Tuesday, April 7, 2009

921-Session 11

One of the elements we'll be covering in this session will be videoblogging. This is the ability to post more than just text to your blog, but entire videos to help support your lessons. I've shown you a few examples on our class blog this semester.
One of the great things about this tool (there are many to choose from) is that every resource and skill I will be showing you can be done for free. You may read past participants' comments here, and this past Summer's here.

Here is example of a college using a vodcast (a video podcast), to help them solicit prospective students. They've posted this to YouTube so whenever a potential student does a search for Franklin College they'll receive this video as part of their results:












This session you will have the ability to go into as much depth as your curiosity allows. There is basic, elemental information available, as well as advanced information, instruction tutorials, and text directions for you to recreate and duplicate what these models show you. Similar to the distinction I made with Podcasts about the ability to simply use this tool, as opposed to creating videos yourself, please remember that I try to give you more information than you can digest with the hope that you will revisit these sessions in the future when the need (or desire) arises.

Here are a few more tutorials showing you services that make podcasting seem simple:



And then this one from GCast:




Good luck, have fun, and keep an eye on the clock.

DF



18 comments:

Charlotte Lesser said...

Check this out! The UK is rewriting their national curriculum and considering including Blogging and podcasting as web technologies that their students have to master. Read all about it on the School Library Journal website.

Charlotte Lesser said...

OMG!! I just made my first ever podcast today!! I put it on the blog I'm using with my 5-6th graders to promote our state book award. I used Audacity which is a free download, my laptop, and an external mike. What fun!

Maura McGill said...

I am glad to know I have this material saved and can look back at it when I have time. There is so much information out there! I am definitely one of those people that need to revisit this information when I have more time.
Charlotte, I admire you! Everything seems to click for you. I guess I just need more time, but I’m very excited with all the possibilities!
When you think that You Tube serves up 100 million videos a day on–line, it makes you stop to think about how many people are using the web. What a powerful source of information and it is only one source, too! Video podcasting is a influential tool that many people are using it as their source of news. Think about when something happens in the news. People immediately go to YouTube to watch a video that has been posted. It is an instant way of finding information.
What really interests me is the Video Blogging. I could see this as being very helpful to parents who view our class blog. If I could post videos on content area, parents would feel connected to what was going on in the classroom. It would help parents to understand what their child was learning in school. The fraction video I viewed was very clever and entertaining at the same time. Many of the videos seemed to be for an older population. Hopefully, I will be able to find videos that are appropriate to third graders. Many, many, possibilities...

vivrelelivre said...

I am so excited to finally know how those videos of the computer screens are created. One of my "dream projects" has been to create a video to provide instruction on how to use our new library catalog and now I have a good idea of how to do it. All I need to do now is see if I can get permission for the software to be downloaded. I'm excited though because I think this is something I will be able to get approval for.

I like TeacherTube and it is one of the few video sites that aren't blocked by our filters. The only problem that we tend to run into is that we can't always find videos with the information/level of understanding that we need. I do agree that many of the videos seem to be for older students. Either that or the students have a greater degree of understanding than ours.

When I look at stuff like this I tend to feel like a techno fuddy duddy. It is not so much that I don't want to use it as that it intimidates me a bit. I guess will try with starting small and see where it takes me.

Charlotte Lesser said...

Ok - I have to admit it... I sat down tonight to be a "good student" and start doing my homework. So, I start with the blog, get to the 2nd video about GCast, and I'm totally sucked in. Next thing I know, I've got an account and have uploaded my podcast and then embedded that into my blog. sorry prof... no homework done... but a way cool free web 2.0 app!!

Anonymous said...

It is amazing how fast technology has become central to learning. I was fascinated by watching all these videocasts and screencasts – and now I have a clue as to how to begin. I really liked the video that showed how to create different links for differing versions of video MPEG4 and WMA files. I liked Nick’s idea to podcast the NECAP directions – I too have to repeat the directions each and every morning of testing and it might be fun to just play it. I have been working on having my students create screen casts or podcasts of their research projects. I had recently discovered Windows Movie Maker – it is part of the operating system under accessories, and experimented with making my own movie and posting it to the blog. I also discovered that the SmartBoard Notebook software that comes with my SmartBoard has a built-in recorder to capture anything done on the screen and save it. I asked my tech people for a microphone headset and I’m hoping to have my students create a PowerPoint presentation (a tool they already know how to use), record their audio while the PowerPoint is playing using the Notebook software. Or perhaps we can use the Windows Movie Maker software – I still haven’t decided. Then I just have to post it to the web, perhaps store it at ourmedia and then point a link to it on my blog. I wonder, is there a limit to the number of videos posted to blogger? I know there is a maximum file size, but is it per video or in total?

Charlotte Lesser said...

