Streaming A to Z

I know, I know, we have been stuck on the letter "B" forever.  I promise to resume the march through the alphabet very soon. 

Recently I have been on a whirlwind tour of the states.  I was in Berkeley, CA participating in the DEN Institute, then it was off to MD, VA, PA, NJ (pretty much in that order) to meet with educators and deliver a few presentations.

During the two Days of Discovery in Lawrenceville, NJ, I had the opportunity to deliver the 50 Ways to Integrate unitedstreaming presentation to educators from all over that great state.

Many of them asked for the presentation, and as promised, here it is.  Download 50_ways.zip

Feel free to download, modify, and use it however best meets your needs.  And while we don’t go through all 50 ideas, I encourage you to check it out - it just may spark an idea or two

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan

Ok so the last Back to Basics posting was brought to you by the letter "A."

As always, the focus of the Back to Basics blog will be to explain terminolgy in easy to understand language, offer tips and tricks (even for advanced users), and provide suggestions for using technology and unitedstreaming inside the classroom.

The Back to Basic blog postings will operate with this thought in mind, "If I can get my mother-in-law to do it…"

Feel free to distribute this information and, of course add your thoughts, tips and tricks - all are welcome!

So without further ado let’s look at the letter "B"

B
Beta Version
A beta version, at least in the software world, is the first version of a product that people can evaluate, provide feedback, and report any bugs (see explanation down below) that they find in a real-world setting.  Beta level software is almost complete and ready to go to production, but since it may include known issues and bugs, Beta Testers are recruited to give the software a run for the money.

Beta Testers as mentioned above, report issues, provide recommendations, and feedback so that, when the software is ready to be released, it is relatively free of issues.

In unitedstreaming’s case, DEN Star members are often recruited to be beta testers.  They get to see new versions of unitedstreaming before it is released to teachers nationwide.  Their feedback helps to shape the product that you see and love today.  Thank you DEN Star Members for all of your help!

Bookmarks Defined
Bookmarks are place holders that you can save on your computer so that when you want to find a website or page again you don’t have to search for the page; you simply click on your bookmark.

To create and access your bookmark using Internet Explorer follow four simple steps:
1. Find a website or page that you would like to visit again (without searching for it)
2. Click on the word “Favorites” in your Internet Explorer tool bar
3. Click on the “Add to Favorites”
4. To access your newly created bookmark, click on “Favorites” and then click on your link

As we covered in the previous Back to Basics blog posting, unitedstreaming has a book marking feature called "Adding Content."  That way when you find a video, image, quiz, etc. that you really like you can add it to your content. Then when you want to come back to this asset you simply go to My Content and click on the link.

BUGS Defined
Bugs are those little things that can sometimes drive you crazy!  Those little errors that cause the software not to do what is supposed to do are called bugs.

Common folklore traces the history of this term back to 1947 when a moth made its way into a Harvard computer and caused the computer to malfunction.  But, in fact, the term may have been tossed about as early as Thomas Edison!

Bytes Defined
Bytes are individual units of data that computers use to show us video, compute equations, play sound, etc. Generally, the hierarchy works out to something like this:

1000 Bytes = One Kilobyte (KB)
1000 Kilobytes = One Megabyte (MB)
1000 Megabytes = One Gigabyte (GB)
1000 Gigabytes = One Terrabyte (TB)

With today’s computers and servers we’re pretty much working with Megabytes, Gigabytes, and Terabytes.   In fact, as microchips and processors (your computer’s brains) get smaller, you can now carry around one gigabyte of data storage on your keychain with a thumb drive for less than $100!

Here are some tie-ins to unitedstreaming:

For every minute of video that you download your computer requires about two megs (MBs) of storage space.  If you were to download one hour of video you would roughly need 120 (MBs) of storage space - not too bad when you consider that you can use that one gig (GB) keychain to store the video.

You do; however, want to watch how much content you are downloading so that you don’t fill up your computer or drives.

unitedstreaming streams (plays live over the internet) video at 256 (kbs) per second.

If you were to download the entire unitedstreaming library you would need a little over three terabytes (TBs) of storage space.

I have updated the glossary of terms (with pictures and tips and tricks) and have attached the document to this posting.  To download and share it with your teachers click here:

Download back_to_basics_document.doc

Talk to you soon,

Matt Monjan
Discovery Educator Network

The idea of this posting, and its subsequent postings comes, from my good friend, and DEN Star Member, Stevie Kline - Intermediate Unit One Coal Center in Pennsylvania.

