This session focuses on how to access, discover, and use multimedia resources to embed w/i your wiki chapters. One of the elements we'll be covering will be online videos. We will learn how to enrich your chapter content and bring it beyond mere text, through the use of videos to help support your learning concepts.
I've shown you a few examples on our class blog this semester. One of the great things about this tool (and there are many to choose from) is that every resource and skill I will be showing you can be done for free. You may read past participants' comments about this topic from my 921 class here, and this past Summer's group here.
Here is example of a college using a vodcast (a video podcast), to help them solicit prospective students. They've posted this to YouTube so whenever a potential student does a search for Franklin College they'll receive this video as part of their results:
This session you will have the ability to go into as much depth as your curiosity (and time) allows. There is basic, elemental information available, as well as advanced information, instruction tutorials, and text directions for you to recreate and duplicate what these models show you. Similar to the distinction I made with Podcasts about the ability to simply use this tool, as opposed to creating videos yourself, please remember that I try to give you more information than you can digest with the hope that you will revisit these sessions in the future when the need (or desire) arises.
And then this one from GCast:
Most of these tools are free and they allow you to embed them w/i a blog, website, or wiki chapter.
Good luck, have fun, and keep an eye on the clock.
Good luck, have fun, and keep an eye on the clock.
DF
20 comments:
Video Blogging is a great resource for differentiated instruction. The children that I work with are very motivated to do anything on the computer and are highly engaged with visuals and audio. I like the suggestion to pre-select websites for the Wiki Chapters so there is no opportunity for students to access inappropriate material. I am going to use that suggestion in my Deliverable#3 because it will help to ease my administrator's concerns about allowing access to the World Wide Web and all the censorship that goes along with it.
Using I-pods in the classroom would be a great resource as long as it is monitored. I would like set up a Web 2.0 Center in my room for students to access and experience. I wonder if there are any grants available for these classroom resources?
I agree that kids are extremely motivated by video/audio presentations. Everything they look at online has this interactive quality to it. I’ve noticed that many of our online subscriptions have become more visually appealing, and include podcasts or at least audio support. The problem is, the we don’t have sound on a lot of our older computers! (Headphones don’t work either!) We’re working on this, because we all want to use the resources that are available online. Students are responding to these kind of tools. I think students look on Facebook for everything now. There is a lot of educational presence there and it increases all of the time. I spent some time on itunes to download free educational podcasts. I will never have enough time to listen to them all- but I’m going to work on it! I think it’s fantastic. I would like to see our staff create their own instructional podcasts. It’s so easy. I'm going to suggest that maybe it's something that our AP kids can do after they take their exam. Maybe they could help create some instructional tools for some of the younger students. I keep going back to the NYT article that I read about an elementary school that creates a weekly newscast, and they have subscribers! That is so motivating and completely fun and educationally valuable. I can’t say that about a lot things that we do with our kids right now. I’m trying to figure out how to link subscribed podcasts to our site through a wiki or maybe Pageflakes.
I agree with the fact that video and multimedia make the students more interested. They are so integrated with the technology that they seem to react to it better. That discussion brought me to my next point.
After going through this week’s materials I thought about the software I use in my lab to broadcast presentations and videos. I use Vision, which many of you may have already used. It allows you to watch and control all the computers in a lab with one main station. We originally used it to monitor our labs, but since you can control the individual computers you can broadcast to each one. I run all of my presentations on each student system, as well as the projector in my room. You can use it to demonstrate software and techniques and you can open chat to the students for group projects. If anyone uses a lab it is worth investigating.
The inappropriate material discussion is going to be tough in our school. We are going through a network changeover and most sites are still blocked. In fact, all of the material for this class is "inappropriate" since blogs are not allowed as of yet. We are hoping that our D3 will shed some light on these important sites and they can be pre - selected. We also have a tough time with the use of video and we have to get most at home and embed it in presentations.
Would anyone be interested in sharing their schools acceptable use policy so that we can benchmark one for our school? It would be greatly appreciated.
NMarcone
Well, I didn't think I was a beginner at this stuff, but now I feel like one! I do feel that video blogging and podcasting is a GREAT way to enhance lessons, to differentiate instruction and to make projects relevant to kids. At this same time I feel like my brain might explode if I really try to delve deeply into the video world right now! I am diagnosing myself as a beginner and will make the much needed effort to explore the video world later!
