Incorporating Online Video Into Your Teaching
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is a video clip worth? Already, if you're like most teachers, you have a few selected VHS or DVDs that you cue up to illustrate various points or concepts, incite student interest, start conversations, etc. Of course, you don't watch the whole 90 minute movie, you just show just that choice section. Many teachers are starting to create their own DVDs with just the video segments that they want to use in class, to avoid fumbling with a remote control in front of the students. But often, it is hard to find just the right clip from your personal video library or the school media center...and buying new tapes and DVDs...who has the budget for that?
Well, there is another option now, online streaming video clips. You have probably heard of YouTube, for example. A great source of videos of Chinese kids singing along to Backstreet Bouys songs and America's Worst Home Videos. But there is some educational content there if you search hard enough. And Ive found some sites below that provide educational clips, free of charge, over the Internet. If your classroom has a good broadband connection, you might well want to consider using clips from some of these sources in your teaching.
Video Sources
Google Video
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=genre:educational&so=1
YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/categories
These are the famous, hugely popular sites for finding online video clips. The vast majority, of course, of these clips aren't educational in nature. (Though Google at least has an Education category.) But, depending on u your subject, it's worth a look. One nice thing about Google Video is that you can download most clips instead of having to rely on a live internet connection--which is great for teachers. You'll know the clip is safely on your hard drive when you're presenting it to a classroom of kids. Of course, when searching these sites, be aware that there is a lot of "inappropriate" content. And your school may block the site as well, because of that and/or bandwidth issues.
AOL Video: Learning and Adventure
http://video.aol.com/video-category/learning-and-adventure/255?sem=1&ncid=AOLVID00170000000005
Quite a few videos here for use with K-12 students.
UnitedStreaming Video
http://www.unitedstreaming.com/
Claims to be "in more than half of US Schools". Could this be true? 40,000 video clips correlated to state standards. Try it free for 30 days.
ide@s
http://virage-prod.uwex.edu/vss-bin/vss_SR.exe/ideas/ideas_search
This site, from Wisconsin, has a database of 297 videoclips, each linked to state K-12 standards. Even if you're not from Wisconsin, you may find something useful here. I had some difficulty on my Mac, though, getting them to play.
Multimedia Seeds: Video Clips
http://eduscapes.com/seeds/clips.html
This page has a good list of sites that offer video clips in a range of content areas
Annenberg Media
http://www.learner.org/resources/browse.html
A wide variety of streaming videos for both K-12 and college instructors who are seeking to enhance their professional development. Many are targeted at K-12 teacher professional development such as "Essential Science for Teachers: Physical Sciences", "inside Writing Communities: Grades 3-5" and "In Search of the Novel." The latter covers how to teach 10 novels to high school students. Well worth checking out!
Resourses about Using Video in Your Teaching
(I wish I could find more of these...any suggestions?)
Seeing is Believing: Harnessing Online Video Clips to Enhance Learning
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev040.shtml
" Most teachers have come to understand that Net-Geners relate best to curriculum when teachers incorporate the medium that captivates them the most -- video -- to help translate abstract concepts or events into their reality."
Video Clips / Vodcasts for Online Literature Courses: The Allure of the Moving Image
http://elearnqueen.blogspot.com/2006/10/video-clips-vodcasts-for-online.html
For those of you considering creating your own video clips, whether for an online course or face-to-face, here are some good guidelines to follow. The "E-Learning Queen" focuses on content here, not technical issues, which makes this particularly useful, I think. Has examples of clips.
Would love to add on to these lists. Feel free to share suggestions via comments.
Chris
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
Episode 15: (Digital Video Analysis) is Online!
Episode 15 Now Available!
Hello again!
The Instructional Consulting Office is pleased to announce that "Teach with Tech" Episode 15 is now available for your listening pleasure. This podcast episode is entitled "Digital Video Analysis." This episode features an interview with Jon Tapp, the Director of Computer Services at the Vanderbilt University Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. Jon is the developer of a program called ProcoderDV. ProcoderDV is designed for those doing reasearch requiring the analysis of digital video files, such as classroom interactions, counseling sessions, etc.
What is a podcast? A podcast is like a short radio show in digital format. You can download the mp3 audio file and play it on your computer, or put it on your iPod or similar digital audio player.
Episode 15 is available, as are all the previous episodes of "Teach with Tech", at http://www.indiana.edu/~icy/podcast/
You can subscribe to the series via iTunes by using this URL:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=87095475
Comments and questions welcomed!
Hello again!
The Instructional Consulting Office is pleased to announce that "Teach with Tech" Episode 15 is now available for your listening pleasure. This podcast episode is entitled "Digital Video Analysis." This episode features an interview with Jon Tapp, the Director of Computer Services at the Vanderbilt University Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. Jon is the developer of a program called ProcoderDV. ProcoderDV is designed for those doing reasearch requiring the analysis of digital video files, such as classroom interactions, counseling sessions, etc.
What is a podcast? A podcast is like a short radio show in digital format. You can download the mp3 audio file and play it on your computer, or put it on your iPod or similar digital audio player.
Episode 15 is available, as are all the previous episodes of "Teach with Tech", at http://www.indiana.edu/~icy/podcast/
You can subscribe to the series via iTunes by using this URL:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=87095475
Comments and questions welcomed!
Friday, November 03, 2006
Resources for Research Using Digital Video
Digital Video Analysis Resources
Here are some resources mentioned or alluded to during my interview with Jon Tapp in Episode 15:
Procoder's site, again
http://www.procoderdv.com
MOOSES (Multi-Option Observation System for Experimental Studies).
http://www.getmooses.com
INTMAN (Interval Manager for Windows and PocketPC)
http://www.getintman.com
The Kennedy Center for Research on Human Developments site with a link to Jon Tapp and his bio in the people section.
http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/
Many projects that use Procoder are about autism and fall under the research portion of the TRIAD autism group (Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorder):
http://www.triadatvanderbilt.com.
The first ProcoderDV customer was this project at IU: Children's School Success. They have been going for a few years now:
http://css.crlt.indiana.edu/
Another group using it is the Early Language Learning Project:
http://www.comdis.wisc.edu/facstaff/sweismer/webpage.htm
If you have a research project using digital video (doesn't have to use Procoder), I'd be happy to highlight it here. Or you can add a link to it in the comments.
