Do we need textbooks anymore?

Vimeo: Video Hosting Site

As you may have read in an earlier post, I have been piloting Kidblog.org with an 8th grade English class. The teacher wanted the students to interview each other as a historical literary character and post the videos to their blogs in Kidblog. However, we were finding that we were quickly tapping out our 100M of space allotted by Kidblog. Even if the site manager increased our space, we still would not be able to host all of the videos on the kidblog platform. At the suggestion of the Kidblog site manager, we decided to try hosting our videos on Vimeo.com so that we do not take up our blogging space and we can then embed our videos directly into the post. We were pleasantly surprised to find Vimeo very easy to use. In addition, they grant you 500M of space a week! If you decide to upgrade to a paid account, you can get as much as 5G of space a week. One of the features that appealed to us the most was that the teacher could choose to make the videos private so that only select Vimeo members can view them. Another option was to make the video password protected so a user would have to enter the password in order to view the video. This feature works well with Kidblog since the students have to login to Kidblog to view the student posts anyway, and then they can enter a password to view the embedded video. This helps with keeping the video secure. If you choose to make your video password protected, the embedded video player will no longer have the "share" button enabled so others cannot embed the video into other sites. Very nice!

60 Second Recap: Like Cliff Notes, but in Video Format!

Secondary English students will be delighted to find this new resource called 60 Second Recap.

What is 60 Second Recap? According to the site, they want to "help teens (yes, teens of all ages!) engage with literature. We want to help them see it not as some chore to be endured, but as -- dare we say it? -- the gift of a lifetime. How? Through the language of our time -- the language of video. Video that's focused, engaging, informative ... and short enough to hold just about anyone's attention."

Users will find videos on major works of literature here broken down by chapter, in 60 second increments. Need an overview? They have it in 60 seconds. Need chapter one? They have it in 60 seconds. You get the idea. Novels such as Fahrenheit 451, Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm, Jane Eyre, Lord of the Flies, and Hamlet are featured.

In addition, the site also gives students tips on how to write papers so as "not to bore your teachers". That's something everyone can appreciate!

As of right now, the site is free. You can sign in if you want to post a question or leave a comment, but if you just want to view the videos, it's free. I hope that it stays that way...

Flip Video Camera: Converting File Formats

When the Flip Video camera originally hit the market a few years ago, our school system jumped at the chance to put them on the county bid list. It provided our county a solution to not having firewire on all computers since the Flip allowed users to download video clips via USB connection. Several hundred Flip Video cameras are now in our system. Teachers loved the fact that they could shoot video, connect the camera to the computer, drag the video onto the computer, drop it into MovieMaker software, and create multimedia videos easily.

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We were stunned to find out that the Flip Video changed their file formats recently. One school I work for ordered over 40 Flips this fall and recently began complaining that the video clips no longer work with MovieMaker. I was stunned. Upon closer inspection, I realized the second generation Flips now exported their video clips as .mp4 instead of .avi or .wmv. MovieMaker does not support .mp4 clips!

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After a brief conversation with tech support, I found out there was a convoluted way to convert the .mp4 clips into .wmv clips within the Flip Video software itself. I was slightly annoyed. Now instead of dragging and dropping the videos into MovieMaker, teachers would need to have their technology coordinators download the Flip Video software so they could convert their videos before they could use them in MovieMaker. I promptly made documentation on this new process.

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Then two weeks later, Flip pushes out a new software upgrade that will automatically prompt users when they open the software to upgrade. Once they upgrade to version 5.0 or higher, they will quickly realize that Flip Video has taken out the feature to convert .mp4 clips to .wmv clips.

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Really?? Does this make any sense? MovieMaker users no longer can use Flip Video to create movies. Thanks, Flip Video. We'll be looking at other video cameras for our bid list now. I hope you didn't need the business. You just took 3 giant steps backwards.

I'm Quoted on Common Craft's Site

A few months ago, Lee LeFever asked for teacher educator feedback on his Common Craft videos that feature different technology tools. I enthusiastically responded since our county has been using Common Craft as part of our county-wide trainings over the last two years. One of my teammates saw that my comment was posted on Common Craft's website and forwarded it to me:

http://www.commoncraft.com/files/video_factsheet/Fact_Sheet_Twitter_Search.pdf

Having said this, I highly recommend using Common Craft videos to help explain technology tools to other people. Enjoy!

Teachers: Be Very Afraid

There are teachers who are resisting technology integration in their classroom because they don't want to change their teaching style and see no need for it. However, there is no denying that today's generation of children are completely different from previous generations. Reluctant teachers do not want to admit this because if they acknowledge that students are different, that means they will have to change they way they teach. This site is for all of those teachers who think they can continue with paper and pencil activities and still reach today's youth. Reluctant Teachers: BE VERY AFRAID. This site is actually called "Be Very Afraid". To summarize the site, I have taken a quote directly from their home page:

• "Each year a selection of ingenious students - from primary to university age - are invited along to BAFTA in London's Piccadilly to show and talk about the extraordinary things they are doing with new technologies in their learning. During the day the students explain just what it is that they are doing. Each year is more ambitious; each year poses real questions for policymakers and parents as the ambitions of these 21st century learners, together with their ability to deliver on these ambitions, becomes apparent."

