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Created by mberner on Apr 16, 2009
Last updated: 12/15/09 at 08:11 AM
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Webspiration
ICT for Visualising thinking is part of VELS curriculum planning in Victoria.
ICT tools that facilitate visual thinking are ones that allow ideas and information for all areas of learning to be easily and quickly drafted , filtered, reorganised, refined and systematically assessed in order to make meaning for students. Students use text and image representations, such as graphic organisers, ICT-generated simulations and models to help structure their thinking processes and assist in constructing knowledge.
Inspiration is one such tool which allows students build graphic organizers, including concept maps, webs and idea maps to plan and organise, research and evaluate, comprehend and communicate. There are Inspiration trainer resources to give you ideas on how to use Inspiration in the classroom. Inspiration is often loaded onto school networks and students can use it whilst at school.
Unfortunately, not many students have Inspiration installed on their PC’s at home. Help is at hand! A web version of Inspiration is now available. Webspiration is an online visual thinking tool with diagram and outline views that help you to think visually, structure your work effectively and express your ideas.
To sign up for your free account, go to http://mywebspiration.com/. Be quick before these free registrations close.
What makes Webinspiration very attractive is the ability to collaborate and share documents by simply sending an invite. Everyone works on the same document, contributing, posting comments, and viewing changes. Webspiration is ideal for team projects, study groups, reviewing and commenting on documents and co-authoring materials.
I’m using Inspiration with my Year 7 English class in their planning for Narrative writing. It is difficult to get computer time to properly finish their mindmaps and to discuss them as a group. Now, they can complete their planning online. As we progress onto oral presentations and persuasive writing, I can create an Argument Development template to which the class can contribute until they are ready to start their own.
Visual thinking resources
Visualising thinking within the ICT domain of VELS - Paula Christopherson’s presentation from the ICTEV conference in 2006
Graphic Organisers - from Teachervision
More on mind maps and online collaborative mind maps, see this post: Mind maps: a better way to collaborate
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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Webspiration
ICT for Visualising thinking is part of VELS curriculum planning in Victoria.
ICT tools that facilitate visual thinking are ones that allow ideas and information for all areas of learning to be easily and quickly drafted , filtered, reorganised, refined and systematically assessed in order to make meaning for students. Students use text and image representations, such as graphic organisers, ICT-generated simulations and models to help structure their thinking processes and assist in constructing knowledge.
Inspiration is one such tool which allows students build graphic organizers, including concept maps, webs and idea maps to plan and organise, research and evaluate, comprehend and communicate. There are Inspiration trainer resources to give you ideas on how to use Inspiration in the classroom. Inspiration is often loaded onto school networks and students can use it whilst at school.
Unfortunately, not many students have Inspiration installed on their PC’s at home. Help is at hand! A web version of Inspiration is now available. Webspiration is an online visual thinking tool with diagram and outline views that help you to think visually, structure your work effectively and express your ideas.
To sign up for your free account, go to http://mywebspiration.com/. Be quick before these free registrations close.
What makes Webinspiration very attractive is the ability to collaborate and share documents by simply sending an invite. Everyone works on the same document, contributing, posting comments, and viewing changes. Webspiration is ideal for team projects, study groups, reviewing and commenting on documents and co-authoring materials.
I’m using Inspiration with my Year 7 English class in their planning for Narrative writing. It is difficult to get computer time to properly finish their mindmaps and to discuss them as a group. Now, they can complete their planning online. As we progress onto oral presentations and persuasive writing, I can create an Argument Development template to which the class can contribute until they are ready to start their own.
Visual thinking resources
Visualising thinking within the ICT domain of VELS - Paula Christopherson’s presentation from the ICTEV conference in 2006
Graphic Organisers – from Teachervision
More on mind maps and online collaborative mind maps, see this post: Mind maps: a better way to collaborate
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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Tag Crowd
TagCrowd is a web application for visualizing word frequencies in any user-supplied text by creating what is popularly known as a tag cloud or word cloud. You can upload a file, type in a URL of a website, paste your own text, type in words. If you want to omit some words, you can create a stoplist which might filter out words like, a, the, an; anything you want to include in it. TagCrowds can be embedded or printed. TagCrowd is similar to Wordle however, TagCrowd does not have the same tools for “tweaking” your tag cloud.
Possible uses:
as topic summaries for speeches and written works
as blog tool or website analysis
for visual analysis of quotes in a text
as brand clouds that let companies see how they are perceived by the world
for helping writers and students reflect on their work
as name tags for conferences, cocktail parties or wherever new collaborations start
as resumes in a single glance
as visual poetry
Here are some ideas for using Wordle in the classroom. You could easily transplant these into TagCrowd.
Example
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100 incredibly inspiring blogposts for educators
on teaching
working with students
ideas, tips and resources for the classroom
educational issues and the future of education
classroom management
using technology
preparing students for life after secondary school
links to resources
The most popular blogs that might be useful to educators
History, Art, Economics, Maths, Science, Technology, gadgets, leadership
Engaging education using Web 2.0 tools
Covers 41 Web 2.0 tools including: Slideshare, Writeboard, dimdim (web conferencing), Jing, Pixton (online comics), GoAnimate, Keybr (practice keyboarding online), my brochure maker, TagCrowd.
