DEN: Florida

(from Lance Rougeux, DEN Field Manager PA/DE AND East Coast DEN Director)

What an incredible month!  A Tip a Day in May has been a blast and all of the feedback from DEN members across the country is really exciting.  So, let’s keep the momentum going through the summer.  I mean, what better time to take all 22 tips (and more) and show them to your colleagues?

To help with that, here is a presentation I use called 50 Ways to Use unitedstreaming. 
50_ways_outline2.ppt

This PowerPoint includes my notes for delivering the presentation to an audience of 5 or 500 and is a really fun way to show off all the amazing things you can do with unitedstreaming.  Feel free to customize the presentation to make it your own. 

And, have fun Discovering, Delivering and Documenting all summer long!

As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen

(from Brad Fountain - NC/SC DEN Field Manager)

Well this seems to be an appropriate follow-up to Rachel’s wonderful post about the image collection in unitedstreaming.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, Adobe Photoshop Elements is a software program that allows you to edit, organize, and add special effects to photos/images.  With schools continuing to use digital cameras with greater frequency it may be time to look into software that allows you to take advantage of the flexibility that the digital format provides.

The highest priority for me is to find a means of organizing photos.  With everything I do with Discovery plus my own 2 year old daughter I have a ton of photos.  In the past this would mean boxes of photographs with dates and labels on the boxes.  With Photoshop Elements you can tag photos with any or multiple tags.  For example I can tag a photo from a Discovery event with the tag Event and then tag it again with NC so that when I want to find Photos from events  in NC it will come up.  I can create virtually any tagging system I desire.  This is really helpful if you a re familiar with the labels given to digital photos by various cameras.  Typically it is just the date at most.  Check out this screen shot of photos tagged with NSTA (National Science Teacher Association).

You also have the ability to edit photos.  This includes everything from simple red eye fixes and basic auto fix features to advanced tools for adjusting for color correction and photos that have sections that appear dark.  There are countless websites out there with tutorials and walk-throughs on the features of Photoshop Elements, but I would start with http://www.photoshopsupport.com/elements/index.html and http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/ for beginners. 

I would also recommend a copy of The Photoshop Elements 4 book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby.  It is a VERY easy read and walk through on many of the neat tricks you can do with photos in Photoshop Elements.  A sample of what can be done with a simple 4 step trick using images from the unitedstreaming web site is this one I did in about 1-2 minutes using three images from our library. 
This technique is called creating a montage and is VERY simple and easy to do.  So if you are interested in learning to Discover what you can do to enhance your photos or images from our library.  Check out Adobe Photoshop Elements with a free trial at http://www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe/main.jsp#product=40. 

Once you have Discovered the basics watch your students Deliver even better presentations.  Your enhanced photos and image collections will Document your success.

As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen

(from Rachel Amstuz - MA/DC and International  DEN manager)

It’s been said that "A picture is worth a thousand words."  No matter how you do the math 1,000 words x 20,000 images = A LOT of Images waiting for you! Check out the more than 20,000 images available in the Image Library on unitedstreaming . 
Housed in the Learning Tools section, the Image Library is fully searchable just like the video library.  A variety of photographs are available ranging from black and white historical photos,  to action shots of animals,  and diagrams.  
To access the images, head to the Learning Tools section, click on the Image Library , and search for a topic.  Similar to videos, you can preview pictures in the player.  Underneath the player you can select to view your picture in one of three sizes.  Once you select the size that best fits your needs, it will open in a new window.  From there, right click on the photo and select Save Picture As.  Now you can use the photo in any way you’d like. 
Need a few ideas:
• Insert them into Word or Power Point to help illustrate a point
• Print several and have students sequence them or tell stories about them
• Use it as an opening for movie in Movie Maker or iMovie.
• Tell a story with a series of pictures in PhotoStory
• Create a writing prompt using the picture to spark thoughts.

Did you discover something new? Deliver the discovery to at least three more colleagues and show them the benefits of what you discovered. Then document your event on the report form! Maybe you will win this week!

As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen

(from Danielle Abernethy, North Florida DEN manager)

TimeLiner software and unitedstreaming make a great team. As in Inspiration, the videos must be saved as Quick Time, but from there the possibilities are only limited to your imagination!

One popular topic in Social Studies is the Civil War. To create a timeline, download the video clips from Civil War and then insert them into TimeLiner. From your lessons, students can add in other events in between the States Seccession and Emancipation Proclamation. Go into the image library and find images that also go along with these events.

Here’s another tip: In TimeLiner you can insert images and video while in the list view. When you go into slideshow mode, the images are there. However, if you go into the mode where you view it as an actual timeline for printing purposes, your images are gone. You can click on the plus sign by each entry to see the notes, videos and images - but they disappear when you go to the next event. If you want to print the timeline, you’ll need to insert the images over the events. 