During a recent conversation Stevie asked me if we could include some information for users that are not only brand new to unitedstreaming, but may be getting their feet wet with technology as a whole.  I thought this is a great way to turn tech-NO-logy into Tech-KNOW-logy (sorry I love a cheesy pun).

As we all know there is a great diversity of tech skills and knowledge within our schools and workplaces.  To help level the playing field (just a wee bit), I’m going to create a series of postings called "Back to Basics." 

Each Back to Basics blog will address technology and/or unitedstreaming terms and break them down into layman terminology.  They’ll also include tips and tricks, and easy-to-follow instructions for you to share with your colleagues. 

I’ve also created a Back To Basics Category (located in the grey bar on the left-hand side of your screen).

Finally, I’ll update and attach this information as a Word document so that you can print it out and use as a reference.

We’ll start with the A’s and go through to the Z’s (I may have to be liberal with some letters like X or Z).  Of course I welcome your input so please feel free to add your knowledge to the postings - I’ll capture your comments and add them to the document.

Ok let’s get started!

A
Adding Content - unitedstreaming allows users to save ("bookmark") links to unitedstreaming assets (videos, quizzes, images, assignments, etc) so that, once they find them,  they don’t have to search for them all over again.  Links to these assets are stored in the "My Content," "School Content," or "District Content" folders. 

Now here’s the really cool thing, you can organize your unitedstreaming bookmarks and create customized folders. 

For example, let’s say that I want to teach a unit on Cells.  I can click on "My Content," create a folder called "Cells" and store videos on cell division, images of mitochondria, articles on the nucleus, quizzes, writing prompts, assignments and more, all in my Cell folder.  Then, when I want to access my unit on Cells, I simply click on My Content, the Cell Folder, and voila - there’s all my stuff!

It is important to note that this material is not physically saved on your hard drive, it is simply saved as a link within unitedstreaming.  To print out step-by-step instructions, click on link at the end of this posting.

You can also go to the blog posting My Content, Your Content, Our Content.

Audio Files - unitedstreaming houses elementary songs, famous speeches, and over 3,000 sound effects.   These audio files are in MP3 Format.  MP3 is an audio-specific computer format. It takes the audio and compresses it (makes it smaller) by filtering off certain sounds that cannot be heard by the listener, i.e., outside the normal human hearing range.

Since the audio files are compressed, they can easily be downloaded and embedded (put inside) things like Word, PowerPoint, and even Google Earth!

To search for a unitedstreaming audio file simply log into unitedstreaming and choose Audio: Songs, Audio: Sound Effects, or Speeches in the "WITHIN" box and hit Go.

Now here are some really cool applications:

1. Use unitedstreaming images and sound files to help English Language Learners by inserting them into Word or Powerpoint
2. Make your own Student sound files and combine them with images to tell a digital story
3. Use the unitedstreaming songs as activators in your elementary classroom
4. Use the unitedstreaming songs, images, and speeches to help illustrate a lesson or unit

Check the attached documents to see how to do step by step instructions for some of these ideas. Download back_to_basics_document.doc

Tune in for the next Back to Basic when we discuss terms like "bandwidth, bits, bytes and more"

Talk to you soon!

Matt
Discovery Educator Network!

They say that imitation is the purest form of flattery.  Well this posting and the ideas attached in it aren’t so much imitation as much as they are blatant "borrowing" from our very own DEN Manager Extraordinare, Lance Rougeux.

Recently I had the opportunity to present to a group of educators attending WHRO’s Tech Trek 2007 in Norfolk, VA.

Before I traveled to Norfolk, I had the chance to see Lance’s presentation, Summer Streamin’ Great Tips To Get You Ready For The New School Year and asked him if I could borrow it for my presentation.

I made a few modifications so that I could highlight the Discovery Atlas feature as well as a couple other things, and of course not feel so guilty to attach my name to it.

I encourage you to check out the attachment so that you too can borrow, modify, and make these great tips your own.

Download back_to_school1.ppt

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Educator Network!

Exciting news! We have just improved and updated the Assignment, Quiz and Writing Prompt Builders.

Here is how each builder has been made better.

Assignment Builder Improvements

Now, when you build your content, you can Bold Text, change the color of your text, add numbering and bullets, sub and super scripts, special characters, tables and more!