Cheers,
Chris
Here are some resources mentioned or alluded to during my interview with Jon Tapp in Episode 15:
Procoder's site, again
http://www.procoderdv.com
MOOSES (Multi-Option Observation System for Experimental Studies).
http://www.getmooses.com
INTMAN (Interval Manager for Windows and PocketPC)
http://www.getintman.com
The Kennedy Center for Research on Human Developments site with a link to Jon Tapp and his bio in the people section.
http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/
Many projects that use Procoder are about autism and fall under the research portion of the TRIAD autism group (Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorder):
http://www.triadatvanderbilt.com.
The first ProcoderDV customer was this project at IU: Children's School Success. They have been going for a few years now:
http://css.crlt.indiana.edu/
Another group using it is the Early Language Learning Project:
http://www.comdis.wisc.edu/facstaff/sweismer/webpage.htm
If you have a research project using digital video (doesn't have to use Procoder), I'd be happy to highlight it here. Or you can add a link to it in the comments.
Cheers,
Chris
Episode 15: Analysis of Video Documents, My New Snowball
My "Rig"In case you were wondering what my recording setup looks like, here it is. I've got a MacBook Pro and a Blue Snowball microphone. The Snowball is a new purchase; before that I was just using the microphone built into the laptop. This is the first episode recorded with the new microphone. For this episode, I used iChat, Apple's instant messaging tool to connect with my interview subject, and Garageband to record the session. When I clicked on the record button in GB, it announced that it saw that I had an audioconferencing session going, and asked if I wanted to record it. Then it put myself and my subject on individual tracks, allowing for adjustments to either side without affecting the other, and panning one person to the left, the other to the right for a stereo effect. The Blue microphone looks cool, don't you think? It requires the download of a firmware update in order to record podcasts, as it comes set up to record things at a louder volume, like musical instruments, but once you've installed the firmware update, it seems to work fine. The audio quality of iChat doesn't seem to be quite as good as Skype, which I have used in the past in conjunction with Audio Hijack to record the session--GB doesn't recognize that you are in a Skype session the way it does with iChat. But hopefully, the sound quality is good enough.
Episode 15: Video Analysis Software
Episode 15 has been recorded and may even be online before the day (Friday) is over. This episode features an interview, the first interview I have done with a software developer. This developer is also an educational researcher, which provides him with unique insights into the creation of his software package--he's a user as well as a developer. His name is Jon Tapp, from the Kennedy Center at Vanderbilt University, and he's the man behind ProcoderDV.
It seems like every semester, my office gets more and more requests to help faculty as they work with digital video. Sometimes the faculty member just wants to record a lecture, or capture an existing clip for use in a PowerPoint, but often the faculty member is involved in a research project that incorporates video documents of child behavior, classroom interactions or counseling sessions. Sometimes they have hours and hours of this sort of raw video data to process. Usually this involves identifying types of behavior and then noting when and for how long the behavior takes place. Doing this sort of analysis manually can be quite time-consuming and the resulting data hard to work with. But a tool like Procoder DV makes this type of qualitative data analysis much easier. Which is why I decided to interview Jon Tapp for Episode 15. I thought that many "Teach with Tech" listeners would be interested in hearing about this type of software. Let me know what you think. And if there are other pieces of education-related software that I should focus on, let me know.
Well, back to editing Episode 15. Thanks for reading this!
Chris
Friday, October 20, 2006
More Episode 14 Info
Some additional information about Episode 14 (ISMF):
You can check out the project created by the Cannelton, IN Elementary School Media Club, a website titled "The Moon and Beyond," which is one of the projects profiled in the podcast, at:
http://www.siec.k12.in.us/cannelton/beyondmoon/
I don't have a URL for the other project, but it was created by kids at Heard Elementary Academy in Savannah, GA (there were quite a few projects from GA at the ISMF), specifically from the Gifted Education Program, which is led by Allison Roberts, Kim Mercer and Sally Watson. Kudos to both groups!
The enthusiasm of both the adults and the kids that I interviewed was inspiring, and I can tell that these media projects have made a big impact on the students.
Cheers,
Chris
You can check out the project created by the Cannelton, IN Elementary School Media Club, a website titled "The Moon and Beyond," which is one of the projects profiled in the podcast, at:
http://www.siec.k12.in.us/cannelton/beyondmoon/
I don't have a URL for the other project, but it was created by kids at Heard Elementary Academy in Savannah, GA (there were quite a few projects from GA at the ISMF), specifically from the Gifted Education Program, which is led by Allison Roberts, Kim Mercer and Sally Watson. Kudos to both groups!
The enthusiasm of both the adults and the kids that I interviewed was inspiring, and I can tell that these media projects have made a big impact on the students.
Cheers,
Chris
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Episode 14 (International Student Media Festival) is Available!
Episode 14 is now available! Some of you may be listening to it right now. This episode features a few short, entertaining and informative interviews with teacher, parent and student participants of the International Student Media Festival (http://www.ismf.net), recently held in Dallas, Texas. This festival highlights the creative work of K-12 students in a number of formats, such as still photgraphy, web design, and digital video. The episode is the shortest "Teach with Tech" so far, at under fifteen minutes, so it's a quick, fun listen. Hopefully, it will inspire some of you K-12 teachers to start projects with your students for next year's ISMF.
The blog has undergone a slight facelift, with the new Blogger dashboard. Hopefully, it is more readable now. I'm thinking a specific "Teach with Tech" logo would be nice to have sometime...
I've got a couple of interviews coming up, as well as some more material that might make it into a podcast, so stay tuned....
Chris
The blog has undergone a slight facelift, with the new Blogger dashboard. Hopefully, it is more readable now. I'm thinking a specific "Teach with Tech" logo would be nice to have sometime...
I've got a couple of interviews coming up, as well as some more material that might make it into a podcast, so stay tuned....
