Digital Video Camera Tutorial

I found a lesson for video students to plan and shoot a video tutorial explaining how to operate the digital video cameras which they will be using in class. The original lesson called for students to script their ideas as a homework assignment. I prefer to use storyboards. I think that it is more helpful to students to work from a storyboard, which includes a drawing, not just verbal descriptions of the shot. This is especially important in this assignment since students are instructed to pass their storyboards to another group who will follow them when shooting.

My modifications of the assignment included teaching a storyboarding lesson, changing the scripting to storyboarding in the homework assignment, and then just general language clean-up and overall clarification.
Here is the link.

Karen

Peanut Butter Wiki

While checking out my Google hits for "wiki" I kept coming back to one labelled pbwiki which allows anyone to create a free wiki, easily. There is a link for educators which offers safeguards that are important for any classroom-based wiki, such as the option to make the site public or private, to lock pages and to control the access to pages. The design and layout are clean and easy to read. The examples on the education home page include an elementary classroom, and a freshman english course at Penn State. This eliminated much of the intimidation I've felt when thinking about creating a wiki.

Karen

topic 3: Tagging Lesson

As an educational Interpreter, I do not create lesson plans per se. I did however work with a small group of students to establish del.icio.us accounts. This is a summary of what I did.
I set up an account at wikiteach.org but for some reason it would not let me login. I asked for confirmation of my password. wikiteach changed it and sent me a new one. Still I could not log in to create my lesson; therefore, I signed the end of my lesson. smile.
Caryl
Lesson
http://www.wikiteach.org/index.php/Wikiteach/WikiteachWriteMgr/action/add/

topic 3: editing a lesson

I preferred the wikibooks.com over the wikiteach.org. I found a
"how to" section with a page, "how to become a good student". It was a good start, but I felt it needed examples so this is where I focused my editing.
Caryl

topic 3

I am stilling surfing sites for this week's lesson. I came across a wonderful resource for anyone who is new to del.icio.us. it is a pdf file. I printed it and now have it in my notebook. I followed the steps in Mr Muir quick guide and set up my own account. now as I am surfing the net and/or reviewing everyones wonderful links, I am tagging like a crazy person, any and all sites I might use for my students. Fingers crossed it is all there when I finish tagging today.
Caryl
http://personal.strath.ac.uk/d.d.muir/Delicious1_2.pdf
if this link does not work, search for title "simply del.icio.us Online social bookmarking" by david muir. or
http;//del.icio.us/DavidDMuir/

Wikiteach - DV Toolkit

One of the greatest challenges media professionals face is the incredible speed at which the technology advances. In addition to the speed of advancement is the constant demand for creativity and quality from the client side. The only solution to this is for the students to develop a strategy for keeping up with the innovations. Social book marking is a way to connect to the state-of-the-art and the talents who know the technology. Click on the title above to see the lesson plan.

To see a lesson plan I modified click here

Wiki for WordPress

I've recently published a blog site using shareware called WordPress. The good news: It's a PHP system that's growing in popularity everyday. The bad news: it's hard to find reliable technical support for it if you run into a problem. At least that is what I believed before this lesson got me searching for a wiki. If you'd like to see how I'm using Wordpress Click Here. Let me know if you see any problems. Please mention your browser and computer platform too. Thanks - dj

Favorite Wikis

After “googling” wikis I understand he concept of groupware. The idea that wikis are designed to collect facts for the good of all sounds very interesting. Most of the wiki sites I visited were so specialized that only the most knowledgeable could contribute. Many of the sites were on Linux and other computer platforms. I found two sites that were interesting to me and could be useful in my classes.
Spanish Tour
This site is a travel guide. I do not like tours and this provides more individual experiences and informs the reader of a variety of activities and locations that are off the beaten path. A seasoned traveler could add unique and interesting insites and possibilities.
Spanish Lesson
This site offers suggestions in teaching Spanish with different methods and ideas much like TPRS. I find it very useful for the introduction of vocabulary and the variety of activities.

Echo's Movie

This is a short movie for the students to view. They will listen, answer questions, and find a hidden error.
Echo's Movie

Topic 3 - Social Computing - ubuntu wiki

ubuntu is one of the many versions of open source linux. Their tag line is, "Linux for human beings." They also have edubuntu, "Linux for young human beings". The ubuntu people are using a wiki for their product documentation. That means anyone with something to say can edit the documentation. Very clever.

Science Made Fun

I found this relatively new podcast when crawling the internet for science podcasts/blogs/etc. It does have a few episodes and for the time being I can't really use the information for the unit that I am teaching now (Electricity) but there are two podcasts that I could use in our astronomy unit (Supernova and the planet Saturn). The information is current and is presented in a easy to understand vocabulary. The episodes are also short so they could be used for all ages.



