Edgalaxy – Where Education and Tech Meet has a great post on alternatives to using YouTube in school.
“Unfortunately after a couple of years of Youtube access at school it appears it has finally left us. It is clearly the best video sharing site on the web but if you can’t access it it here is not a great deal you can do about it. So I have trawled the web to try and find the best video content on the web that most schools should be able to access.
Vimeo - Is really the only contender to Youtube’s crown. Good quality, fast and loads of content. Unfortunately it doesn’t have the news and entertainment content of the major networks that youtube offers.
TVGalaxy – TV Galaxy is not so much a tube but it is probably the best connected sitefor all major television networks from the US, Canada, UK and Australia. It is packed with great documentaries news and regular television shows.
TeacherTube - It used to be great but now suffers from a sad amount of over advertising and neglect of it’s content. It needs some TLC but still has some worthwhile videos.
Archive.org – Massive amounts of documentaries, old TV shows and useful content. Unfortuanately you have to physically download it at this stage – no streaming.
Other than that a TV tuner card for a classroom PC will cost about $30 and is dead simple to use and of course you can aways beg and plead”
Hmmm……..I wonder about the NEW Apple TV thing.
Check out all the details at http://crabfuartworks.blogspot.com/2010/09/crabfu-5-iphone-microscope-mod.html
iOS 4.1 will be available sometime this week for iPhone & iPod touch
Apple just introduced iOS 4.1. Steve Jobs discussed a bunch of fixes and new features, including: (so run your software updates!)
- various bug fixes for Proximity, Bluetooth and iPhone 3G
- High Dynamic Range photos
- HD video upload over Wi-Fi
- TV show rentals
- Game Center
The High Dynamic Range photos is basically three separate images so that it c an gather midranges, shadows and highlights more effectively. As a former journalism and phototography teacher, I love this idea.
iOS 4.2 for iPad
The iPadis getting its own (i)OS update.
- wireless printing for iOS on your iPad
- AirPlay to stream video and audio over Wi-Fi from your iPad
- add apps to folders, just like iPhone, as well as multitasking
The update will be available in November, and it’s free for iPad users.
Steve Jobs announced an update to the Apple TV. The new stuff for Apple TV includes:
- new matte black color
- 1/4 of the size
- added HDMI and digital audio outputs
- NO internal storage—only rentals from the iTunes Store
- day-of-release HD movies rent for $4.99; HD TV shows rent for $.99
- $99 price tag
- includes the remote
Of course, I am not sure what the “old stuff” was on the original Apple TV since I didn’t have one. Jobs said that people “don’t want to manage storage… they just want to watch movies and TV shows.” And that whatever hardware we have has to be “silent, cool and small.” I more or less agree! I hate to admit it, I am into the “cool factor.”
I currently pay for some premium channels with my cable subscription, and only watch them now & then. If I really think about it, likely a waste of my money, I am wondering if it would be cheaper to just have basic cable and an Apple TV. It is important to note that my 82 year old parents live with me, so, I do need basic cable for Mom & Dad. Maybe I could cut my cable bill in half with just having basic cable, buy Apple TV for me in my room and do the pay as I go thing when I wnat to!! That is something to think about. I have training my folks to use their cell and just eliminated my land line! So we are moving forward. I even have my dad reading the USA Today on my iPad!
You can subscribe to Netflix streaming for $8.99 a month on the new Apple TV, and stream from MobileMe, YouTube and Flickr. That all sounds good, but Flickr? That would mean I should take better advantage of my Pro-Flickr account. MobileMe, no doubt I do not take full advantage of my $99 a year price tag (which is pretty steep) and I looked into streaming Netflix a while back, and there was not much there I cared about watching, has it really improved that much?
AirPlay, replaces AirTunes, which I have also never used. AirPlay allows streaming from a device to Apple TV—for example, from your iPad to your new Apple TV. Jobs demonstrated this by streaming a movie from his iPad to an Apple TV using Wi-Fi. Hmm, this sounds interesting, still not sure it is something I would really take much of advantage of yet. Boy I am full of “yets.” Maybe an Apple TV really is in my future.
