Monday, December 14, 2009

Embedding a Video on your Blog

Hey there. If you're reading this, you may have wondered how to embed a video on your blog.

Here's what you need to know:

<embed src="" width="400" height="320" autoplay="false"> </embed>

Inside the src quotes goes the web address (go to the webcast archive, find your video, right click, choose properties, copy the address, paste the address inside the quotes)

The rest breaks out like this: autoplay="false" means it won't start till someone clicks play.

Width & Height are pretty self-explanatory and keep it small so it fits in your blog entry.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Screencast

This is a screencast that I created for my web design students. This was an introduction I made to help my students with their web site consultant projects, and I think I had quite a few views.

This was actually one of a series of screencasts that I created, the final one of which I need to re-record as I forgot to turn my wireless mic on, so it is just a random series of clicks and me typing in code for a web site.



I know this method of teaching will benefit me in the immediate future as I attempt to teach teachers how to use their tablet PC's. I will post more links soon.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Tablet PC (Ad)venture

As part of the move toward 21st Century skills, it has been my pleasure to test and debug our department's use of tablet PC's.

A couple thoughts I have on this (ad)venture:

  • Having the opportunity for teachers to use this technology means that our students are more likely to see increased use of computers in their education.

  • I will have to change the way I teach some things if this takes the next logical step and moves to students with laptops

  • I am going to have to teach more teachers about using this technology than I am students.

  • Having great tools does not negate the need for intelligent, competent, and student-centered teachers.


Curious if you have any thoughts along those lines or other.
Please comment and let me know.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Etherpad sign-up

Hello, there. I am experimenting with Etherpad for my English class, so I thought I would throw an entry up here.

My students are studying for The Odyssey right now, and as part of that, they are creating a glossary of terms on my class' Moodle page. Each bell has a separate glossary, so that everyone will be creating entries for a couple of the heroes, monsters, or gods that we encountered in the reading.

The reason I am using Etherpad is as a sign-up for which glossary entries they will be making. See that document for my first bell class here: http://etherpad.com/QHjU9ZHM7D.

I will post a follow-up after we have had a chance to fully explore this activity to let you know how it went, but I am hoping for good things!

***Update***

Today's activity went extremely well. Aside from some side conversations going on in the chat window, the classes were extremely focused. They really seemed to get into creating something for the whole class, and they really invested themselves in their work. It was good to see them all on-task with computers in front of them, as sometimes they like to play on sites that are not part of the assignment.

In all, I would call my first foray into a whole class using Etherpad a success. It worked well for what it was, a sign-up sheet. I can't imagine I have much use for Scriblink, the other site that we were exploring, but I could be convinced...

Till Later,

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Slide Show Online Tool

I found a fun site the other day thanks to a web design student who showed me Maria Childs' site. Sometimes we have to take ideas where we can.

I put some photos of my kids and my icon in there, but there were dozens of different themes you could use for other, professional, projects.

http://www.slide.com/r/DAvX8tCs4j-qkQJV7twOnA9Xq5S0Pgcy?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

Click on the link above to see the result.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Thanks to Jennifer Jackson's blog suggestion, I have joined Classroom 2.0. I wonder what that will mean for me down the road...


Visit Classroom 2.0


I hope to have some contacts for some collaborative activities in the coming months, and I think this site might provide the contacts for those activities.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Google Docs

A couple weeks ago, when we first met, I was already familiar with Google Docs but had not yet used them with my classes. I decided to take on creating a presentation for my classes using Google Docs so that students who missed class could still have access to the presentation over Mythological Gods & Godesses from Ancient Greece (We're starting the Odyssey).

Here's the presentation:


I adapted it in PowerPoint so that there were animations. This way I could discuss things as they came up, but these were the final slides that students would see. I think it will come in handy when they review for the test, and I look forward to polling them to see how many used it (it is a link on my website).

Monday, November 9, 2009

What do social networks look like?

I have been driven by a problem for the last couple days; people are more and more commonly finding their personal connections online. Aside from Facebook, where every bit of a person's identity and personality is viewable by whomever they chose, what social networks exist for people?

One that I found was gather.com. This site allows people to find and read and comment on topics within certain groups. Most groups seem organized by topic or by singular interest. The difference between just a topic site and this type of social network seems to lie entirely in the ability of people to comment on posts by the other members.

It is that interaction (rather than just a place to read) that most people seek, but what of those of us who don't specifically seek out the ability to tell people how great or horrible they are. What of people who would rather let others alone and just read interesting and well-thought out articles?

I suppose it all boils down to this: what true value is there for people on online social networks?

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Web 2.0 Tools

Whenever I start something new, I always get really gung-ho about it and dive right in. In this case, I actually get to share some things I discovered about "web 2.0".

I came across agreat web 2.0 wiki that I thought others could benefit from in our class. It's created by an educator, and the links seem pretty good.

My personal favorite on this site (so far) is yodio (http://www.yodio.com) which allows you to link audio to a slideshow. This would be really helpful for students who miss a slide presentation like PowerPoint to be able to view the show. I think it could also be used to benefit students who are working on individual projects, allowing them to create a presentation for the class about their topic.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

First Post


Hello! I'm posting my first blog for my grad class. This is my daughter Veronica when she was only a week old. She's five months now, but I really just wanted to brag.