Don’t forget, you can also use TimeLiner to create a timeline of a science fair project, inserting video clips from How to Prepare a Science Fair Project. Try a timeline on how to solve a mathematical equation or events in a book. Use unitedstreaming to find the video and images. The possibilities are endless! And don’t forget to upload any of the resources you make into the resource library of the Discovery Educator Network’s website.

Did you discover something new? Deliver the discovery to at least three more colleagues and show them the benefits of what you discovered. Then document your event on the report form! Maybe you will win this week!

As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen

(Brad Fountain - North and South Carolina Field Manager)

What is it and why do I want it?

Audacity is a free, easy to use audio editor and recorder that educators and students should find very useful in producing content for use in presentations.  Audacity can used to: record live audio, covert tapes into digital recordings, edit MP3 and WAV files, cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together…plus a lot more.
For the download go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

It can be used for projects such as students recording narrations over unitedstreaming editable video clips, students creating their own digital stories, or for creating your own classroom podcast.  Once you start using it for student projects you will be asking yourself "How did I live with this application?"
Don’t let the screen shot scare you.  Audacity is a very easy program to use, plus it has plenty of features for to advance to as you become ready.
However, if you like to have a walkthrough you can go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/tutorials to watch tutorials on how to use Audacity.  If you are a person who likes a manual go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/documentation for a printable version.
If you have been using Audacity you may not be aware that Audacity cannot encode MP3s so you need to install an encoder that can be linked.  A trusted encoder can be found at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&i=lame-mp3.

So if you are looking to add some spice to audio of your student’s presentations give Audacity a try.
Hopefully you will Discover a new way to impact your student’s learning.  Your students will Deliver even better presentations and you will be able Document your success stories on the DEN site.

As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen

(Created by Brad Fountain - North and South Carolina Field Manager…with help from his wife Laura)

Have you ever heard of Rube Goldberg?  Rube Goldberg was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist whose cartoons, by his own description "were symbols of man’s capacity for exerting maximum effort to accomplish minimal results".  As your students create Rube Goldberg inventions, machines designed to complete everyday tasks the hard way, understanding simple machines will become just that…simple.
Using this link you will find a fun activity for you and your students to complete during those last couple of weeks of school.  Rube Goldberg Assignment.

Discover how much fun inefficiency can be.  Deliver a laugh along with some learning to your students and don’t forget to Document their amazing creations.

As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen

(by Dawn Strunk (New England Regional Manager)
Do you know what happened on July 28th?  Well, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Beatrix Potter were born; fingerprints were first used for identification; potatoes were first introduced in Europe, and oh yeah, it’s my birthday!  Can you guess which of these events are on the unitedstreaming Calendar? 

Have you been to the Learning Tools in unitedstreaming and clicked on the Calendar?  The Calendar provides you with video programs, video clips, a summary for that event in history.  There is a historical event tied to each day of the calendar year, specific to seven subject areas, including commemorative holidays and nationally recognized weeks and months (i.e. May is Mental Health Awareness Month).  The Calendar will always default to the current date, but you can choose any day of the year.  Check out what happened in history on your birthday!

How should you use the Calendar feature with your students?  Here are only a few ways to utilize unitedstreaming’s Calendar of Events:
• Start your day with a historical event in your class or with the morning announcements for the entire school. 
• Research important events in history and why we celebrate that holiday.
• Getting to know you activity for the beginning of the school year.  See a previous PA/DE blog post to learn more.
Post a comment and share how you creatively use the Calendar in the Learning Tools. 

Did you discover something new? Deliver the discovery to at least three more colleagues and show them the benefits of what you discovered. Then document your event on the report form! Get points for discovering, delivering and documenting! Maybe you will win this week!

As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen

(from Rachel Amstutz, DEN Field Manager for MD/DC/International)

This is my favorite icon on unitedstreaming - editable clips.  Have you noticed it before and wondered what it meant? This icon means that the video is editable. (No you can’t eat it!)  Basically, the producers of this video have given permission for you and your students to download this clip and edit it.  Sounds great, right?!  But isn’t that for the professionals?   Well, it certainly used to be.  However, several user friendly software programs have entered the market in the past few years that make video editing and movie making very easy. 

We need to begin with finding the software.  If you are a Mac user, you are probably very aware of iMovie.  Similarly, all XP machines come with Windows Movie Maker preinstalled.  Personally, I had an XP machine well over a year before I became aware of it.  Go ahead and check for it!  (Sometimes it is buried in the computer… try this path  Start> All Programs > Accessories > Entertainment > Movie Maker).

The best way to learn Movie Maker is to download the pieces necessary to make a movie.  I recommend creating a folder and filling it with one or two movie clips, two or three images, and one song.  Use the Advanced Search feature in unitedstreaming and do a search for editable topics by clicking next to the   icon. Don’t forget about the Image Library for still pictures. 