Chris
Monday, October 16, 2006
Back from AECT! & Podcasting Screencast
Had a great time at the Association for Educational Communication conference in Dallas, Texas. Met a lot of charming, inteliigent people and saw some old friends. As I suspected, I barely got out of the conference hotel, so I don't have a great sense of what Dallas has to offer, though I did enjoy the Mexican food at RJs on the West End.
At AECT, I presented on the topic of "Podcasting: A New Medium for Distance Learning." It was a packed room and numerous people asked me for a copy of my slides. Better than that, I've created an enhanced podcast or screencast for you, for free download. Just click on the title above. You will probably find that it opens in iTunes, but Quicktime Player should work fine, too. (Actually, I just tried this out, on Windows---for some reason, the slides are almost unreadable in Quicktime, so you will want to use iTunes after all.) I may make this a part of a "Teach with Tech" (Enhanced Podcast) series, along with my HTML tutorial, and make it subscribable. But I don't want to confuse things and upload it along with the regular "Teach with Tech." By the way, I used Profcast to make the screencast and it couldn't have been easier.
Also, while at AECT, I participated in a Skypecast, which is a live broadcast over Skype, in a show called "EdTechTalk Brainstorm." It was a lot of fun, partly because of my co-guest (is that a word?) Jennifer Maddrell, who is an IU grad student in Instructional Systems Technology. We will both be appearing on EdTech Weekly this coming Sunday at 7pm Bloomington time. They should also have an mp3 archive of this past Sunday's session up soon, so check it out. Not that my contributions were all that meaningful, but....
Do you know about the International Student Media Festival? Sponsored by AECT, it is a wonderful opportunity for K-12 students to show off their work, in areas such as still photography, stills with audio, websites, and digital video productions. I assisted as one of the judges this year, and also attended some of the events, such as Marco Torres' inspiring keynote, and the viewing of K-6 projects. I also interviewed some parents and kids, who were very excited about the ISMF. More about this in a future podcast.
More to come....
Chris
At AECT, I presented on the topic of "Podcasting: A New Medium for Distance Learning." It was a packed room and numerous people asked me for a copy of my slides. Better than that, I've created an enhanced podcast or screencast for you, for free download. Just click on the title above. You will probably find that it opens in iTunes, but Quicktime Player should work fine, too. (Actually, I just tried this out, on Windows---for some reason, the slides are almost unreadable in Quicktime, so you will want to use iTunes after all.) I may make this a part of a "Teach with Tech" (Enhanced Podcast) series, along with my HTML tutorial, and make it subscribable. But I don't want to confuse things and upload it along with the regular "Teach with Tech." By the way, I used Profcast to make the screencast and it couldn't have been easier.
Also, while at AECT, I participated in a Skypecast, which is a live broadcast over Skype, in a show called "EdTechTalk Brainstorm." It was a lot of fun, partly because of my co-guest (is that a word?) Jennifer Maddrell, who is an IU grad student in Instructional Systems Technology. We will both be appearing on EdTech Weekly this coming Sunday at 7pm Bloomington time. They should also have an mp3 archive of this past Sunday's session up soon, so check it out. Not that my contributions were all that meaningful, but....
Do you know about the International Student Media Festival? Sponsored by AECT, it is a wonderful opportunity for K-12 students to show off their work, in areas such as still photography, stills with audio, websites, and digital video productions. I assisted as one of the judges this year, and also attended some of the events, such as Marco Torres' inspiring keynote, and the viewing of K-6 projects. I also interviewed some parents and kids, who were very excited about the ISMF. More about this in a future podcast.
More to come....
Chris
Monday, October 09, 2006
Off to AECT!
This week, I will be in Dallas, at the Association of Educational Communications and Technology conference, along with some familiar "Teach with Tech" voices--Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich and Mark Millard, two IU colleagues. I'm busy loading up my iPod with podcast episodes for the trip, including This Week in Tech, Security Now!, MacObserver's Weekly Roundup, The Tech Teachers, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! (NPR's news game show), Bill Maher, PennRadio.... Alas, no Smelly Monkeys (no new episode since September 3!). All of these can be found on iTunes, so I'm not going to provide URLs here.
I also downloaded the first two episodes of EdTechTalk Weekly, which is a roundtable discussion of the week's educational technology news. More about this show later....
I plan to do some podcasting from the conference. Might even make a blog posting, if I have time. Should be at least one new "Teach with Tech" episode before October is over, maybe more!
Stay Tuned,
Chris
I also downloaded the first two episodes of EdTechTalk Weekly, which is a roundtable discussion of the week's educational technology news. More about this show later....
I plan to do some podcasting from the conference. Might even make a blog posting, if I have time. Should be at least one new "Teach with Tech" episode before October is over, maybe more!
Stay Tuned,
Chris
Monday, September 25, 2006
Episode 13 is Online!, Internet Safety, and More Wikis!
Episode 13: "College Teaching Tech Tips!" is now available!
A number of quick and easy ways to integrate technology into the college classroom are discussed during this, our second, interview with Anne T. Ottenbreit-Leftwich, from the Indiana University School of Education. This time, she puts her experiences working in Instructional Consulting-type office at Purdue to good use as we discuss a wide range of ways that instructors can integrate technology into their teaching--or just improve their teaching in general. The tips come fast and furious in this one, so buckle your seat belts!
Internet Safety for Kids
In my online course, we have a weekly chat, and last Sunday's chat was about Internet Safety. I shared this URL with them, and I'll share it with you. It gives a nice list of tips to share with kids about keeping safe on the Net:
http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/safetytips.htm
They have some useful videos on the site, too. Check out the ones about cyberbullying. Did you even know there was such a thing?
More Wikis!
Anne just sent me this cool link, full of ideas on how to use wikis in the classroom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:School_and_university_
projects# Considerations_and_suggestions
Till next time,
Chris
A number of quick and easy ways to integrate technology into the college classroom are discussed during this, our second, interview with Anne T. Ottenbreit-Leftwich, from the Indiana University School of Education. This time, she puts her experiences working in Instructional Consulting-type office at Purdue to good use as we discuss a wide range of ways that instructors can integrate technology into their teaching--or just improve their teaching in general. The tips come fast and furious in this one, so buckle your seat belts!
