Healthcare and health insurance is a big issue right now. While you are visiting this site, why don't you take a moment and participate in my very short survey on health insurance. Click Here to take survey
The survey site I am using is Surveymonkey. It is a free site for basic services and is super easy to use. Nowadays we participate in surveys for everything. Students can use them to gather statistics for projects, teachers can use them, and organizations can gather information and input from their members. I only wish I had known about this service when we were surveying our union members before negotiating a new contract. Putting surveys on the computer saves a lot of trees, and all the information gathering is done for you.
Every year my school district is required by the state to survey the parents about their school. Imagine the time and effort an online survey would save. Now, if I can just figure out a way to get all the parents on board.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
About Videos
This week was all about videos. I took my trusty sony CyberShot digital camera and headed off to the Disney Resort area. There really wasn't one thing I wanted to video so I started taking short shots. The question was what to do with the little clips. I couldn't have 3 thirty second videos. As usual, this project started to snowball. I googled video joining and found a free site through gold-software (see my links) which allowed me to join my clips into one large one. The directions were super easy, and for me with little patience, it was a blessing. I then went to YouTube opened an account and easily uploaded my video, Disney Plaza, or you can view the video from this blog as there is a feature to insert videos.
Videos can be a great asset to a class. They can add a visual perspective to different places like the Disney Plaza video, or. . . . . . . .
they can be used for demonstration purposes like the video below of my #2 grandson showing off his yoyo skills.
Videos can be a great asset to a class. They can add a visual perspective to different places like the Disney Plaza video, or. . . . . . . .
they can be used for demonstration purposes like the video below of my #2 grandson showing off his yoyo skills.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Sharing Photos
When I mentioned that I would be sharing photos on my blog, it generated some interest with #1 grandson. He is very interested in American history and wanted me to post my pictures of Philadelphia. So, this slideshow is dedicated to my grandson. You can view the photos from the photo sharing site bubbleshare or you can view them from the slide show located on the right.
I really liked bubbleshare; remember it's all about being super easy. I downloaded my photos and the program let me rotate them, rearrange the order, pick an album background, and even add some text. The text function did not work all the time as you will notice if you view the slide show on my blog.
This time it was easy to import the html to put the slide show in the blog, but I'm having a bit of a challenge changing the size. It seems to be sort of okay for now.
I can see some educational benefits of photo sharing. They give us historical perspective. Additionally, photos can be our window to the world. They give us an idea of what things are like, but they only capture a particular view. I would hope that viewing photos would peak the viewer's interest to actually go to some of the places to experience what they had seen with all their senses thus making the picture complete.
I really liked bubbleshare; remember it's all about being super easy. I downloaded my photos and the program let me rotate them, rearrange the order, pick an album background, and even add some text. The text function did not work all the time as you will notice if you view the slide show on my blog.
This time it was easy to import the html to put the slide show in the blog, but I'm having a bit of a challenge changing the size. It seems to be sort of okay for now.
I can see some educational benefits of photo sharing. They give us historical perspective. Additionally, photos can be our window to the world. They give us an idea of what things are like, but they only capture a particular view. I would hope that viewing photos would peak the viewer's interest to actually go to some of the places to experience what they had seen with all their senses thus making the picture complete.
Monday, July 6, 2009
More on Podcasts
Now that I have sufficiently recovered from my podcast experience, I can now reflect on the educational aspects of this technology. I see the big advantage being that podcasts are portable. You can download them to your Ipod and take them with you on your daily run, or in my case a quick walk with my outdated MP3 player. You can even play them in the car on the way to work.
Another aspect of podcasts is that they can help fill the gap for auditory learners. Being an auditory learner myself, being visually online all the time can be draining. Plus you can multi-task with podcasts, like fold laundry or cook dinner. Then, again, maybe podcasts aren't so wonderful. Wait, I just had another idea. Wouldn't it be great to play a podcast that gave directions to something and you could work along with the podcast instead of having to stop to read the directions at each step?
Podcasts do have their place, and I will probably try creating another one when life is not so hectic.
Another aspect of podcasts is that they can help fill the gap for auditory learners. Being an auditory learner myself, being visually online all the time can be draining. Plus you can multi-task with podcasts, like fold laundry or cook dinner. Then, again, maybe podcasts aren't so wonderful. Wait, I just had another idea. Wouldn't it be great to play a podcast that gave directions to something and you could work along with the podcast instead of having to stop to read the directions at each step?
Podcasts do have their place, and I will probably try creating another one when life is not so hectic.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
PodCasts - What a Nightmare!
Making the recording was the easy part. Just did what the text suggested and went to Audacity. Still, nowadays, there are no instructions. Just clicked around until I found record. When I was finished recording I followed the directions to export as MP3. That saved my recording to my flash drive. Now what to do with the file?
Blogger does not support MP3 files so I had to go to a third party host. The thing is, everywhere you visit you have to join up to get in to see the site, and frankly I lost track of how many sitesI visited. I need user friendly so I started with the text's suggestion of OurMedia.org. I got there and couldn't even figure out how to start. Finally, I googled free podcast hosting. I came up with 4shared.com. This sight was something I could handle, and I was able to link to this blog. The link sends you to the sight and then you play the podcast from there. To hear my podcast, you can click here . Okay, so that was basic. But, I wanted the picture of the little machine that you clicked on play and you could see the little line go across the screen.
