I wanted to share this 7 minute introduction to Edmodo that I recently created using trial copy of TechSmith's newest version of their screencasting software Camtasia 8. Previously, Camtasia provided the option to embed assessment questions into their videos, however, the results could not be collected by the video creator. In this newest version of Camtasia the results are e-mailed nightly to the creator or an e-mail recipient selected by the creator as a spreadsheet file. This could be a fantastic way to promote active viewing within the video and determine how well the information is being received.
Feel free to check out the video below to see how the embedded assessments function or to learn more about the basic features of Edmodo. You can select the option to skip the quiz if you like by clicking on the "watch video only" link. Enjoy!
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Friend or Foe? Mobile device cameras in the classroom.
One of our greatest fears as educators surrounding mobile devices like the iPad is the camera. The camera more than any other feature seems to have the potential for doing the most harm while simultaneously having countless educational value.
As we introduce mobile devices into the classroom or invite students to bring their own devices is there a way to effectively teach good digital citizenship and safety regarding the camera before it's too late?
I believe that the solution lies in asking students to use their mobile device camera frequently and repeatedly within the classroom to accomplish a variety of academic purposes each and every day and to conduct regular, purposeful checks of the images we ask them to take.
Here are some examples designed with a 1:1 or BYOD setting in mind with the potential for modification to fit in a shared device classroom. As students enter the room I might ask them to take a picture of the day’s agenda written on the board. This visual schedule will assist students with time management and provide a reference to the day's objectives when they are home. I might then ask students to open an app such as skitch or or paperport notes and have them photograph the day's bell ringer activity. They can then use annotation features to respond to the question and submit their response. Throughout a lesson I would encourage students to photograph notes on the board, their own notes and ancillary items in the room like posters or models. I would also ask students to take pictures of assignments I pass out or graded work that I've returned to them. And throughout this process, I would be explicit in my expectation that they refer to all of these photos for completing class tasks, homework, or as study guides. I would also do spot checks to see that students are taking photos of the required items and embed tasks within assignments that draw on information found in the photos. Finally, I would have students evaluate their photos for evidence of mastery and organize these photos for a portfolio.
Variations of these photo activities might also work in shared device settings by having students organize folders for the photos or by sharing the photos to an e-mail or dropbox account that the student can access using a different device. Designating student roles such as class photographer and class videographer would also help model appropriate use of mobile device cameras and turn the shared mobile device into a classroom resource.
Realistically, the storage on these mobile devices is limited and organizing the countless photos would require some room in our already crowded instructional schedules. But let’s be honest. This is not a storage or time crisis. This is about digital footprints and averting disaster.
In short, we hog the heck out the camera and expect not only access to the content but also encourage application, reflection, and the development of a final product using the photos taken. Not only does this reinforce the idea the camera is a tool and not a toy, it supports student organizational skills, provides multiple means of a representation (See Universal Design for Learning), and most importantly makes questionable content far less inviting.
M"DeI believe that given two weeks of near constant reinforcement of using the camera as a tool coupled with embedded instruction on the importance of digital citizenship and safety the majority of students would hesitate before taking and posting the kinds of pictures we all fear.
Today I came across this great infographic for helping students make good decisions about the pictures and videos they take. I also had the opportunity to share the poster with some Middle School students working in a nearby school. Yes, they’ve heard some of these “rules” before. But hearing it again and within the context of taking a picture of themselves (a reflection activity they were asked to complete) deepens their understanding and lets them apply the criteria we discussed.
By the way, there is an alternative. We can disable the cameras on devices we own. We can ban the devices they own. We can have once a year conversations about digital citizenship and safety that are isolated from the content of our lessons and that interfere with “real” teaching because “we have too.” Oh wait, that’s what we do right now. How’s that workin’ for ya?
In all seriousness, teaching digital citizenship and safety requires innovative strategies and deliberate effort. Let’s work together to find solutions that work. Please share how you are tackling the “fear of photos” in your classroom.
