Desktop Distractions? Block 'Em Out!

So, you're working on a paper. Chugging away, everything's going great... and then, since you have Facebook running in the background, one of those little popups comes up at the bottom of your screen. You stop writing to read it...

(30 minutes later)

Oh, yeah, you were writing a paper. Hmmm... train of thought has not only left the station, but it took all your baggage with it.

There are some ways to deal with desktop distractions. Today, we'll look at some options. If you have other techniques or technology that you find helpful, post it in the comments!

Clear the Visual Clutter with Ghoster or Isolator

Concentrate only on one window at a time and dim the rest of your screen. Both programs work quite similarly, making only the active application clearly visible.

Ghoster (Windows)
Ghoster does a nice job of clearing the background, though it doesn't (as you can see) block all visibility. However, with everything in the dark, I'm much less likely to wander off to it. My favorite part is that it also dims out the Task Bar, which likes to distract me with its flashing lights and popups.






Isolate (Mac)
Isolate can be configured in a few different ways - my favorite is the complete blackout. Because my Mac doesn't pop stuff up at me nearly as often as my Windows machine does, I'm less worried about the fact that the Dock doesn't dim.

Really Distracted? Lock Yourself Out With LeechBlock!

If you know that the siren song of the web will be calling your name (shhh, Facebook, I'll be with you later!), but you still need to use the, well, useful sites to complete your homework, you might want to try LeechBlock.
LeechBlock - Firefox extension (Windows/Mac)

LeechBlock allows you to specify specific sites, like MySpace or Facebook, that tend to be less than productive for you. You choose the sites, you choose the times to block them. You can, of course, choose to unblock them, but generally the extra steps you need to do that will help you remember why you blocked them in the first place.

Better than Spell Check on Steroids

Have you heard about Ginger?

I was absolutely blown away by the demo at the AHEAD conference this summer. Ginger has the potential to completely change the way that students with dyslexia and other visual processing learning disabilities feel about writing.

"Why for how come so?" I hear you asking. Ginger takes the spelling and mechanics errors dyslexics can often make and corrects them by looking at the syntax of the sentence, rather than just the word in isolation. An example they have posted on their site:

Original: H ws nt fileing wale whan he retrnd
MS Word's corrections: H was not filing wale when he returned
Ginger's corrections: He was not feeling well when he returned


One thing you'll notice immediately about Ginger is the contextual help for choosing the correct word.

One other thing I also notice is that it's slow. Ginger does all of its work over the Internet, so even with my high-speed connection here in my office at SOU, there's still some wait time. Pretty much, that's the only downside I'm finding.

Currently, Ginger is in beta - which means it's free! Download it and give it a try; you may just find Ginger revolutionizing your writing.

So, Does 138+ Free or Cheap Tools for Learning Appeal to You?

I'm going to state up front that this is a shameless infomercial.

Having said that, fellow learners of the world, here's the scoop. Once again this winter, I'm teaching Technology for Learning. It's designed to give every student, regardless of major, abilities, or learning style, technology tools they can use to be more effective and efficient. Besides, it's fun! My basic philosophy: if properly chosen, technology tools can make a student's life much easier and improve their grades at the same time. This class is all about finding out which tools will do that for you, specifically. At the end of the class, you'll come out with a personal technology plan that lays out what your goals are, what tools you've chosen, and how you'll implement those tools.

An exciting new addition this time around is the Tech4LearnCourse Wiki. Through the wiki, students will collaborate on reviews of tools, their personal technology plans, a glossary and more. The coolest feature, however, is that your access to the wiki doesn't go away when the class ends! Every student who has taken the class still has access, so you can find out about new tools and contribute to the discussion for as long as you want!

Who should take this class?

• Students returning to college. If you haven't been around academic tools for awhile, there's some new stuff that can really help you!
• Students whose first language is not English. English breaks way too many of its own rules to be easy to learn! Use technology to help you.
• Students who need help in any of the following: reading, writing, math, studying, researching, organizing (yes, I know that's most of us!), or navigating the electronic campus
• Students with disabilities who would like to find more ways to interact with information independently and efficiently
• Teachers of any level who would like to find new tools for their students (and themselves)
• Anyone with an interest in learning new technology tools to make their work more efficient and fun!
  

Today being the first day of registration for winter, I'll also throw in the details - CRN 4309, USEM 199, 2 credits, 1-2 Tuesdays and Thursdays. Very low reading requirements, high play value, and a resource that extends long beyond the class... how can you resist?

Premier AT Home Ending Soon

I've blogged before about some of the great tools available at SOU in the Premier AT Suite. Last academic year, we had a little more room in the AT budget and were able to purchase a subscription to the Premier AT Home service, which allowed students to download as many of the tools in the suite as they liked, for free.

Faithful readers of this blog will know how I like the word "free." It's right up there with "chocolate."

Our subscription will be ending on November 22nd, and, budgets being what they are, we aren't going to be able to subscribe this year. I'm hoping to do it again next year, but it will depend on what the budgetary demands are. In the broader scheme of things, accommodations get funded first - and that's what's happened this year.

Bottom line, folks - if you've thought of downloading the Premier Suite but haven't done it yet, do so before November 22nd. The url, username and password you need are in the Disability Services channel of the MySOU portal.

Coming to a computer near you...

In the three years that I've been with DSS (wow, is it that long?), there have been one constant in an environment of change.

Paper.

Oh, sure, we have a couple of online forms for notetaking and alternate format text, but for the majority of students, paper has been everywhere. Testing requests, checking out alt format or equipment, notetaker contracts, accommodation letters.... it's everywhere! All that is about to change.


Enter AIMS, a totally new way to request and manage your accommodations. This completely accessible, online, 24/7 system will allow you to do many things you've never been able to do before:

• Customize your accommodation letters to each class, showing only the accommodations that you'll need in that specific environment.
• Automatically send those customized accommodation letters to your instructors, and track when you sent them.
• Request all your services at the same time you create your accommodation letter, all online at any time.
  
• Even better, track the status of those requests! No more wondering what's up with your alt text or notetaker!
• Retrieve notes from your notetaker online, any time! No more trudging in to the office to pick them up. Great for the Medford HEC and night classes!
• Schedule and track your test requests online, at any time. (There are some other great changes coming for testing, so hang on to your hats!)
• And much, much more!

Keep your eyes here and on your email (that's your student email, by the way) for updates. We'll be giving you info as soon as we have it.

Questions? Thoughts? Let's hear about 'em in the comments!