You can also click on the View Grade Report link to see which of your students has completed your assignment or choose to have an assignment notification e-mailed to you.

Finally, when adding material to your Assignment, you can now search your saved content instead of the entire unitedstreaming library.

Quiz Builder Enhancements

Just like the Assignment Builder, the Quiz Builder, gives you the ability to add Bold Text, change the color of your text, add numbering and bullets, sub and super scripts, special characters, tables and more!

Writing Prompt Improvements

I think the following enhancement is too cool for school.  When your students log into the Student Center to access your writing prompts, they can now type in their work.  Students also have the ability to bold text and do all of that fun stuff in their response. 

PLUS, once your students click on on the submit button, you can access their written work either by e-mail or by logging into unitedstreaming.com and clicking on the view grade report links.

Finally, as with the other two builders,  the Writing Prompt Builder now gives you the ability to add Bold Text, change the color of your text, add numbering and bullets, sub and super scripts, special characters, tables and more!

These changes were brought about because of you, and your comments.  Thank you for helping us continue to make unitedstreaming better!

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

Soon after Planet Earth aired on the Discovery Channel, requests from educators around the country started to pour in.  We received questions like, "How soon will DVDs be available?" "Can I use the DVDs in schools?" And, of course the inevitable, "How much?"

Well, my friends, here is the good news. Discovery Education has procured a number of Planet Earth DVD Box sets.  Every school that subscribes by June 15th to Discovery Education unitedstreaming™ or unitedstreaming Plus will receive a Planet Earth DVD Box Set - a $650 value!

Now here is the deal.  In order to receive the Planet Earth DVD Box Set with your subscription, your school must either be renewing their license by upgrading to unitedstreaming Plus or be a brand new unitedstreaming school and purchase Discovery Education unitedstreaming at its list price. 

Basically it breaks down like this-

Current unitedstreaming users:
Upgrade to unitedstreaming Plus for an additional $995 per building and receive one Planet Earth DVD set per school*
K-8 building Current unitedstreaming license + $995
9-12 building Current unitedstreaming license + $995

New unitedstreaming users:
Subscribe to unitedstreaming and receive one Planet Earth DVD set per school*

unitedtreaming price:
K-8 building - $1,495
9-12 building - $1,995

unitedstreaming Plus price:
K-8 building - $2,495
9-12 building - $2,995

*It goes without saying that this offer is available as long as supplies last.

To learn more about this offer simply click on this link unitedstreamingsales@discovery.com and send your request.

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

Ok so here we are on Friday and, as promised, here is the third of three postings on The Builders (Assignment, Quiz and Writing Prompt).

Today we’re going to tackle the Writing Prompt Builder.

The Writing Prompt Builder is a tool that allows you to tie together any image that you find on unitedstreaming with a caption they you create. 

Just like the other two builders, you can copy from the unitedstreaming Writing Prompt Builder question bank.  Once you’ve copied them you can customize them to make them your own!

And, like the Assignment Builder and Quiz Builder, your content is stored on the web so your students can access your quiz from any computer that has Internet access - even at home!

The over 500 unitedstreaming writing prompts are based on the national English/Language Arts standards for writing by the NCTE—National Council of Teachers of English.

These prompts also feature:

• Difficulty levels that cover students from those beginning the writing process to those who are in AP courses
• Descriptive, Narrative, Expository, and Persuasive prompts for grades 3-12
• Analysis prompts for grades 9-12

Each prompt includes images that relate to content taught across the country—both literary and non-literary, i.e., social studies, science, philosophy, cultural, community, and more.

To access the Writing Prompt library, log into unitedstreaming and click on the Teacher Center.  Then click on the Writing Prompt Icon.

To search the entire Writing Prompt Library, look inside the Search Writing Prompt Library box and uncheck the top three boxes - leaving only the unitedstreaming Writing Prompts box checked.   And in no time you’ll see the 500+ writing prompts appear on your screen.

I have attached a small PowerPoint presentation to this e-mail.  It includes step-by-step instructions for creating a Writing Prompt.  Feel free to download and customize it to meet your needs! Download writing_prompt_builder.ppt

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

True or False - within unitedstreaming you can find three great tools to help you integrate technology into the classroom?

True of course!  Way to go you passed the Pop Quiz!

And speaking of Pop Quizzes - let’s dive a little deeper into unitedstreaming’s Quiz Builder.