100 free online lectures that will make you a better teacher
creative learning environments
new technology
information for new teachers
information for all teachers
teaching specific subjects
the Arts
Physical Education and Health Education
100 Best Youtube videos for teachers and education
History
Science
Language
Arts
Inspirational videos
classroom management
How to;s and guides
Technology
humour
180 Technology tips
15 hours of free computer training in 180 easy to follow 5 minute lessons. You can subscribe and get a tip emailed to you each day or just browse all tips and download the ones you want. This is the kind of relevant and uncomplicated computer training everyone needs. Remember: a geek is a good thing!
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Chartle
Chartle. Create a pie charts, graphs, bar graphs( bar and column charts) , maps, interactive maps (uses googe maps data to produce maps), plots and diagrams (Venn diagrams, scatter plots, radar charts), interactive motion chart (explores indicators over time), timelines and organisational charts.
The images and interactive charts you create with chartle.net are yours to use in any way you choose. You may use them in your blog, annual business reports, print them in brochures.
Very easy to use. Enter your data and click publish. Click here for a 1minute video on how to use Chartle.
In this pie chart, click on a label and it will animate that “slice” of the pie Hover your mouse over the slice for more details of the data.
Report problems to embedding@chartle.net
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How well do you know your Web 2.0? Take the quiz
How Well Do You Know WebTools?
Source: http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/
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Visual search - multimedia search engine
http://www.searchme.com
Searchme is a fun new way to search the web for information, videos, music, news and more… and the only search engine blending the most relevant multimedia results together for you.
Search for a topic, filter that topic, share the results. You can search for web pages, images in web pages and it presents the results in a stack - like album art in iTunes. A stack is a convenient way of presenting your search results; saves time flipping back and forth through bookmarks. Even better, you can see the actual page rather than a link. Download a searchme toolbar to integrate it into your browser.
How to use Search Me
What is a stack?
A collection of pages sorted into a neat pile - a “stack”. Th is Homework helpers: a stack that gathers all the best study and research sites in one place.
Searchme
View in searchme: full | lite
Other examples of stacks
News headlines World headline stack.
Tech News The technology news stack gathers all the top technology news and blog sites in one place, so you can quickly scan them for the latest trend in technology.
How to create a stack
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Students need to become proficient at 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, use of technology, self-direction, and communication. Intel’sAssessing Projects helps teachers create assessments that address 21st century skills and provides strategies to make assessment an integral part of your teaching and help students understand content more deeply, think at higher levels, and become self-directed learners.
Register as a user to Intel Education. You will then be eligible to use the Assessing Projects tool. There is a large collection of rubrics in a number of areas:
Thinking: creativity, problem solving, critical thinking.
Processes: collaboration/teamwork, reading, research, writing, self-direction, speaking, communication.
Performance: persuasive presentations, lab processes, multimedia presentations.
Rubrics are written in language a student can understand and you can edit the rubrics to personalise thewm to your task. Export them to Word or email and save them inyour personal library.
Planning a unit and its assessment
The site also provides information on Assessment strategies . If you’re planning a unit of work, think about the whole spectrum of assessment. The key is to understand its different purposes, how assessment can be structured, and finally, what to do with the results.
Strategies for Gauging Student Needs
Use these strategies prior to instruction to help determine a student’s background experiences, skills, attitudes, and misconceptions.
Strategies for Encouraging Self-Direction and Collaboration
Use these strategies to assess the ability of students to take ownership of their learning, demonstrate interpersonal skills, produce higher-quality work, understand feedback, and assess classmates’ work.
Strategies for Monitoring Progress
Use these strategies to help students stay on-track during a project. These strategies also assist in determining when and where students need extra help or additional instruction.
Strategies for Checking for Understanding and Encouraging Metacognition
Use these strategies to check for student understanding as they progress through the project. Students also use these strategies to think about their own learning.
Strategies for Demonstrating Understanding and Skill
Use these strategies to assess student understanding and skill at the end of the project.
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Brainstorm ideas collaboratively
A mind map is a graphical way to represent ideas and concepts. It is a visual thinking tool that helps structuring information, helping you to better analyze, comprehend, synthesize, recall and generate new ideas.
In a mind map, as opposed to traditional note taking or a linear text, information is structured in a way that resembles much more closely how your brain actually works. By laying out ideas in a linear way (i.e., arranging concepts in a structured method) our minds are limited to left-brain thinking (logical, ordered, detail oriented). Mind mapping ostensibly encourages right-brain thinking (stream-of-consciousness, symbolic, ‘big picture’ oriented). For a video on how to create a basic mindmap, click here. For a more definitive selection of resources on mindmapping, visit the Tony Buzan website.
Mindmap example: time Management
Click for larger mindmap image
You can produce a mindmap individually but its true power lies in many people collaborating on the same mind map. Share the mindmap so that others can add their thoughts and “brain storms”. There are many examples of online mind map tools; here is a List of mind mapping software – a collection of free and paid online mind mapping software. Mindmeister and Mind42 are two tools where you can invite other people to collaborate, edit and share the same mindmap.