When Apple TV is available in October, ABC and Fox will offer their HD shows for rental at the 99 cents. RENTAL, what the heck? Altough I would just pay for what I watch. Can I subscribe to a series? Will it be cheaper if you buy the season rather than 99 cents per show? 99 cents each could get pretty expensive for a full season of your favorite show!! That scares me just a bit. Although, I do love the no commercial thing!!
And what about all the other networks, I like ABC & Fox, but come on, I want all of them? I don’t think pre-ordering is in the cards for me, although it is only $99.00. But it seems that I have to pay for everything I watch. I just can’t wrap my brain around it. Kinda think it might equal out to lots more money than cable in the long run, might just be me and my poor math skills.
It doesn’t appear as though I could eliminate cable completely just yet, and when I do want to watch TV, I just want to watch TV, not have to plan for it!! So, the jury is still out on Apple TV for me at least. I think maybe I must be living in a different world when it comes to TV entertainment than Steve Jobs! Maybe there is more FREE stuff out there that I can stream and I just don’t know about it.
Clearly, I better do more research before I make up my mind. How about you, what are your feeling about AppleTV?, Where do you stand? Please comment!
More Information
http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html
Purchase Apple TV: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/apple_tv
Apple September 2010 Music Event-The All New Apple TV Media Streamer
Wesley Fryer has am amazing thought provoking post about Digital Citizenship on his blog Moving at the Speed of Creativity. It is worth reading!!
The actions of Florida 11 year old “Jessi Slaughter” (Jessica Leonhardt) on YouTube as well as her father provide a case study on digital citizenship both sad and instructive to witness. The following seven minute segment from Good Morning America back in July 2010 provides a partial summary of the incident and situation.
The YouTube version above of this clip may be taken down at some point. The following ABC News website posts from July 22nd provide insights into the escalating series of events which led to this extreme and distressing situation:
Viral Cyberbullying: Who’s to Blame for Jessi Slaughter’s Online Infamy
‘Jessi Slaughter’ Says Death Threats Won’t Stop Her From Posting Videos on the Internet
Jessi Slaughter’s Cyber Bullying Nightmare
Jessi Slaughter Breaks Down, Father Steps In
To read the full story, CLICK HERE
Rick Rees, and Apple Professional Development trainer recently conducted a workshop in Tupelo. The teachers that he worked with were introduced to iLife & iWork and would you believe they started school this week, first week of August. Braden Bishop, one of the workshop participants contacted Rick to share his iMovie that he made to introduce himself to his students.
This is the scenario:
Braden connected some big desktop speakers with a subwoofer to his computer and had everything set to go. After his new high school students came in to his Economics class on the first day of school, he shut the door, didn’t say a word, turned out the lights, and turned the video on. He said “they were kinda floored.” and that “three of my six periods stood up and clapped…and DIDN’T EVEN know me!”
Thanks Rick for sharing Braden’s project, it is simply amazing. What a creative way to use iMovie too! Check out Braden’s work. When you watch it you’ll know why his students were excited. What a great way to start the year. Although, starting school the first of August, oh my!!
Kudoo’s to Steve Anderson, BLOGGING ABOUT THE WEB 2.0 CONNECTED CLASSROOM A BLEND OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION
The video is a funny mash-up that demonstrate the six levels of Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as found in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Music from Pirates I and III http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjhKmhKjzsQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEHNhcdyMtc
Do we know what we are doing? Does society know what it wants? Are we still working towards reform… Ask yourself…
Who seriously believes that locking 25 students in a small room with one adult for
several hours each day is the best way for them to be “educated”?
Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.
– George Evans
Why do we think every 6 year old is going to be at the same place in math, english and all the other subjects so we clump them together.
We already live in a time of disconnect, where the classroom has stopped reflecting the world outside its walls. The classroom is born of an industrial mode of thinking.
Greatest hurdle in ed reform is that society doesn’t have a clear vision of what school is for
“If you put a doctor of 100 years ago in today’s operating room, she would be lost, yet if you placed a teacher of 100 years ago into one of today’s classrooms she wouldn’t skip a beat. ”
Molebash 1999
Moving from the one-room schoolhouse to the one-world schoolhouse is now a reality.”
Cisco Systems
“If we don’t focus on the experience dimension of learning, we run the risk of mistaking the publishing of information for learning and training”
Elliott Masie
In education the Use it or lose it rule may mean If you don’t use tech for learning , you may lose relevance. An educator must be relevant.