The Quiz Builder is a tool that allows you to tie together videos and video segments to questions that you design.  You can create Multiple Choice (Single Answer), Multiple Choice (Multiple Answer), True and False, and even Essay questions (unitedstreaming won’t grade essay answers). 

You can even copy entire quizzes and/or questions from the unitedstreaming Quiz Builder question bank.  Once you’ve copied them you can customize them to make them your own!

And, like the Assignment Builder,  your content is stored on the web so your students can access your quiz from any computer that has Internet access - even at home!

You can find the Quiz Builder by going to the Teacher Center. Once there, click on the blue Go To arrow and let your imagination loose! 

I have attached a small PowerPoint presentation to this e-mail.  It includes step-by-step instructions for building a Quiz and viewing a grade report.  Download the_quiz_builder.ppt

NOTE: I recommend that you use the online grade report to view your students grades.  If you choose to have them sent to you by e-mail you will receive individual reports for each of your students - which can add up to lots of e-mails!

Make sure to check back on Friday when we review the final builder in this series, the Writing Prompt Builder.

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

We posted these 13 page works of wonder within the Professional Development section of unitedstreaming. 

To access and print these booklets out you can either click on this link: Get More Booklet.

Or you can fill out the form below. Please note - The Get More Booklets are shipped in packs of 10. So if you order 20 - you’ll receive 200 booklets. You can request as many and as often as you want - for as long as we have them in stock.

As you all know by now unitedstreaming is much more than a video library.  It is also full of tools and applications that you can use in the classroom.

This week we’re going to tackle three of those tools, the Assignment Builder, the Quiz Builder, and the Writing Prompt Builder.

Let’s start by saying right off the bat that before creating an Assignment, Quiz or Writing Prompt you will need to turn OFF your Pop-Up Blockers.  When you go to save an Assignment, Quiz, or Writing Prompt, a second confirmation window appears. If you have your pop-up blockers turned on you won’t see this window and thus not be able to continue.

And here’s a helpful hint - even though you may have turned off your pop-ups in your Internet Explorer/Safari settings, you may also have to turn them off in tool bars like Yahoo and Google.

I’ve put together a quick how to turn on/off pop up blocker instruction-sheet for you.  Feel free to download it and share with your peers! Download turning_off_popup_blockers.doc

For this posting we’ll be concentrating on the Assignment Builder.

The Assignment Builder is a tool that allows you to tie together all of the assets (Videos, Images, Sounds, Quizzes, etc) that you find in unitedstreaming and create a unit.  Since the content is stored on the web your students can access the assignment from any computer that has Internet access - even at home!

You can find the Assignment Builder by going to the Teacher Center. Once there, click on the blue Go To arrow and let your imagination loose!

I have attached a small PowerPoint presentation to this e-mail.  It includes step-by-step instructions for building an Assignment.  I’ve also included notes on most slides.  That way you can print out the slides and refer to their instructions.  Feel free to download the presentation and make it yours!  Download assignment_builder_directions.ppt

Tune in on Wednesday when we explore the Quiz Builder!

Talk to you soon,

Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

With about one month to go, many of you reading this post may already be dreaming of those picture perfect days at the beach, relaxing in the garden, or spending joyous summer day after summer day outside in the sun -blissfully free of password requests or technical worries.

But before you fall full into a summer trance, I wanted to highlight a few key unitedstreaming resources.  That way when you plan your in-services, professional development days, and set your tech agenda’s you’ll know just where to look!

1. Interactive Training. These go-at-your-own pace modules are available 24/7 and cover everything from navigating unitedstreaming to in-depth instructional strategies.  You can take these modules in any order and unitedstreaming even remembers where you stop.  That way you can resume right where you left off!  To access these modules, simply click on the Professional Development link within your navigation bar and then click on the Interactive Training  icon.
2. PowerPoint presentation.  We’ve uploaded a great PowerPoint to help you present unitedstreaming to your staff.  Once you download it you can edit it to meet your needs - after all its yours!   Check it out by clicking on Professional Development , then  Trainer’s Toolkit,  and then the Full Training Presentation  (under the Getting Started  column).
3. Passcode flyer. The flyer includes step-by-step instruction for getting started with unitedstreaming.  Print it out, insert your school’s code and distribute! You can get to the flyer by clicking on Professional Development , then  Trainer’s Toolkit,  and then the Passcode Flyer (under the Getting Started  column).
4. The unitedstreaming Training Guide is a great resource for staff developers and trainers. This document addresses training strategies, troubleshooting, training set up, and more. You can get to the flyer by clicking on Professional Development , then  Trainer’s Toolkit,  and then the Training Guide (under the Staff Development Resources column).
5. I’ve put together a quick, fun and easy unitedstreaming Scavenger Hunt.  Feel free to download and customize - it is your for the taking. Download unitedstreaming_scavenger_hunt.ppt

