Using Videos in the Classroom

Many teachers love using video to enhance their lessons. The downside: many videos are too long, and it’s time consuming to scan a video to find the clip you want to use. Here are two sites that can help streamline the process.

TubeChop and SPLICD allow you to select a section of a Youtube video and crop the bits that you do not want to use, then you obtain a link that you can share with your students or place into your SMART Notebook file. This gives you the ability to launch a quick video clip with minimal classroom down time.

All you have to do is to copy and paste the YouTube URL, crop the video and copy the link to share or the embed code to insert in your VLE.

Befuddlr

What can you do to keep your learners engaged when introducing them to a new topic?

Why not play with Befuddlr?! Befuddlr will take pictures from Flickr, or you can also upload your own, and befuddles them to create a fun picture puzzle to solve.

It’s a perfect application for the SMART Board! Try it out!

www.befuddlr.com

Etherpad – An Online Collaborative Text Editor

Try out Etherpad for a fast, free, easy and really live collaboration and chat session.

Click for screencast

Etherpad is an online collaborative text editor usable by anyone with an Internet connection. There is no sign up required; you just share a unique URL (web address) with the people you want to collaborate with.

Each user has a different colour and there is a chat box. You can use the random URL assigned or make one up just by adding the name of the document to the end of the URL.

It is real time; you see the edits of the other people as they make them, and you may discuss changes as you make them in the chat box.

The potential for use in education is unlimited. This is a great web tool for collaborative writing and planning; writing reports, stories or scripts, answering questionnaires, improving writing, making lists or also discussing opinions.

It really is simple to use.

1. Just go to Etherpad and create a new pad.
2. Email the link for the pad to your learners.
3. Learners click the URL and they are ready to start writing and chatting in the same pad. You can see everyone editing the document.
4. All revisions of the etherpad can be saved at any time.
5. It is simple to format text as well as headlines and bullet points.
6. You may delete your etherpad

There are also loads of opportunities for using it with staff. There are many situations where we have to put a document together with just one scribe! Well now everyone can get involved in the self assessment! It could also be used for communication!

Wallwisher

 Another great web tool! Another great way of communicating. And free!

 http://www.wallwisher.com/

Wallwisher is an online notice board maker. You can use it to make announcements, make notes, share opinions and resources, etc … Just think of wallwisher as your virtual post-its!

It is extremely easy to use. You don’t need to register or create an account. You just have to click on write post and that’s it.

You can add images, links, videos and music to your comments or post it.

To arrange your post its, you just need to drag and drop them where you want.

Check the wallwisher I have just created to try it out with you, and please write something to play with it. To add you comment you just need to double click on the denim background.

 

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/WAESelearning

What do you think?

I am sure you can think of some good ways of using wallwisher with your students. You can ask your learners to give opinions on something you brought up related to what you are teaching, or you can ask them to try answer a difficult question and everyone checks all the answers and can have discussions.

All you have to do is to click on build a wall, choose a URL, pick a theme, add an image (optional), enter your name and email and edit the title (here you can type in your question). Then just click on done.

To share your wall, copy the link and send it to your students. Or wallwisher will send you an email with the link and a template email that you can use to send to your students.

Have fun!

Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling has become a powerful instructional tool for students and teachers. Digital storytelling is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell a story, basically combining the art of telling stories with a variety of digital multimedia, such as images, audio and video. Digital stories bring together a mixture of graphics, text, recorded audio narration, video and music to present information on a particular topic.

There are several types of digital stories, such as personal narratives, historical documentaries and stories designed to inform or instruct on a specific concept or practice.

Here is an example of a digital story. Have a look!

 

Click here to view a digital story

There are numerous ways of using Digital Storytelling in education. Teachers can create their digital stories or have students to create their own. An engaging multimedia Digital Story might capture the students’ attention and increase their interest, and it can also be a potent tool for students if they have to create their own stories. Teachers’ digital stories may also be used to enhance lessons, facilitate discussion, and make abstract or conceptual content more understandable.

 

WHAT TECHNOLOGY CAN WE USE TO CREATE DIGITAL STORIES?

 

Not long ago producing multimedia digital content required expensive equipment and technical expertise, but now we are at a point where we can make a very compeling content creation with Smart Notebook Software, PowerPoint, Photo Story, Movie Maker, iMovie or web tools such as:

 

            

 

        

 

            

   

         

     

               

 

     

              

 

       

Click on the web pages logos and try creating your Digital Stories. All web tools have tutorials in case you get stuck.

Here are some links where you can find appropraiately free and licensed resources for your Digital Story.

    Images

http://arthist.cla.umn.edu/aict/

http://www.youraustralia.eu/

http://www.brisbio.ac.uk/

http://www.freeimages.co.uk/

http://www.freefoto.com/

http://freestockphotos.com/

http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/

http://www.imageafter.com/

http://openphoto.net/

http://www.pixelperfectdigital.com/free_stock_photos/

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/\

http://picapp.com/publicsite/

http://fromoldbooks.org/

http://www.pics4learning.com/

http://phil.cdc.gov/

http://www.woophy.com/

http://worldart.sjsu.edu/

http://yotophoto.com/

 

 

Audio

 

ttp://www.artistserver.com/music.cfm

http://cchits.ning.com/hits/

http://www.ccmixter.org/

http://freemusicarchive.org/

http://freemusic.freeculture.org/

http://funkyremixes.com/

http://www.jamendo.com/

http://www.podsafeaudio.com/

http://www.opsound.org/opsound.html

http://www.pdinfo.com/

 

    Video

http://www.archive.org/details/movies

http://streams.wgbh.org/sandbox/

http://open-video.org/

 

Xerte – A Superb Free Toolkit

Xerte is a suite of tools for rapid development of interactive learning content. The online Xerte tool is an effective way for staff with limited IT skills to create high quality, cost-effective and accessible learning materials. 

