The past three weeks I’ve facilitated lessons with about twelve different 6th, 7th and 8th grade students about storytelling and puppet movies. The first two weeks we used Puppet Pals on the iPad, and last week we used real finger puppets to make some short skit videos. We published some of our work from both weeks to the multimediasandbox YouTube channel. This has been a worthwhile but challenging series of lessons. See my January 19th post, “Lessons Learned Using Puppet Pals on iPads in an After School Program,” for more background. We haven’t created any masterpieces, but we have had fun discussing the story arc and making short videos which (generally) attempt to present a coherent message. 50 minutes isn’t a lot of time to have to create and share stories, but we’ve done the best we could with the time and resources available.

One of the primary things I’ve wrestled with as I’ve considered what to teach these students in “Life Skills” lessons involving the iPad is this: None of these students own iPads or have access to iPads at home. What kinds of things should I teach them which can have immediate relevance in their lives, as well as potential long term relevance? Sure we’ve had fun making some short videos with digital and actual puppets, but these activities aren’t things they can repeat on their own when I leave with the three iPads I’ve brought to class each day. I have had the privilege of being with Kevin Honeycutt in the past when he taught incarcerated, Kansas youth short lessons (on behalf of ESSDACK) and used art as a way to both “reach” them and have important discussions about life as well as learning. I’m no Kevin Honeycutt, I have very limited drawing skills, and the kids I’m teaching in “Tiger Club” definitely aren’t incarcerated youth… but a talk with him on the phone earlier this week motivated me to share a lesson with my students on the possibilities for becoming a digital artist.

I started the lesson today asking who liked to draw, who considered themselves artists, and who thought they were creative. I explained we ALL are artists and have creative skills, but not all of us think about ourselves that way. I asked about how long people have been creating drawings and telling stories, and we discussed how that goes back to “the cave.” As humans, some of us have always been driven to draw and share stories through art. It’s in our DNA.

I shared a story with the students about our Storychasers logo, which we outsourced via crowdSPRING. 99Designs is a similar web community for graphic artists and folks needing design work.

I explained how our Storychasers group received 147 design concepts (low resolution digital art drawings) of logo ideas from 43 different designers from around the world.

Eventually, we selected one we liked which turned out to be the work of a graphic designer in eastern Europe who lives in Zagreb, Croatia. One of the designers we initially considered was coincidentally based in Oklahoma, but we had problems with them providing higher resolution versions of the logo draft they’d made. It’s pretty amazing we paid someone $500 to make a logo for us who we never met and lives all the way across the Atlantic Ocean in another country! This is a real story of outsourcing and digital creativity, and I wanted to share it so my students would at least be exposed to the idea that digital artists can now access a world of work possibilities via the Internet. It doesn’t matter where you live: Creative skills are needed and marketable.

\

I showed students on our printed as well as digital handout where they could access links to FREE digital art programs like the Gimp, that have similar features as Adobe PhotoShop that costs $700 to buy. Hopefully some of them will check it out and pursue some digital art creative possibilities on their own following our “Life Skills” class series.

I next introduced my students to the iPad app Brushes, and showed them several recent creations by my 8 year old daughter, Rachel.

I showed students how the iPad Brushes app lets us “replay” a video of how Rachel made these drawings, and I showed them some other amazing YouTube examples of iPad drawings using Brushes as well. We watched these and discussed the techniques the artists used.

At this point I need to give a hat tip to Marco Torres, who was the first person to share the Brushes app with me several years ago in Maine. Although I haven’t become an acknowledged digital artist with Brushes since I learned about it, I have both played with it and shared it with many people. This is a specific example of how the opportunity to meet and hang out with creative people (which Apple specifically facilitated in my life via various means) has been life changing. “But for” my very brief chances to hang with Marco and learn from him, I probably wouldn’t have been teaching my students about Brushes on the iPad today. “But for” my opportunities to hang out with Bob Sprankle, I would know far less about podcasting, webcasting, and iPhoneography. I tried to communicate this idea to my students today: If we want to learn how to do something, we need to hang out with other people who know how to do it well. That’s how a lot of learning happens. It’s a big reason we need to choose our friends carefully.