I LOVE podcasting – easy to do & set up. As I posted earlier I got a gcast account and moved the podcast I created in Audacity into gcast and then onto my blog. Go figure… it’s blocked by my district. I have requested that they remove the block, but these days it’s getting harder and harder. I do understand; with more streaming applications (videos & podcasts… sense a theme here?) it puts more strain on network use/bandwidth and they are clamping down since our network just can’t handle the strain. Not a good situation I have to say. YouTube is blocked as are many other streaming video sites. I do almost all of my video viewing and streaming at home these days mostly because I don’t want to add to the network strain and I want better viewing quality.

I searched TeacherTube for library related videos and found “The bird with the word” – kind of cute and might have some applications for what I do since I have a library word wall and use vocabulary with students. The ads on Teacher Tube, however, were incredibly annoying!

Visual information – I am very taken with that phrase. We present information to students in many different formats; but I have increasingly noticed that students really like visual information and seem to pay attention more when I present visually (movies/powerpoints/projecting computer screen). I think my next focus will be to learn screencasting. I can think of several immediate applications that I could use it in, both with students and with my library staff. I help a lot of my staff with tech issues, usually over the phone, but if I could create a screencast to talk people through problems that crop up a lot that would be fantastic. Also, with students I immediately thought of making a screen cast to show students how to create a posting to the blog. I made a powerpoint with screen shots, but it would be much more helpful if I could record audio – kind of repeating my class lesson!

I got an account on Our Media. I think it will have to “sit” until summer, but it definitely is promising in terms of housing videos. I was thinking about having students make short movies promoting the books on our state book award. I currently have an in-house program called BookTube, where students make short movies to promote library books. It’s kept on our intra-net to avoid needing permission to put students “out there” on the Internet. If I could get parental permission we could simply move the movies we make on the state book award books onto the blog. Students are very excited about doing more blogging next year and enjoyed the little pilot we did this past month. We vote on our state award this coming week, so the blog probably won't be used much after that. I will post the winner and results there and maybe make another podcast announcing the winner!

Anonymous said...

Charlotte, you can record audio with your powerpoint. Powerpoint has a built-in record button somewhere. Or - Just import each slide of the powerpoint presentation into Windows Movie Maker as jpegs. Then drag them into the boxes and record audio to go with each section. Or, if you have a SmartBoard, you can use the notebook software and record anything you do on the computer. Three different ways to accomplish the same thing - audio with pictures! Carol Cappadona

Abbe said...

I’m really looking forward to creating a screencast for our library catalog use and website directions. I’m finding it useful to learn about the places you can upload videos and presentations. Our teachers just started creating their own webpages this year and now they want to put all of their multimedia projects on them and there isn’t enough space on their pages. We’ve made wiki links to the pages which helps a lot. It’s important to check what’s available at school- I know in my case, almost nothing is! So we test everything at school and try to figure out ways to make it work. Sometimes (in the case of Glogster and Voicethread) I can work on it at home and open it at school. People get kind of rabid about the limitations, but I also understand the security issues and the limited capabilities of some of our systems. I’ve started to host some student projects on the library wiki, until teachers are able to learn more. I just give them the link to put on their webpages.I would like to investigate the Our Media site some more. This looks like a good place to store videos. The Open Media Directory had amazing links for images and podcasts. Given the option, the students love to make videos and their good at it. We just need to catch up! I’m happy to say that there are a lot interested people at my school who have been keeping me very busy with tech questions, involving storage, editing and podacasts- this weeks lesson was very helpful! People are becoming a bit more competitive with each other using technology- which benefits our students greatly. I’ve been asked to do some instruction on new technology and I’m currently wondering how to best present what is available to our staff.

Amy Kalif said...

Hurray! I finally figured out how to upload my podcast that I "called in" to Gabcast onto my wiki! If you're wondering, you need to click the TV icon on top, then choose Other HTML, and then paste the code from Gabcast. Very exciting. I also uploaded it to my blog, which was much easier for some reason. My question is: Is there any easier way for my students go through this? Do I have them just call my number on Gabcast, or do they create their own channel? Plus, do I have to pay for minutes?

Mrs. Patricia Colonnese said...

I started my first podcast with my 4th grade students. I posted it to a wiki that I created with wikispaces. The students are doing an author study and now I am playing with a webcam to video their author broadcast reports. The kids are very excited. They are still working on the research piece, but I am not sure how it will all work at this time. I have three classes of 25 to get done and posted, so it is time consuming more than anything. We are on our spring break this week. I happen to be visiting Williamsburg, Virgina with my children. I will get some reading done while I am here. My connection is taking five hours to download one lesson at the hotel.

jimmyt said...

As I said before, although I'm not planning on using these tools (at least for now), I approached the session with an open mind. After the past two sessions, I will need to reevaluate my thinking about using podcasts and videocasts. There are some definite benefits that can be used for my classroom. I just need to sit back and reflect on what and how to implement these tools into my curriculum.
I thought the screencast with the metric conversion has huge potential in the classroom. It's like having a teacher explaining the metric conversion, except your not in the classroom. You have the examples and explanations just as you would in your math class. I wonder how this could impact learning at home and if this could eventually replace teachers? I also see how this tool could serve as a review, help special needs students,and in general supplement the teacher and learning. This type of technology really opens up a lot of opportunities.

