Overload

All I wanted to do was make one little tweak to the "easy animoto" video by adding my own mp3 recording. Little did I know that it would take me down the digital alleyways where I would become lost and frustrated. One thing I'm finding is that in order to do one thing, you have to download 50 other programs which all require registrations and passwords. Keeping straight where you've put things and how to get back to them is very taxing. At this point I still haven't gotten my animoto video to work, but I imagine if I turn the whole thing over to my students, they'll have it figured out in about 30 seconds! Thanks to Chris for a very informative class (even though it really was humbling to see how little I really know!).

Final Day

I learned alot of great things over the past 2.5 days. I am walking away from this class with alot of "tools". I was thrilled to find Mr. Duey's Math video on teachertube, as corny as it may be. I believe the Science section on the Digital Streaming webpage will come in very handy for me the next school year, seeing I will now be teaching Science and Math. I found alot of useful videos, activities, assessments, and articles on material I will be teaching.

I was a little bummed that I couldn't get back into the lessons I created in Digital Streaming. I had alot of computer problems a good chunk of the time today with my computer freezing and programs being uncooperative. Eventually things got a little better and I was able to create a Voki that I am looking forward to including on the website I would like to create for next school year. Creating a website will be my endeavor over the next couple of months.

Chris, thank you for sharing all of the great information and sites available! I will be looking forward to working with you more on this next school year.

New Tools for My Toolbox

I gained a lot from the class and can't wait to go back and show my teachers in my building how to use the United Streaming features. That was my main purpose in taking the class. But in addition to seeing the features of United Streaming I learned about a lot of other great tools to try and share with my colleagues.
Thanks Chris and everyone else in the class for sharing what you know and giving me a lot to tools for my toolbox!

Audacity

Audacity is a free software package that allows you to record music, voice, sounds....on a pc. You need to search for it and find a download site. If you wish to export your recording as an MP3, you will need to also download a free program called LAME. When you go to export your audacity work as an MP3 the first time, you will be asked to locate the LAME_dll. Just remember where you saved this on your computer and you will be able to find the location. After the first time you will not need to do this again.

This website has step-by-step directions on how to do this: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3

(However, it is blocked within the WAWM setting!)

Overview of Class

I have been referred to as the "Eternal Optimist" but I feel that a lot of great things came out of the problems we had with United Streaming. I think that what I learned about Web 2.0 was wonderful. I had heard a lot about it at our WEMTA Conference in April but have not had the time to explore any of it. To be able to have time to play around with some of these here with support was absolutly fantastic. Anamoto was great fun and something that I will use often on my site and show students how to put them into their presentations. It was also great to be able have breaks from United Streaming especially with the difficulties that we were experiencing. I applaud Chris's ability to to duck and roll and come up with new material that was as important to me as the original. Thanks Chris.

Frustration vs. Learning

Even though we all dealt with frustration, this class was very worthwhile. We learned a lot of "backdoors" for Discovery Streaming and I think I was still able to accomplish my goal of becoming an "expert". I'll never know everything but now I know how to troubleshoot as well as a lot of what can be done with the website.

In the meantime, I learned a lot more about Web 2.0 tools. Animoto is very cool. I'm going to try VoiceThread and I'm making my own library page on Teacher's Web. I explored Teacher Tube as well. I feel very confident that I'll be able to go into the next school year with lots of new tools and renewed enthusiasm. This is my ultimate goal of every summer course.

Everyone in the class was very cool; full of great ideas, ready to share. Chris, you did a great job under a lot of pressure. Kudos to all. I had fun.

Armed and Ready

Wow, it has been a quick 3 days already. I can't believe the time that has passed. I feel like all I want to do now is explore more digital streaming videos, make more vokis and animotos, and listen more to Mr. Duey's rap songs. I also really like teachertube because it is censored more than youtube. I know I will definitely use more of this in the future. I am armed and will be ready to start the year. Many thanks to Chris and everyone in the class who has taught me to be more technologically savoy.

Animoto vs Mac

Yesterday I was singing the praises of the Animoto site to a friend. My friend thought it sounded very cool. However, he said that the new Macs could produce a photo video with sound in an easier way. Has anybody compared the photo video capabilities of Animoto to a Mac?

Technology Optimist

I hope that when the technology fails me at an inservice or in front of a class of kids, I can be as composed as Chris has been this whole time! I still think there are endless possibilities for the new technologies we've been learning, but I am very frustrated. After a few days away from this, I hope to return to a working website and figure out how to use all of the features of Discovery Streaming.

Listen to Hot Diggity Dog's blog (aka Jessica)

Get a Voki now!

Teacher Tube Virgin

I had never used Teacher Tube before even though I knew it was out there for teacher use. It was interesting to see what videos are available there. It's interesting that Pat said if you sign up on the site that it allows you to search and see videos by category/subject area which would help you to search and find videos a little more easily. It gets a little crazy with signing in to all of these sites and remembering your username and password for each one!

animoto

I learned a lot just trying the Animoto for the first time. You really need to have your images meet the required size of 640 x 480 for an one stored at the site or 1024 x 768 if you want to burn it to DVD. My first try came out very blurred and I was unable to see the book titles in some cases. My second one came out much clearer. I also like that you can go back and edit or just have them reformat your piece. If you do this it still saves your first piece so you might want to change the title so you know which is which.