I'm with you as well. I thought I had a prestty good handle on video and the use of it, but I feel like I'm back to square one again, which is a good thing in this case.
This is all great information but definately overwelming. I will have more comments later. However, here is the link to deliverable 3.
http://wikidave.wikispaces.com/Kris%27s+Deliverable+3
I am still working on the final product of Deliverable 2.
http://wikidave.wikispaces.com/Robinson%2C+Kristopher-chapter
This has become a very big project...and it seems for every step forward I have taken, another step backwards.
This is all so interesting. I completely agree with Abbe and Mrs. B, kids are motivated by the graphics and audio/visual components the computer provides. I am finding that as I tweak my chapter/play with all the technology I have learned to make it more motivating and interactive for my kids, I am having fun and getting more creative with each new program that I sign up for. Lesson learned...stay current with the latest! I had an a ha moment when I was able to upload a powerpoint into google docs and have a direct link to a website in my slide show. I thought... so that is how Dave did it. I am sure my kids already know these tricks but this class has definately got me on the same page with my technologically advanced students. Only questions??? What are the usage rights with these presentations? Can my students click on and use the book report format or the SS lesson from the blogging class? Can I cut and paste parts of other projects that may be appropriate to my student's learning? Thanks.
Nicole and I have completed our D3. We had to trim it down since it was extremely long and carried a lot of information. Part of this is because we are going through some major technology issues in our school. Some are related to the school construction project, some due to lack of time with NEASC coming up and some are just issues. We hope that it makes sense to everyone, but please let us know if you have any questions about it. Lastly, we did include a sample acceptable use policy. In the case of our school we really do not have one that is viable. We will need to start from scratch with ours and we will start benchmarking other schools.
http://wikidave.wikispaces.com/922D3Gongoleski%2C+Greg
Greg and Nicole
Thank you to those hwo e-mailed some ideas to me about D2. I am almost completely up an running using Wetpaint, which seems to be graphically stronger for my needs. I did come up with one thought though, or a question. What software do some of you use to track your screen movements when recording a tutorial? I would like to try this and place it into my wiki. This would give a how to approach for some students in regards to computer design.
Greg
I agree, using videos and multimedia is a wondeful resource to use in education. I am very familiar with I pods and the growing number of cell phones that are capable of searching the internet and accessing information within seconds. I believe that to the class with preset websites, can keep inappropriate material out.
Greg, Cranston West has a technology acceptable use policy. http://www.cps.k12.ri.us/chsw/chswpage/dp-taup.htm
I have my media to put into my final project. Had a little difficulty getting to look like my draft.
I lot of information and more ideas for final project.
NMarcone
I forgot to include the link to my d3...the link I am including is BEFORE i turned it into a usable wiki with different pages etc...I am almost done formatting and embedding links for my final!
http://wikidave.wikispaces.com/Marcone%2C+Nicole-chapter
Karen Izzo
EGHS
Summer 2009
I'm shocked at how simple it is to create audio podcasts (and that it's free!), and I wondered whether it might be useful as a diagnostic tool. Grading essays is so incredibly time consuming that I can't assign as much as I'd like to. Has anyone used an audio podcast to talk to students regarding their essays? Maybe it's just as time-consuming as "hard copy" grading, but it would be interesting to try. I also thought it would be nice to require students to create their own podcasts for assignments (dramatic readings, etc.) It could certainly save hours of class time having to listen to individual performances, though the drawback is that kids would lose that valuable audience experience.
Hi Everyone: Because I was behind posting, I’m posting my session 9 and 10 comments here so you all actually see them. I loved the Futurist article on CNET and its concept of participatory learners. I assign my freshmen a mini-senior project to take them through all the steps they’ll need, and I’m considering requiring them to put the projects on their own wiki. (And that term- “own wiki” is kind of an oxymoron, isn’t it?).
I also took a great deal from the article “Reading Across A Dozen Literacies.” To me, it expands upon the idea of multiple intelligences to encourage all of us to become the Renaissance Man or Woman required by today’s society. I found it a bit disheartening though that the author didn’t include physical health as one of the literacies. I may only be an English teacher, but last time I checked, that’s the most important thing in life.
Finally, I loved the statement regarding why we should participate in wikis, and that we should think of the information we hold that would disappear if we took it with us. It reminded me of all the questions I forgot to ask my 94 year old aunt before she died. I wonder how many wikis are established for recording family lore.
