Fusion Finds » audio

Dallas World Aquarium

Janetta Garton — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:22:14 +0000

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

Podcasting Tutorial

Janetta Garton — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:28:41 +0000

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

Songs for Your Site

Janetta Garton — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 23:41:34 +0000

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