MindMeister is a basic online tool. It stands out because of the clean and crispy interface, the excellent sharing options and the user centric and personal service. You can create a mindmap and invite others to share and edit it with you. The collaborative nature of Mindmeister makes it useful for use in meetings, in classes where all students could contribute to ideas.
Mind42
Mind42 is a browser based online mindmappiung tool. You can also collaborate on mindmaps and can include images as part of the mindmap
Bubbl.us
Bubbl.us is an example of an online mindmapping tool. No collaboration but good if you want to brainstorm online. You begin with a parent bubble. Pressing Tab creates another bubble in the same color and level of hierarchy as the bubble you tabbed from. Pressing Enter in a bubble will create a new level of hierarchy with a different colored bubble. Naturally, levels of the bubble tree are connected with lines and are movable around the workspace while remaining connected to each other. Each bubble also has an “Unpin” function. This resets all bubbles that you might have moved back under its appropriate parent.
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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Brainstorm ideas collaboratively
A mind map is a graphical way to represent ideas and concepts. It is a visual thinking tool that helps structuring information, helping you to better analyze, comprehend, synthesize, recall and generate new ideas.
In a mind map, as opposed to traditional note taking or a linear text, information is structured in a way that resembles much more closely how your brain actually works. By laying out ideas in a linear way (i.e., arranging concepts in a structured method) our minds are limited to left-brain thinking (logical, ordered, detail oriented). Mind mapping ostensibly encourages right-brain thinking (stream-of-consciousness, symbolic, ‘big picture’ oriented). For a video on how to create a basic mindmap, click here. For a more definitive selection of resources on mindmapping, visit the Tony Buzan website.
Mindmap example: time Management
Click for larger mindmap image
You can produce a mindmap individually but its true power lies in many people collaborating on the same mind map. Share the mindmap so that others can add their thoughts and “brain storms”. There are many examples of online mind map tools; here is a List of mind mapping software - a collection of free and paid online mind mapping software. Mindmeister and Mind42 are two tools where you can invite other people to collaborate, edit and share the same mindmap.
MindMeister is a basic online tool. It stands out because of the clean and crispy interface, the excellent sharing options and the user centric and personal service. You can create a mindmap and invite others to share and edit it with you. The collaborative nature of Mindmeister makes it useful for use in meetings, in classes where all students could contribute to ideas.
Mind42
Mind42 is a browser based online mindmappiung tool. You can also collaborate on mindmaps and can include images as part of the mindmap
Bubbl.us
Bubbl.us is an example of an online mindmapping tool. No collaboration but good if you want to brainstorm online. You begin with a parent bubble. Pressing Tab creates another bubble in the same color and level of hierarchy as the bubble you tabbed from. Pressing Enter in a bubble will create a new level of hierarchy with a different colored bubble. Naturally, levels of the bubble tree are connected with lines and are movable around the workspace while remaining connected to each other. Each bubble also has an “Unpin” function. This resets all bubbles that you might have moved back under its appropriate parent.
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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If you fancy creating some content, why not start your own TV channel and produce live streams or save content and view on demand. Procaster provides free software which allows you to produce video live or save it to view later on-demand. You set up your own channel and your broadcasts are available to view in a player on your channels web page or you can embed your channel into your blog or website. There is also a television studio where you can produce your own clips, mixing them and producing playlists.
All you need is a laptop,desktop computer, webcam or other camera and an internet connection.
Uses in the classroom
Produce video podcasts of your lessons.
Film student presentations
Instead of Powerpoint presentations, students could script and produce a video presentation.
Produce how-to videos.
Hardware required. You can attach a video camera or it will use a webcam.
Procaster.com
Broadcast your camera. Use any camera or webcam connected to your computer. Support for Firewire, USB and video input cards.
Broadcast your screen. If it’s on your screen it can be a live stream. Powerpoint, web browsing, even video and audio!
Broadcast your game. Hook directly into DirectX and OpenGL to reproduce your 3D gaming experience online.
Promote and grow your audience by sending a tweet when you’re live. Your channel is easy to share with your viewers. Just point them to your free channel page on mogulus.com, or copy and paste the embed code to insert your channel on any website or social network.
Link to your channel page on mogulus.com or embed your player anywhere on the internet.
Getting Started
Download the Procaster software. It’s free. After installing, you’ll find a Procaster icon on your desktop. Double-click!
Create a channel. You’ll be guided through a simple wizard to create an account and name for your channel. Once that’s finished, your channel will be available from within Procaster.
Start broadcasting. Select between Screen and Game modes, then click “Go Live” to begin broadcasting. Now you can chat with your audience or promote your channel via Twitter. You’ll find links to watch or embed your channel in the ‘Player’ tab. If you need any help, visit the support centre for user guides, FAQ, and Forum.
Your channel can be embedded into a webpage and viewers can view your programs either live or by selecting a previously recorded program in on-demand. Search for channels on mogulus.com to get some ideas of what you can do with streaming.
