Goochland County Public Schools is proud to present the following materials to staff on learning about the Macintosh OS X operating system by Apple. In the following videos, you’ll find material relevant to folks who already have experience on the Mac, plus tips for getting started with a Macbook.
This is the latest series in our OS X training, covering Mac OS X 10.5, Leopard. Your guide along this tour is Goochland’s webmaster, John Hendron. John’s been using Macs since 1988 when he received his first Mac: a Macintosh Plus. John’s experience in the classroom coupled with his expert knowledge of the computers and its software will hopefully prepare you with what you need to know.
IF YOU ALREADY ARE FAMILIAR WITH LEOPARD, John has made a new video detailing changes made to Snow Leopard (with our new MacBook Pros). This video covers changes made to Safari, iCal, System Preferences, trackpad, and more!
Jump Ahead to the videos for:
New to the Mac - Finder - Spaces - Dictionary - DVD Player - Spotlight - Mail - iChat - iCal - PhotoBooth - Universal Access - TimeMachine Backups
John believes in a systems-wide approach to using the Mac, sometimes called a Gestalt-approach. Instead of learning one individual application, teachers are better off learning the system. This works on a Mac especially well since so much of the interface is borrowed between applications. As we say, if you’ve learned about the “Font Panel” in one application, you know it in every other application too. This is because OS X is heavily based on object-oriented programming principles. “Objects” are little pieces of software that can be used in different applications, thereby saving development time.
This year we’re offering two sets of instruction. The first, just one video, is entitled “So you’re new to the Mac?” and is intended for new hires who have never used a Mac before. The second section is for all employees, where the videos focus on the new features in Mac OS X Leopard. These videos are appropriate for all staff.
Each video is broken up into chapters. Use the chapter selection in the Quicktime Player to skip ahead, or repeat sections of the videos.
For help with individual applications, check out our Documentation and Hand-Outs Wiki.
We present teachers their MacBooks in a bag with several additional pieces of equipment, including a video adapter (sometimes called a dongle), a backup hard disk drive, and your power adapter. USB-based modems are available as well, if you need one.
Our MacBooks are capable of playing DVDs and burning and reading CD-ROMs. They are also wireless, using Apple’s “Airport” protocol. This is a standard 802.11n signal. Many teachers use their laptops at home on their own 802.11-based network.
Each MacBook is also equipped with a built-in microphone and iSight video camera. This makes the Mac the ultimate multimedia computer when coupled with first-in-class media software like iPhoto, iMovie, and iChat.
Click the photo above to learn (from Apple's homepage) what the ports on your Macbook are for.
The first step in setting up your new computer is to establish your account on the computer. We will lead you through the process in a face-to-face meeting of creating your account. Furthermore, we’ll cover setting up accounts for services on your Mac, including iChat and Mail. Our 9 hours of OS X training during New Teacher Academy each year is designed to get you well-prepared for the school year using technology, without worry.
Macs are PCs too, but they are built around the Mac operating system, not Microsoft Windows. The Mac OS has been an easy-to-use, “powerful on the inside, easy on the outside” operating system over the years. OS X Leopard is the most recent update from Apple, offering even more features over our previous generation, Mac OS X Tiger.
Just crave a manual for your computer? Apple’s manual for the MacBook is available online in PDF format.
This first video introduces the Mac, including some “techie” nomenclature you may see on Apple’s website if you go browsing. As you watch this video, keep your eyes and ears out for the following things. You should have a basic understanding of them before moving on to future videos.
The Finder is Mac OS X Leopard gained a few new features, among them two new ways to look at applications, called Coverflow and Quickview. In this video, we’ll start with Finder windows, then look at stacks in the Dock, and finally wrap up with some tips and using the “Get Info” inspector.
Virtual desktops provide more screen space without buying or attaching another monitor to your computer. Learn how to use Apple’s implementation of virtual desktops, called Spaces, to increase productivity. Before we get to all of that, we review Exposé.
The Mac OS X Dictionary is a stand-alone program that allows you to look up words in a dictionary and thesaurus. Better in Leopard, it now adds support for an Apple technology lingo database, in addition to the Wikipedia. Better yet, you can access the Dictionary through any Cocoa-based application (i.e., Safari, TextEdit, Pages) plus through a Dashboard widget.
Your MacBook can play back DVDs. Watch this video to learn about all the latest features of DVD Player, including video zoom, bookmarking, and chapter selection.
Apple introduced an incredible new search technology in OS X Tiger called Spotlight. Spotlight is even better in Leopard, because it is faster and offers even more features. In this video, learn how to use Spotlight, conduct advanced searches, and even create so-called “Smart” folders as saved searches.
Mail on Mac OS X has always been easy to use. The newest version from Apple adds support for tracking RSS feeds on the Web, support for notes and to-do lists, plus eye-catching stationery. We’ll cover all of this and more in this video on Mail!
In this video, we cover in several sections most of the new features in iChat, including iChat Theater and Screen Sharing.
iChat is one of the best instant messaging clients out there. It uses Apple’s revolutionary Bonjour to seek-out your colleagues at your school in a no-configuration buddy list. In this latest version, it builds upon the audio and video features of the pervious Tiger version with iChat Theater, the ability to share and open documents across a video iChat. In addition, there’s screen sharing which is great for technical support. And just like Photo Booth, you can now apply special effects to video chats using visual effects. Remember: you can join 10 folks together for an audio chat and up to 4 for a video chat. iChat can be part of a greener solution to hold meetings with folks across the county.
iCal works together with Apple Mail and Address Book to keep you organized and primed for 21st century communications. The new version of iCal in Leopard offers subtle changes. In this screencast, we cover iCal basics, including how to invite colleagues to events.
This screencast also takes a look at the Leopard Dashboard. The Dashboard is Apple’s “alternate” desktop with simple programs called widgets. We look at widget management, and specifically, at the iCal widget.
PhotoBooth turns your built-in iSight camera into a real camera, a fun-house effects processor, and now, a video recorder. Make quick movies to send to colleagues over Mail, or use them to record student artifacts.
Universal Access is the set of tools to make Mac OS X more accessible to folks with impairments of vision, hearing, or control of standard peripheral devices such as the keyboard and mouse. Universal Access is enhanced with Leopard with more functionality in VoiceOver and with a higher-quality voice, Alex.
This video covers the basics behind each area of Universal Access, and how to command the Mac to read any selected text from any application using a keystroke.
Universal Access is the set of tools to make Mac OS X more accessible to folks with impairments of vision, hearing, or control of standard peripheral devices such as the keyboard and mouse. Universal Access is enhanced with Leopard with more functionality in VoiceOver and with a higher-quality voice, Alex.
This video covers the basics behind each area of Universal Access, and how to command the Mac to read any selected text from any application using a keystroke.
Music for the videos linked on this page is licensed from FreeplayMusic.com.
Got an iPhone or iPod Touch? We’ve made all our videos compatible with Apple’s new mobile platform for viewing “on the go.” You can put all of our instructional videos on Mac OS X Leopard in your pocket for anytime viewing. Simply follow our RSS feed for the videos through iTunes. From iTunes, choose to sync this video podcast feed with your iPhone or iPod Touch after downloading the videos.
Videos and copy on this page are © 2009 Goochland County Public Schools & John G. Hendron. Permission to view these videos is granted to employees of Goochland County Public Schools. Visit John’s online home, the TechnologyTimes Blog.