With Xerte you can create materials with the same quality as the NLN materials.

This toolkit provides a quick way for tutors to create presentations or interactive exercises, such as quizzes, with built in colour preferences, font size preferences, keyboard navigation and text to speech.

Xerte templates allow the content creator to make highly creative accessible learning objects in an extremely user-friendly way. You can integrate text, images, audio, video and animations, create interactivity, drag and drop and hot spot interactions.

Click to watch the video on MoleTV

How to get hold of Xerte?

Go to Xerte website – www.nottingham.ac.uk/xerte -  download and install the Xerte engine.    

OR  just use the online tool by going to http://www.techdisplayxerte.info/. To play with it you will need username: techdis and password: jisc. Try to create your own project. On the website you can find a very simple and fast demo, as well as Xerte examples.

This is a free open source that you can share with your students by uploading it as a SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) to Moodle.

QR Code

 

QR (Quick Response) codes are 2-dimensional bar codes that can contain text, URLs, phone numbers and other data. The QR code can be read by a camera phone as long as it has free QR Code Reader software.

These awkward looking images are being used with students in various ways.

Students can use it to subscribe to a RSS news feed; tutors can integrate QR codes in their PowerPoint presentations or printable materials, as it facilitates note taking; you can send as sms to a phone; transfer a phone number; append the codes to Moodle, it facilitates classroom evaluation and it is perfect for mobile learners.

How to create a QR Code

Go to http://qrcode.kaywa.com , type in text, a URL or a telephone number and generate the code. Copy and paste the image generated into your slide or document etc.

Check if your phone can use QR reader software on http://reader.kaywa.com/getit , download direct to your phone or to your computer and transfer.

Use your camera and software on your phone to capture the code’s message.

Another excellent QR code creator is Snappr.net . You just have to create a free account and you can create QR codes linked to music files, images, URLs, VR Cards and Voting. Snappr allows you to download the QR code reader on your mobile phone (few mobile phones cannot read QR codes).

In case you do not want to download the application to your phone or if your phone does not accept a QR code reader you can use the MMS option. It’s simple! – Take a picture of the code on your mobile phone and send it to Snappr@Sannpr.net . Within a few moments you will receive a link that leads to the collected information on Snappr, all optimized for your device.

Visit http://molenetprojects.org.uk/moletech for more ideas using QR codes in teaching and learning.

Xtranormal – Text-to-movie

Click here to watch the animation

 

Xtranormal is a fantastic web 2.0 tool where you can make 3D movies for free.

Everyone watches and enjoys movies and everyone can make movies. Movie-making, short and long, online and on-screen, private and public, will be the most important communications process of the 21st century.

Xtranormal presents us a revolutionary approach to movie-making. You type something; they turn it into a movie. On the web and on the desktop.

 

You just have to pick a scene, the characters, type a script, add actions and sounds, publish and share.

Your learners can also make their own movies and share them with the rest of the class.

 

A New Way of Providing Feedback to Your Students

 

“Screen capture software” allows you to record the screen of your computer as if you had a video camera pointed at it. Everything you do on the screen is recorded and can be played back as a video, and if you have a microphone connected to your computer your voice will also be recorded.

This piece of software has been mostly used for IT training purposes, as for example; teaching how to animate objects in PowerPoint (PPT). Trainers simply turn on their screen capture software, begin actually to create the animation in PPT and comment on what they are doing, adding notes and call outs. The video is then saved and trainees play it back, listen and watch how to animate objects and jump from the training video to actually creating an animation themselves.

Russell Stannard, principal lecturer and Course Team leader in Multimedia /ICT at the University of Westminster, realised that  ”Screen capture software” could be used as an innovative way of providing feedback to students on their written work. This method is leading to a substantial interest in the academic world. THES and Guardian have already written articles about it. Many lecturers and teachers have started using this method.

This new method is really simple and basically works like this: Your students send you their written work as Word files (or other formats), you open their work on your computer, highlight mistakes or aspects you want to bring up, turn on screen capture software and start recording yourself correcting and marking your students’ work.  Once you finish recording, send the video to the students. The learners are able to listen and watch as you talk about their work. You can also tell your students to watch and re-do their assignments according to your feedback recorded on the video.

The key factors that drew Russell Stannard to this idea of  “live video feedback” were:

• Offers a solution to the issues around face to face contact
• Students normally don’t understand the feedback we give them and they are unllikely to do more than quickly look over it. Video feedback provides visual and oral information and helps the learners to overcome any misunderstandings
• Gets students more involved with the writing process. A teacher can point out problems and suggest alternatives, and learners can use the video to write up a better essay
• Combination of  the video and audio leads to a “deeper learning”

Click here to read more about the case study and watch some screencasts.

If you want to try this new method with your groups, you can get screen recorders by googling “Screen capture software”, or you can download free software, such as Camstudio or Jing.

Drop us an email if you need a hand.

Google Earth – “The World’s Geographic Information at Your Fingertips”

 

 

 

 

 

I am sure that most of you know that one can fly anywhere on Earth on Google Earth. You can view sattelite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean, you can explore rich geographical and Historical content, save record your tour and share it with others.

Google Earth is a fun Skills For Life resource, supporting Literacy and Numeracy skills development.

 

There are loads of different things you can do with your class using Google Earth, such as viewing a satellite picture of your chosen location by typing in an address; searching for colleges, museums, parks, restaurants, hotels; getting and giving directions; tilting and rotating to see 3D terrain and buildings; measuring shapes, space and distance; reading and writing descriptions of places; and also reading and printing out driving directions.

 

Google Earth is free and no registration is required. Visit  http://earth.google.com/ to download and install Google.