Category: Multimedia

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Recent Workshop Wikis: Sketchasting and More…

I’m in the middle of two weeks of relatively intense workshop activity and realized I haven’t been sharing my workshop wikis here lately. So, here are the agendas (with links to everything I mention and materials if applicable) for each of the recent workshops that I have permission to share:

Sketchcasting – This workshop was based on the latest tool I found to share with teachers using Tablet PCs. In essence, sketchast.com is a web-based sketching program that is actually responsive enough to work well with a Tablet PC pen and which allows users to save and share their sketches online, complete with narration. It’s like being able to save what happens on the whiteboard – erase the board and keep going as many times as you like during your narration.

Picasa in Education – This is the latest version of my workshop for helping teachers get the most out of Picasa. The wiki includes links to documentation, a checklist of hands-on topics to cover, and links to many other resources including instructional strategies with a digital camera aligned with Marzon’s instructional strategies that work.

Movie Maker in Education – This is a similar workshop, but for Movie Maker. The wiki includes links to documentation, inspirational ideas for classroom use, and more. I even suggest ways to extend Movie Maker’s functionality using Audacity, Photostory, Zamzar, and a Flip Video. (Don’t get too excited… these are one line suggestions with a link to the tools.)

Blog If You Love Learning – This is the latest version of my blogging workshop. Some of the examples are old, but they’re not dated. I’m still very passionate about leading this workshop and sharing these ideas with teachers. For the first time I got to include the new Blog and User Creator at edublogs.org.

Organization Skills – This is a new one for me, and the wiki is mostly just an outline of ideas and activities. The purpose was to help teachers using Macbooks (who are going 1:1 with their students next year) to better organize their digital lives, at least professionally. Perhaps some of you will have additional ideas or better links to add. :)

Search Learn Share: An Introduction to Google in Education (Day 1) – Over three Saturday mornings I’m introducing teachers to the content shared during the Google Teacher Academies (which are more of a lightning quick train-the-trainers format). I’m excited about having the extra time to work with teachers so they can apply the various tools in their work as educators.

Internet Awareness and Safety – I haven’t actually updated this workshop yet, but I’ll be leading it next week at the Leadership 3.0 conference, and it is in need of an update… so there will be new material up there in the next few days. I’m still proud of the balanced approach this workshop takes and I look forward to sharing it with administrators next week.

More… – I’ve shared links to many more workshop wikis on the Workshop Topics page of this blog.

I’d appreciate contributions or feedback on any of these. And of course, feel free to use them as long as you abide by the Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons license on any original material.

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iLife for Windows? Picasa, Audacity, and MovieMaker

I’m leading a workshop at the Orange County Department of Education this morning. The topic is Picasa, Audacity, and MovieMaker. I’ve taught each as a separate workshop in the past, and a few times as all one workshop (including at the CUE conference). In my mind, this combination is the closest you can come to iLife for Windows (especially for free). So, I’ve thrown together a wiki to connect the wikis I’ve created for each tool in the past. Enjoy:

http://ilife4windows.wikispaces.com

I’m considering consolidating all of these workshop wikis in one place. I’ll leave the old ones of course, but it might be nice to have everything under one roof, perhaps http://edtechlife.wikispaces.com – a site that is basically empty right now… the Google ads don’t even kick in. I might even pay to upgrade to a wikispaces Plus or higher plan – and get a custom url. Just thinking out loud… or on blog. If you have any suggestions or feedback, though, please let me know in the comments.

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Link: Lights, Camera, Education!

Lights, Camera, Education! (Via Thoughts from the PodPiper.) Ted Lai, the PodPiper, writes about the American Film Insitute’s Screen Education Program. I hear they provide some great resources for educators, though I don’t see a link in the post. He mentions some videos hosted by Sean Astin “of hobbit, Rudy, and 50 First Dates fame”… but Eva wouldn’t let him get away with that. Her favorite Sean Astin movie is definitely Goonies. :)

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Picasa and Photo Story Registration Open

Picasa and Photostory Registration Open (Via Computer Using Educators.) I’ve just announced a new CUEtoYOU workshop in the LA area. Here is the complete announcement from the CUE.org website. I hope you’ll help get the word out if you work in the area. :)

CUEtoYOU is coming to the Los Angeles area, home of CUELA, LACOE, and CTAP Region 11. This workshop is open to individual registrations – and it’s a real bargain for current CUE members.

Register Today!

Picasa and Photostory (Windows)

May 9, 2007
4:00pm to 7:00pm
LA Baptist High School
9825 Woodley Ave., North Hills, CA 91343

You’ve got to see it to learn it! Picasa allows teachers to organize, edit, and share digital images. Learn to use Picasa to create multi-media projects, to document (or showcase) student learning, and to help differentiate instruction, particularly for English learners. Photo Story is the easiest way to create a video slideshow of your still photos, including titles, captions, a soundtrack, and student narration. Both programs are free to download and use.