While browsing through some of the video clips from the conference, I saw some AMAZING examples of students using technology. A few things that I saw:

• Students from elementary school through college using technology
• Special needs students using technology (learning disabled, autistic, and MR)
• Movie Maker for student made videos
• Google Sketch Up for building design
• Cell Phones in education
• Satellite technology
• Clay animation
• Web Design in Flash, Director, Dream Weaver
• Gaming in education
• Pocket PCs

And this was just the first page!!

Is there really any argument for not using technology in the classroom? I think not.

"Web 3.0" by Kevin Kelly

It's coming - web 3.0. Are you feeling overwhelmed that you don't even know web 2.0 very well and now technology is moving on without you? It just might be! Kevin Kelly, from Wired magazine, talks about how the Internet will change over the next 5,000 days. It's worth pondering, especially if you are an educator resisting integrating technology into your classroom. It's painfully clear that teachers will be hard pressed to reach children coming into their classroom unless they adapt their teaching methods accordingly.




If YouTube is blocked at your school, copy and paste this video link and view it at home:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J132shgIiuY

Animal Web Cams

Looking for animal web cams to enhance your science instruction? Here are a few to get your started:

Animal Cams at the Smithsonian National Zoo
This page from the National Zoo has many cams to choose from including: gorilla, lion, panda, octopus, tamarin, leopard, flamingo, and more! One of my friends told me about this site, and now I can share it with you!

Monterey Bay Aquarium Web Cams
Monterey's site includes cams that feature otters, a kelp forest, penguins, and a live view of the bay underwater.

Biodiversity Research Institute's Eagle Cam
This is one of my favorites. You can choose to go to this page and watch 15 second updates, or you can click the preview window to see a live feed (recommended). I used this site with my class and we were able to watch a pair of bald eagles feed their babies!


RELATED POSTS:
SnagFilms
Biology Resources for Teachers
Food Chain Games
Make a Wild Animal
Way Cool Science Sites
Science Videos on Vimeo

Discovery Education Goes Green

Discovery Education has partnered with Waste Management to bring teachers and students the "Think Green" website, which they hope will people the rewards of recycling in real terms. With Earth Day approaching, this site couldn't come at a better time.

Teachers: check out the teacher resource section where you can find lesson plans on recycling, renewable energy, electronics recycling, composting, landfills, and the 4 R's: reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover. Teachers will also find teaching activities, video assets, worksheets, puzzles, and more powered by Discovery Education.

Students: search the student site for puzzles, videos, and interactive activities that bring them closer to the world around us.

The World Wide Web in Plain English

Another gem from Common Craft:


This is a YouTube video found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZoMbBzqxyc

Related Post:

Wiki in Plain English
RSS in Plain English

SnagFilms Film Widget

SnagFilms allows you to place documentary widgets on your blog or social networking site. The one I have embedded into my blog is about Great White Sharks. The movies are shorter than the original ones that aired on National Geographic, but they are still high quality.

Pros:
You can link to documentaries using widgets on your blog.

Cons:
The widget links directly to the site itself and does not play within your blog.
The video will play 1-2 short commercials before the documentary that you cannot skip.

Biology Resources for Teachers

ARKive

ARKive's mission is to bring together the best photographs and video footage of threatened species around the world in hopes of having a concise, organized database of these organisms. They partnered with some of the best wildlife photographers in the world so that teachers, students, and the general public may learn more about these threatened species and act to save them. You can search for species by their classification (mammal, amphibian, insect, plant, etc), and each threatened species you click on provides detailed information about that species.

There is also an educator section of ARKive, which I was pleasantly surprised to see has FREE multimedia resources on topics such as: plant life cycles, adaptations, food chains and webs, habitats, ecosystems, predator and prey, natural selection, and much more. The resources are PowerPoint presentations with embedded videos on the topic. This is truly a worthwhile site!

Biology in Motion

Biology in Motion is is a site dedicated to providing short animations to explain biology concepts such as: enzyme characteristics and intestinal gas. In addition, there are several interactive activities and simulations that give students practice with concepts like: Meiosis, Mitosis, evolution, digestion, enery, cell division, and the cardiovascular system. While this site is not as extensive as ARKive, it is a helpful supplemental site if you are teaching one of these concepts.

"Shift Happens": Remixed and Updated Again

I think I have posted all of the "Shift Happens" videos, originally created by Karl Fisch. Here is another remix that emphasizes the statistics that reinforce why we need to teach students 21st century skills. Everyone involved in education should watch this - teachers, parents, and administrators.

Movie Maker Quick Tip: Taking a Still Picture from a Video

Are you frustrated that you can't find the perfect picture for your multimedia project but can find the image in a video segment in Discovery Streaming (United Streaming)? If you download the video and import it into Movie Maker, you can take a picture from the video! To do this, import the video. Drag it on the storyboard. Play the movie until you reach the frame that you want to take the picture of and pause it. Once the video is paused, you can click the button "Take Picture" on the lower right. Movie Maker takes a picture from the video, saves it automatically in "My Pictures" and imports it into Movie Maker all at the same time. Sweet! So if you can't find the images you want, make your own!

