is high interest in this tradition that occurs every four years. This election will prove to be a historic one. For younger students, the way US Presidents are elected can be confusing. The Tech Ninja created this Notebook activity for his third grade students but it could be used or modified for other grades or age...

As reported earlier, Smart Technologies recently released a new piece of software called Notebook Student Edition (NSE). According to Smart, “It caters to nonlinear, higher order thinking and enables them to manage, sort and categorize their in-class and at-home assignments. With more mouse tools, the software is designed for use on a computing device and not on a whiteboard.” This program...

Smart has just released a new piece of software. The Ninja is installing it now. The new software is called SMART Notebook Student Edition (SE). The program is only in BETA right now which means if you don’t feel comfortable playing around with what could be flakey software, you shouldn’t install it. BETA is a version before it is officially released. Just a warning. The student edition...

One of the Tech Ninja’s issues with Notebook 10 was the floating toolbar in both the Mac and Windows versions. I politely complained over at the Smart Exchange in the thread entitled Floating Tools Won’t Go Away. There has been much discussion and several suggestions on fixing the annoyance. The cool part is Smart actually listened to the Ninja. Recently Smart released Service Pack 1 for...