Hopefully these resources will save you time, and maybe, just maybe, prolong that grass-between-the toes, sun-on-the-back, pass-me-another-hot dog summer time fun.

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

A few weeks ago 1000 students and their teachers from around the country had an opportunity to interact with Dr. Penny Allen, one of the BBC Producers of the Planet Earth series.

After the presentation, a number teachers and their classes created thank you messages.

I’ve put those thank you messages into a PowerPoint presentation and attached it to this posting and I’m sending a link to this posting to Penny today so that she can read all of your messages.

Download penny_thank_you.zip Ok this time the sound should work!

I know that we had a pretty tight turn around but remember you can still leave a thank you message and/or pictures by posting a comment below!

Talk to you soon,

Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

First let off let me begin this posting by stating it is good to be back and blogging again. After a short hiatus the Implementation Blog is alive and kicking!

Now onto some even more fun stuff.

Last week the DEN hosted a Planet Earth Webinar and over 1000 students from 68 schools across the country attended.

During the session, Planet Earth Producer Dr. Penny Allen, issued a caption challenge.
She asked participants to come up with a caption for the following image:

And boy did you guys respond!  At the end of the session, all of the captions were sent to Penny.  Penny and her team then voted on the winning captions.

Without further ado, here is how it all breaks down (the following is from Penny’s e-mail):

Just a quick note to let you know that the Planet Earth team votes have all now been cast!  The results for the caption competition are as follows:

THE WINNER
Elaine Plybon - DEN Texas: "I don’t know, Vern, it was here when I woke up this morning" 

EQUAL SECOND PLACE
Debbie Bohanan - DEN Florida:  "Who laid that egg?"
Tracy Selock - DEN Illinois: "Hurry up, my mom made me wear this tux.  Take the picture!!" 
Carrie Strasburger - DEN Virgina: "I heard him say we were going to be on Sunday night."

EQUAL THIRD PLACE
Elaine Plybon - DEN Texas "No, YOU pick it up!"
Paula Rovnak - DEN Florida::  "courage my penguin friends, courage"
Sara Simmons - DEN Texas: "That’s what happens when you drop the egg!" 
Cindy Hills - DEN California:  "The Paparazzi are on to us!"

For her winning entry, Elaine will receive a Planet Earth ‘Making Of’ book signed by Penny and her team!

Elaine please e-mail me your address so that I can have the book sent to your class.

Planet Earth Photos
During the webinar many of you asked for the photos that were shown during the Webinar.
I have attached the presentation to this posting.  Click on the this link Download planet_earth_ppt2.ppt to download the PowerPoint.

A Thousand Thank You(s) for Penny.
Since Penny shared her behind-the-scenes pictures with us, I’d like to share a picture of your class, and/or thank you message from your students to Penny.

I have attached a Photo Release to this posting - Download den_photo_release.doc. Please have it signed by your student’s parents and returned back to your classroom.  After you have the forms shoot me over your picture(s).  I’ll take all of the pictures and put them into a thank you collage!

So let’s do this:

1. Either send me a picture of your class, Planet Earth drawing (digital of course), and/or thank you message for me to put into a collage and send to Penny
2. Leave a thank you message for Penny to hear
   To leave a message:
   Call 1-888-65-GCAST (888-654-2278)
   Type in 800-323-9084 pin code 1234
   Record message and hit #
   Press the number 2 to save it.
   Hang up

Once I receive your messages I will send the message to Penny and post it on the Implementation Blog - I’d like to complete this project by Wednesday, May 2, 2007.

UPDATE:

I have received a few requests for a few more days.  So that we give everyone a chance to submit their thank yous we’ll move the deadline to Friday, May 4, 2007.