RELATED POSTS:

Muting the Audio in Movie Maker

Importing Videos into Movie Maker

Quick Tip: Importing Videos into Movie Maker

Teachers often complain that they cannot import a video clip as one whole segment in Movie Maker. In order to get your movie to import as one segment, be sure to uncheck the box that says "Create Clips for Video Files", then import your video segment. (see picture below)



RELATED POST:

Muting the Audio in Movie Maker

Quick Tip: Muting a Video Segment in Movie Maker

Why would you want to mute the audio to a video segment in Movie Maker? As a classroom teacher, this makes it easy for students to take a video segment from Discovery Streaming and record their voice over it with the facts that they have researched in class. To mute the audio of a segment, you need to be in timeline view. Then select the video, click "Clip" --> "Audio" --> "Mute". If you have more than one video segment, you will need to repeat this process multiple times. (See picture below)

The History of the Internet

The blogs are abuzz today with a new video that came out on Vimeo on the "History of the Internet". I first saw this video mentioned in Learning and Teaching in the 21st Century and then again in Free Technology for Teachers. As part of the National Student Technology Standards, one of the objectives that students are expected to know is all about the history of the Internet. As a teacher, I would have a difficult time explaining this concept to my class. Not anymore! The video below was created by Melih Bilgil, a graphic designer in Germany.


History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

More Contests for Teachers and Students

Thanks to the wonderful writers at Instructify, I learned of a contest for teachers sponsored by Inspiration software called the Inspired Visual Learning Award. Basically, if you are a teacher who has used Inspiration, Kidspiration, or Inspire Data software with your students, you are eligible to apply for this contest. Just send in a teacher and student sample of a lesson you created, and you may win fabulous prizes! Click here for more details from Instructify or click here for guidelines or click here to see the application. Deadline: Feb. 27, 2009

Are you a high school teacher? Encourage your students to apply for the BrainyFlix Vocabulary Video Contest! The contest, sponsored by the Alumni Association, wants to help students learn SAT vocabulary words by posting vocabulary videos made by students. The video that receives the most votes in the contest will receive $600 in prize money. $200 goes to the creator of the video and $400 goes to the class or school club of his/her choice. The site will also give out one free download from iTunes for every five videos that are submitted (for the first 1,000 videos uploaded to the site). Deadline: March 16, 2009. See example video entry hosted on YouTube:

Science Videos on Vimeo

Vimeo is a video sharing community that allows you to upload videos and control who sees them. Users can comment on videos much like youtube or teachertube. As with any video, it's strongly encouraged that teachers preview videos on vimeo before using any of them with their classes. Having said this, there is a section of simple science videos on vimeo that are worth checking out. I watched one on the Water Cycle and on Teeth (see below). It's one more site that can be a valuable resource for teachers. However, wouldn't it be great to have your students create a video for your science class and upload it to this site? As you might notice, none of these videos use students in the films. Instead, they use other images and footage to create the videos.


3A Teeth Video from Simple Science on Vimeo.

Using Movie Maker in the Classroom

Windows Movie Maker is free video-editing software included with Microsoft Windows XP. With Movie Maker, you can turn footage from your digital video camera into movies, share them on the Internet, and burn them to CD or DVD. Downloadable movies from online sources such as Discovery Streaming can also be edited using this software, just be sure you use a clip that has been flagged for “editing“.
Where can you go to download Movie Maker for your home computer? (Remember, you need to have Windows XP or higher.) Follow the link: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

How can educators justify an educational activity like digital storytelling, which at first glance, seems an unlikely candidate for standards-based education? Ironically, the answer to this question can be found through a careful examination of a series of standards and position statements in the following article: TechLearning Article

Here are some additional resources you can use to become more proficient with Movie Maker:

1. Microsoft’s Movie Maker PageThis page contains various tutorials for the program and an explanation of the software.

2. Mighty Coach Tutorial on Movie Maker

3. Atomic Learning Tutorial on Movie Maker

Classroom Ideas for Movie Maker and/or using your Flip Video Camera:

1. Edit Discovery Streaming videos to show only section you want to your class
2. Remix Discovery Streaming videos to put together important concepts
3. Have students research historical figures. Record their interviews
4. Create a public service announcement.
5. Create a commercial for a new product
6. Record a school tour or classroom tour for back to school night.
7. Record puppet shows, theater performances, debates, or speeches
8. Record science experiments
9. Record weather daily or shadows from the sun throughout the year
10. Go on a nature walk and record items from your “treasure hunt”
11. Record when a student has a success or a school project
12. Download editable videos to create your own movies in Movie Maker. Mute the narrator and record your own facts.

Related Articles:
1. MD, VA, DC Day of Discovery (Using Movie Maker in the Classroom)
2. Testing the New Flip Video Camera