Internet Safety for Kids
In my online course, we have a weekly chat, and last Sunday's chat was about Internet Safety. I shared this URL with them, and I'll share it with you. It gives a nice list of tips to share with kids about keeping safe on the Net:
http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/safetytips.htm
They have some useful videos on the site, too. Check out the ones about cyberbullying. Did you even know there was such a thing?
More Wikis!
Anne just sent me this cool link, full of ideas on how to use wikis in the classroom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:School_and_university_
projects# Considerations_and_suggestions
Till next time,
Chris
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Podcasting comes to Oncourse, Skype Video, Packetville
Podcasting comes to Oncourse
Here at Indiana University, we use Oncourse CL as our learning management system. It is part of the Sakai Project, and other institutions have the same system under a different name. It is similar to Blackboard and WebCT, which are popular commercial systems. The Oncourse Developers have now added a podcast tool to the system. It can be turned on by going to Site Setup link on the lefthand navigation bar, choosing Edit Tools and selecting Podcasts. Then it will appear in the lefthand navigation bar, visible to the students. You can upload an mp3 file, and Oncourse will host it. Then, you fill out a few form fields which creates the RSS file, which is also hosted on Oncourse. Finally, it provides you with the URL to enter into iTunes or whatever podcatcher or ipod directory you want, which allows people to subscribe to it. Or the students can download it immediately from Oncourse. I'm giving my W505 students the option to create podcasts this semester; I hope at least a few of them take me up on it.
Skype now does PC-Mac Video
For the longest time, the only way to do free videoconferencing between the PC and the Mac was to use AOL Instant Messenger, which interfaced with iChat. But now Skype is offering a new version of its Mac client with videoconferencing capabilities--it worke with the iSight cam from Apple.
Packetville
I haven't had a lot of time to explore this K-12 resource yet, but it looks pretty impressive. I played a game about packets which got across the idea of how information travels over the internet pretty well. Worth checking out!
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/edu/packetville/index.html
That's all for now,
Chris
Here at Indiana University, we use Oncourse CL as our learning management system. It is part of the Sakai Project, and other institutions have the same system under a different name. It is similar to Blackboard and WebCT, which are popular commercial systems. The Oncourse Developers have now added a podcast tool to the system. It can be turned on by going to Site Setup link on the lefthand navigation bar, choosing Edit Tools and selecting Podcasts. Then it will appear in the lefthand navigation bar, visible to the students. You can upload an mp3 file, and Oncourse will host it. Then, you fill out a few form fields which creates the RSS file, which is also hosted on Oncourse. Finally, it provides you with the URL to enter into iTunes or whatever podcatcher or ipod directory you want, which allows people to subscribe to it. Or the students can download it immediately from Oncourse. I'm giving my W505 students the option to create podcasts this semester; I hope at least a few of them take me up on it.
Skype now does PC-Mac Video
For the longest time, the only way to do free videoconferencing between the PC and the Mac was to use AOL Instant Messenger, which interfaced with iChat. But now Skype is offering a new version of its Mac client with videoconferencing capabilities--it worke with the iSight cam from Apple.
Packetville
I haven't had a lot of time to explore this K-12 resource yet, but it looks pretty impressive. I played a game about packets which got across the idea of how information travels over the internet pretty well. Worth checking out!
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/edu/packetville/index.html
That's all for now,
Chris
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Episode 13 on its way!
Episode 13 has been recorded! As promised, it's the second visit to the "Teach with Tech" studios from Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich, who recently joined the Indiana University Instructional Systems Technology faculty. Hailing from our rival, Purdue, she has wonderful ideas for integrating technology into teaching. This time, we discuss a wide range of ideas for using technology in the college classroom. We had a great time sharing tips and techniques, and I'm sure our listeners will find some useful new ideas in our discussion.
I hate to be a tease, but I think I'm going to hold onto this one for a week or two, though, and release it near the end of the month, to keep to the normal once-a-month schedule.
I hate to be a tease, but I think I'm going to hold onto this one for a week or two, though, and release it near the end of the month, to keep to the normal once-a-month schedule.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Podfade, More Opera 9, Space Podcasts!
Podfade? Not me!
Our colleagues in podcasting, the Smelly Monkeys, are facing a problem that podcasters have if they don't release episodes in a regular fashion--the audience fades away. They address this issue amusingly in their Episode 50, which came out on Sept.1, quite a long while after the previous episode, July 30. (In case you don't remember who the Monkeys of Smell are, check out Teach with Tech Episode 9, and visit their site--http://smellymonkeys.blogspot.com/)
This brings up the issue of podfade--podcasts being abandoned, or seemingly being abandoned. Wired made a big deal of this in a recent article--(http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70171-0.html?tw=wn_index_1). Of course, this is to be expected to some extent--how many web pages were abandoned after the initial surge of excitement about the WWW? As a podcaster, you do have some control over the appearance of podfade--here's a good article on the subject: http://webfeedcentral.com/2006/02/20/avoiding-podfade/. Basically, the advice is what I call the "Peanuts Rule" or if you prefer something more modern, "The Calvin and Hobbes" Rule. The rule is basically to avoid time-sensitive references in your podcasts. The reason, one reason anyway, that the two comics I mention don't seem dated today, as they appear in the newspapers in reruns, is because of that. Charlie Brown never referenced the Vietnam War, and Calvin never pretended to be invading Iraq (the first time).
The most obvious rule though, is the "Nike Rule"--Just do it. Get off your butt and make another episode! This is especially challenging, I know, if you're a K-12 teacher or professor, as you have lots of other things to do. But if you want to keep whatever audience you have, and to make it grow, you have to make sure people know the podcast is a going concern, and worth investing time in, which means keeping to a schedule.
Which means sometimes it may be better to delay episodes, too. This Friday, i plan to record another episode with Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich, about easy ways to integrate technology into the curriculum, and I know I'll be very excited to share it all with you immediately--but I will probably put off releasing it until near the end of the month, to keep the program on a roughly monthly schedule.
More Opera 9 News
"Letters, we get letters..." I love listener mail, especially when it includes useful technology tips! A "Teach with Tech" listener, Troy Hicks, writes:
"I just wanted to touch base with you about your Teach with Tech podcast. I have been listening for a few months and I appreciate how you discuss new technologies and contextualize them in K-12 and higher ed applications.