Thanks to everyone who has submitted your material so far.  And thanks to all that will be soon

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

A couple of weeks ago Debbie Bohanan, Paula Rovnak, (FL DEN Star Educators), their fourth grade class, and I got to go behind the scenes with one of the Planet Earth’s producers, Dr. Penny Allen (see Implementation Blog Posting - "5 Years In The Making")

What we learned and experienced was amazing.  So amazing that it wouldn’t be fair if we didn’t open up this amazing opportunity to educators from accross the country.  Now you and your class can experience Planet Earth from the Producer’s point of view!

That’s right, on April 24 at 1 PM EST; the DEN will be hosting a webinar with Dr. Penny Allen.  Penny was one of the BBC producers in the field during the filming of Planet Earth.  Dr. Allen joined the BBC Natural History Unit in 1996 as a researcher on The Blue Planet, a landmark series on the natural history of the world’s oceans. After completing the Blue Planet series, Dr. Allen worked as an Assistant Producer on ‘The Abyss - Live’, which allowed millions of people in Europe and England to watch a live broadcast of an ROV dive in Monterey Bay.  Now she shares her experience in her latest adventure, the making of Planet Earth.

This webinar is intended to be shared with your students, so find a projection unit, a set of speakers, click here to register and prepare (and post to this blog as a comment) questions you would like to ask this record setting filmmaker. 

I look forward to sharing this unique behind-the-scences opportunity with you.  Spots are going to fill fast so make sure that you submit your questions and register soon!

Talk to you soon,

Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

My best friend and I share a common love for April Fools Day.  Every year we excitedly plan our ruse.  Every year they seem to be more elaborate.  And every year they produce the same result - our wives roll their eyes as we fall to the floor laughing…and then I sleep on the couch that night.

April Fools falls on Sunday this year.  With that in mind I thought I’d share:

Matt’s Five Ways Technology Has Made Me Feel Foolish.

1. One day a teacher called me to tell me that her unitedstreaming video had no sound.  We rebooted her computer, verified that the video was working on my end, accessed the control panel and adjusted her speaker volume - nothing.  I Googled her computer model, operating system, and sound settings in a valiant effort to solve the problem - nothing.
   Then after 30 minutes of trouble shooting, a beam of light descended upon my frazzled brain and a heavenly choir song a melodious chord, and I said…wait a minute are your speakers turned on?  They were not (sigh).
2. Early in my Implementation career a teacher called and franticly exclaimed, "I need access to unitedstreaming but I can’t play any of my videos.  Please help!"
   Again much time was spent systematically ruling out the issues to no avail. 
   It turns out the the school was blocking streaming and downloading during school hours…"Ohhhh that’s right, I forgot about that" explained the teacher.  This is now the first thing I check.
3. When you are replying to a person’s e-mail, and multiple people are copied, be very careful to reply to sender and not reply to all - I’ll let your imaginations run with that one.
4. It is www.unitedstreaming.com NOT www.unitedstreamign.com - for the life of me I once spent ten minutes typing in the address wrong! I was this close to sounding "The Site Is Down!" alert.
5. Is it just me or have you sent a fax only to find out later that all you really sent were blank pages? I still have trouble identifying which way to insert the paper in the fax machine

So that you don’t get fooled in the future, here are a few links to past postings.  Check them out and access answers to the most frequently asked questions/issues.

Hauntingly Good Tips and Tricks

Puzzled over PowerPoint? Not any more

Crazy Cool Close Caption Tips and These Too

I hope that you have enjoyed these experiences and that they brought you a chuckle or two.

Now if I could only find that darn "Any key" on my computer.  You know the "Press Any Key to continue…" APRIL FOOLS!

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

What are Webinars?
Webinars are Web-based seminars facilitated by a live Discovery Education instructor.  Thousands of educators have participated in these on-line sessions. 

Webinars have covered everything from an overview of unitedstreaming, to integrating its resources into programs like Google Earth, Inspiration, Photostory, and more.

But this is pretty common knowledge.  Chances are that you have already participated in a Webinar…or maybe two.

However, did you know that we’ve posted our most popular presentations on line?  Yep they’re yours for the taking, or downloading, as the case may be.

To access ten of our most frequently requested Webinar Presentations, log into unitedstreaming, click on the Professional Development link, and then click on the blue words, Webinar Workshops in the lower right-hand corner (click on image)

After clicking on Webinar Workshops, click on the link "Click here to download Sample Presentations" (click on second image)

Once there, you’ll find presentations for both Mac and PC that you can download, customize and make your own.

