TechKnowledgey inTechgration

21 things continues…

Photostory 3 is a great free digital storytelling tool for Windows. It allows for taking photos and turning them into a video. This application would be useful for teacher to take photos from field trips and turning them into a video. The ability to add titles to each picture makes it helpful for students to recall what they did on the trip.

Photostory 3 can also be used by students to create a digital story report. Instead of writing, students gather images and record their narration to tell the story.

The school can use Photostory 3 to highlight class activities for Open House or teachers could do the same for conference night.

The option to edit the photo effects can highlight important moments on the field trip. The added Ken Burns’ effects make the transitions stand out and add a dramatic effect. You have the option of changing the time spent displaying each photo, also. You can add voice narration to go along with the video by recording a separate audio file and importing it into the video. You can decide to add a music clip, as well. There a multiple ways to save the completed project to display on a computer, portable device, media center or e-mail. Visit JakesOnline http://www.jakesonline.org/ for tutorials on using Photostory 3.

21 Things Continued

I began using Edublogs http://cpseltech.edublogs.org/ two years ago as I found it easier to manage than my teacher class website.  Blogging allowed me to quickly update and post links to what I was using with students.  The widgets also added more interactivity by seeing who visited the site and where they came from.  Students and parents (anyone, really) could post comments to my blog.  A year ago, Edublogs began charging if you did not want ads on your blog.

I switched over to Wordpress.com http://cpselemtech.wordpress.com/ it offers similar features to Edublogs, but not all the widgets work.  It does the job since I use this site mostly to post announcements.  I may reconsider and switch back to Edublogs.

I also maintain a professional teacher blog on the Discovery Educator Network. http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/stewarj/ I post links and resources that would interest other educators.  I like the fact that what I post on this blog is automatically shared to other members of the DEN.

More from 21 Things for the 21st Century Educator

The second Thing comes from Frank Miracola’s - Free is Good presentations.  This short video tutorial walks the user through basic Office shortcut commands for common tasks, such as Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo.  Additional commands can be obtained from Keyboard Shortcuts from Microsoft and from ComputerHope.com.

One shortcut that wasn’t mentioned was how to create dummy text to manipulate. This is done by typing the following command: rand(1,2) – where rand stands for random.  The first number is the number of paragraphs, and the second the number of sentences per paragraph. If you omit the second number, you get five sentences in each paragraph. More information on this can be found on Microsoft’s support site.

The other command I use frequently include the CTRL+ A, B, U, I, C, X, Z, and Y keys.  I use the CTRL+TAB key when presenting and have multiple windows open.  The B and W keys come in handy in PowerPoint presentation mode when I want to blank the screen.

I also use tab and shift +tab when working with bulleted lists. Tab indents to the right, while shift +tab indents to the left.

Over the next few weeks, I will be discussing tools from the 21 Things for the 21st Century Learner.  RubiStar has been around for awhile and is very good at creating rubrics on the fly. I use this to create tools to assess presentations and digital stories.  Kathy Schock’s Guide for Educators lists other rubric options for assessing student work. I just came across iRubric on my Twitter feed.

There are also more options when it comes to creating surveys.  Survey tools are another way to gauge understanding.  Zoomerang and Survey Monkey are two popular services that offer a free simplified version and a paid version that offers more features. The one I use most frequently is creating one using Google Docs. 

The survey I created in Zoomerang polled teacher on how effective technology training are for them.  The top two reasons why they did not attend were they had already earned enough PD credits and they were too busy with other committees. After school on Tuesdays and Thursdays were the best times for teachers. Learning about subject area websites and Discovery United Streaming videos were the two top choices.

Research Without Copying: Using Technology to Increase Higher Level Thinking

This session focused on reasons students copy, ranging from getting better grades to not fully understanding what it is the teacher wants them to do.  The activities presented involved students being able to choose how they wanted to present their information.

The Tech4Learning software, Pixie and Frames were used in the sample projects.  The handout provided sample templates to use across the curriculum and provides great idea starters for teachers.  Also, be sure to check out Elizabeth Allen’s links on Carkenord Elementary’s Media Center webpage.

Today’s session is at Weymouth Elementary computer lab from 4:10-5:10pm You will learn the latest changes to United Streaming since they moved to the Discovery Education Network (DEN).

You will learn how to:

• Download videos to the network folder
• Create video playlists
• Using the Quiz Builder
• Writing Prompt Builder
• Day in History
• Lesson Plan Library
• Finding content with a Thematic Focus.

Getting Started with Discovery Streaming

Today’s session is at Washington Elementary computer lab from 4:10-5:10pm You will learn the latest changes to United Streaming since they moved to the Discovery Education Network (DEN).

You will learn how to:

• Download videos to the network folder
• Create video playlists
• Using the Quiz Builder
• Writing Prompt Builder
• Day in History
• Lesson Plan Library
• Finding content with a Thematic Focus.