Fusion Finds

During Spring Break, my family traveled to Dallas, Texas to visit my husband’s sister and her family. We enjoyed touring the city’s World Aquarium. My daughter’s “assignment” was to select one animal from the aquarium to bring home to Missouri. She had to choose an animal based on its ability to survive in our habitat, as opposed to one she liked. No, the animals aren’t available for checkout. I was just once again using her as a guinea pig while preparing for my first digital storytelling workshop. Another part of her inquiry lesson was to collect video footage and provide narration. Below is our first digital story. Click the big triangle play button to stream the  video, or right-click on the Download link and choose “Save target as” or “Save link as” to download the video.

Download World Aquarium

The technicalities: Using Windows Movie Maker, we captured and cut the video. Then imported some images from our digital camera, and a few downloaded public domain images. After recording the narration, I added in some creative commons licensed music. The title and transition features polished off the project. Then I saved the project as “video for broadband (340 kbps)” in a Windows Media Video (wmv) format. I uploaded the wmv file to archive.org, where it was automatically converted into other formats and various file sizes (flash, mpeg4). I chose archive.org because it is free, and not blocked by our District’s filter. The flash version was the fastest to load, but too blocky for my daughter’s standards. The wmv file is the best quality, but a large file (better to download and not stream). It is the one I used for this blog post. But I’m guessing since this is a wmv file, it won’t play on all computers. Next we will publish a Voicethread version, and a then Photostory version. Please leave your recommendations, comments, or suggestions.

tag: edtech k12 Dallas World Aquarium digital storytelling Windows Movie Maker Creative Commons

Willard Staff: If you are not able to participate in one of the Podcasting workshops this month, or would rather learn on your own timetable, you are in luck. The Fusion: Podcasting webpage offers a handout and short video tutorials (screencasts) to lead you through the steps of podcasting.

And, there’s more! If you want to earn 3 Salary Advancement Workshop hours while you podcast, you can enroll in the free, online professional development, Moodle course: Podcasting. This course uses the handout and screencasts on the Fusion webpage to lead you through the steps. Work at your own pace, when it fits in your schedule, from any computer with Internet access. Just in time learning, at your convenience!

Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or suggestions. I’m happy to provide you with additional assistance.

Image Credit: Blue Snowball Microphone by sklathill

tag: edtech k12 podcasting podcasts professional development tutorials screencasts Moodle

Refreshed and recharged after a holiday in Jamaica, I access my blog for the first time in several days to find that Mr. Farmer has added a new toy to Edublogs, a musical widget called SongSpots. A SongSpot is a customizable flash-player that streams a song of my choosing. If you don’t use Edublogs, no problem (as they would say in Jamaica). SongSpots is free to all and provides the code to embed a widget in your website, blog, social networking page, wiki, etc. The site is easy to use with options to search or browse for a tune. You’ll find my new widget in the left sidebar featuring a Reggae song, of course. What will you select for your SongSpot?

Technorati Tags: Edublogs James+Farmer SongSpots Sonific widget music song

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have learned a great deal these past few months by subscribing to a few (maybe several) podcasts. There are podcasts specializing in topics of interest for teachers and administrators. Here’s some of the podcasts to which I subscribe:

• KidCast: examples and discussions of how podcasts are used in education
• TechPod Zone: conversations among tech support staff in school districts
• Women of the Web, SMARTBoard Lessons Podcast, Bit by Bit: conversations among educators using technology
• Tech Chicks Tips, edTech Talk: discussions of cool sites and tools on the Internet for educators
• Infinite Thinking Machine: videocasts (podcast with video and audio) about educators using technology
• Hitchkr: recorded presentations from Conferences that I was not able to attend. Just identify the tag for any conference of interest and you can locate all the blogs, photos, and podcasts created from that event.

To sample these podcasts click the Grazr button:

An iPod or any other mp3 player is NOT required in order to subscribe or listen to a podcast. You can listen to any podcast at your computer just using it’s speakers, or a set of headphones. A podcast in its basic form is just an audio file.

Some podcasts are posted with subscription options, so that you can have any new episodes delivered to you, without having to visit their web page. You can use Bloglines to subscribe to a podcast and be able to listen to it on your station. Here’s my handout on Bloglines. I use iTunes since I have an iPod. Being the tech geek that I am, I like to listen to the podcasts through my car’s stereo system via my iPod using an FM transmitter, as well as on my computer. Juice is another popular, free software choice.

There are several ways to locate a podcast to which you would enjoy listening. You can always use Google to search for podcast plus some key words like education, k12, math, etc.

• iTunes store is a great place to start. You do not have to have an iPod to use iTunes. You can install iTunes and access the store, subscribing and listening to the podcasts directly on your computer.
• Podzinger is a cool tool that will search the content of podcast for your key words.
• Education Podcast Network
• Yahoo Podcasts
• Podcast Alley
• Podcasting News
• Educational Podcasts for Teaching and Learning

Either in May, or certainly in the summer, I will have a podcasting workshop during which time we will explore these tools as well as publish an original podcast.

Technorati Tags: podcasts subscribe KidCast TechPod+Zone Women+of+the+Web SMARTBoard+Lessons+Podcast Bit+by+Bit Tech+Chicks+Tips edTech+Talk Infinite+Thinking+Machine Hitchkr Grazer iPod iTunes Juice Bloglines Podzinger Education+Podcast+Network Yahoo+Podcast Podcast+Alley Podcasting+News Educational+Podcasts+for+Teaching+and+Learning

The Macaulay Library Animal Behaviors Catalog offers some nice sound recordings and videos of various animal behaviors including: courtship, stalking, defense, etc. For example, you can listen and watch the Golden-fronted Woodpecker.

It has a convenient search feature to help you quickly locate a particular critter. The advanced search offers choices such as searching by the scientific name, location, and other options.  You can click the Get Started button on the homepage for more details about the site. The library is in development and has several animals not yet digitized.

Animated Image compliments of Fodey.com

Technorati Tags: animals science media behavior