As we introduce mobile devices into the classroom or invite students to bring their own devices is there a way to effectively teach good digital citizenship and safety regarding the camera before it's too late?
I believe that the solution lies in asking students to use their mobile device camera frequently and repeatedly within the classroom to accomplish a variety of academic purposes each and every day and to conduct regular, purposeful checks of the images we ask them to take.
Here are some examples designed with a 1:1 or BYOD setting in mind with the potential for modification to fit in a shared device classroom. As students enter the room I might ask them to take a picture of the day’s agenda written on the board. This visual schedule will assist students with time management and provide a reference to the day's objectives when they are home. I might then ask students to open an app such as skitch or or paperport notes and have them photograph the day's bell ringer activity. They can then use annotation features to respond to the question and submit their response. Throughout a lesson I would encourage students to photograph notes on the board, their own notes and ancillary items in the room like posters or models. I would also ask students to take pictures of assignments I pass out or graded work that I've returned to them. And throughout this process, I would be explicit in my expectation that they refer to all of these photos for completing class tasks, homework, or as study guides. I would also do spot checks to see that students are taking photos of the required items and embed tasks within assignments that draw on information found in the photos. Finally, I would have students evaluate their photos for evidence of mastery and organize these photos for a portfolio.
Variations of these photo activities might also work in shared device settings by having students organize folders for the photos or by sharing the photos to an e-mail or dropbox account that the student can access using a different device. Designating student roles such as class photographer and class videographer would also help model appropriate use of mobile device cameras and turn the shared mobile device into a classroom resource.
Realistically, the storage on these mobile devices is limited and organizing the countless photos would require some room in our already crowded instructional schedules. But let’s be honest. This is not a storage or time crisis. This is about digital footprints and averting disaster.
In short, we hog the heck out the camera and expect not only access to the content but also encourage application, reflection, and the development of a final product using the photos taken. Not only does this reinforce the idea the camera is a tool and not a toy, it supports student organizational skills, provides multiple means of a representation (See Universal Design for Learning), and most importantly makes questionable content far less inviting.
M"DeI believe that given two weeks of near constant reinforcement of using the camera as a tool coupled with embedded instruction on the importance of digital citizenship and safety the majority of students would hesitate before taking and posting the kinds of pictures we all fear.
Today I came across this great infographic for helping students make good decisions about the pictures and videos they take. I also had the opportunity to share the poster with some Middle School students working in a nearby school. Yes, they’ve heard some of these “rules” before. But hearing it again and within the context of taking a picture of themselves (a reflection activity they were asked to complete) deepens their understanding and lets them apply the criteria we discussed.
By the way, there is an alternative. We can disable the cameras on devices we own. We can ban the devices they own. We can have once a year conversations about digital citizenship and safety that are isolated from the content of our lessons and that interfere with “real” teaching because “we have too.” Oh wait, that’s what we do right now. How’s that workin’ for ya?
In all seriousness, teaching digital citizenship and safety requires innovative strategies and deliberate effort. Let’s work together to find solutions that work. Please share how you are tackling the “fear of photos” in your classroom.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Quick thoughts on Qwiki for iPad #iear #edapp #edtech #ttdn
Just before the end of the school year I was able to check out an iPad from our RESA Assistive Technology lending library and test a few different apps with students. One of the apps I felt had great potential in the classroom was Qwiki. Qwiki compiles reference information from sites like wikipedia, images, videos, and maps to create an immersive information experience. But the most unique feature is the text-to-speech narration that accompanies every Qwiki. Captioning at the bottom of the screen is read by the text-to-speech engine giving the user the option to listen or read along. In essence, Qwiki turns your searches into movies.
In the short video clip above, students used Qwiki to research elements from the periodic table for a science project. I was impressed by the engagement level I saw, but also noted that the students using the Qwiki app were jotting down notes for their projects and reviewed their Qwiki search multiple times before moving on to the related searches presented at the end of the presentation. Because we were testing in an open environment without headphones other students paused to watch as well and even started discussing some of the qualities of the element being shown. This was vastly different from the disinterested search process that I had witnessed before I introduced the app.