Now for an organizational question:
I have established three wikis now - one for each of my preps. Originally, I put each class on one wiki, but the menu became too cumbersome. My concern is that even with the separate wikis, that side bar isn't terribly helpful. Do any of you know if wikispaces has a way of creating sublinks under a page? In other words, in my AP English Wiki, I have a page called Women of the Bible. I'd like to break that down further so there are separate links to each section. I've searched through and watched tutorials, but that doesn't seem to be an option. Has anyone found a way to address this?
Well Karen, I'm not sure if this answers your question,but you can always make hyperlinks to new pages from w/i each subchapter. Then they can always shift and change with the times.
Hi everyone: I found this amazing resource from MIT. It's a listing of all their Open Source courses with Creative Commons licensing. This was a gold-mine (not for my final exam, but for my other classes) and I imagine that any humanities or science teacher would feel the same way. Here's the link: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm#Literature
Well, as an update, my wife is taking a course at Pier School in Narragansett; she comes home last night and states, "wow, this Wiki stuff is pretty cool, we learning about Google Docs tomorrow (today"....) As I sit here trying to develop a Google Worksheet for the budget chapter I'm working on, she calls and states that they're starting the Podcasts and embedding into a Wikichapter....it appears this model may spread Mr. Fontaine heh?....anyhoo, moving along for the finishing product, or something workable for the fall...
I'm working on the wiki chapter and have a question. Does anyone know how to get graphics to stay centered on the wiki page? I've tried centering the image when I insert, and I've tried centering with the text button.
It looks fine in draft, but every time I save it, the graphics reposition themselves. It is driving me insane...must be time for a break. Thanks ahead of time.
Mike G: I've also been incredibly frustrated trying to get graphics to stay where I tell them to. There is a box that pops up with a drop down menu for centering or left/right justification, but it's not very reliable. I can't help more than that, but I feel your pain.
Also, those of you looking for video, have you run across You Tube EDU? It's amazing - college lecture series from Harvard, Yale, the UC system.
With each new session I find that my head is still spinning, but I am more easily able to imagine successfully using all of the technology we have learned about to better foster student learning that is ultimately aligned with the GLE/GSEs and designed to help all students reach desired proficiency. I think part of my new perspective comes from having completed the RITTI Model Classroom Grant program last week and having more time to play around with the technology than I did while still in school.
Podcasting is something completely new to me. When I heard the word before all I could think about was listening to corporate America releasing their latest financial information via podcast. Maybe that is just because my husband has to listen to those for his occupation? I can see how powerful a tool it can be for education, but I am still thinking about it as a way of recording my own information rather than accessing some podcasts that are already “out there”. I need to look at the link Dave gave us for CC podcasts. This may help get me to the next level of thinking and save me a lot of time. No need to reinvent the wheel, right?!
So, I think I am understanding that I could use Moviemaker (or even PowerPoint?) the way I normally would, as a review or introduction to new material focusing on things like, the elements of a short story, poetic devices, persuasive essays, etc. Then I could turn it into a podcast using itunes so my students could download it to their ipods or iphones or computer and be able to review directly from my information rather than relying on the notes that they took in class. OR if they are absent they can use the same thing to catch up. Hmmm… there are so many possibilities. I need to teach the same thing for a few years and get successful units under my belt so I can focus a lot more time on integrating technology.
If I have students use a blog to communicate about their independent reading assignments, I could have written directions as well as a podcast with visuals for those students who are visual learners. Maybe. That could be awkward.
Hi Everyone: I just wanted to urge everyone to back up your wiki pages. I just about had a heart attack when the page went blank and a message came up saying "Snap. Something went wrong with the page you were viewing." When I returned to my page, the entire 100 hours of work was just gone. Nothing. I was able to restore to a version I'd saved before, but I'm telling you, the heart-stopping fear as I waited for that version to load was not worth it. I've copied everything, which is what I'm sure all the rest of you have already done. But if anyone has been living dangerously like me, I just wanted to let you know that this happened so you can get your stuff copied and avoid stress!
Karen, How did you back up your wiki? I save really frequently so I sort of thought it would be ok because I could revert to an older version. Now I am concerned. I already had to deal with a virus last night. I thought the whole computer and everything on it was gone for good. I guess I will be buying an external hard drive to copy everything just in case. Thank goodness for McAfee though!
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