Just a quick comment on your Opera segment from last month. I have been an Opera user for a few years (yes, I paid for it a long time ago, before Opera 9, because I thought it was that good). Besides all the great tips that you gave (I didn’t even realize the one about the trashcan), you might also want to think about telling your faculty and students that there are some handy mouse features that you can use on a PC or Mac (if you have a 2 button mouse).
* Want more info about a word or phrase on a page that you are viewing? Highlight it, then right click and select one of the many search features.
* Want to email someone, but you aren’t using Opera as your email client? Right click on the email address, copy it, and paste it in your email client.
* Want to navigate web pages faster? Use Mouse gestures: http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/mouse/
* Got a URL that you have copied or a word that you want to copy from somewhere and search using Opera? Right click in the address box or search box and choose “paste and go” to effectively paste and hit enter at the same time.
There are more mouse tools that I am sure are out there that I don’t even know, but these — along with the tips you offered — make my browsing life much easier." Thanks, Troy! Check out his blog at http://hickstro.org/
I welcome more listener contributions! Or just emails of praise!
Space Podcast
A cool new resource, especially for elementary science, from the NASA site:
http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/educators/podcast/
Isn't that the bummer about Pluto, by the way?
Chris
Our colleagues in podcasting, the Smelly Monkeys, are facing a problem that podcasters have if they don't release episodes in a regular fashion--the audience fades away. They address this issue amusingly in their Episode 50, which came out on Sept.1, quite a long while after the previous episode, July 30. (In case you don't remember who the Monkeys of Smell are, check out Teach with Tech Episode 9, and visit their site--http://smellymonkeys.blogspot.com/)
This brings up the issue of podfade--podcasts being abandoned, or seemingly being abandoned. Wired made a big deal of this in a recent article--(http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70171-0.html?tw=wn_index_1). Of course, this is to be expected to some extent--how many web pages were abandoned after the initial surge of excitement about the WWW? As a podcaster, you do have some control over the appearance of podfade--here's a good article on the subject: http://webfeedcentral.com/2006/02/20/avoiding-podfade/. Basically, the advice is what I call the "Peanuts Rule" or if you prefer something more modern, "The Calvin and Hobbes" Rule. The rule is basically to avoid time-sensitive references in your podcasts. The reason, one reason anyway, that the two comics I mention don't seem dated today, as they appear in the newspapers in reruns, is because of that. Charlie Brown never referenced the Vietnam War, and Calvin never pretended to be invading Iraq (the first time).
The most obvious rule though, is the "Nike Rule"--Just do it. Get off your butt and make another episode! This is especially challenging, I know, if you're a K-12 teacher or professor, as you have lots of other things to do. But if you want to keep whatever audience you have, and to make it grow, you have to make sure people know the podcast is a going concern, and worth investing time in, which means keeping to a schedule.
Which means sometimes it may be better to delay episodes, too. This Friday, i plan to record another episode with Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich, about easy ways to integrate technology into the curriculum, and I know I'll be very excited to share it all with you immediately--but I will probably put off releasing it until near the end of the month, to keep the program on a roughly monthly schedule.
More Opera 9 News
"Letters, we get letters..." I love listener mail, especially when it includes useful technology tips! A "Teach with Tech" listener, Troy Hicks, writes:
"I just wanted to touch base with you about your Teach with Tech podcast. I have been listening for a few months and I appreciate how you discuss new technologies and contextualize them in K-12 and higher ed applications.
Just a quick comment on your Opera segment from last month. I have been an Opera user for a few years (yes, I paid for it a long time ago, before Opera 9, because I thought it was that good). Besides all the great tips that you gave (I didn’t even realize the one about the trashcan), you might also want to think about telling your faculty and students that there are some handy mouse features that you can use on a PC or Mac (if you have a 2 button mouse).
* Want more info about a word or phrase on a page that you are viewing? Highlight it, then right click and select one of the many search features.
* Want to email someone, but you aren’t using Opera as your email client? Right click on the email address, copy it, and paste it in your email client.
* Want to navigate web pages faster? Use Mouse gestures: http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/mouse/
* Got a URL that you have copied or a word that you want to copy from somewhere and search using Opera? Right click in the address box or search box and choose “paste and go” to effectively paste and hit enter at the same time.
There are more mouse tools that I am sure are out there that I don’t even know, but these — along with the tips you offered — make my browsing life much easier." Thanks, Troy! Check out his blog at http://hickstro.org/
I welcome more listener contributions! Or just emails of praise!
Space Podcast
A cool new resource, especially for elementary science, from the NASA site:
http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/educators/podcast/
Isn't that the bummer about Pluto, by the way?
Chris
Friday, September 01, 2006
Episode 12 is Online!
Hello again, Teach with Tech fans!
Episode 12 is now available, and visible in iTunes. It focuses on two big topics: using wikis in the classroom, and the new features of Apple's upcoming version of OSX, Leopard, including Time Machine and Webclip, and improvements to iChat, Mail and Widgets.
I had a great time discussing these topics with Mark Millard, from
Indiana University's
Teaching and Learning with Technology Centers.
With both of these topics, we go beyond the general discussion of the cool technology and talk about how instructors, college and K-12, can use them. We welcome your suggestions, too!
Do you wiki?
Our learning management system, Oncourse, part of the Sakai Project, now has a wiki, and instructors are starting to use it, including myself, with my online course. Hey, this is a good time for a shoutout to my new Education W505: Using the Internet in the K-12 Classroom students! (It's not too late to join us!)
Just a reminder, you can find our episodes in this fine educational podcast directory (as well as at the IC website, iTunes, etc.):
http://www.recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/professional/teachwithtech.php
I'm happy to announce that Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich will be joining us again, to talk about quick and easy ways to integrate technology into your teaching. This time, we focus on the college classroom. We'll both also be appearing at the AECT National Conference (Mark, too!) in Dallas in October. And yes, we will be podcasting from the event!