It is worth noting that Qwiki is not just an iPad app. Their website http://www.qwiki.com offers an identical experience minus the intuitive touch screen interface. I'd love to see Qwiki develop some editing features that would allow students to curate their own resources and create dynamic presentations that could be shared.
Have you used Qwiki in your classroom? Please share your thoughts on how you think this website and app might support struggling learners or help increase engagement.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Making a good first impression with Animoto
Last week I wrote about Google Search Stories as a way to quickly create quick 30 second videos about any topic (including your online identity) using Google's web, image, and map queries. This week I want to focus on how to make amazing videos using your own images and video. Animoto for Education gives educators and students free access to unlimited full length "music" videos using amazing visual effects.
When my principal, Pete Spencer, came to today to request a last minute "Welcome" video for our new student orientation I didn't blink. With Animoto, it's easy. I uploaded some photos, grabbed a couple video clips, typed in 4 quick title slides, picked out a funky tune from the music library and hit submit. What do you think?
When my principal, Pete Spencer, came to today to request a last minute "Welcome" video for our new student orientation I didn't blink. With Animoto, it's easy. I uploaded some photos, grabbed a couple video clips, typed in 4 quick title slides, picked out a funky tune from the music library and hit submit. What do you think?
Why not introduce a new topic, spice up some quotes, or have students demonstrate their understanding of a concept by using images, text and music? PowerPoint is dead, long live Power Point.
Dive into the Ustream.tv - my #iste10 presentation
I had the unexpected and fantastic opportunity to attend the ISTE 2010 conference in Denver this year. I wanted to make the most of my experience so I signed up to be a presenter in the Social Butterfly lounge. The topic of my presentation was live broadcasting using Ustream.tv to reach learners remotely or for archiving classroom content.
I also used Ustream.tv during my presentation and recorded the broadcast simultaneously. Due to issues with the conference wifi (it was very good BTW but not ideal for streaming video) my recording ends 9 minutes in. Still, I feel that it is worth sharing here. Enjoy. And as always, comments and questions are encouraged.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Go Search Yourself - Link of the week
Here's a fun little weekend project using Google's Search Stories courtesy of Jeff Utecht and his excellent blog The Thinking Stick.
On Wednesday I had the opportunity to present several sessions on Google Apps to the folks Mattawan, Michigan. I usually include an image of myself stilt walking entitled "Who I Am" to make sure I don't forget to introduce myself. I was feeling the pull to try a new introduction and Jeff's post about Google's Search Stories inspired me to create the following.
I don't "Google" particularly well since both my first name and last name are commonly used words, but I still found a way to convey who I am through search. This is a nice activity for highlighting the importance of managing our digital identities, and I really like Jeff's suggestions of using Search Stories to do a comparative activity.
I have had a wonderful summer "twibattical" taking a brief hiatus from all things digital, but I'm back and looking forward to an exciting year of sharing and learning with you all.
On Wednesday I had the opportunity to present several sessions on Google Apps to the folks Mattawan, Michigan. I usually include an image of myself stilt walking entitled "Who I Am" to make sure I don't forget to introduce myself. I was feeling the pull to try a new introduction and Jeff's post about Google's Search Stories inspired me to create the following.
I don't "Google" particularly well since both my first name and last name are commonly used words, but I still found a way to convey who I am through search. This is a nice activity for highlighting the importance of managing our digital identities, and I really like Jeff's suggestions of using Search Stories to do a comparative activity.
I have had a wonderful summer "twibattical" taking a brief hiatus from all things digital, but I'm back and looking forward to an exciting year of sharing and learning with you all.
