VoiceThread

Our assignment for today was to view two of Sir Ken Robinson's lectures, Changing Education Paradigms and Schools Kill Creativity, and then comment along with our fellow classmates using a tool called VoiceThread.

VoiceThread allows a teacher, or student, to display presentations through one or more slides with accompanying audio.  Those who view the presentation may reply by leaving audio, video, or text comments within the presentation.

This program is pretty cool. You can adapt a VoiceThread to teach or illustrate ANYTHING!  Want to show someone how to change the oil in their car step by step?  Make a VoiceThread.  Well, what if they have a question?  Tell them to leave it on the VoiceThread so it can be answered.  Problem solved!  Not only can you illustrate step-by-step instruction, you can also compare and contrast or you might have an open forum discussion.  The possibilities are endless.  This program can be useful to so many departments on so many levels of so many schools and institutions it's ridiculous.  Why more people don't know about this thing is beyond me.  Needless to say, I'm a fan.  

I plan to try this out with my Civics class just see where it might take my them.  I'm going to pose a topic of discussion and then see where they go with it.  I just want more out of some of my students.  Much of our class is discussion and there are students who don't participate.  I believe that if I use this tool the won't have a choice but to participate and they might actually enjoy becoming involved.

VoiceThread fits in with ISTE NETS T standards across the board.  It inspires learning and creativity from both student and teacher.  It is definitely a digital learning and assessment tool.  There can be no argument that teachers using this tool would exhibit a professional, technologically savvy, collaborative learning environment.

Benderconverter

This is something that I've been curious about doing for some time.  I've wanted to include small clips of videos that I've seen on the web in some presentations that I've created in the past but just wasn't sure how to go about accomplishing such a task.  Problem solved.  We were first assigned to use Benderconverter to do this assignment which allows you to search the web for audio and video and then rip those files to your computer and convert then in a vast array of options.  It's fast, simple, and easy to use if you are downloading video for powerpoint.  The only problem for this assignment was that I wasn't able to upload the video from Benderconverter to Google Docs Presentation for my blog.  Instead I simply inserted the same video from Youtube using Google Docs.

I downloaded a video that my co-teacher and I showed our civics classes last week.  I'm not a fan of the original song.  Not really my cup of tea, but this is catchy, hilarious (check out Ben Franklin), and it engaged each of our classes.  Check it out here.


This assignment incorporates ISTE NETS T standards 1 and 2 because not only does it utilize technology to enhance learning, it also engages students to be creative and explore the world around them.

Jing Screencast

I used Jing to create video to display instructions on how to manipulate the tools on Picassohead.  I first went to the Picassohead website before I pulled up Jing to start recording the video.  I did this in an effort to save some time.  I then began the my video simply by showing the opening page of the Picassohead site before clicking on create.  From there I proceeded through the steps of creating one's own "head".

Of the ISTE NETS T standards, I believe both standards 4 and 5 apply to this assignment.  Using a technological tool like Jing in this capacity exhibits an ability to connect with both one's colleagues and one's students.

Learning Outcomes.

1.  How do you create a digital movie without a digital camera?    
      Use a program like Jing to capture images from the screen's display in order to either show them in the order in which they were captured to in a sequence.
2. Can you vary the video capture size?
     Yes
3.  How do you determine the recording area of your screen capture?
      Drag the yellow lines to adjust the width and height before you start recording
4.  When you save a Jing video capture, how can you save it on your computer?  
     Click on the save button rather than the screencast button.
5.  Where is your video capture saved? 
     On your screencast, in your history, and on your hard drive
6.  What file type is a Jing screencast movie? 
     swf
7.   What is the screencast button and what does it do?
      The screencast button automatically saves your Jing files to the screencast website for easy access and public sharing
8.  The Jing 'Sun', for lack of a better word, has three prongs.  What does each prong do? 
     One captures images on the screen, the other goes to history, and the last one goes to a multitude of tools that Jing offers
9.  What address is copied to the clipboard when you press the screencast button while viewing your history? 
     Your Jing file's address
10.  How do you push an item from your history? 
     Once you are viewing it you simply press share
11.  What is the domain name of the server where screencast movies are stored?
     screencast.com

Jeopardy

Don't know what happened to this post.  I did it a week ago and just got on here to get some more work done and it's gone! Frustrating as all get out!  I know I must have messed up somewhere along the way, I'm just not sure where I might have been so careless. 

 Luckily the link to the game I created was in my history.  Tracking it down was w so that was easy.  Typing up the blog is the only part taking up time.  I created the Jeopardy game for this assignment using terms we needed to review in the English class I co-teach.  The assignment for this blog and our review coincided perfectly because we needed the review at about the same time and were able to use the game the day after I made it. 

Jeopardylabs is a great tool for teachers.  It's free and allows you to create as many games as you'd like on as many subjects as you'd like.  All you have to do is fill in the boxes and go to town asking your students questions.  This online tool falls under ISTE NETS T standard two because it is directly used to promote student learning.

Wordle

I copy and pasted an excerpt from Ted Kennedy's Faith, Truth, and Tolerance in America speech from October 1983 into Wordle.  It mixed up the speech and then reproduced it in an array of colorful words of different sizes which I was able to manipulate. I had the option to change the colors of the words and the background, the directions the words were going, and the font.  The ISTE NETS standards Wordle falls under would be standard one and 2 because it encourages supports students creativity and it also supports students using digital resources along with prior knowledge to create a finished product.

With the upcoming elections and all of the rhetoric spewing out of the GOP campaign I thought it'd be nice to see some of the words from one of the more level heads our Congress has been graced with in recent years.

Jing Image

Jing is another tool that is new to me.  I wasn't aware that it was out there, but now that it's open to me I can see myself using it a lot.  I wasn't really sure how to use it at first so I fumbled around with the snipping tool before I realized that wasn't necessary at all.  Once I got the hang of it I found that Jing is really simple to use.  Once you capture an image you can highlight, point out details, add text, and then share almost immediately.  

The information I wanted to share using this Jing for this assignment goes along with my role as my school's multicultural go-to-guy.  We have our first meeting with our clubs this week and I know there's going to be a lot of grumbling about the fact that we've been cracking down on dress code.  I don't see why they're going to complain that we make them wear their pants above their butts but they will so I'm going in prepared with a picture and caption of a billboard that I hope might stir a few thought provoking conversations.  

I found this small picture and caption while I was working on this assignment and thought it very fitting to use for both this and my activity with my students.  Once I found information on the website that I wanted to use I captured the part of the browser that I wanted to use, edited it as I wished, highlighted the text I found important, added necessary arrows, and included text that I felt would engage my students.  I then saved to screencast where a larger image of the image can be viewed.  

The ISTE NETS T standard Jing applies to is standard 5.  Jing helps tearchers engage in professional growth and leadership by continuously improving their professional practice.  Jing enables educators to model a professional community inside their schools and within their school districts simple by using the tools it provides.