Example channel: ICT Skills training
Various videos and tutorials demonstrating how to use various educational software tools. to select a previously recorded program, select the on-demand button.
My own Edtech channel
I downloaded procaster, registered and signed in to Mogulus and created my own edtech channel. It was easy to record something, the software turned on my webcam and I could record myself (in all my sunday scruffy clothes glory ) or record the screen. This is something definitely worth playing with!
You can find the channel here. Not much to see yet but revisit. http://www.mogulus.com/myedtechchannel
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It’s no longer enough for students to get an education if they want a great job; they also need the technology know-how that employers have come to expect. It is never too early to assist students in developing their communication skills in the use of technology. Here are 10 things a students needs to know once they leave school; to survive in higher education, to get a job and to communicate and contribute in the global world.
How many can you do? How many of these skills can you incorporate into your classroom? You, as the teacher, have a role to play.
Typing
The keyboard is the tool that drives all other technology. There is no more important skill than being to type well. Many students have laptops, mobile phones, desktop computers. Whilst we don’t teach keyboarding, the ability to type quickly - not hunt-and-peck typing - should be encouraged.
Word processing
Every student should be able to produce work using a program like Microsoft Word. This means being able to properly format a document. Such skills as Table of Contents, page numbering, and footnotes, tables. Also, teach students not to depend on spell-check or grammar-check as the computer is not human and cannot distinguish between email and e-male. More importantly, can you format a word processing document?
Spreadsheets
A student should understand how to keep track of data in a spreadsheet, and be able to use basic formula and graphing functions. This is one of the most important skills valued by business. Look for ways to get students to prepare and format data in a spreadsheet.
PowerPoint
PowerPoint presentations have become a standard tool for group meetings. Students should know how to make a compelling presentation which provides a succint summary of their topic. Teach students how to create slides as visual aids, not just chunks of text that have been copied and pasted. It is also an opportunity for students to practice their grammar, because no technology can replace good writing skills.
E-Mail “netiquette”
E-mail has become essential to communication. A student should know the etiquette for writing a proper business email. This includes brevity, proper use of “reply all,” and knowing that all e-mail has the potential to be forwarded. The practice of texting reinforces brevity but is a very casual form of communication. Students who email using a “texting language” are poor communicators. Teach formal and informal ways to communicate. Allow your students to correspond with you via email (set up a specific Gmail account if you’re worried about privacy). A useful tool to communicate with your students and not just for the English teacher.
Electronic calendar
Most businesses now revolve around online calendars.Students need to learn how to manage time on an electronic calendar, and be accommodating of other people’s schedules. The ability to manage your time, to track a project, update events, make and manage deadlines is essential in a classroom context. We have a college calendar, but how many of us use it? Students have a diary; they write what work is due in this diary but diaries are not useful in forward planning. So consider an online class calendar. for example, you could use Google Calendar to set up a class calendar that syncs to a student’s personal calendar or if you have a class-site on Scholaris, use a calendar web part.
Social networking sites
A student needs to develop an online digital footprint; one that shows them in a postitive light. Online communities have become an important method of communication. A student should be familiar with how to navigate these sites. Facebook, MySpace might be social networks that you consider a waste of time but they can also be excellent networking tools. Whilst you can’t use them in schools, consider joining an educational online community to develop your own professional learning network. check out Edna, Classroom 2.0 and Twitter for teachers pb wiki, Twitter for teachers wetpaint wiki. Most importantly, students should be aware that companies use these sites to check on prospective employees. A student’s best defense is to put their own information in cyberspace the way they want to be presented.
Basic computer knowledge
Not many teachers and students are familiar with basic computer functions. Technology inexorably rolls on, updating itself, rebuilding itself. New ways to produce information and the devices to produce it on appear daily. As teachers and students, you need to understand how the computer communicates with the world around it, whether it’s plugged into a network or using a wireless network. You should be able to take care of a computer by knowing how to update software, check for viruses, and replace parts.
Using Internet searches properly for research
Teach your students to be careful consumers of web information. It’s important to be able to use a search engine like Yahoo or Google to find information, but it’s even more important to learn which sites to trust. Your student should be discerning about what information they cite to support a claim. For instance, if they use Wikipedia, they should go one step further and check the reference articles.
Photo and file management
Teach students how to manage photos and files. Use sites like Flickr or Picasa to develop logical file naming conventions to enable retrieval of photos, sharing of photos, attributing sources of photos, and the sharing of photos. Again, these sites are examples of social networking that will allow students to make connections.
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If you’re looking for online tools to make timelinesof historical events or personal milestones, here are three programs available online.
Some planning before tackling your timeline would be beneficial. For example, make a list of all the events in chronological order, adding date/year, collect images you can add to each event, videos can be embedded in events. Either use Youtube videos or dowwnload and upload to Teachertube, if Youtube is blocked.
Each timeline can be shared in a number of ways: embed into web page, wiki or blog, share the URL and link to the timeline.