The topics cover everything from Digital Story Telling to Primary Sources and everything in between. 

Take a few moments to check them out and make them yours!

Talk to you soon,

Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

Last night I tuned into the Discovery Channel to watch the first three of eleven episodes of Discovery Channel/BBC’s Planet Earth documentary.

The series took four years to shoot and another year to edit.  All of that time and effort produced a masterpiece of sight and sound - especially for those with high definition sets. The entire series was filmed in high definition!

It took me a long time to fall asleep (many apologies to my wife) because I was so excited by what I saw last night. 

And although last night’s experience was the cat’s pajamas, this morning’s experience eclipsed it.

What could have possibly eclipsed last night’s viewing experience you ask? Great Question!

This morning, Debbie Bohanan, Paula Rovnak, (FL DEN Star Educators), their fourth grade class, and I got to go behind the scenes with one of the Planet Earth’s producers, Dr. Penny Allen!

That’s Dr. Allen as she hangs 100 feet above the ground on her way up to the top of a 300 foot tall Redwood Tree in California.

Dr. Allen joined us from Bristol, England to answer the Florida student’s questions and provide us an insider’s view into the filming of Planet Earth.

One of the questions asked was "What was the longest period of filming?  Penny told us that cameramen spent an entire year on the Antarctic ice filming the Emperor penguins! The penguins became so accustomed to the film crew that they came right up to them as they were taping.  While filming the episode, Pole to Pole the crew spent four months in total darkness, observed the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis),and shared the same land as the Polar Bears.

The students wanted to know how close the camera crews got to the animals?

In some cases it was very close.  Crews got only feet away from Walrus, White-Tip Sharks, and African Elephants as they frolicked in flood waters (Episodes: Ice Worlds, Deep Ocean, and Pole to Pole respectively). 

Were they nervous?  Sometimes, especially when they filmed a pride of 30 lions in the dead of night as they were hunting elephants!

In some cases, however, the crew filmed animals as far away as a mile!  Using special high-definition cameras the crew captured the first-ever footage of a Snow Leopard as it leaped from rock-to-rock in the Planet Earth episode, "Mountains."

The class was really interested in the production crew’s use of a helicopter.  Penny told them that the helicopter was used on every habitat and that it used a special gyroscopic camera mount.  This device helped stabilize the camera so that it would not be affected by the vibration and movement of the helicopter.

My favorite story; however, had to do to with the Capercaillie bird.  While Penny was on location in Finland shooting the episode, "Forests," the crew wanted to film a male Capercaillie bird.  The male birds are extremely territorial and every time the camera crew approached the bird it did everything to protect its turf.  The bird strutted and showed its stuff in an all out effort to say, "This patch of forest belongs to me buddy." I just love the picture that Penny took and shared with us as she told us the story.

All in all, The BBC team traveled to 200 locations to film the most beautiful and amazing animals in their natural habitats.

The Discovery Channel, the BBC, and the Nature Conservancy hope that viewers will gain a better appreciation of our planet and seek out ways to protect and preserve all of its occupants - big and small.

A special thank you to Jennifer Henry, Shannon Malone, Maureen Lemire at the Discovery Channel, Dr. Penny Allen at the BBC Natural History Unit, and Debbie Bohanan, Paula Rovnak, and their fourth grade class, for making this behind-the-scenes adventure possible.

Talk to you soon,

Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

Have you ever wondered how to increase the size of the close captioning text when viewing it full screen? 

This tip comes to us via Jeff Smith at the Erie County Technical School in Pennsylvania.

Increasing the Close Caption Text Size
When using closed captioning, the text may not be as large as you would like it to be. To increase the size of the text follow these steps:

1. Download both the video/video segment and close caption (cc) file
2. Open the cc file in a text editing program like WordPad or Notepad. 
3. Locate the line of code that indicates “font size.”  This is usually about the sixth line of code. 
4. Increase the font size to at least 20 pts, or even larger. 
5. Save and close your file in your folder with the video file. 
6. The next time you view the video, the size of the text should be increased

Is that way too cool for school or what?  Thanks Jeff!