I still do think that the best way for you to get exactly what you need in a podcst for your class is to create it yourself. WIth the powerful software that is available, most of it free, all you would need to create and host a podcast is a good microphone and server space to host the episode.

Mary Tidrick

I just figured out to edit my post. Slow but steady! give me enough time and I can figure things out. I finally have my podcast working. The link is below:

Mrs.T's Podcasts

I hope to do some podcasting with my class very soon. I think my students will enjoy do some projects using podcasting.

Mary

Mary Tidrick

I am not sure I can write this again. I have been having so much trouble trying put this on the blog.

I have choosen Radio WillowWeb as my podcast. Produced by an elementary school, this podcast is somthing I would like to with my fifth grade students in the future. Also, their podcast #16 is on writing traits. I am in a study group that's topic is "Six Plus One" writing traits and plan on sharing it with them.

Radio WillowWeb

Latanya Robinson_Mountain Adventure

The blog contains essays and pictures of places in the Sierra Nevada. Since I work in Nevada this would be a good blog to explore with students. The students I work with rarely leave the city. The link:
http://a-mountain-adventure.blogspot.com/

PowerPoint Survivor

Being a technology teacher its nice to find some material that I can use within the lab that will assist kids how to learn and use skills for a program they will have to learn how to use over the coming years.

This site has a number of vlogs that give hints and directions for doing some neat things with powerpoint.

Posting vlogs in this blog

Echo asked how to post her vodcast to this blog.
Please note -- the movie in this post is a just a sample used in my digital media class.

So here's how:
First of all, you have to have your movie clip online. (I don't think you can upload it directly to this blog -- but I haven't tried that hard, so maybe I am wrong.)

1. IF your vodcast is not online, then you need to use a host like http://www.podcastspot.com, or your own web space to store it online.

2. IF it is online, you can paste in the link when you are posting to this blog. Paste it into the link section of the blog post. It will open in a new browser window though.

3. To include it in the body of the post or in a comment you must embed it. So you need a little more HTML -- don't worry it's pretty much as easy as the hyperlink code. The colors are just to help you see the different parts of the code -- you don't type it in colors! ;-)

OK, what's all this geeky stuff?
a) the embed tag tells the browser to embed the movie within the webpage.
b) src sets the online location (URL) of your movie. My movie is online and the URL is http://www.carminka.net/7010/dm1imovie.mov
c) width & height set the media player size to be, in this case, 250 x 250 pixels.
d) autoplay sets whether or not the movie will play as soon as the page loads. I set it to false, so that you have to click the play button, otherwise it would start automagically. If you want it to autoplay -- I'll bet you know what to change!

Get it? So you have type a line of 'embed' HTML code that specifies your movie, to make your movie play in the page like this:

I hope this is clear... If not just ask questions!

Latanya Robinson_Where in the World

The podcast “Where in the World” is a geography quiz produced by students or a class. The students or class describes their location through clues. At the end of the podcast the authors list their email, so you can email them with your guess. The producers will either send you a post card for a correct guess or additional clues to help you to figure out their location. I liked this podcast because of the interaction it creates between the listener and the creator. The link: http://www.intelligenic.com/where/

Giant Panda Habitat... Audio Tour by Fujifilms

My sixth graders will be studying China later this year within their classrooms and I think this will be a great resource for them to learn something about six unique animals that can be found within that region.

In addition to downloading the audio tour you can also download a map that will assist you while listening to the broadcast on an mp3 player. The files are broken down into each specific region on the map so you can listen to what section you want without having to fast forward through other section.

If they have the time they could even access the web site and watch the actual video.

TILT: Teachers Improving Learning With Technology

You should all try to take time and check out this site. It is loaded with great information. There are several vlogs that I could make great use of in my classroom. I would definitely try the tutorial for Excel with my students. Then if they seemed comfortable with that and actually creating something on their own, I would show them the tutorial for creating a timeline in Excel. I would also want to use the Microsoft Word tutorial to teach scale drawing, since we have an activity that requires them to draw something to scale. We also create a PowerPoint, so I would want them to view the PPT. tutorial for adding animation to their slides. I thought this was a very resourceful site for teachers as well as for students!

Tracy

blog

This is an interesting site for students to find out information and post comments on the subjects that are discussed. It includes readings, introduces new vocabulary, discusses culture and gives recipes. I think this could be useful in my Spanish classes.

Echo Ukrainetz

pod casts

This site offered a series of podcasts titled Really Learn Spanish. The speaker was not very exciting but did introduce vocabulary, discuss grammar, and explain pronunciation. I do not think young learners would find it interesting. It may help adult learners.

I really liked
this site and plan to use it with my students. They are able to call in the assignment using a cell phone. The teacher can evaluate the work and students can leave comments.
Echo Ukrainetz

Bruce's Sample Podcast

Hello All

This is a brief recording to demonstrate the open source program called Audacity. I also summarize how my students did in their Excel exam last Friday 2/9.