Dipity.com
Dipity lets you upload photos and link to videos, and also geocode your timeline so that it has a map interface built in. You can also view events as a “flipbook,” a la iTunes’ music browsing feature. Timelines can be an excellent way to add features to a multimedia story, as long as there’s an interesting time element and can force students to think chronologically about a story outside the narrative writing process.
Example of a dipity timeline: The History of MAC
Timerime.com
A free service that lets you create cool-looking flash-based timelines online! It’s a timeline maker! You can create very interactive and multimedia rich timelines. Each timeline can include text, images, YouTube videos, and more! So instead of creating a simple and boring timeline with just text and dates, you can create full-fledged timeline presentation to engage viewers. Once you create your timeline, you can easily share it with others via email or embed it on your website or blog. Since it is flash-based, there are controls to navigate the timeline, such as zooming in and out and extending the size up or down. You can also search TimeRime for other publicly shared timelines and learn about various subjects.
Example of a timerime timeline: The history of CocaCola
Video on how to use TimeRime
Timetoast.com
Timetoast itself is relatively simple - after you sign up, you can create a timeline by adding a title and a picture. After that, it’s all about adding events - pick the day and add images, links, and content. Create timelines to outline key happenings at a conference or use it to flesh out an essay on Shakespeare. A great tool for recording memories and history via timelines.
Example of a timetoast timeline: World War 1
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Teaching for the 21st century involves the use of a range of new digital tools. There are wikis, blogs, podcasts, web 2.0, social bookmarking, video sharing, collaboration, online virtual teams and interactive whiteboards. Our students use digital tools daily and have fully embraced them as social tools; not necessarily how to learn using these tools. That’s our job as teachers - to shift their learning.
At RSC, we appear to have embraced the use of the interactive whiteboard but how many are using it beyond just an LCD projector. The following comment appeared in the Ning site, The Interactive Whiteboard Revolution. Is this how you use the IWB in your classroom?
Teachers using IWBs well were the ones that challenged students to think more deeply about ideas, to engage in spirited debate about concepts, or to defend their ideas in the face of criticism by others. The depth of thinking, and the intellectual quality that come from that thinking, is the real hallmark of great teaching. What great “IWB teachers” seem to be able to do better than most, is to use the inherent abilities of the IWB - the ability to manipulate, sort, match, compare ideas, present points of view using rich multimedia resources, successfully divert lessons into unexpected areas by finding resources on the fly - THESE are the things that IWBs seem to enable far more easily, and the real benefit of the technology is NOT in using it as a technical solution for adding physical interactivity, but rather, in using them as a pedagogical solution to stimulating intellectual activity. From post, How do you know when you’re using it well?
What’s my point?
This term, we have to make some decisions about where we spend our government grant. There have been lots of suggestions - a room of desktops, some laptops - MAC and PC that can be moved around to classes when required; pods of computers, more whiteboards. The decision may well be based on the results of our epotential survey as this indicates the areas of need. What we don’t want is to purchase hundreds of laptops, for example, only to have them damaged because teachers don’t look after them, underused or simply used as word processing tools. If you wish to be involved in the decision making process, you need some ideas on how you see the technology used in learning and perhaps be prepared to take on a new ICT tool yourself.
So teachers of RSC, you need to set yourself a challenge this term: Learn one new ICT tool and use that tool in one class.
ICT can be overwhelming so start with baby steps. Start a class blog, use a WIKI to organise student revision, create a podcast, use a web 2.0 tool such as Animoto, Voicethread to produce a digital story; using mobile phones to enhance learning. The ICT tip of the day will provide you with some new ICT tools, programs, web sites that may get you inspired. Pick one and explore it.
PLT meetings - Term 2
During the PLT meetings this term, there will be an opportuntity to take on a project; so take on an ICT project - something other than the interactive whiteboard. Try something new, something that can change the way you teach a topic and that will change the way a student learns that topic.
Seeing no progress, some schools drop laptops. This article from the New York Times is about one New York school that has decided to drop laptops from its program because they were not achieving any change in student learning. Why? Because teachers had not changed the way they taught; the technology was there but the pedagogy remained the same. Whilst this article is two years old, the lessons are still the same.
As a school we can:
Provide the Technology (Hardware/Software)
Provide PD to assist with the skills (The teacher ability to confidently and competently use the technology)
Provide the tools (The objects and resources the teachers uses with the technology, can be as simple as a online video or webpage or as detailed as a high level Interactive White Board learning object)
What you need to provide is the pedagogy (the heart and soul of the top three elements).
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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Youtube has over 200,000 videos uploaded daily. There is so much educational content, tutorials and reviews that could be used in schools. Whilst Youtube is blocked in most schools, its educational value can still be utilised with a bit of planning. It’s an inefficient process as it generally involves downloading the video from youtube only to upload it again to Teachertube so it is not blocked by the school’s filter. Yes, you can get past the filters by using alternative proxy servers to access blocked sites but that would be naughty.
What do you want to do with these videos?