Cheers,
Chris
Episode 12 is now available, and visible in iTunes. It focuses on two big topics: using wikis in the classroom, and the new features of Apple's upcoming version of OSX, Leopard, including Time Machine and Webclip, and improvements to iChat, Mail and Widgets.
I had a great time discussing these topics with Mark Millard, from
Indiana University's
Teaching and Learning with Technology Centers.
With both of these topics, we go beyond the general discussion of the cool technology and talk about how instructors, college and K-12, can use them. We welcome your suggestions, too!
Do you wiki?
Our learning management system, Oncourse, part of the Sakai Project, now has a wiki, and instructors are starting to use it, including myself, with my online course. Hey, this is a good time for a shoutout to my new Education W505: Using the Internet in the K-12 Classroom students! (It's not too late to join us!)
Just a reminder, you can find our episodes in this fine educational podcast directory (as well as at the IC website, iTunes, etc.):
http://www.recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/professional/teachwithtech.php
I'm happy to announce that Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich will be joining us again, to talk about quick and easy ways to integrate technology into your teaching. This time, we focus on the college classroom. We'll both also be appearing at the AECT National Conference (Mark, too!) in Dallas in October. And yes, we will be podcasting from the event!
Cheers,
Chris
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Updates: Powerpoint Jeopardy!, Opera 9
Hello again!
More Powerpoint Games.
I'm preparing a Powerpoint game (which we discussed in Episode 10) about Indiana University to use with our Partners in Education program, so I thought I'd share some related resources that I found:
Powerpoint Jeopardy Games
http://www.hardin.k12.ky.us/res_techn/countyjeopardygames.htm
A great selection of K-12 Jeopardy games from some Kentucky teachers.
Powerpoint Activities
http://teach.fcps.net/trt10/PowerPoint.htm
Has links to a Hollywood Squares and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire templates too. The Millionaire one is very cool, but I wish it came with instructions.
Opera 9 Problem fixed.
In a previous entry here, I mentioned I was having problems with YouTube and Google Video working on Opera on my MacBook Pro. Well, the sites seem to use Flash to present their videos. It turns out that you need to delete a file called Flash Plugin Enabler.plugin from the HD/Library/Internet Plugins/ folder. Then restart
Opera and you've got videos!
Stay tuned for Episode 12!
Chris
More Powerpoint Games.
I'm preparing a Powerpoint game (which we discussed in Episode 10) about Indiana University to use with our Partners in Education program, so I thought I'd share some related resources that I found:
Powerpoint Jeopardy Games
http://www.hardin.k12.ky.us/res_techn/countyjeopardygames.htm
A great selection of K-12 Jeopardy games from some Kentucky teachers.
Powerpoint Activities
http://teach.fcps.net/trt10/PowerPoint.htm
Has links to a Hollywood Squares and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire templates too. The Millionaire one is very cool, but I wish it came with instructions.
Opera 9 Problem fixed.
In a previous entry here, I mentioned I was having problems with YouTube and Google Video working on Opera on my MacBook Pro. Well, the sites seem to use Flash to present their videos. It turns out that you need to delete a file called Flash Plugin Enabler.plugin from the HD/Library/Internet Plugins/ folder. Then restart
Opera and you've got videos!
Stay tuned for Episode 12!
Chris
Monday, August 14, 2006
News, Info and Tips!
New Center at IU. One of the most commonly cited criticisms of educational research is that teachers don't use it, that the connection between the university teacher education programs and the everyday K-12 classroom is not being made. Well, the Indiana University School of Education is seeking to bridge that gap by creating the Center for Educational Sciences Research and P-16 Collaboration. This center will be focused on presenting best practices to teachers in the Indianapolis area (at least at first), primarily in the Math and Science Education areas.
More on Opera 9. I really like Opera's Magic Wand feature, too. All modern web browsers have some scheme to save login information, but the Magic Wand is a pretty elegant way to do it. Not only does it make logging in to site with saved information as easy as clicking on the wand, but if you have say, two different Hotmail accounts, it allows you to choose between them when logging in. This is something I haven't seen before.
One negative for Opera 9 is that it doesn't seem to work with YouTube or Google Video. I downloaded an Opera widget for You Tube but that doesn't let me search for videos successfully.
Oncourse Wiki. IU's learning management system, Oncourse CL, part of the Sakai Project, now has a wiki system. A wiki, in case you didn't attend our Podcasts, Blogs and Wikis workshop, is a collaborative writing tool that allows people to work on the same document through a web interface. Wikipedia is the most famous example, though I note places like Amazon are starting to incorporate them too. Previous postings on this blog provide links to K-12 and postsecondary Wiki resources.
Search Engine Security and Ego Searching. The recent release by AOL of subscribers' search terms brings up concerns about the security of your search history. People have used this database and tracked down individual users, even though AOL stripped out usernames from the records. One reason they were able to do this was because of ego searching. Ego searching (as opposed to Eggo searching) is the looking up of one's own name in a search engine. This can be a useful way of finding out what people are saying about you, and obviously there are business and professional reasons to do it, but it also makes it easier to identify your individual search history if those records get out in the future. Wired has a good article with tips on protecting your private search information.
Try Something New for the New School Year! Why not try a new way to use technology in your teaching this school year? Episode 10 talked about a few. You could also consider using podcasts as an assignment option, instead of another paper; create a class calendar using iPhoto; videoconferencing with a guest expert or another classroom somewhere else in the world; using web-based video clips (check and see if your school has subscribed to a service like UnitedStreaming); creating a class blog to share information with parents and grandparents; have students create a wiki about your city or town; use GoogleEarth to plan simulated trips to other countries, or to look up where news events are taking place; check out how hot it is for our soldiers in Iraq today through the web; educate your students about the dangers of giving out too much information online, in places like MySpace; build a simulated rocket and fly it; search out the meaning of your name and where it comes from; make your own class t-shirts based on student designs using iron-ons.... That's just a start! Hopefully, this list has given you some inspiration for new things to try! Would love to hear additional ideas (and some good postsecondary ideas too!)--either add them by commenting here or email me at ic@indiana.edu.