Here are the step by step instructions for downloading and projecting cc videos full screen:Download closed_caption_full_screen_viewing_steps.doc

This tip is brought to you by the letter Queue
Are you a Network Administrator or Technology Coordinator responsible for managing your school/district’s bandwidth?  Then this little tip may be right up your alley.
unitedstreaming has a tool called Network Manager.  When activated, teachers find video/video segments and queue them to download later.  That night (or at a time set by the Administrator) all of the queued videos are downloaded onto a local computer or server.  The next day teachers are able to stream and/or download these videos onto their own personal computers.  And here’s the bandwidth management piece; since the videos are now locally saved, teachers stream/download information from a local source and not the Internet.  To see how it works or to demonstrate to your teachers, check out this PowerPoint:Download undestanding_network_manager.ppt 

Details, Details, Details
Here’s a great little tip when you are talking about Primary Sources.  Find an image, any image, and open its large version (click on the Preview link underneath "Large").

Then, on a PC, follow these steps:

• Hover over lower right-hand corner until you see an icon with arrows pointing out from each of its four corners
  
• Click on the expand icon
  
• Click and drag the gray left-right and up-down buttons to zero in on the image detail

On a Mac:

• Open image in iPhoto
• Frame the part of the image that you want to enlarge
• Use your zoom function to enlarge that piece of the image.

To find some really great imagery, click on the Advanced Search and scroll down until you see the Publishers drop down box.  Choose any of the Library of Congress, NASA, or U.S.D.A. Forest Service images and watch as your students imagination take over.

For more great tips and tricks - click on the Tips and Tricks! link located underneath the word Categories.  See it?  Right there…scroll back up and look in the gray bar on the left-hand side of your screen… 

I hope that these tips are helpful. If you have any neat tips, tricks, comments, etc. please feel free to share!

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, Implementation.

On March 25, 2007 The Discovery Channel will launch PLANET EARTH, a first-of-its-kind look at the world’s most magnificent and compelling locations. The 11-part series includes never-before-seen animal behaviors, remote regions captured by for the first time, and unprecedented high definition production techniques.

In conjunction with the premiere of PLANET EARTH, The Nature Conservancy will launch new in-depth web content on www.nature.org, aimed at educating visitors about the urgent threats facing the places featured in the program and what they can do to help out.  There will be mutual links with www.planet-earth.com to provide active consumers with multiple areas to participate in environmental activities through fun, interactive and educational features.

During the U.S. premiere on Sunday, March 25, viewers can take an online tour that will be synchronized to the show, test themselves on trivia about the animals and environments seen on air, chat with other viewers during the show and ask questions of M. Sanjayan, lead scientist for The Nature Conservancy.

Tying it all together

As unitedstreaming subscribers you have the unique ability to incorporate the Planet Earth interactive links into unitedstreaming assignments, quizzes, and writing prompts.

You can also use the image library, sound files, articles, videos in combination with the Planet Earth educational resources to teach science and conservation concepts.

For example;

• You can download images of endangered species and put them into a photostory, iPhoto, or PowerPoint presentation, or even Google Earth!
• Take Google Earth tour of Planet Earth http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/google-tour/google-tour.html
• Create an interactive Rain Forest Quiz
• Challenge your students to become naturalists by creating their own Digital Scrapbook.  Download the attached ppt template and customize it for your lesson/class! Download Rainforest.zip  (This is a Zipped file - be sure to follow prompts when downloading it onto your computer.  You will need to unzip all of the attachments (videos, images, ppt, and sound file and place them in a folder on your computer).
  Finally, you and your class can can participate in a live chat with series producers on Monday, March 26, the day after PLANET EARTH premieres, to learn more about the producer’s filming experiences - check out www.planet-earth.com for more information!

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Education, unitedstreaming

Both the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain have become everlasting symbols of the Cold War. Removing these impediments has marked huge milestones towards achieving peace.

To help you illustrate these and other historic events, unitedstreaming has just released 48 historic speeches! These speeches include everything from John F. Kennedy’s address at the Berlin Wall where he famously proclaims "Ich bin ein Berliner" to Winston Churchill’s "Iron Curtain" metaphor describing the increasing political grip of communism.

Other famous speeches include: Amelia Earhart’s belief in the age of flight, Thomas Edison speaking on the future of electricity, and the inaugural speech of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

You can stream and/or download these speeches just like you would with any of the other material that you find on the site.

Finally,transcripts and classroom use guides are available within the Related Materials tab attached to each famous speech.

We hope that you enjoy these resources, and just think, the next world famous orator may just be sitting in your classroom. 

Talk to you soon,
Matt Monjan
Discovery Education