Teachers need to exist in the spaces the students exist, understand their culture. You have no credibility if you are not where they are.
“Because the generation of students that I am teaching is an instant pudding, drive-through, microwave, download-it-from-the-Internet, media-driven generation, I know that I must be innovative to keep their interest and to inspire in them a creative curiosity.”
Doug Martin
Do I create lifelong learners.
Am I preparing students for my age or theirs?
Thanks to Alice Barr’s blog, View From My Window from Maine for this resource. I was reading an article on her blog and noticed a widget on the side. Follow my videos on VodPod, it is kinda of like a a BlogRoll for videos. Of course, I had to check it out. I think I will be adding this feature to my blog. Looks pretty slick.
What’s Vodpod?
We think people find the best videos on the web, not computers. So we’ve made it easy to build your own video channel to share with the world, and to tune in to channels made by other members who share your interests or tastes.
The Basics
-
Build Your Channel
Get your very own video channel up and running in seconds, using any video from any video sharing site — YouTube, Hulu, CNN, and literally tens of thousands more.
- Tune In
Subscribe to other channels and get a video feed customized for you. We’ll help you find the channels you like with our categories, leaderboards and channel recommendations.
YouTube is attempting to get people to watch more videos Leanback. Basically it keeps playing full-screen clips until you tell it to stop.
YouTube calls it “effortless viewing” and users don’t have to select anything. The non-stop lineup is determined by a users, settings and preferences, including subscriptions and videos friends have recommended on Facebook. It is not really TV in the traditional sense. YouTube says it is “as easy as watching TV.” Maybe, but when it comes to watching TV, which for me is quite limited due to time constraints, I want to watch what I want to watch, not somebody else’s suggestions.
Leanback does seems to fit Google’s idea for Google TV. Not quite sure what to think at this point. Check it out and let me know what you think.
July 2nd 2010 By Tom Cullen of Asylum.com
I can’t image and art teacher not loving this!!
“Geekgasm! How perfect does this portrait look. Hand painted? Yes. With a paint brush? No. It’s all done on iPad‘s Brushes application by New York artist David Kassan — using his fingers. An epic, three-hour paint session has been condensed into a seven-minute YouTube clip, which captures the extraordinary process. A recent tweet by British actor Stephen Fry helped the video to over 300,000 views. Kassan sites the “sheer conceptual and executed realism” of Caravaggio as one of his influences. We’re pretty confident Caravaggio didn’t have this app. Keep reading to see the video, then head here for more examples of his work.“
The last couple of days Wesley Fryer, Moving at the Speed of Creativity has been doing reviews of online video editing software. The first two compared were Jaycut and YouTube. And today Stroome and Kaltura.
I knew about and had experimented just a bit with Jaycut and YouTube, but Stroome and Kaltura are new to me. From what I can read so far, Stroome looks like it might have some possibilities. I still love iMovie, but for online, in a pinch, or for Windows users, these FREE online services might just do the the trick.
Stroome: http://www.stroome.com/
Kaltura: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaltura
YouTube: http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/06/edit-video-in-cloud-with-youtube-video.html
Jaycut: http://jaycut.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsOEfMiPndA&feature=player_embedded
K-2: Your Buzz & Woody: What toy is your absolute favorite? Write down 3 words (or sentences) that describe why you like it.
3-5: If You Were a Toy: Pretend that you get to be the voice for a Toy Story 3 toy. What toy would you be? Why would that toy be the perfect fit for your voice?
6-8: Toys Trashed?: When you outgrow your toys, what do you do with them? Do you think its best to keep them, give them to a younger family member or to charity, or to throw them away? Why?
9-12: The Gender of Play: Ken gets teased for being a girls’ toy. Do you think that children gravitating toward traditional toys for their gender is a natural tendency of children or a result of how little boys and girls are treated differently?
YouTube Block? Try this site
Thanks to TeacherHUb for this resource.
Here is a good little video that explains some of the olad and mostly new features of Google Docs. As teachers we should be consider it’s use.
Your pencil can reach the world.. from Kevin Honeycutt’s blog Triadigital Learning
This morning I had a fun conversation with Kevin Honeycutt via Skype, I was home in my comfy chair, looking a mess because I had just returned from exercising. I mean a mess!! So, if you watch the podcast, be prepared!.