I created this for fun and who's kidding, for the extra credit!

Literacy Blog

The blog found here is a discussion of literacy in the classroom. I am interested in this topic overall because of the great need we have to teach literacy, not just in language arts class, but across the curriculum. I like the fact that this blog discusses both literacy and what it looks like and also some emerging technologies.

Amy

Blog for Digital Video Instructors and Students

This website seems to be talking the talk and walking the walk with a good balance of referenced blog entries and indepth podcasts for the digital media geek. The podcasts are audio responses to email or blog questions and touch upon basic and advanced topics. The archive is loaded with good stuff but unfortunately the podcasts are not searchable.

Grammar Girl

My pick for educational podcast would be Grammar Girl. "Quick and dirty tips for better writing." As a writer I'm always looking for ways to polish up my craft. The hostess of this 5 minute podcast tackles issues of style, punctuation, and syntax in a very entertaining way. Best of all it is free.

Google for Educators

Being a technology teacher I see this as a great resource for those teachers who do not have the resources to purchase software or computers to allow their students to work collaboratively while online. I especially like the open-source documents and spreadsheet applications that allow students to access them from any platform. At my school we use Macs but most of the students use PCs at home. I also like the collaboration piece for when it comes time for group projects later this year.

The Physics Prep Room

This is a podcast for the physics teachers by a few physics teachers. There were a few good items that I picked up from this podcast. Unfortunately, they have not had a follow-up episode to this one.

I tried to find podcasts that I could possibly use in my classroom, but I had a hard time finding general physics topics. Most of the podcasts are just teachers recording lectures or following up on the previous class items. This is great and if I wanted to do a podcast, I could control the content much more. I am actually in the process of getting the hardware (video cameras) to podcast various lectures. The cameras should be in by next month and I am excited to see if this can actually help my students to do better.

Chris Blake

Eating Healthy Podcast & Kid News Blog

(Sorry all, I accidentally posted this as a comment as well. Can you tell I am new at this blogging format? Thanks in advance for your patience. :) )

Podcast for classroom use:
The Sugar Monster: www.thesugarmonster.com
I wanted to find a podcast that I thought would be interesting to my 3rd graders, but educational in nature. The Sugar Monster is a fictional character who tries to get kids to eat unhealthy foods. Thus, these podcasts will support our Health curriculum. I liked this site because it will be easy for my students to access and navigate independently. Also, the podcasts are like old-time radio shows that tell a short story – short is great for primary students. The one downside to this site is that it does not fit the criteria for being a Web 2.0 feature. This means students may not respond to the podcast through a blog. The Sugar Monster podcasts are truly “one directional” verses interactive.

Blogs for the Classroom:
BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsround
(Canadian Broadcast Corporation): My Two Cents: reviews by you.
I searched quite a bit for these two blogs for kids. Aside from classroom blogs that allow students to interact with other students, I want my students to interact with current events. So I researched several of the kid news sites to see if any of these sites contained blogs. Interestingly enough, I could only find international news companies. At first I was little hesitate about international news, but was decidedly swayed by the realization that it would wonderful for students to see news from differing perspectives/countries. After all, that is the beauty of the Internet and a global audience! The feature I appreciate about the BBC blog is that blog entry contains a short narrative and then poses a question for students to respond to. The second link, cbc.ca/kids, is based in Canada. This particular link is not called a blog per se, rather it is called My Two Cents: reviews by you. Here students can write reviews for books, movies, music, hobbies, T.V. shows, etc. as well as comment on the reviews of other kids. I think both of these blogs will provide a Web 2.0 experience for a variety of interest by my students – there is something for everyone. There is only one feature that I do not appreciate; in order for students to participate in Canadian blog, they must include their first and last name on the sign up form. Granted, their first name only appears with the comment, I would need to seek parent permission first. The BBC blog does not ask for this and would, therefore, be more accessible.

Holocaust Podcast

While researching podcasts, I managed to find one that I thought would work well in an integrated unit that I do with social studies and language arts teachers. Eighth grade students study the Holocaust and read The Diary of Anne Frank as one of their required readings. The podcast I found was of a Holocaust survivor who spoke to a group of fifth graders and told of her experience in the concentration camp and of her relationship with Anne Frank and her father. I liked it because I felt it was a great way to either kick off or extend the unit. There was one section in the podcast that seemed a bit unclear. The speaker's voice did not seem loud enough, but it quickly improved and was great information.

Tracy Cook

TV Blogs

Finding a good blog for my video students proved to be harder than I had thought. Then I realized that tv squad would be a great choice. The sub-heading is Blogging Television, and there's not much on the air, (or on cable, or satellite) that isn't found here. In order to make television, video students need to study television, including the opinions of viewers. This collection of blogs is interesting to fans and fanatics, and of course those in all aspects of the television industry. It's not easy to leave quickly, there's so much to check out.