Friday, June 25, 2010
MrMegawhat - The tale of a 6 year old's Youtube channel
Meanwhile, I am in ubber geek mode (i.e. ignoring everyone) because I'm facilitating a three day workshop on Teaching 21st Century Learning (whatever that means) and getting ready to go to the ISTE 2010 conference in Denver. But I overhear our friend in the kitchen say that her son has created his own Youtube channel to create videos of himself reading books. My ears perk up like a rabbit and I'm off the couch, into the kitchen, grinning and listening like a mad man. She goes on, though a bit perplexed by my over-enthusiastic looks. She explains how she wanted to support his request to make the videos for Youtube and how she always made sure she was in the room or nearby to keep an eye on things. She also helped him to format the channel and add some captions. "He loves Captain Underpants books," she says. "And one day, I'm at work telling a friend about his Youtube channel, and she asks to see it." But when they go online to view it there's a problem.
The 6 year old boy has taken an opportunity when no one is looking (he is super tech savvy) to make a video pretending to be Captian Underpants, and in this video he is dressed in only, you guessed it, his underpants. The mother is horrified. The video is promptly deleted, and the boy is banned from making videos.
I remember when I was 6. I had a tape recorder and a microphone, and I spent countless hours making news casts, radio shows, and reading books. Every tape I made is gone I'm guessing (unless my mom is holding out for my 40th birthday in an attempt to embarrass me). But this boy's videos may potentially live on forever, and yes, that might also mean his mistake. Our desire to express ourselves, to create and to share seems so ingrained. The difference is that MrMegawhat has over 6,000 views on some of his recordings and no one ever heard mine.
I don't want his videos to go viral. I question what will happen if I share this post. I do believe MrMegawhat has created a wonderful artifact of his passion minus the one video, so with his mother's permission I have decided to share. I have few answers to the obvious questions this tale tells, but I hope that telling will bring me closer to the truth.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tweeks! for the week of May 22-28 #ff
All is quiet on the Twitter front it seems. Nevertheless, I did favorite a few tweets that are worth mentioning.
Google gravity isn't exactly what you would call "useful", but I could imagine using this to wake up an audience in the middle of a presentation. A nice conversation starter perhaps.
Google gravity isn't exactly what you would call "useful", but I could imagine using this to wake up an audience in the middle of a presentation. A nice conversation starter perhaps.
I've also been researching alternative and progressive assessment methods and enjoyed the Edutopia article shared by @valerieturpin.
I'm super excited to be heading to ISTE2010 at the end of June. If you are going, check out the tweet-up link below.
Finally, I'm always interested in the abundance of free learning resources offered by University's and individuals. Check out the open courseware links for Yale and UC Berkeley.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
An Earth Day Surprise using a webcam and 3D Augmented Reality
Each morning and afternoon I greet our students at the entrance of our school. I usually ask a Question of the Day using polleverywhere.com, a Google Form, or wallwisher.com. Today I introduced students to an interesting piece of technology called augmented reality and captured their reactions using Camtasia studio's screen capturing software.
The students were amazed. I demoed two examples of augmented reality. In honor of Earth Day on April 22 I chose GE's smart grid augmented reality project. It features an interactive solar farm or a wind farm which magically appear out of symbol printed on a piece of paper. I think this would make a great kick off activity for any Earth Day lesson or alternative energy activity. The second example I chose featured a friendly little green monster that waves and looks around.
What you need to try this out:
The students were amazed. I demoed two examples of augmented reality. In honor of Earth Day on April 22 I chose GE's smart grid augmented reality project. It features an interactive solar farm or a wind farm which magically appear out of symbol printed on a piece of paper. I think this would make a great kick off activity for any Earth Day lesson or alternative energy activity. The second example I chose featured a friendly little green monster that waves and looks around.
What you need to try this out:
- A web cam
- A printer
- A web browser with Adobe Flash
Monday, February 8, 2010
Google Docs Forms Editor Features
Over the next month I'll be creating a series of tutorials focusing on Google Docs Forms. In March I will be presenting a breakout session on the use of Google Forms in the Classroom at the Michigan Association For Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) annual conference in Grand Rapids, MI.
