Media Matters

Two requests.  First from a DEN member who was attending a great meeting in Florida last week where early adopters of  OnePlace (great program) shared information about the single log-in, content creation, etc.  She had moved PowerPoints into her iPod for presentations and discovered the problem that comes when iPhoto renumbers the jpegs saved from the PowerPoint (more here). Any change of order messes up the PowerPoint when you run it from your iPod —cool thing to do, if the order is correct!  The solution is to rename the first ten slides, using letters instead of numbers (see right).  Sometimes photo library programs follow a binary hierarchy and Slide11 just might precede Slide2. Unless you have a gigantic PowerPoint, renaming the first ten slides before you import the jpegs into your photo library–either platform–should solve the problem.  Remember, in PowerPoint you perform Save As jpegs, then move the jpegs into the iPod via your computer photo library.
Second Request:  This is my own fault, but I was reminded that at the Educomm conference in  California a video I made in 1992 was shown by conference education coordinator Gary Stager and I promised it would be made available online.  This turned out to be a bigger deal than I thought, since it was shot in Hi8 (anyone remember that format?).  But the conversion was made (VHS copy in a VCR through RCA’s into a Canon camcorder with digital passthrough via firewire into iMovie).  QuickTime Pro converted it to a Windows media file and it is posted here.  Try it at home! Remains to be seen if it was worth the trouble.  :)   The history:  Fifteen years ago some teachers were speculating on the future of technology and how it might impact teacher evaluation, particularly in
California.  There, the state Stull Act required certain rigor in teacher evaluation.  Teachers called it "being Stulled."  So we envisioned a teacher being Stulled via a levitating camera ball, which arrived in the teacher’s box to watch a lesson being prepared. The video was straight improv, no script, done in one take at an LA middle school with only one pause to set up the "flat screen."  That was it. Don’t know if it’s worth it, but here’s the storyline.. The teacher in question, Mr. Perdido (Spanish for "lost") is a big tech user and tries to get his one big media display machine to work.  Remember this is before SmartBoards, before LCD projectors, DVDs, before unitedstreaming, even before the  spread of the World Wide Web, although the Internet was there.  This video predicts classroom use of flat screens, digital media libraries,  live feeds from distant lands, and other things. It also predicts bilingual talking Post-It notes, voice interfaces, and pay-as-you-go media.  Naturally, everything goes wrong because the voice-interface module is cued for a regional dialect ("Bubba") and things head south, so the speak, from there. There is one point where something is bleeped out (see if you can find where) and for the life of me I can’t remember why.  It was originally used for a luncheon talk at a Tech Conference.  People asked for copies and I cleaned it up whatever it was by pulling the audio RCA cord in and out.  Who knows?  Anyway. I have kept my promise.  I’ll put a bigger version up on TeacherTube or somewhere when I get back from Chicago.  I remind my southern friends that my family hails from there and my first job teaching was in Tennessee, for which I maintain a deep affection.  Finally, remember this was the "Future" as envisioned in 1992.  The fading time of hair and glasses.
This post will be bumped fast so I can share NextFest with you next blog.  Way cool.

Download future_teacher_cd.wmv

Google Earth, with very little fanfare, has grown up…literally up.  It has added the sky.  You can now see the sky above the location where you are, including constellations, planets, and the movements of heavenly bodies.  Google has posted two great videos to explain the new feature.  One features Sally Ride and the other is narrated by kid.  Nice touch, Google! You do have to download the
new version (PC or Mac).  This time, both platforms get the uptick at the same time.  The new version keeps all your old placemarks (whew!).  Once you have the new version, you’ll see a "sky" icon in the upper menu.  Click on that and the program reloads and shows you the
stars. Once clicked, the sky mode in Google 4.2 shows you a new menu of layers. The
videos will give you more detail on how to use the feature so I won’t repeat it here.  I will say that you can still float images in the sky, just like on the earth (see earlier post).  And it is even cooler in the night sky! Fly a plane, or a spaceship, or the Enterprise (like Robin Ziegler). The first image in this post shows my face over the constellation Hercules.  Random choice. You can duplicate by cutting and pasting your own face into the document at the bottom of the post.  Other Sky Notes. If you like the heavens, you should also know about another program, Stellarium, which is very nifty for flying across the sky. It shows more
than 600,000 stars which are upgradeable (free) to 210 million stars. You can turn on constellation outlines or–and this is really neat–you can show the art in the night sky that those early star gazers supplied with their imagination.  There are lots of other features that let you control landscapes, locations, other things.  This, like Google Earth sky, would love very cool on a classroom projector. And I would suggest letting the class pick the music to play along with the display. On both programs, be sure to play with the Time Controls which allow you watch the objects in the sky move over time–on an adjustable scale. Keeps you humble. Next time: Google Mars and Google Moon!