Price: $55 w/current CUE membership, or $95 including a one-year membership.

Notes: This workshop is offered through a partnership between LA Baptist High School and CUE. Current CUE membership is required to attend the workshop and is included in the registration process. CUE membership is non-refundable and non-transferable. Registration for CUEtoYOU workshops is also non-refundable. Registration for workshops, but not for membership, may be eligible for reimbursement through the Ed Tech k12 voucher program.

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TeacherTube: YouTube for Teachers

TeacherTube (Via a workshop participant earlier this week… in Redondo I think.) This is like YouTube for teachers… ’nuff said, right? It’s a brilliant idea and I’m glad it exists. All the videos are educational… just check out the channels.

Appropriateness is community moderated; as each page suggests, “Keep it SAFE! Flag all Inappropriate Videos.”

For a few days it was hard for me to put my finger on why it felt so strange to hear about this from a workshop participant. Just now I realized it’s because I would normally hear about such things from my RSS feeds… but I haven’t been keeping up! Not hearing about this is more than enough reason to get back to it. In fact, as I sat down to breakfast just now (Eva was still sleeping), I had a strange desire for a newspaper… so I grabbed the MacBook instead and dug into my feeds!

To be fair, I did hear about it within the week and probably no more than a day after most of you. I just searched my feeds and it popped up first (in my subscriptions) at the CogDogBlog on the 24th, followed by The Tech Savvy Educator on the 27th, and a host of others on the 28th. Then there was a trickle of others on the 29th, 30th, 31st, and even this morning. I learned of it via old-fashioned word-of-mouth on the 29th. Not too bad. Of course, in blog terms I posting quite late to the party. ;)

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Capturing Student Learning with a Digital Camera

Well, last week was another busy one and I didn’t get any posts up. This week I have no trainings scheduled, and even though I have A LOT of prep to do for the coming weeks in October, I think the time at my desk should translate into daily posts. Here’s the first.

Last Monday and Tuesday I was training at the Visalia Learning Center, just North of Fresno in the heart of California. (The VLC is not to be confused with the Lifestyles Center in Visalia, where I discovered a $10 day-pass to the gym, a good cafe, and free wi-fi!)

Scott Smith, Director of Instructional Technology, organized two great events and I was happy to be a part of both of them. (I was also grateful that Scott hosted me at his house for two nights.)

On Monday, Scott and his staff of four full-time technology coaches (teachers on special assignment) hosted a full-day event dedicated to professional development for the site-based technology support teachers (teacher-leaders identified at each site and offered a stipend to support their fellow staff member’s technology use). This model of full-time district coaches and site-based teachers with stipends is very like the structure I was familiar with in my days at the Newport-Mesa USD in Orange County, and I think it is one that supports innovation well on a limited budget. Sadly, I see many districts who do not provide both (or either) of these resources for their teachers.

At any rate, the day was an interesting experience for me as well. The district is a Program Improvement (PI) district, meaning they have not been making their AYP goals (largely on account of their results with their English Learners) and consequently face certain state sanctions. As a result, this inspiring day began with a discussion of how technology can support “base program” – and EL students in particular. Scott got them to a point where they were able to stand behind the statement that “if you have access to technology and you do not use it for teaching your students, you are not teaching the base program as well as you could.” Good stuff.

For my part, I ran “Capturing Student Learning with a Digital Camera” (a CUEtoYOU workshop) twice during the day. In the morning I met with 22 primary teachers, and in the afternoon I met with 8 more secondary teachers.

I started each session with a tie-in to their earlier discussion, asking them to brainstorm ways a digital camera could be used to support “base program” and EL learners. These folks were definitely technology leaders… the ideas they shared were inspired – and they moved quickly through the technical how-to segments that followed. In fact, many were already using digital cameras in the classroom, but were also happy to spread the wealth of the new camera back at their site. I shared with them the metaphor of the digital camera as a “gateway drug” of teacher technology use, and I encouraged them to get other teachers at their site “hooked.” (Unfortunately, I think this metaphor makes them “pushers” and CUE a “dealer”… but for a good cause, right?)

The fact that they were walking away with a new camera was a surprise to both the am and pm groups, so it was pretty easy for me to have a good time with them (and to get great evals) to boot.

For other (non-technology support) teachers, I lead a very similar workshop the following afternoon. This was part of Scott’s ongoing “Toolbox Tuesday” series of professional development opportunities. These folks did need more time with the technical how-to’s, but they were every bit as creative with how they will use their cameras to support “base program” and EL learners.

I also prepared a handout (which I used both days) called Instructional Strategies for Digital Camera based on Robert Marzano’s nine research based strategies for increasing student achievement in Classroom Instruction that Works. (I quite liberally lifted or customized phrases from the book here.) Scott had mentioned that these strategies were important in his district and I wanted to make the connection explicit. I hope this handout, and the other resources linked to the workshop titles above will prove useful for some of you as well.

