Technology Tip of the Week - February 20, 2006

Copying Images From the Web

As you browse the Internet you may occasionally come across a graphic that would be perfect to use with your classes. Did you know that there > is an easy way to grab an image right off your screen and pop it into PowerPoint, Word, FrontPage or Publisher? It couldn't be simpler!

With your cursor over the graphic, right-click (or press the right button on your mouse) and choose "Copy".

Switch to PowerPoint and with the left mouse button, choose Edit - Paste (or press Ctrl-V) to paste the image from the Clipboard into your presentation, document or web page. That's it!

If you would rather save the image as a separate graphic file so you can insert it in Word, in PowerPoint, Publisher or even on your web page then:

With your cursor over the graphic, right-click (or press the right button on your mouse) and choose the "Save picture as..." option. This will bring up a dialogue box that will allow you to type in a meaningful name for the graphic (so you can identify it again) and also to choose where on your computer you would like to save it. It's a great idea to save your pictures to your My Pictures folder under My Documents so you can always retrieve them easily without a search. The graphic will automatically be saved in a web-compatible format (like .jpg or .gif).

Switch to a program like PowerPoint and choose Insert - Picture - From File and choose the file you just saved. The image will be displayed.

A quick word about copyright. Many web sites have guidelines posted for use of their media or text. Some don't mind if you use their graphics as long as you are using them for your classes or you credit them. Others prefer you link to their graphic rather than copying it. Still other sites will not allow their graphics to be used in any way without their permission. Some expressly forbid you to copy their images. When in doubt, send a quick e-mail to their webmaster, explaining how you plan on using the image.

For more information on using graphics, see the topics listed on http://it.ccri.edu/Faculty/audio_visual.shtml. For more help with this feature, please contact one of the faculty mentors - Tony Basilico (abasilico@ccri.edu) or Luis Malaret (lmalaret@ccri.edu) or one of the IT Instructional Support team (Norm Grant, Gene Grande or Linda Beith)

Website of the Week

Explore Smithsonian Institute (virtually, that is)

With the kids home from school this week, why not take them on a virtual tour of the Smithsonian at http://www.si.edu/.

Use the Explore and Learn section to browse wonderful online resources. Click on the Smithsonian for Teachers and meander through their Smithsonian Education site at: http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/ There is a wealth of lesson plans (check out the IdeaLabs), professional development programming and resources.

Feel free to post your thoughts or opinions of this site in the Teaching Forum message board. What other sites like this can you recommend?

These tips are provided by the Department of Information Technology instructional support team. If you have any questions on these tips, or wish to offer your own, please feel free to contact Linda Beith at lbeith@ccri.edu or call 825-2487. View an archive of past technology tips at http://it.ccri.edu/Training/Tips/tip_week.shtml.