Download them, store them on your computer, show them to students, play them through an LCD projector
Download them and upload to the network where they can be downloaded by others
Upload them to Teachertube, edublogs.tv where they can be embedded into a blog or wiki, powerpoint presentations
Downloading Youtube videos to your hard drive, external drive, USB drive
There are a number of software tools to assist you to download videos from Youtube. These downloaded files need to be converted to an appropriate file format, depending on where you want to play them. For example, you may simply want to show the video whilst you are using an LCD projector or make it available by uploading to the Scholaris portal for students to download to their computers. Or you might want to burn them to a DVD to distribute to students to play on their PC or DVD player. Either way, you need to know some basics about video file formats and video codecs.
For basic information on file formats and video codecs.
If you want to produce your own videos and upload them to Youtube, see the article, How to encode h.264/mpeg-4 videos for video sharing. Go on, become a content producer not just a user!
Common video formats
.avi - will play on windows, burn to DVD and plays in DVD player with Divx support; plays in windows media player on your PC
.mp4 - use for Iphone/Ipod Touch, AppleTV, will work with iTunes; plays in Quicktime
.mov - for Quicktime
.wmv - Windows media player
.3gp - use for mobile phones
.mp2 - used to create DVDs
Video player: the free VLC player by Videolan plays all formats and a wide range of video codecs.
How do you download videos?
Using Firefox browser. Tools, Add-ons, Search for new Add-ons. Enter search term - video downloader and you will find many of them. The one I use is called Media converter. It will download youtube videos and you can convert on the fly to whatever format you want. The problem with MediaConverter is that it is limited to 10 conversions in one session; after that you need an account.
Free software - Downloads video from youtube and converts the file at the same time
Any DVD Converter - free version
To have your favorite clips how you want them, whether that’s on your DVR, iPod, PSP or desktop, you need the right utility to convert them into the format that works for you. Puts DVDs on your iPod, YouTube videos on DVD, or convert any video file with Any Video Converter Freeware. The professional version ($39.95) has more file formats to select from).
Tooble
Downloads any video from YouTube. All you need to do is check the videos you want, hit the download button, and tooble takes care of the rest. Immediately after download, tooble will convert the videos to the .mp4 format. Tooble will allow you to control how your video is converted, with options to control the size and quality of your converted video.
Uploading video to Teachertube or Edublogs.tv
You have a video file that you have downloaded from Youtube and want to embed it in a blog, Wiki, web page
Sign up for an account at Teachertube , teachersTV or edublogs.tv. You can then upload your video files and use the embed code or url to share this video. Embedding a video into a blog post, a WIKI page or a page on Scholaris is as simple as pasting the html code into your page.
Copy the embed code
This is what the embedded video looks like.
A group of educators go over what a wiki actually is. They cover how PBwiki can help students and teachers collaborate online. Get your free wiki at: http://www.pbwiki.com
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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You can create videos using flip cameras, using tools like Moviemaker and Photostory and you need some skill and techie know how to make something that looks reasonably good.
Animoto will create a video using your images and your selection of music, match your music to your images and render your video for you. No technical skills required. There are also education Animoto accounts where students can create their own video masterpieces. With an education account, you can download the finished video and you can also share the video in a number of ways - email, embed, post to Youtube, save for an Iphone, download and save to your PC, upgrade it to DVD quality.
Educational uses are limitless.
To sign up for an education account. Click here. Learn more about the features of Animoto.
Example video. some images of RSC from 2009. The hardest part about creating this video was selecting some music; all this stuff sounds the same to me. Give Animoto a try.
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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There are so many tools on the internet to help you become more productive and innovative as a teacher. Here are ten tools you should know how to use, not only for your own professional teaching development, but which could also assist you in the classroom. Each tutorial has a video that can be downloaded for viewing off line.
Twitter for beginners. These tutorials walk you through the steps with this introduction. Twitter. In this series you’ll sign up, learn to Twitter using your cell phones and computer, follow fellow Twitterers and gain some followers of your own.
Firefox A ten-part series on the Firefox browser gets in-depth, up close and personal with Mozilla’s browser. This browser is available on Windows and Mac platforms as well as Linux and has gained significant market share in the past couple of years. Download Firefox.
Introduction to Flickr. Flickr is arguably the best way to store, share and see your photos online. If you already have a Yahoo! account, you already have a space reserved on Flickr. If not, it’s easy to get one and start sharing your photos and viewing your friends pics online.
Finding your way with Google Maps. A 10-part series which shows you how to get more out of Google Maps. Apart from the usual things you can find, with Google Maps “mashups,” there’s a user community creating special mapplications designed specifically for Google Maps.
Editing your images with Irfanview. A 10-part tutorial series for the complete beginner’s guide to working with free image editing utility IrfanView. Looks at everything from working with images in batches and setting up a slideshow to enhancing and altering images. Irfanview is on our network, is simple to use and useful for classes.
GMAIL for beginners. Gmail is Google ’s free email service. In this series of tutorials, you’ll learn all about Gmail Chat, sending and receiving messages, adding contacts and getting the day’s news before delving into some of Gmail’s more powerful advanced features. A Gmail account is a must for teachers. You
can have multiple accounts and leave your edumail account pristine for school use.