More on Opera 9. I really like Opera's Magic Wand feature, too. All modern web browsers have some scheme to save login information, but the Magic Wand is a pretty elegant way to do it. Not only does it make logging in to site with saved information as easy as clicking on the wand, but if you have say, two different Hotmail accounts, it allows you to choose between them when logging in. This is something I haven't seen before.
One negative for Opera 9 is that it doesn't seem to work with YouTube or Google Video. I downloaded an Opera widget for You Tube but that doesn't let me search for videos successfully.
Oncourse Wiki. IU's learning management system, Oncourse CL, part of the Sakai Project, now has a wiki system. A wiki, in case you didn't attend our Podcasts, Blogs and Wikis workshop, is a collaborative writing tool that allows people to work on the same document through a web interface. Wikipedia is the most famous example, though I note places like Amazon are starting to incorporate them too. Previous postings on this blog provide links to K-12 and postsecondary Wiki resources.
Search Engine Security and Ego Searching. The recent release by AOL of subscribers' search terms brings up concerns about the security of your search history. People have used this database and tracked down individual users, even though AOL stripped out usernames from the records. One reason they were able to do this was because of ego searching. Ego searching (as opposed to Eggo searching) is the looking up of one's own name in a search engine. This can be a useful way of finding out what people are saying about you, and obviously there are business and professional reasons to do it, but it also makes it easier to identify your individual search history if those records get out in the future. Wired has a good article with tips on protecting your private search information.
Try Something New for the New School Year! Why not try a new way to use technology in your teaching this school year? Episode 10 talked about a few. You could also consider using podcasts as an assignment option, instead of another paper; create a class calendar using iPhoto; videoconferencing with a guest expert or another classroom somewhere else in the world; using web-based video clips (check and see if your school has subscribed to a service like UnitedStreaming); creating a class blog to share information with parents and grandparents; have students create a wiki about your city or town; use GoogleEarth to plan simulated trips to other countries, or to look up where news events are taking place; check out how hot it is for our soldiers in Iraq today through the web; educate your students about the dangers of giving out too much information online, in places like MySpace; build a simulated rocket and fly it; search out the meaning of your name and where it comes from; make your own class t-shirts based on student designs using iron-ons.... That's just a start! Hopefully, this list has given you some inspiration for new things to try! Would love to hear additional ideas (and some good postsecondary ideas too!)--either add them by commenting here or email me at ic@indiana.edu.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Episode 11 Notes! Now with Wikiality!
Well, the Fall semester is just about upon us here at Indiana University, as it is for most of you, I am sure, whether you are teaching at the college or K-12 level. So Episode 11 is officially our "Back to School" edition. I'll be teaching my online course again starting at the end of this
month. It's called Education W505: Using the Internet in the K12 Classroom.
I'm revising the course now to incorporate some new content that I want to
cover. Also, this will be the first time I teach without a print textbook to fall back on. This will make the course cheaper for students, and they'll have the
most up-to-date information from online sources. Still time to register--the course doesn't start till 8/29. International students welcome! (Sorry this paragraph breaks so strangely--something is wrong with the text wrapping here.)
Did you hear about Stephen Colbert encouraging his audience to purposely falsify a Wikipedia posting on elephants--to state that the population of African elephants had recently tripled? Naughty, naughty, Stephen--but it does serve as an important reminder to
consider the implications of "Wiki-ality." This is something we should discuss with our students when having them do Internet-based research. See it for yourself by clicking here.
Bringing democracy to knowledge, indeed! Anyway, back to the new episode of "Teach with Tech." Basically, the show is as described below in the previous posting. Would love to hear what you think (ic@indiana.edu).
month. It's called Education W505: Using the Internet in the K12 Classroom.
I'm revising the course now to incorporate some new content that I want to
cover. Also, this will be the first time I teach without a print textbook to fall back on. This will make the course cheaper for students, and they'll have the
most up-to-date information from online sources. Still time to register--the course doesn't start till 8/29. International students welcome! (Sorry this paragraph breaks so strangely--something is wrong with the text wrapping here.)
Did you hear about Stephen Colbert encouraging his audience to purposely falsify a Wikipedia posting on elephants--to state that the population of African elephants had recently tripled? Naughty, naughty, Stephen--but it does serve as an important reminder to
consider the implications of "Wiki-ality." This is something we should discuss with our students when having them do Internet-based research. See it for yourself by clicking here.
Bringing democracy to knowledge, indeed! Anyway, back to the new episode of "Teach with Tech." Basically, the show is as described below in the previous posting. Would love to hear what you think (ic@indiana.edu).
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Episode 11 on its way!
Don't fear, brave Teach with Tech fans! Episode 11 is being recorded as we speak, more or less, and should be online before the month is over.
This episode's topics:
This episode's topics:
- The new Opera browser (very cool!)
- The future of digital video: Hard-drive based camcorders and still cameras that can shoot DVD-quality video
- "Podcasts Coming to IU"--a recent Indiana Daily Student headline. "Coming?" What about Teach with Tech? What about the Bonkcasts? And my own podcasts for my W505 students? Not to mention instructors using the iStream (IU login required) service to publish their podcasts. Podcasts have been at IU since mid-2005! But you, loyal listener, already knew that, didn't you?
- and more!
Monday, July 03, 2006
Show Notes from Episode 10
Here are some links about various things that were mentioned in Episode 10. I'm not really going to describe these, though. If you're interested in more information about them, and how they relate to each other, listen to the podcast...
Jeopardy Powerpoint Template
http://www.graves.k12.ky.us/tech/jeopardy_instructions.htm
Microsoft Office Templates
http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/templates/default.aspx
Don't have Office? OpenOffice uses Microsoft Templates
http://www.openoffice.org/
Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/
Flash Earth: A Web-based interface for Google Earth and Windows Live Local
http://www.flashearth.com/
WikiMapia
http://www.wikimapia.org/
United Streaming
http://www5.unitedstreaming.com/index.cfm
Peg Ertmer
http://www.edci.purdue.edu/ertmer/main_home.htm
The Global Campfire
http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/www/famres/
pctogeth/campfire/campfire.html
Anne Ottenbreich-Leftwich
http://innovationsinedtech.blogspot.com/
Comments, suggestions, additions welcomed! If you're going to plug your own podcast with your comment, fine, but please give a few specific comments about "Teach with Tech" first.