Once you have everything in one place, open movie maker and start creating!  The Movie Tasks Pane (if you lose it at any point in the process go to the View Toolbar and check on Task Pane) will guide you through the movie making process beginning with importing all your media, then editing (adding titles, transitions, effects, etc), and finally with putting it all together and saving it.

You may be asking, "How does making movies relate to teaching?"  Well,… here are a few ideas of ways you can use Movie Maker in the classroom.

• Grab your students’ attention at the beginning of a unit with captivating footage and images interspersed with the overarching questions relating to your next unit of study. 
• Capture a field trip or learning experience on a camcorder and let your students document their experience in their own words.
• Transform research papers into student produced documentaries. 
• Take a screen shot from a Movie and use it as a poster or diagram.
• Download a movie, mute the audio in Movie Maker and have your students demonstrate their knowledge by narrating over the movie.
• Splice movies and pull out only the precise parts that you want to show your students.
• Produce a Year In Review movie for your end of the year celebration.
  …… the possibilities are endless!!

Did you discover something new? Deliver the discovery to at least three more colleagues and show them the benefits of what you discovered. Then document on the event on your report form! Get points for discovering, delivering and documenting! Maybe you will win this week!

As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen

The excitement is building.  The chrysalis is opening. The NEW unitedstreaming is coming soon!  We are so excited because we have been getting sneak previews of the finished pieces of the next generation of unitedstreaming and it is amazing!  On this “Tip A Day in May,” we will be exploring Quiz Center, but with a little twist.  Instead of teaching you how to use it, I want to encourage you to take this little 10 question quiz on the NEW unitedstreaming.  When you are done, you will experience two things: whether or not you are ready for the next generation and the endless possibilities of enhancing student learning with this unique tool, Quiz Center.
I yield to the NEW and enhanced Quiz Center and will wait to give you “how to’s” until it is released. If you are dying to find out more about the NEW unitedstreaming, here are three things you can do:

1.  Visit the Student Center and take the quiz on the NEW unitedstreaming.
2.  Go to www.unitedstreaming.com/comingsoon and explore for yourself
3.  Or print out this quiz and introduce it to ALL your colleagues.    Download 10_question_quiz.pdf
This is an easy way to get a lot of Discovery, Deliver and Document tickets.   Sit with 3 or more teachers at a computer lab and have them take the quiz in Student Center or give 3 or more of your fellow unitedstreaming users the printed version of the quiz and report it to your DEN field manager.

Did you discover something new? Deliver the discovery to at least three more colleagues and show them the benefits of what you discovered. Then document on the calendar or your report form! Get points for discovering, delivering and documenting! Maybe you will win this week!  Download FLEventsReporting.xls

As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen

(from Danielle Abernethy, North FL DEN manager)

One of the many reasons that I love unitedstreaming is that it plays nicely with other software. I love how I can embed it into PowerPoint, create my own digital stories with it in MovieMaker (or other programs like iMovie), and even use it with my favorite software, Inspiration.  It has been around for more than 20 years, and with each new version it gets better. I started with 6.0 and I am loving 8.0. (Don?t worry, if you don?t have 8.0, you can still use unitedstreaming with Inspiration 6.0 and up.)

unitedstreaming  images can easily be imported into the image palette by saving the picture, then going to UTILITY>>EDIT SYMBOL LIBRARY>>IMPORT GRAPHIC>>Locate graphic>>insertkeep it standard symbol size. By doing this you can customize your graphic organizers to fit your lesson plan needs.

But wait, unitedstreaming is most famous for videos, and yes you can use video with this program! Basically, there are two ways to use video in Inspiration.

Hyperlinking: This is the universal, works with all versions, way of using unitedstreaming  with Inspiration. Basically, you?re going to hyperlink to the file you downloaded or take them to the web. Directions are also found in the Help section of unitedstreaming.

Embedding: This is only available in 8.0, and it can be tricky for those of us who use Windows Media Player. I created a simple diagram on how to create your video, available in either Inspiration 8.0 file or in PDF format. Build your graphic organizers around the embedded video. 
These two documents will help you with embedding Video:
Download insprtn.pdf
Download how_to_embed_video_into_inspiration.isf.pdf

Danielle is our greatest fan of Inspiration and unitedstreaming.  She has a bunch of files on her blog.  Check them out. (Must have 8.0 to open Inspiration documents).

Did you discover something new? Deliver the discovery to at least three more colleagues and show them the benefits of what you discovered. Then document your event on the report form! Get points for discovering, delivering and documenting! Maybe you will win this week! Cheryl and Tricia have so far. Download FLEventsReporting.xls

As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
Karen