Learned a Lot Anyway

I am so thankful for all the links that Chris shared with us on the My Links site of her webpage. I was very impressed with all that she had entered there and is willing to share with all of us. I made an Animoto video of my trip Up North with my girlfriends this past weekend as an example and am so excited that I'll be able to share it with them.
I can't wait to try out some of the other links that are there.

Too cool!

I found today's exploration into digital streaming and searching for educational videos to be very entertaining. In Discovery's elementary science module, I found a great interactive piece on the life cycle of a frog. Students could click and drag a frog during different phases of its life to a chart and watch the animal grow. Not only that, but the student could listen to the explanation of that phase while the words being read are highlighted. This would be extremely helpful for vocabulary building and for struggling readers.

Another fun and fabulous site is Teacher tube. Here, I found many educational videos for math. Before this class, I didn't know the wonders of a Mr. Duey Fraction rap! I definitely plan to use this video to help teach my 4th graders about fractions. I can't wait to discover more about the wild and wacky world of educational raps Mr. Duey has to offer. I'm also glad to have the many resources of Teacher tube just a click away.

Strike 3 But not out!

Strike Three! But not out! Our 3rd day of digital streaming problems. Had hoped to access the start I had on my lessons but I can't get lessons to open. It doesn't really matter because I can't get videos to open today anyway! I am impressd though with the Discovery Science Connection. One of the chapters is about sound and the physical/mathmatical properties of it. Music is organized sound and the physics of producing/processing sound has always amazed me. Lots of good video and lesson plans in this area. In other summarizing thoughts, I really learned a great deal about this powerful tool even though we were unable to utilize the program as intended. Many thanks to Chris for her abilty to change course gracefully in the middle of a technology crisis beyond her control! Observing her dodge, duck and weave has been worth the price of admission alone!

Voki

I had a lot of fun with Voki, today. Thanks to everybody.

Get a Voki now!

Blech.

It is too bad that united streaming is not cooperating. As far as united streaming is concerned I am afraid I am past that "two strikes" Chris referred to at the beginning of this class.

On a positive note, I've found many other technological tools that can be incorporated into my classroom. For example, the animoto video I created to introduce a field trip to Madison should be a hit :)

Day 2 and still optimistic

Unitedstreaming was not all bad today. I actually got an assignment done, yay! I don't know if it works or is saved but I got it done. I am learning a lot about Voki and Animoto. I think it is kind of neat, and totally hilarious. I plan on using some more of the professional development contents like Web quests and embedding videos to my Power Point. Although I tried to embed a video into my Power Point and I couldn't do it. Does anyone know how?

WOW!!

Well...I was able to complete one assignment even though I cannot view it. I am glad that I have something I can now use. This is very difficult because I will be teaching a whole new grade level next year so I am struggling a little with what lessons to create. I am not a 100% sure what I will exactly be teaching. I am wondering if we will be able to upload materials that we have already created or if we can only copy and paste them? There are so many neat things out there that I know my students will love.

I now know why I do not work in an office though. I have a really hard time sitting all day and sitting in front of the computer all day makes it even worse. This is all wonderful stuff that I will have to work on in small pieces.
HAVE A GREAT NIGHT!

It's a Mad World

Maxine, if your students weren't too young for the gag you could go with "Read this book or the puppy gets it!" That might be a bit much for elementary school kids, though.

I love web 2.0

I've been learning more web 2.0 tools and next school year I want to run a student club using web 2.0 tools to create book talks, reviews, videos, etc. I need a good, catchy title for the club and I'm not good at those. Any ideas?

Day Two of Technology Purgatory

Well, I've got two assignments done, but since we can't access them, you'll just have to take my word for the fact that they are truly awesome. I found some interesting lesson plans on the lesson plan page, and I created a very cool avatar, so the day wasn't a total loss. I'm thinking of creating a book club blog and having kids create avatars to deliver their comments on sections of the novel. I have a friend who already does a blog like this as an extra credit project, and the kids really like it.

Web 2.0 Oh My!

I can't say much for my Discovery Streaming experience today... but I loved dabbling in all the new Web 2.0 technology. This is the fun stuff that will grab our digital age kids and still get the content across too. I am wondering how this stuff will work if I try to embed it into the web page template that the district gives me. Maybe that's why you create your own web page and link it to the district site?

Atlas Video

re. the Atlas feature of Discovery Edu. I wonder if they will develop the video maps and features of some of the out of the way places. I tried to research Antigua which is an Island of the West Indies chain and there was no information on it. I see that many of the more remote locations lack information as well.

Breadcrumbs

As I am a newby at blogging and digital streaming, I LOVED learning about 'breadcrumbs'. Using these handy little crumbs instead of the back button will lessen the risk of loosing a page and enable me to retrace my steps in a more efficient manner. Very cool.