The text suggested searching "enclosures" under the help section. I found out that it was possible to embed html codes. At this point this project became a collaborative effort. It was, "Okay, family, get on line and start lookin." Finally we hit on Podcastmachine.com. Previewing the site showed you could make your own player. I signed up, yet again.
Podcastmachine.com was more straight forward than some of the other stuff. After I made my player and saved it, I went to blogger layout and added a gadget for html java script third party code. I copied the html code and pasted it into blogger. And voila! There was my player on the side of the blog. But, now it was too big. I went back into the html code in the gadget and it was easy to see where to adjust the width and height.
I'm really happy with how this turned out. I know I drove everyone nuts, including myself. Now it's off to the NLC for residence week and really make myself crazy.
Check out my podcast player on the right side of the page for information on who I am in my other life.
Blogger does not support MP3 files so I had to go to a third party host. The thing is, everywhere you visit you have to join up to get in to see the site, and frankly I lost track of how many sitesI visited. I need user friendly so I started with the text's suggestion of OurMedia.org. I got there and couldn't even figure out how to start. Finally, I googled free podcast hosting. I came up with 4shared.com. This sight was something I could handle, and I was able to link to this blog. The link sends you to the sight and then you play the podcast from there. To hear my podcast, you can click here . Okay, so that was basic. But, I wanted the picture of the little machine that you clicked on play and you could see the little line go across the screen.
The text suggested searching "enclosures" under the help section. I found out that it was possible to embed html codes. At this point this project became a collaborative effort. It was, "Okay, family, get on line and start lookin." Finally we hit on Podcastmachine.com. Previewing the site showed you could make your own player. I signed up, yet again.
Podcastmachine.com was more straight forward than some of the other stuff. After I made my player and saved it, I went to blogger layout and added a gadget for html java script third party code. I copied the html code and pasted it into blogger. And voila! There was my player on the side of the blog. But, now it was too big. I went back into the html code in the gadget and it was easy to see where to adjust the width and height.
I'm really happy with how this turned out. I know I drove everyone nuts, including myself. Now it's off to the NLC for residence week and really make myself crazy.
Check out my podcast player on the right side of the page for information on who I am in my other life.
Friday, July 3, 2009
The Hype on Skype
This week's project was to participate in a web conference. As a distance student, I sometimes miss the personal contact that takes place in a traditional classroom, so I decided to try Skype which offers both audio and visual contact.
The Skype experience was easy, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. There are a few confusing parts that take a little patience. First the Skype website doesn't clearly tell you what to click to download the free service. I suppose if you already knew about Skype you could just go to the tab to download the program, but anyone new would probably think that there was a monthly fee. The fee, of course, is if you want upgrades. After that, it was just follow the instructions. There is even a test sight to test your audio and visual equipment. The other part that took patience was to find the person you want to connect in the Skype directory. I hooked up with Keith; and, from the start we had decided to make phone contact with our the first try. This was a good idea because neither he nor I were sure if we had found the right person in the directory. This way we were able to confirm that. When connecting for the first time, Skype asks the person called if they want to be contacted by the caller. You can also choose to have the video turned off or on when you are first answering a call.
Now for the fun stuff. I actually have a face to place with a name. Keith and I were in a class together last term and we will probably be in a class together next term. We had loads to talk about. It was actually Keith's idea, and we both agreed, that it would kind of nice if we had this sort of option when talking with our advisers. Although our advisers do their best to make the meetings personable, they are dealing with many students. This way we know that they know who we are, and it would help to make the experience more personal.
On the education front, I saw so many opportunities. Remember that I work in a elementary school. We have a program for home schoolers, and they are supposed to make contact every week with the instructor. This has proven a challenge for the instructors. What a difference Skype would make. Just put the kid in front of the webcam at home. The instructor could review work, tutor, see answers with the use of a white board, and even proctor tests to ensure the child was actually doing the work.
Note to family: Grandsons in Alaska and Arizona, you will be getting webcams soon. How could I have let time slip away without the use of this wonderful technology?
The Skype experience was easy, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. There are a few confusing parts that take a little patience. First the Skype website doesn't clearly tell you what to click to download the free service. I suppose if you already knew about Skype you could just go to the tab to download the program, but anyone new would probably think that there was a monthly fee. The fee, of course, is if you want upgrades. After that, it was just follow the instructions. There is even a test sight to test your audio and visual equipment. The other part that took patience was to find the person you want to connect in the Skype directory. I hooked up with Keith; and, from the start we had decided to make phone contact with our the first try. This was a good idea because neither he nor I were sure if we had found the right person in the directory. This way we were able to confirm that. When connecting for the first time, Skype asks the person called if they want to be contacted by the caller. You can also choose to have the video turned off or on when you are first answering a call.
Now for the fun stuff. I actually have a face to place with a name. Keith and I were in a class together last term and we will probably be in a class together next term. We had loads to talk about. It was actually Keith's idea, and we both agreed, that it would kind of nice if we had this sort of option when talking with our advisers. Although our advisers do their best to make the meetings personable, they are dealing with many students. This way we know that they know who we are, and it would help to make the experience more personal.
On the education front, I saw so many opportunities. Remember that I work in a elementary school. We have a program for home schoolers, and they are supposed to make contact every week with the instructor. This has proven a challenge for the instructors. What a difference Skype would make. Just put the kid in front of the webcam at home. The instructor could review work, tutor, see answers with the use of a white board, and even proctor tests to ensure the child was actually doing the work.
Note to family: Grandsons in Alaska and Arizona, you will be getting webcams soon. How could I have let time slip away without the use of this wonderful technology?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