Cheers,
Chris
Jeopardy Powerpoint Template
http://www.graves.k12.ky.us/tech/jeopardy_instructions.htm
Microsoft Office Templates
http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/templates/default.aspx
Don't have Office? OpenOffice uses Microsoft Templates
http://www.openoffice.org/
Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/
Flash Earth: A Web-based interface for Google Earth and Windows Live Local
http://www.flashearth.com/
WikiMapia
http://www.wikimapia.org/
United Streaming
http://www5.unitedstreaming.com/index.cfm
Peg Ertmer
http://www.edci.purdue.edu/ertmer/main_home.htm
The Global Campfire
http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/www/famres/
pctogeth/campfire/campfire.html
Anne Ottenbreich-Leftwich
http://innovationsinedtech.blogspot.com/
Comments, suggestions, additions welcomed! If you're going to plug your own podcast with your comment, fine, but please give a few specific comments about "Teach with Tech" first.
Cheers,
Chris
Friday, June 30, 2006
Teaching with Technology Tips Websites
Well, Episode 10, titled "Somewhat Fewer than 50 Tips for Teaching with Technology in Your Classroom Tomorrow!" has been recorded and is being edited. It should be out the door by Monday. Just barely missing my target of getting one out every month. To tide you over until the podcast is available, here are some neat technology tips websites....
Marilyn Western's Technology Tips for Classroom Teachers
http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/
I like "101 Uses for a Classroom Computer"
http://www.edzone.net/%7Emwestern/101.html
Some broken links though that are annoying.
Tammy's Technology Tips for Teachers
http://www.essdack.org/tips/
Has some interesting student projects.
Teaching TIps Newsletter Archive
http://www.teach-nology.com/newsletters/archive/
Over 300 brief newsletters with links to various tools and resources, including a "Teaching Tip of the Week" Might be worth subscribing to!
Teaching with Technology
http://teacher.scholastic.com/technology/
Scholastic provides advice on using cameras, making digital movies, and managing your classroom computer center, as well as having a database of online activities. I like their ePals (keypals) pages: http://www.epals.com/scholastic/index_sch.html?seesf=8939232
Technology and Learning: The Resource for Education Technology Leaders
http://www.techLEARNING.com
This site has interesting articles on new technologies such as clickers (personal response systems), smartboards, tablet PCs, wireless sound reinforcement systems and more. Has a grants database to help fund your school's projects!
Lots of tutorials here: http://www.techlearning.com/quickflicks/archives.jhtml
Teaching and Learning with Technology Tips
http://tlt.psu.edu/suggestions/tlt_tips/
This site focuses on higher education, and includes diversity and classroom management tips. Talks a lot about ANGEL, which is a particular learning management system, but you could replace the references with Blackboard or WebCT or whatever you're using. Table format is easy to read quickly.
This episode's interviewee, Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich, provides a couple more sites:
"Here's a list of websites I compiled for teachers at a local school of the top websites I thought were great for teachers: http://research.education.purdue.edu/challenge/resources.html
Here's another really great one by Annette Lamb - 7 Simple Ways to begin using technology: http://eduscapes.com/sessions/simple/index.htm
More suggestions are welcomed!
Check back on Monday, July 3rd for the new episode!
Chris
Marilyn Western's Technology Tips for Classroom Teachers
http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/
I like "101 Uses for a Classroom Computer"
http://www.edzone.net/%7Emwestern/101.html
Some broken links though that are annoying.
Tammy's Technology Tips for Teachers
http://www.essdack.org/tips/
Has some interesting student projects.
Teaching TIps Newsletter Archive
http://www.teach-nology.com/newsletters/archive/
Over 300 brief newsletters with links to various tools and resources, including a "Teaching Tip of the Week" Might be worth subscribing to!
Teaching with Technology
http://teacher.scholastic.com/technology/
Scholastic provides advice on using cameras, making digital movies, and managing your classroom computer center, as well as having a database of online activities. I like their ePals (keypals) pages: http://www.epals.com/scholastic/index_sch.html?seesf=8939232
Technology and Learning: The Resource for Education Technology Leaders
http://www.techLEARNING.com
This site has interesting articles on new technologies such as clickers (personal response systems), smartboards, tablet PCs, wireless sound reinforcement systems and more. Has a grants database to help fund your school's projects!
Lots of tutorials here: http://www.techlearning.com/quickflicks/archives.jhtml
Teaching and Learning with Technology Tips
http://tlt.psu.edu/suggestions/tlt_tips/
This site focuses on higher education, and includes diversity and classroom management tips. Talks a lot about ANGEL, which is a particular learning management system, but you could replace the references with Blackboard or WebCT or whatever you're using. Table format is easy to read quickly.
This episode's interviewee, Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich, provides a couple more sites:
"Here's a list of websites I compiled for teachers at a local school of the top websites I thought were great for teachers: http://research.education.purdue.edu/challenge/resources.html
Here's another really great one by Annette Lamb - 7 Simple Ways to begin using technology: http://eduscapes.com/sessions/simple/index.htm
More suggestions are welcomed!
Check back on Monday, July 3rd for the new episode!
Chris
Sunday, June 11, 2006
50 Ways to Use Technology in Your Classroom Tomorrow!
Well, on it's way in the sense that there is a plan to do it sometime this month.... But it will be worth waiting for. I've really enjoyed these recent interviews about podcasting, but I do realize that creating podcasts isn't for every teacher in every situation. In this next episode, I will broaden the scope quite a bit and discuss other options for the technology-using teacher.
I am pleased to announce that Anne T. Ottenbreit-Leftwich, who has just joined us in the Instructional Systems Technology department here at Indiana University, will be my guest in the next podcast episode, and we will be discussing "50 Ways to Use Technology in Your Classroom Tomorrow." I very much look forward to our conversation!
I am pleased to announce that Anne T. Ottenbreit-Leftwich, who has just joined us in the Instructional Systems Technology department here at Indiana University, will be my guest in the next podcast episode, and we will be discussing "50 Ways to Use Technology in Your Classroom Tomorrow." I very much look forward to our conversation!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)