Digital Storytelling

I just want to remind you all of the Department of Education’s invitation to have students (13 years and older) share the importance and relevance that their education has and will have in their lives. The deadline is Monday, November 2nd.
Reposted from September 26th:

I am what I Learn

Apparently, that’s what the Department of Education thinks and would like to hear students’ thinking on that in a 2 minute video. And by student they mean “an active middle, secondary or college student 13 years or older.” I’m sure they set 13 as the starting point because of YouTube’s terms of service. If sharing their viewpoint with the federal government isn’t enough of an incentive for your students, the three winners will also receive a $1,000 award.

And if your students don’t want to or can’t enter the actual contest, they could still take the challenge to share their feelings with the class, school, administration, and maybe even the community as a whole. This is a great opportunity to encourage your students to think about what value they place on their education (and what investment they need to make personally).

Saturday, October 24, 2009
9 AM to 4 PM ET
Click here to register for the virtual sessions.

10.  College football is overrated.

9.  The digital treats you’ll take away won’t cause cavities.

8.   You can attend in your pajamas (virtually or in-person, we’re flexible).

7.  Two full hours of the soothing sounds of Justin Karkow
Can I Help You With That?  The Student as Collaborator, Creator and Director (9 AM and 3 PM ET)

6.  A chance to win a HD Flip Cam for dressing up as your favorite Discovery personality

5.  Brand new interstitials

4.  Any time Steve Dembo uses the word “bling” in a presentation, watch out!
Putting the Bling in Your Builders (12 PM ET)

3.  The archived sessions just don’t have the same pizazz.

2.  Amazing professional development for the very reasonable price of…FREE.

1. Networking, networking, networking!

For the schedule and more information, visit: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/virtcon09.

Crossposted from http://blog.discoveryeducation.com

One of the contests that tickles this old linguistics guy’s fancy is the one a couple of MIT alumni run celebrating vocabulary words: Brainyflix and Brainypics. This time they are starting out with a Brainypics flashcard contest, in which students create interesting sentences and pair them up with memorable pictures as a visual cue.  Between now and Dec. 7 they will be selecting 5 Brainypics each week which will qualify for the Grand Prize of $200.  They are also giving out iTunes songs for every 5 Brainypics created and gift cards to the runner ups of the finale.  Full details here: http://brainyflix.com/main/contest_rules.

And if a $30,000 classroom makeover puts a song in your heart, how about making your own music video explaining the value of technology in education? eInstruction’s contest has three categories spread through K-12. Get your song in by Nov. 10th to be considered.

Just a little under 3 weeks left in the Department of Education’s contest asking for videos answering the question, “Why is your education important to fulfilling your dreams?” November 2nd is the deadline and 13 is the minimum age to enter.

Upload a 1-2 minute video, podcast, or other multimedia file that explains how you use Discovery Education resources to engage your students. Whether you take students on virtual field trips, or guide students as they produce their own multimedia projects, we’d like to share your ideas with the entire Discovery Education community. Each submitter will receive a limited edition Discovery Education sweatshirt “hoodie” just in time for the changing seasons. Upload your submission by 8pm EST on November 15th.
For the details log in to your streaming account through discoveryeducation.com/awesome

I’ve been getting a few questions from Mac users (including myself) who recently updated to Mac OSX 10.6 wondering what happened to their Flip camcorder accessibility. Turns out it’s just a matter of re-installing the latest Flip software and/or adding Perian to your bag of tricks in order to get the 3ivx codec. Now go on. Make some movies with your students. No excuses.