The pencil

As this is only the second day I have ever used a blog, I have a question. What does the pencil icon mean next to an entry? Just curious.

Grade Level questions????

I am confused as to how some of the videos can be for grade level k-2 and 9-12. I really cannot see first graders using The Great Gatsby. Am I not understanding the code??

Answer For Jessica

Jessica,
To answer your question about burning the video's to dvd. The teacher had all of his video segments downloaded to his H drive on the school server. He then just grouped them and burned each group on to a DVD. Now you might want to experiment with this because all DVD players will not play a burned DVD so before I did a lot I would check this out with one first

Hey Jen

Hey Jen, I saw in your blog that you were studying The Great Gatsby. I saw a great video under Atlas, United States. It was about the Jazz Age and discussed how The Great Gatsby played into the Jazz theme. Just wanted to share!

Another Question

I am not very computer savy. I'm still confused about web20. What is it again and how can I use it in my 3/4 th grade classroom?

My first day of Digital Streaming

I thought that today was very enlightening even though we had some technical problems. I learned about a few new things like the blog on google and the ability to share document. I can see that a lot of my teachers would be able to use that in their classroom for students to each add their project to make a whole class project. Today also made me aware of how fast technology is changing and that it is almost impossible to keep up.

Resource Overload?!

Digital streaming, Nettrekker, World Book Online, Smartboards, OPAC, Thinkfinity, Web 2.0.... so many digital resources/tools to learn and use and help others too! A bit overwhelming to me, and I love all this stuff. I think you've really got to know your staff and where the best place to start and help them focus their energy most appropriately is.

Monday's Post

The "book search" feature under Google products could be very useful for me as I always ask my students to incorporate quotes from novels into their literary analysis essays. They often know what they want to include but can't find the exact quote. For example, they know they want to include the quote from The Great Gatsby where Daisy cries over Gatsby's silk shirts; they can call up the full text version of the novel and under the "find" feature type in silk shirts and go right to the quote they are looking for. I'm wondering if, in the lesson planning feature, we can import our own documents (other worksheets we've already created) that would mesh with videos we've chosen to work with?

Frustration and Fascination

Even though we had a lot of frustration getting on to United Streaming, I learned a lot of new and interesting things. I'm already starting to think of ways that I can use this tool with the teachers in my school. I was glad that our district is not the only one that has problems!
There are a number of things that I know I will share with my staff in either a staff development setting or tech talk setting. The advanced search options for searching for closed captioned videos is a feature I am definitely going to share with my staff. We have a large hearing impaired population and staff are always looking for videos that will have the closed captioning. I'm anxious tomorrow to do more searching and experimenting with the other features. I hope the system will be working better so that it will be easier to get around within the program!

Videos w/out a projector?

Naomi? mentioned that a teacher in her district was able to burn united streaming videos to a DVD so you can show them on your regular DVD player. I would like to know how to do this to get around the potential problem of showing videos from united streaming and not having a projector/Smartboard available at all times.

Google Docs

I am excited to play around with the share feature on google docs! After doing a test run and sharing a document (with myself) I can see how this would be a useful tool for teachers. Planning collaborative units, creating targets for curricular areas, or sharing monthly learning logs with other teachers are all applications in which the share feature would be beneficial.

Class 1st day

Interesting day overcoming the challenges of getting our technology up and running!
I did manage to absorb a lot of information though thanks to the fast thinking and tap dancing of our instructor Chris Longe.

I did get deeply into a class assignment through the assignment builder despite the erratic processing capability. I hope it saves to my account because it seems to be a pretty good start.

There is an unbelievable amount of learning to be done!

Monday

I have learned how to use digital streaming, make my videos full screen, how to make a blog, and find out more about google and its features. I am really excited because I could use many of these videos in my Biology classes. A few questions I do have are: What type of information is e-mailed once the students have completed the assignment? Is the work they have done or just a notification that tells me the student has completed the assignment?

Question for DS

How do we get our school to sign up for United Streaming? How do we pay for it?

We're all in the same boat

One of the things that was reinforced is that technology is both a blessing and a curse. I love technology (when it works). It is nice to know that it isn't just the Elmbrook district.

I also like to search using their advanced search because you can create a more limited search.

Google Docs

I thought the google docs option that is available is really neat! I think all of the options that are available with the google account could also be great to use. I am concerned about availability of computers in order to use all of the tools available to me. I had problems with this last year. I would still like to know how to get videos for specific standards. I felt slightly overwhelmed searching by topics and/or grade levels, so I think I would really like the option of searching by the standard. I am optimistic about using the tools available with Digital Streaming.

New at Digital Streaming

I am learning the wonders of Google.

Welcome Digital Streaming Students!

This blog will be a help to both teacher and student as we go through our class together this week.

Assignment: At the end of each class, please list one thing you have learned today and one question you have.

If you have any tips for the rest of us in the class, please always consider them welcome!!!

Hope you enjoy our class!

Chris