The Premiere Gala Event was held at the DEN building in Second Life.  Put together by the very real hard work of the SL leadership cadre, it is a spectacular place. Fountains, lights of fire, a holo emitter on the roof (set for a New England fall), and a view of the island volcano. Robo-bartenders served –milk was an option– and give-aways included t-shirts, laptops, jackets and randomly awarded prizes.  unitedstreaming played on a wall. Riptide Furse welcomed members at the ribbon cutting as color fountains fired off.  No party is a real party without dancing, and dancing there was.  Rock and roll played and members could dance with a simple touch of the globe provided by Laelia Laval . Click below to download an iPod ready video of Apophene Singh and Fisher Little dancing in a crowd which include aReal Loon. All these are SL names, so the dancing was uninhibited. At the end, notice a little line dancing from some avatars who came prepared.  The party was crowded.  Thank heavens for the teleports that sent you to the roof for some holo-solitude.  Like any real party, some avatars had a hard time stopping drinking -some detachment was required–and dancing.  Join the DEN in Second Life.  Next, we’ll visit the Tsunami.  Since this is Media Matters, I’ll note the video was made with SnapzPro on a Mac and tweaked in QuickTime Pro.  The blogging was done from a PC.  The camera angles are courtesy of Second Life. You can hear cameras snapping and the tapping of keyboards as dancers chat. You might catch a glimpse of a message.  It was exported from QT Pro to the iPod format (m4v), which shrank it from 71 megs to 18 megs. A shareable size.  Open it in QuickTime.  If you click on it, iTunes will launch. Next time: Pictures and captions!Download sl_dancex.m4v

For those who tuned in to last week’s webinar (live from the University of California at Berkeley) during the DEN National Teacher Institute, here is the updated PowerPoint presentation and the pdf of the same. They have been enhanced so that they will work somewhat as a standalone.  I’d love your feedback.  Has anyone tried iQuizMaker, the free cross-platform quiz maker for the iPod?  I’d love to hear what you think.  The new update is at http://www.iquizmaker.com/.  I’m back in the California office getting things ready for back-to-school.  I suspect you are, too!   More adventures from the Berkeley Institute in the next posting.

Download iPodWebinar.pdf

Download iPodWebinar.ppt

A good keynote should inform, stimulate, and inspire. With luck, it can have immediate impact on every participant.  At the Caribbean learning experience, we reinvigorated the keynote by having a group share.  It took the form of American Idol, with a trio of judges–Grumpy, Pushover, and Effervescent– in tuxedo shirts.  There were great ideas and I’m here to share them with you.  Forgive me, and correct me if you were there, as my own notes were  hard to decipher.:)    Katie shared an inexpensive video camera with a 30 minute capacity (perfect for podcasting or web video).  She found it at Rite-Aid for $85 ($119 elsewhere).  Info at www.theflip.com. Jeanine shared Flickr Toys, and demo’d some faux inspirational posters she built there.  Neat stuff and visually wonderful.  Dave shared an instructional strategy:  use the audio in the room more!  For countdowns on timed work for students, he uses drums.  Whatever the choice, the idea of more information, delivered via music which clearly heads for an ending, is a cool media tip.  I remember in the past teachers sharing great songs for timed work, like math seatwork.  A three-minute song used regularly adds a helpful information for the task. (What’s your favorite?)  Dave was also huge on the importance of playlists. "Bo Derek" Bridget showed http://www.goodreads.com/, a wonderful community of readers and sharers and a natural extension of community sites into literacy. Jennifer G. shared two great sites, TeacherTube (with the that great teacher perimeter rap) and http://inspiredlearning.com/, noted mainly because she got a free mug there :). Amy contributed http://www.stellarium.org/, an astonishing free virtual planetarium and http://www.communitywalk.com/, a very useful mapping programing with an added community element. Elaine talked about her success with DonorsChoose.org, a place where teachers can post wishlists–and get them!  There are restrictions, so not everybody benefits, unfortunately. Rachel showed off KnightCite, where MLA format citations are easily built.  She also challenge all the presenters in attendance to always cite their sources!!!  Steve D. shared http://screencast-o-matic.com/, an amazing site that allows videos made from screen captures–without installing software.  One of the final issues to resolve:  Whose notebook is this?  If you recognize the writing, leave me a comment and I’ll mail you your notes!