This tutorial presents an overview of the features in the Forms editor.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Link of the Week #10 - Ustream.tv Producer desktop app
I'm a big fan of tools that allow you to broadcast and record presentations, meetings, and tutorials. I've used ustream.tv in the past to make tutorials for my students and also as means of broadcasting school-wide activities like the Constitution Day broadcast I wrote about here.
Ustream recently recently released a desktop application which allows you to produce your Ustream broadcasts without using their web based tools. It loads quickly and has a relatively intuitive interface which allows you to blend screensharing, video clips, images, and audio files along with your webcam images.
Normally this would be a good opportunity to embed my own Ustream created overview of this tool, but Dean Mantz who tweets as @dmantz7 saw my twitter post about the Ustream Producer and has created a nice overview of the tool. Thanks Dean, for the shout out at the beginning of the tutorial and permission to embed the video below here in my post!
Ustream recently recently released a desktop application which allows you to produce your Ustream broadcasts without using their web based tools. It loads quickly and has a relatively intuitive interface which allows you to blend screensharing, video clips, images, and audio files along with your webcam images.
Normally this would be a good opportunity to embed my own Ustream created overview of this tool, but Dean Mantz who tweets as @dmantz7 saw my twitter post about the Ustream Producer and has created a nice overview of the tool. Thanks Dean, for the shout out at the beginning of the tutorial and permission to embed the video below here in my post!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Link of the Week # 9 - Atomic Learning
image source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yazidYvKzeQ/Svxzs-fy-bI/AAAAAAAAAjA/N9sX-Jv2R-E/s320/02.jpg
In a nutshell Atomic Learning provides online professional development covering technology skills training and assessments, education technology integration tutorials, student technology training and assessments, and assistive technology training and assessments.
The site uses high quality video tutorials broken into training sections to cover everything from productivity tools like Microsoft Office to online social networking sites like Ning and Facebook. Atomic Learning claims to have over 40,000 videos covering 120 software applications. I've viewed a few so far and was very impressed with the thoroughness of the tutorials and organization of the clips which would allow more advanced users to target specific training support.
I also notice that the content is tied to both National technology standards from ISTE and state content standards. The lesson planning tools seemed extensive.
Many districts and schools are struggling to implement professional development resources for educational technology that scale well and support a wide variety of skill levels and experience. These courses are designed to be self directed and self paced, but also gives the administrator the ability to assign and assess specific tasks. Our district does something like this for our blood borne pathogens training.
Of course cost is always a concern and I cannot say what they are charging districts for site licenses, but I am very excited that I can access this content through my University. There is some free content available to help demonstrate their product and it is definitely worth a look.
If your school or district has used Atomic Learning or if you are using a different resource to provide online professional development please comment.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Link of the Week #4 - Khan Academy
This week's link is Khan Academy, a one man video tutorial powerhouse.
According the website, "We have 1000+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic
arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry,
biology and finance which have been recorded by Salman Khan."
Khan has created so many video tutorials I can't even show the entire catalog in one screenshot.
The only problem may be that these videos are all hosted on YouTube which is blocked in many schools. That being said there are some fairly simple tools like zamzar.com which will convert and download the file. FYI, I've recently read that this may violate YouTube's EULA , and therefore recommend that districts consider offering at least teacher access to YouTube to help teachers access the wealth of educational content available on this and other video websites.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Frog Guts!!!
Students at the ATA are using technology to practice frog disections before they disect an actual frog at http://www.froguts.com/flash_content/index.html. Not all of the content on this website is free, but the free demos are a great way to learn the steps and make mistakes before getting their hands dirty :).
Friday, October 24, 2008
Uploading a video is Easy
I uploaded this video of our students designing a spreadsheet in Google Docs from our summer Jump Start program. Just click the icon of the film strip on the edit tool bar, browse for your video file, give it a title and click upload. Time to put those webcams to work.
For more information click here.
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