Mrs. K said...

I am so glad that others feel the same way that I do – Thank goodness I have all of this information saved so I can go back and look at it when I have more time. There is so much information and so many great uses that I just don’t have the time to apply it to my everyday teaching. I am so eager to dive right in and try all of this new information out, but I feel so overwhelmed that I know that I won’t do it justice and will probably just get frustrated. I give so many of you so much credit that can just dive right in and begin posting videos and podcasts to your blogs and wikis. I know that I will get there…. Hopefully soon!

juliep said...

I have yet to actually create a podcast of my own but I did checkout more videos on TeacherTube and have tried to link a video to my blog. I chose one for the kids to help with searching the card catalog (OPAC) for books. We don’t have Destiny at my elementary school yet but the clip I chose did use that. I think it will still be helpful. I know that it will be confusing for some of the students, but the ones that are pretty computer savvy anyway will get the main point and it will help with their searching on our catalog. I also sent the TeacherTube link to some of the Bun Head friends in my county so they could try and use it if they wanted.

I see myself using podcasts as a great hook for introducing my lessons for the kids. I know that as soon as I pull up a website the kids are very excited to see what I am going to show them during that class. I see podcast & videocast in the same way. Pull them in and then give them the knowledge in a new and unique way. I LOVED Mr. Duey’s fraction TeacherTube video. COOL, and talk about hooking the kids into math. I sent this to my 4th grade team and they loved it. They all asked to come to the library and show it on my SmartBoard and I loved seeing the kids bob around to the rap. I don’t think there is any doubt how to use podcasting or videocasting in a school setting, you just have to be a smart consumer before you link it to your blog or where ever you are going to put it. I really think that podcasting and videocasting is the wave of the future and it will be a great deal of fun riding the wave. Don’t be intimated by the new technology. As the joke goes, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Little bites of technology and they keep us rejuvenated as teachers as and as students.

Mrs. Wright said...

This session really has me curious about video blogging and like Mrs. K, I must admit I know that I will need to return to these sessions in the future to really benefit from it
Though I am not ready technically to do some things, each session makes me more curious, and now know I’m hooked and want to learn and do more.

The reading section of Teacher Tube didn’t have as many selections for younger students as I had hoped, but I could see myself using some – especially the musical ones – about adverbs etc – not quite as good as the Rap about fractions, but still interesting and entertaining. Adding podcasts and video blogs, as part of differentiating instruction for struggling readers, would both motivate and diversify the multisensory learning for them.

As part of reading or any PD in our building, podcasts, screen casting, and video blogs would be useful ways to deliver the PD, and at the same time expose teachers to tools they could use in the future for instruction. Many in this class – especially the librarians – seem so adept at implementing the web tools as we go from session to session. I wonder if more will be done in RI to increase opportunities for elementary school teachers to learn the newer technologies.

I really had no ideas until this session about the depth and vast uses for Apples iTunes-- definitely there are many hours of exploring to do just at the iTunes site.

Anonymous said...

I am amazed to see the numerous resources available to us on the internet. It certainly helps that many of them are free since there are limited funds in the budget to incorporate technology into the classroom.

The videocasting is of great interest to me and would be extremely useful in the classroom. I would love to add some of these to my blog.

There are many uses for videocasting. Franklin College uses it as a form of advertising. There is no need to pay for professional advertising when you can do it yourself using real people in real situations. Additionally, you have control over what you want to go into the video.

I can see myself using this technology to enhance my lessons. This will allow me to differentiate and incorporate different technologies into the classroom.

The podcasting seems to be the easiest to start with. I am planning to create my own by the end of the year but will introduce some already available podcasts into some of my lessons. I am looking forward to reviewing the numerous resources that you (Dave) have given us over the course of this class. This class has been a great introduction to what is already available on the web. It has also taken the mystery and fear out of many of these technologies. I am excited about implementing podcasting and videocasting in my blog and in the classroom.

Suzanne Krause said...

Anonymous is me....I hit enter before I could add my name.

Sue Krause

Denice said...

I am slowly falling behind on all of this technology. I opened an account with Gcast in the fall when I first heard about but I never had time to use it. Now I have received a notice that there is a charge for the service!
Anyways, I am still old fashioned. I like using the narration in PowerPoint and then saving it to slideshare and embedding it into a web site or wiki.
I acquired a Flip mini camcorder for the teachers to experiment with and hopefully I will be able to use it for a lesson. Again, I will have to set up a link to the file on our school website or something...still have to figure out what to do with it.
However, I agree with Maura, I am happy that I have all these materials to look back on during the summer when I should have some "free" time.
I have assisted some students with finding appropriate video on teacher tube and embedding it into a class wiki so I guess I am not a total wash out with this technology.