To find out what the images below have to do with the DEN and NECC, you’ll have to either 1) Come to my media/GoogleEarth session 2) visit the Discovery Booth 3) wait until next week when the pdf of the session hits this blog.  In the meantime, the DEN will have a great time in Georgia, great day of media training, and some fun stuff all through NECC. Hint:  With a certain kind of screen overlay, the image stays when the earth moves beneath it.  Frankly, these images are here because the overlayed images have to live on the web to work in Google Earth.  Much fun for teachers and students who want to get more out of Google Earth.  Think:  Wizard of Oz.  More to come!  

Download HallOz.kmz

Download LookDown.kmz

Download cloud_layer_at_altitude.kmz

Download flickr_photos.kmz

Download Gettysburg.kmz

Download manns_chinese_webcam.kmz

Download plaza_park_jhs.kmz

Download scott_kinneypictureinserted.kmz

Download the_grapes_of_wrath.kmz Download codes_to_cut_and_paste_for_googleearth2.docDownload google_earthwebinar.pdf

Last Monday, great teachers across the country were acknowledged and dined in Orlando, Florida, by the Bright House cable networks.  These teachers received $1,000 per person (or per team), a two-day excursion to Chicago, and a goodie from Tiffany’s. The work they did was incredible.  They blended mega-lessons from cable network programming–like Discovery shows, curriculum development, classroom-to-community
activities, and video/multimedia productions.  They bound the lessons and resources into a big book for submission, and they were amazing. Click on the picture at the right from "Walk Like an Egyptian" and check out the three inches of tabs!  It was rejuvenating to hear how much media helps in these
classrooms.  The teachers were celebrated by the head of cable networks or their representatives and there was a great reception and, dare I say, even appetizers and an open bar.  No certificated person had any alcohol, of course.  But the spouses must have enjoyed the five-course dinner.  Teachers were fodder for the paparazzi as the program was taped for broadcast on the Bright House network. Check out some video from the awards here. There was also a bag of swag for them, including Denzel Washington’s inspired book and lots of other cool stuff, including some highly prized DEN tchotchke.
There were DEN members there,
including Nancy Keck, who told me she reads this blog.  It made my whole trip worthwhile! Thanks, Nancy. One geeky note: I was honored to give the evening keynote and discovered that the computer would be more than 200 feet from the podium.  Something to do with the set up for broadcasting the award.  They had a killer remote that would work to change slides in the presentation, but there was no way I could see the computer. Hmmm.  So I download the PowerPoint (images) into my nano,
and had a little techno-cheat sheet.  It let me review the presentation before and during going on.  Nano, nano.

Some projects worth borrowing:  One group used the game "RISK" as a model.  Students got control of a country when they received correspondence from it. Cool idea.  Nancy’s students explored the world and recorded their experiences in an actual steamer trunk. One class swabbed the school for cultures and found there were more bacteria on their desks than in the restroom. Studying medieval times, one class learned about armor from the local S.W.A.T. team and built a catapult for flinging watermelons.  Learn about more great projects from the Bright House site.

 The nation’s oldest media festival for students is tomorrow, June 2–the 41st California Student Media & Multimedia Festival.  Last time we tracked numbers, thousands of students had participated through hundreds of projects, K-12. If you are in California, it’s free to attend!  There are locations in northern and southern California.  I had the privilege of reviewing the projects this year and, as always, there is some fantastic stuff.  From elementary kids doing talk shows to high school computer animations, there is plenty of proof that teachers are doing the right job with the next generation.  Some favorites are STAR Prep Academy’s report of self-esteem, the Granada Hills Elementary video on neglected food groups "abandoning" the food pyramid in protest, and DEN member Kim Randall’s students at Saint Andrew’s quintessential middle school animation on digestion.  I’ll let you guess whether middle school spends more attention on the food entering or exiting the body. Try to guess the song he used…There are also great videos from Carpenter Street on the Cuban Missile Crisis with a student chromakeying into the action, and Ishi Hills Middle School’s very funny go-cart visualization of a classic story being told.