Beginners guide to Youtube. This guide unlocks the power of this online video sharing phenom. Follow along with these tutorials as some of the more advanced features that the typical YouTuber may never see are revealed. Yes, Youtube is blocked at school for now, however, it has immense educational value. To access this, we will need to amend our Acceptable Use Policy.
Google Reader and RSS. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Using RSS feeds, you can catch all of the news that matters to you in one place. In this demo, see Google Reader demonstrated in how to add, manage, find and subscribe to feeds.
Beginners guide to safe surfing. Learn about the finer points of online safety and security for teachers, parents, ki
ds or just about anyone who wants a better understanding online safety, how to protect against online theft, phishing scams, spyware, viruses and more. If you use the internet or use it with your students, do this tutorial.
Making the move to MAC. They say that once you go Mac, you never go back. Making the move from the Windows world to the land of the Mac means making some adjustments in the way you work. This 10-part series talks you through the finer points of making the move to Mac.
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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Office Live Workspaces
We all have Microsoft Office on our laptops or on computers at home. Files need to be saved to your hard drive, backed up to a USB flash drive or external hard drive whatever application in Office you are using. You may have multiple computers - a laptop for school use, A PC at home; you may want to share a file with others in your team or access an important document when you are away from your computer.
Microsoft Office live allows you to save your files to an online workspace where you can share them collaborate with others, edit files, set up meeting workspaces, personalised workspaces. Each workspace has some templates whichg assist in managing those spaces. Yes, we have Scholaris (Sharepoint) which also does some of this but this looks so much easier both in terms of access to your documents, setting it up and sharing it.
Getting started
Sign up for an Office Live account - here - this is all free.
To access Office Live from within Microsoft Office on your computer, you need to download the Office Live update. If you are regularly updating your computer with weekly updates, you may already have this update. It not, you can access it here.
The Office Live Add-in adds new menu options in the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite and a toolbar in Microsoft Office XP and Office 2003. You will be able to open documents located in Office Live Workspace directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You will also be able to save files directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to Office Live Workspace.
Creating a Workspace
Office Live Workspace is a private site where you can store, access, and share documents for an activity or project. A workspace allows you to access your documents from any computer, and easily collaborate with others.
Adding documents to your Workspace
The power of your workspace is the content within it, but it can be a hassle to add multiple documents to your workspace manually. To make it easier, Office Live Workspace enables you to upload multiple documents with a few clicks of your mouse.
Share your workspace
Once you set up a workspace, it’s easy to invite others to share it with you. This will enable you to collaborate on the same copy of an online document, or to share project plans and schedules.
Demo videos
There are a number of videos in the Office Live website to assist you in setting up, managing and sharing your workspaces. Access them here.
An example of how someone uses Office Live
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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Microsoft OneNote
OneNote is an idea processor, a notebook, an information organizer
OneNote can help if you need to:
Make sure you don’t lose any information that you think is important
Organize scraps of information that don’t fit well into e-mail, calendar, or formal documents
Gather and refer back to notes from meetings or lectures
Collect research from the Web or other sources and annotate it for yourself or others
Keep track of what you need to do next and not miss anything
Work closely with other people on a project sharing notes and files
Capture ideas and gather information
You can quickly capture meeting notes, brainstorming notes, ideas and thoughts, audio from discussions, video from interviews, diagrams, and so on using the keyboard, pen or the recording capabilities in OneNote. You can also gather clippings from the Web, e-mail, miscellaneous materials for projects and classes, files, pictures, and so on using convenient integration with your Web browser and the Office system.
With OneNote, all this information stays in one place. It is easy to organize it, or pile it together (if that’s your preference), and then search and find it again — even words in pictures and audio or video recordings! Since OneNote uses the familiar concept of notebooks divided into sections with pages, you can get going right away.
Having all this information at your fingertips will keep you always prepared: for the next meeting, for writing a final document or e-mail message, for doing a task, for going on a trip, and so on. You can flag items in your notebooks as Important or To Do and then quickly gather summaries of information you have flagged this way. OneNote is fully customizable so you can adapt it to your work style.
You can also work with your whole team — in a shared notebook that everybody can edit at the same time and view even while not connected to the network. OneNote seamlessly merges the changes each time anyone updates the notebook. A shared notebook is a great way to see what information the team has gathered, what files and notes are available as sources, even what action items remain for the team to work on.
OneNote: Demo
Training for One Note
Remember, the DEECD provides online tutorials for Microsoft products. See the post Training in Vista and Office 2007 for more details on accessing this training.
The training for One Note is:
What is New in Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
Getting Started with Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
Taking Notes with Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
Performing Web-based Research using Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
Sharing Information with Other Users and Applications using Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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Tips to get started with SMARTBOARD IWB
For those who have not yet taken the first steps in using the interactive whiteboard, here are some steps to get you started.
I have some links to interactive whiteboard resources here. Bookmark it and revisit as the list grows.
Let’s Get Connected
Hooking up Smartboard
Connect the power to the SMARTBoard (if needed)
Connect the USB from the SMARTBoard to the computer
Get the Data projector set up
Make sure the Data Projector’s image is just within the borders of the SMARTBoard frame
Make sure the Data Projector cable is plugged into the back of your computer
Use the Smartboard like a Whiteboard
Open Smartboard
Turn on your computer and turn on the Data Projector
Go to the Smartboard Notebook Software and open it.
