Will Hit The Ground Running

This is the last weekend of my service leave. Classes for Term 2 will start on Wednesday and I will hit the ground running. In fact, I was not really inactive during my service leave. I am happy I was able to accomplish a lot. I was able to do what I set to do and a lot more.

Since my last post, I did the following:

• Install Windows XP in our MacBook via Boot Camp. I was already running a Windows XP virtual machine via VMWare Fusion. But I needed something that runs natively and not virtualized. I need Windows XP to fully utilize the power of the Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the 1 GB RAM. Anyway, Fusion detects the Boot Camp partition and I can still run Windows XP via Fusion on Mac. But when I need to do, for example, heavy video editing, I run Windows XP via Boot Camp.
• Work on my video clips project. This consisted of the following subtasks:
• Setting up our EGI outer room as a "studio" for the video shoot, which means buying and installing a whiteboard, buying markers and eraser and buying and installing additional lighting fixtures;
• Shooting clips using our Sony Handycam;
• Transferring the clips to the computer;
• Doing video editing, which includes assembling the clips, reducing the noise, adding captions and transitions; and
  
• Encoding the "movie" in SWF and WMV formats
• Wrapping up my work on my instructional materials. I did a lot of work on this area. Here are what I have completed:
  
• Handouts for 5 Math subjects: ALGEB-X, BMAT2-X, ELEMSTA, DS-MATH and TRIGONO
• Problem sets (about 7-9 per subject)
• Pair quizzes (about 4 per subject)
• Online quizzes (about 4 per subject; 15-25 items in each quiz; 1 hour and 1.5 hour setups are available; offline versions were also prepared, in case no computer laboratory is available)
  
• Slide presentations (for 3 out of the 5 subjects)

It was a lot of work and I learned some new things. I will share these with my fellow Math teachers if they are interested. Offhand, I can think of three topics for sharing already:

• Preparing instructional materials with Math elements using OpenOffice.org (main focus is on the use of OpenOffice.org Math constructs; probably branding also)
  
• Creating Math quizzes in Moodle (main focus is on LaTeX constructs; showing also how to reuse what were typed in OpenOffice.org)
• Producing video clips for use in Math subjects (will give a walkthrough from shooting to packaging)

As I said, I will likely hit the ground running. I just hope some people will run with me.