Kevin was stranded in the airport in Minneapolis waiting for a flight. We had our normal catching up conversation about what we are doing and then we always share resources. Needless to say, that is always the rich part for me.
First we did a little podcast promoting the Celebrate Kansas Voices workshop in August. I am sure he will get it uploaded to his Driving Questions Podcast when he gets home, or maybe to his YouTube site.
What is CKV?
Celebrate Kansas Voices presented by Story Chasers, Inc. (a nonprofit) and other partner organizations. CKV is a statewide digital storytelling project empowering learners to become digital witnesses, archiving local oral history and sharing that history safely on the global stage of the Internet. Our project is starting in 2010, based on the successful Celebrate Oklahoma Voices project which started in 2006. They have trained over 500 teacher in Oklahoma and have 16+ workshops this summer. Out goal is the same, train all the teachers in Kansas.
Join our Ning site and keep updated on developments or register to attend the firs of many workshop in August. Apply online to participate in the August 4-6, 2010 “Celebrate Kansas Voices” workshop at Kansas State University in Manhattan! More info is available.
By the way, if you are from another state and what to attend, please come!! We would love to have you.
After our CKV conversation for his podcast, he stopped recording and he told me about his Art Snacks YouTube phone call. Actually, it was more about his amazement that YouTube called him about his Shark Drawing video. ArtSnacks Great White Shark: This an many other lessons on ArtSnacks.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uToNXv0Gik0
http://macmost.com/10ipadapps.html; Take a look at 10 iPad apps that do things you may or may not have known the iPad could do.
See http://macmost.com/10ipadapps.html for links.
I think this could be useful, especially for PC folks trying to use Windows Movie Maker or for folks that don’t have other options. It does appear to be rather limited, but would probably do the trick in a pinch. And it FREE, I always like free and find it worth consideration.
According to Mashable/Video:
The new service enables you to edit together separate clips, as well as add or change the background music using YouTube’s commercial AudioSwap library of licensed songs. As of right now, the service and its features are pretty basic, but could prove valuable for users that either want to create longer montages or playlists, or do basic editing jobs.
And CNET News says:
YouTube adds cloud-based video editor
In a significant philosophical shift, Google has added a basic video-editing system to YouTube, giving a new creative aspect to the video-sharing site.
The YouTube editor isn’t going to put Apple’s Final Cut Pro or Adobe Systems’ Premiere Pro out of business anytime soon, but the tool is useful. With it, you can trim videos and combine multiple videos into a single composite.
Google is arguably the biggest advocate of cloud computing, one variety of which shifts tasks that once were done on personal computers to Internet servers reached with a Web browser. With Google Docs, Google’s acquisition of online photo editor Picnik, and now editing YouTube videos, it’s clear Google’s vision for cloud computing extends well beyond consuming content but to creating it as well.
For all the details about this new YouTube Video Editing Tool, CLICK HERE
Evernote, what’s all the hype? Every time I turn around, I see Evernote mentioned. I downloaded it and installed last fall, but never really used. Then I got an iPad, and Evernote has a app and I see lots of chatter about it. I am thinking I need to dig into it and find out what all the hoop-a-la is about.
In fact this entry cam from the blog Digitized by David Pierce. It is a pretty impressive list and I am intrigued enough to look deeper.
8 Things You Should Store In Evernote
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to simplify my digital life. I use way too many applications to get things done, and want to bring my number down to as few as possible.
It’s actually been a much easier task than I had figured it was going to be, and it’s largely thanks to Evernote. By thinking a little bit outside the box about what I could store in Evernote and how it could work for me, I’ve gotten rid of my need for a lot of applications, instead keeping everything in Evernote. It’s helped me remember more, find what I need when I need it, and be more on top of everything at once.
No matter what else you do with Evernote, here are eight things I’m now keeping in Evernote, and highly recommend:
To read the FULL story, CLICK HERE
Additional Resources
Evernote Will Organize Your Life! Classroom 2.0
Evernote for Education from the blog Integrating Technology into the Classroom
Evernote: from the Wiki Teach Web 2.0
Video Resources
The New Evernote (YouTube)
Evernote Introduction
Evernote to the Rescue!
Why I Love Evernote!
Evernote In the Classroom
iPad
Working With Evernote for iPad This is a really great site!