When media matters, you can bet there are members of the Discovery Educator Network involved.  In addition to winners like Kim Randall, DEN stars Genevieve Kahlweiss and Karen Green were involved in the judging.  Judy Lieb and Janet English also did  yeoman’s work to make the festival happen.  There is no charge to enter, there are $1,000 prizes for overall winners, and volunteers like them make it happen.  Some of the best incorporated the editable clips in unitedstreaming videos, such as Capo Beach Calvary’s powerful "Walking the Night" video, which is riveting.  There were videos on making video, like "Deconstructing Cain" from Villa Park High School, and special effects like Fenton Avenue’s "The Book That Saved Fenton," which chromakeyed the class into the pages of a book as alien intruders. There is Dana Hills High School’s updated version of the parable poem "The Box" which brings tears to nearly everyone’s eyes, and a great submission from Val Verde, "Eric the Homeboy," that blends flash animation, video, and a great message.  Hopefully, you’ll make it to the festival on Saturday, or catch me sometime at conference showing the clips!

Hmmm, what if Discovery gave students a media challenge by supplying the clips and judging the best mash up.  Ponder that… If you have a student festival you’d like me to mention, post the link  in the comments.  The Slick Rock Festival, the VIC Awards, and the International Student Media Festival come to mind…

Download iPod2.pdf

Download unitedstreamingIntoiPod5.pdf

I blame Joe Brennan.  He emailed me about a $6 wireless mike from Geeks.com –no endorsement implied– but I sprang for the $32 wireless video camera just to check it out. How good (or bad) could a $32 wireless video camera be?  I ordered it, it came.  Birds had built a nest in the eaves by the front door and I gaffer taped the tiny camera there.  It used a 9 volt battery and sent the wireless signal about 50 feet away to a television set with input jacks.  Worked amazing well for something nearly the size of a jujube (more). This let the family watch a live feed, so to speak, of bird behavior which itself mostly consists of feeding.  The battery only lasts about 24 hours, so have a bag of them ready.  Note: The wireless camera does come with an AC plug is your desired placement is near power. One other problem was getting signed releases from the bird parents (at right).  This is Hollywood and you just never know when the animals have agents. Anybody know what kinds of birds those are, by the way? 

All of the work becomes worthwhile when the students in the family are engaged so deeply by real world teachable moments (see picture below). As Betsy Whalen has said, ‘life is a teachable moment.’ Sometimes even in middle school.   A more serious application for this camera is at the neighborhood elementary school.  The school has always been open to the public and has a welcoming front entrance but parents were spooked the other day when a stranger was lurking in front of the school.  There was a debate about putting in security, but a wireless video camera that feeds into the office is a nice alternative to a guard-type planted by the door.  This is still an old fashioned neighborhood in some ways, and the idea of visible guards just didn’t fit with some folks.  So far, so good.

And the next time Joe Brennan is in Los Angeles, he can help me clean up the astonishing quantity of bird droppings from the cast of our animal reality show. Bird agents, please no phone calls…

Some great and productive DEN members from Georgia emailed me recently about freeplaymusic.com.  The music at this is site is fantastic– film sound track quality stuff. You must visit it.  And, although created for media professionals, it is specifically free for classroom teachers doing educational projects with students in their classrooms.  Students assembling media with MovieMaker or iMovie for a history, health, math, project, etc., could use this music to make their project come together, to enhance their learning with the undeniable impact of music. In a presentation to the class, this would be significant.  However, be wary! The good Georgia folks wanted to take their great projects outside the classroom–and there the free ride from FreePlay stops.  There are specified rates for anything outside the classroom, including media festivals and podcasting. These rates, in my mind, are very reasonable, in some cases $25,which is about the entry fee at some student festivals.  Because this music is especially created for these uses and have educational rates, these are rates that must be paid if the uses extend outside the classroom.  Even for uses such as presenting the work to the school board (outside the classroom) would require a license.  Most music you hear on the radio does not have such opportunities for educators to license music. When it does, even Fair Use would support acquiring the necessary licenses.  There are more lenient licenses for original material at Creative Commons, but the ease of use of FreePlay is a real asset.  Remember, you need the license only when moving outside the classroom and classroom work. While we’re talking about classroom resources with a greater range of free use, don’t forget Pics4Learning whose free terms of use includes even fund raising uses because of the copyright holders agreement (check this section for the clownfish).  And, of course, KitZu. The Library of Congress is another great, if bewildering, resource, but there are license restrictions on many items in the LOC collection, too. I know you know some other resources for teachers–let’s share them in the comments!  Prizes for the best ones!  Next post - a $30 wireless video camera I gaffer-taped by a birds nest at my house for a live feed.