Orient the board
On the Smartboard click on the two buttons that are on the pen tray at the same time
Click the spots consecutively until they are all gone (Usually nine spots)
Write/Erase on the Board
Pick up a pen and write as if you were using a whiteboard
Use the eraser as you would on a whiteboard
Become familiar with the Smartboard Toolbar
Right click anywhere on the toolbar to know the names of all the toolbar option.
Become especially familiar with the new page button, as well as the undo and redo buttons.
Get a pre-made lesson shell at the Lesson Activity Toolkit
In Smartboard, find the tabs on the left or right of the screen.
Find the Gallery Tab and click on it (picture frame).
Now click on the plus sign for the Lesson Activity Toolkit.
Now click on the plus sign for Activities.
Now click on examples.
Lastly click on “notebook files and pages”. Drag one out and take look at it.
There are a lot of excellent examples, so spend some time looking at some of the things you can do with a smartboard.
Fill it in with your own material
Once you have chosen one you like, fill it in with your own material.
Click on edit and then change it as you please.
Once you have edited this make sure you save your file as you would a Word Document.
Use the Activity to get your students to the board
Show the slide to your students. Have the students talk with each other about what they might do if they were called.
Pick a student at random to come to the board and answer the question.Have them give reasoning for why they did what they did. Continue this with other random students until the slide is solved.
As always, if a student does not know what to do, they can ask another student to help walk them through the answer.
Make your own Lesson Structure
Search for some premade lessons. Google “Smartboard Lessons Math” or any subject area you want
Download a variety of lessons.
Google “Smartboard Lesson Podcast” or “Teaching with Smartboard” to get some lesson ideas
Google “Teachers Love Smartboards”to subscribe to this blog and get a great Smartboard resource
Remember to look for lessons that will get the students up to the board.Not just fancy things that the teacher can do.
Modify a lesson to fit your needs
Find a lesson that looks interesting to you and modify it.
Once you have seen a number of lessons, it will better prepare you to make a lesson on your own.
Change your written lesson plans to Smartboard Shell Lessons
Plan out your lesson slide by slide for your classes
Make your whole lesson from beginning to end using the slides on your SMARTBOARD
Print Capture any handout given in class.
Put in reminders and directions.
Put in any interactive lesson slides.
Save lessons each day as a record of your class
“SAVE AS” at the end of any lesson. This way you can save it as a different name and have a record of what you did in class that day.
Keeping a record of all that you do is a great way to keep absent students up to date by sending them a PDF of the lesson.
Since you have a record of what you are doing in class you can go back and look again at some material from a previous day.
Source: The Busy Educator - Marjan Glavac
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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Today I attended a Web 2.0 professional development workshop with Will Richardson. It was held at Koonung Secondary College for Eastern Metropolitan Region teachers.
Will demonstrated Twitter, RSS feeds, screencasting, podcasting, blogs, wikis and discussed the need for education to shift along with the students and prepare them for the world of tomorrow.
I had my Pulse smart pen by Livescribe with me which records your notes and aligns the audio with the notes. I then dock the pen to my computer and transfer the notes and audio to my PC.
I took alot of notes and basically recorded the whole day. I have uploaded all my notes from the day to my online Livescribe directory and made them available to share. It was an excellent day!
The quality is quite good considering I was a few metres away. The notes can also be downloaded as a pdf file
You can download the notes from here:
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
The power of Twitter
During the day, I had some queries about the Pulse pen. Livescribe is on Twitter so I tweeted my question. Within 10 minutes, Livescribe had replied and assisted me after a few messages back and forth- somewhat. The point is - twitter gets you better support than contacting online support.
A demo of the Pulse pen from Livescribe
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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What is a Voki?
Voki enables users to express themselves on the web in their own voice using a talking character. You can customize your Voki to look like you or take on the identity of lots of other types of characters… animals, monsters, anime etc. Your Voki can speak with your own voice which is added via microphone, upload, or phone. Voki can be emailed, saved, embedded onto a wiki page, blog page.
What’s with the name?
Voki is a combination of “vox”, which is Latin for voice, and “Loki“, which, is a prankster character in Norse Mythology.
How you might use it in a class
Extracts fromThe Innovative Educator
“…using a voki to improve writing especially for ELL students who need to hear the patterns of the spoken word to help with fluency and to improve comprehension”.
A series of three lessons where a teacher describes how he used a voki and blog.
You can add voice to your voki - the simplest way is to plug a microphone into your computer and record up to 60 secs, then attach it your Voki.
This is a voki I created for my Year 7 English class blog. Students are in the process of creating their own voki, recording a welcome message and embedding it onto their blog. Voki.com is in the education channel - free to use inside the school network.
http://7eenglish.globalstudent.org.au to see the voki in context.
Get a Voki now!
How to create a Voki
Another Voki screencast
http://amazon.sjsu.edu/html-df246a8/voki2/voki2.html
Authored by mberner. Hosted by Edublogs.
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