Karen

Podcasting

In searching for a podcast to add to our files, I came across a podcast by the Generations Podcast Series. The specific podcast I thought was very interesting was how Executive producer, Lee Mendelson came up with the concept for the Charlie Brown Christmas Special and also chose Vince Genualdi to compose the music. He related his story to a recent interview (from the late 1950’s early 1960’s) with Jackie Robinson. Mendelson spoke about talking to the best baseball player ever and then interviewing the worst (Charlie Brown) in the form of Charles Schulz. This was educational and is something I can share with my choirs.

Web 2.0 Blog

While I was logged in, I wanted to share a post to a blog that I found while searching. The current post had to do with web 2.0 and its implementation in our classrooms. Other entries on the blog looked interesting as well...check it out!

http://burell.blogspot.com/

Bruce's podcast link

When doing the assigned reading I went to one of the links from the Horizon Report Podcasts of the Worldwhich gave an overview of how many podcasts exists in the different countries of the world. As you can imagine, the U.S. has the most and China has the least. While perusing the site I ran accross a podcast made about a mountain top state park located about 2 miles from my house! I couldn't believe how I could find such a local site on this world wide listing.

Anyway I plan to show this in my class as an example of a local podcast created to bring attention to a problem. The problem is that within a state park in Massachusetts there exists a road leading to the top of a mountain. The road was originally built in 1938 and is in deparate need to repair.

It may not be interesting to others, but since it's in my backyard I think my students will find it interesting.

Bruce Frey
Holyoke, MA

Science PodCast

I also found a great science podcast that gives a very good overview of all science topics. The podcast can be found at: http://sciencemadefun.podbean.com/. Weather, dinosaurs, human body, and space are a few of the topics covered so far in this entertaining yet informative broadcast for students. It is also listed under the Safe Sites for Children in the U.K. Listening to a podcast like this gives the students a change of pace as they are not constantly listening to me droan on about the topic at hand. After introducing the students to podcasts, it would be neat for them to model this podcast using our current topic on their own broadcast. Creating data that would be accessible to the public would encourage students to do some real research to make sure their facts are straight; therefore learning the content at a totally different level than before.

Animal Blog for Science Classroom

Hi everyone! I found it a little difficult to locate blogs that were student and classroom friendly. Most of those that I found were teacher created and especially for their students. It really made me want to start a safe blogging spot for my kids. At this point however, I do not think my school district will allow me to do so. As in November's podcast we listened to last week, our district's security would not allow for students to enter these kinds of websites at school (at this time). I think it is very important for us as educators to be able to use these sites to teach kids how to blog safely, not just ignore them and hope they go away! This technology is such a wonderful way for our students to publish their thoughts and ideas to the world and make their learning meaningful.
Anyway...onto my blog about animals...
This blog is related to the website http://kidsloveanimals.com/. The blog is located at http://kidsloveanimals.blogspot.com/. The blog contains videos of wild and not so wild animals. The author of the blog shares information about endangered animals. Since there are many videos embedded in the blog, it gives kids a clearer look at the animal in its environment. He shares information in a language that kids and adults can easily understand. He also includes links to other blogs about animals as well as informational websites. Although I do not teach animals in science class, I do teach about the effects humans can have on animals. This would be a great resource for my students to do some extra research.

Cartoon Network Cheif

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17070830/

Top online media stories of 2006
The head of the Cartoon Network resigned Friday following a marketing stunt that caused a terrorism scare in Boston and led police to shut down bridges and send in the bomb squad. Dozens of blinking electronic devices showing a crude cartoon character had been planted in 10 cities as part of a guerrilla marketing campaign to promote the cartoon “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” but when Boston authorities got a series of calls about the devices on Jan. 31, they feared the circuit boards with wires could be explosives. On Monday, Turner Broadcasting and an advertising agency involved agreed to pay $2 million in compensation for the emergency response the devices had spurred in Boston. The Cartoon Network is a division of Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting, whose parent is media giant Time Warner Inc.

This story was very interesting to me because it went right along with our studies. In technology we have so many little gadgets that perform a number of jobs for us to enhance our learning or environment. I thought that the devices would not have been a problem about ten years ago. After nine eleven, America thinks in a different way. We know realize how powerful something like this could be if it was used in the wrong way.

Is a "forum" or "discussion board" the same as a blog?

I suspect some are and some aren't. Would like to know what people think about this - Carmin especially. For example, I went to look at the homepage for the Fox show "24", and see that there is a discussion board, but not a blog. After reading through a bit I have to wonder - isn't a discussion board interactive, with people posting their thoughts and people responding? How is a blog different, or is this just one aspect of blogging...?

Karen