UPDATE: I’ve also added these handouts, links, and resources to the wiki Burt Lo created for the Digital Camera class he’ll be teaching at CLMS in November. I thought I’d share the wiki here as well, so that perhaps others might contribute: http://digitalcamerasined.wikispaces.com

Up Next: reflections on recent AB 430 workshops for school administrators (including the one I led with Ted Lai last for the OCDE last Wednesday), more on games in education (lots more!), and a little something called “The Infinite Thinking Machine.” I also have to get back to the Senge, Evans, Fullan, and DuFour quotes I’ve been setting aside for the blog – and those link posts I always hope to get to.

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iPhoto and iMovie in the Classroom

September 5, 2006 – While Lainie was in Laguna Beach presenting the Internet Awareness and Safety material I had been working on, I was at Rancho Santa Margarita Middle School in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District presenting “iPhoto and iMovie in the Classroom” on behalf of Computer Using Educators. (I now coordinate their CUEtoYOU professional development program.)

I was working as a part of a much larger day at SVUSD. The entire teaching staff of the district was in professional development sessions that day, and many of them had chosen technology based sessions. I believe there were tech trainings at all (or nearly all) their sites. The district is lucky to have Michael Morrison and the staff he works with. (Michael is their educational technology specialist… and interim IT director.) The day seems to have gone off without a hitch in all but one lab, where there were some minor technical difficulties. (In my case, there were no technical difficulties, though the space we were in, and the need to load demo media for all the participants created some logistical challenges.) Evaluations of the day were overwhelmingly positive. (They trained something like 800 teachers this day, I believe.)

Despite being at the middle school, I was working with groups of elementary teachers, so I leaned heavily on Eva‘s inspiration for ideas and samples of student and teacher projects. I had one group in the morning, and one group in the afternoon, for 2 hours and 45 minutes each. This made it a bit of a rush to cover both iPhoto and iMovie. For relatively tech savvy teachers, these programs are easy to pick up and the time was no issue. Many even played ahead. For those who are not as comfortable with computers (or Mac OS X) this was a real challenge… and of course I had a wide range of skill levels in the class. Thankfully, I think was able to connect with most of the participants and be sure they were leaving with something they could use… perhaps even for back to school night. (Mostly, though, I think they were excited about beginning to collect and create material for open house. I’ve found this is really the first step in iPhoto and iMovie use… have a slideshow or a movie ready for parents at the end of the year.)

In retrospect, I wouldn’t have tried to do both applications at once. iMovie can always be tacked on to the end of an iPhoto class if the group is making good time and ready for more, but unfortunately I know the beginners left with only minimal exposure to both programs and very little practice time… while some of the others who had basically come for iMovie were left particularly disappointed that I spent so much time on iPhoto.

Regardless, both sessions were a success – folks were happier leaving than when they got there. Some said it was the best technology professional development they’d had. (They said this about other sessions that day, too.) I’m just trying to learn from the experience, improve for next time, and share with others here. :)

Finally, here is a link to the materials I offered on the CUE website:
http://www.cue.org/cuetoyou/workshops/2006-09-05/

If you check it out, don’t miss the inspirational ideas at the end of the handout – culled from across the web… and from Eva, of course.

I wish I could share the student samples here (from Eva’s kindergarden classes and her Debbie Ferguson’s 1st grade classes), but I don’t think that would be prudent. Incidentally, though, if you can – always use kindergarden images for demonstrating iPhoto to elementary teachers… they really enjoyed the adorable little ones.

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Introduction to iLife ’06 in Education, Take II

For the second week in a row, I start the week by teaching an Introduction to iLife ‘06 in Education. This is a full day class this time, so we won’t be quite as rushed. We should get a good hour per application and then some.

For use in the class, I’ve provided links to the course description, the promotional tours, and the multimedia tutorials. I’ve also included a link to the Apple Learning Interchange, which can serve as inspiration for using iLife in Education. Finally, there is a link to the participant evaluation survey page, too.

Course Description

Apple – iLife – QuickTour

iLife ‘06 Multimedia Tutorials

Apple Learning Interchange

Participant Evaluation Survey

In patient pursuit of the possible… ;)

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iLife ’06 Multimedia Tutorials

I start my week back at work this morning with a brief Introduction to iLife ’06 for Educators class this morning. It comes with the software. :)

In preparing for this I realized that you no longer need to be a .Mac member to access the tutorials. This is good news for the class. I’ve shared links to the promotional tours and to the multimedia tutorials below. I’ve also included a link to the Apple Learning Interchange, which includes a host of ideas for using iLife in Education.

Apple – iLife – QuickTour

iLife ’06 Multimedia Tutorials

Apple Learning Interchange

Unfortunately, you still need to be a .Mac member to take advantage of all the great features of iWeb and the new iLife ’06. :)

UPDATE: We’re running this class again on Monday the 24th if you are interested. Get the software and the class for less than the cost of the software! Visit http://register.ocde.us to register.