In addition to viewing these examples of digital art with Brushes today, I also showed students this video of art created with Autodesk SketchBook Pro for iPad.

Before handing out the iPads to students, I demonstrated the basics of drawing with Brushes using an AppleTV which mirrored my iPad2 screen. Next, I introduced students to the free “Art Snacks” online community facilitated by Kevin Honeycutt and explained they would be drawing a Great White Shark today. We had paper and pencils available, and students took turns drawing on the available iPads (3) as well as my iPhone which had the Brushes app loaded. I had one stylus which students used, but unfortunately broke (the tip came off) during the lesson. Together we watched Kevin’s “Artsnacks Great White Shark” video on YouTube. I paused it several times for students to compare drawings and add to their drawings. As Kevin had suggested to me, some of the kids were really into it and were loving the chance to learn some new art techniques. Others were less engaged, but since everyone could at least draw with paper and pencil this was a lesson that was “doable” by everyone.

Here are some examples of drawings we made in class. The last one is my own. It is risky and takes some courage to share your own art with others, especially when (like me) you’re not very confident in your own art skills. I think this is a good way to model both creativity and instructional risk taking with students, however. We learn the most when we are “stretched” out of our personal comfort zones, and these are times when we try new things that we’re not entirely comfortable doing.

This lesson provided some good opportunities to talk about “important stuff” with students in addition to digital art and drawing skills. When I asked the students what they thought of my drawing partway through Kevin’s video, one of them said, “That looks horrible!” We talked about how those words might make me feel, even though the student quickly said, “I was just kidding.” We talked about bullying, and how important and powerful the words we choose are. I talked about how there are far TOO MANY people in this world who “use their words” to hurt and inflict pain on others. I told the students I sometimes mess this up, but I try to use my words as much as I can to build others up and give them POWER instead of tearing them down.

I don’t know what lessons from today’s “digital art discussions” my students will remember, but we never do when we teach… do we? I felt better about today’s “Life Skills” lesson than I have all year, and I know a big reason the lesson was a success was I used resources provided by Kevin Honeycutt and Art Snacks. If you haven’t shown Art Snacks to your own students, DO IT soon. Not all the kids in any classroom love art and will want to learn more about making art, but chances are high SOME WILL.

Teach your students how to be digital artists, even if (like me) you don’t consider yourself to have very developed drawing skills. We are all creative, and we can all be artists. To be an artist, we have to CREATE things. We need to MAKE stuff. Today, we have lots of opportunities to play with media and not only share digital art, but also sell it on sites like crowdSPRING and 99designs. Share these possibilities with your students too. Making and sharing art certainly has intrinsic value and isn’t all about monetization. Some kids may not have considered these possibilities, however. Your students could not only be outsourced digital designers for someone else, down the road they might also use digital outsourcing for their own projects like we did with Storychasers last year.

Who knows where that shared knowledge may take them and us? The possibilities are exciting.

Hat tip to Cody Birsner for sharing 99designs with me a few months ago.

Technorati Tags: creativity, edmond, ipad, oklahoma, art, brushes, create, kevin, honeycutt, artsnacks, essdack, fpce, tiger, club

Teach Your Students to be Digital Artists (and learn from Kevin Honeycutt) originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on February 3, 2012.

The technology tools in this case, digital voice recorders, ARE important for the learning which took place in Renee’s classroom. They are NOT, however, the factor which makes the biggest difference. As I noted in last month’s post, “Remember TEACHERS Make the Biggest Difference, Not Devices,” the WAYS teachers choose to invite students to use technology tools are most important when it comes to learning and achievement. Yes, having access to digital tools IS important. We must remember to focus on the PEDAGOGY more than the tools, however, as we discuss and highlight effective uses of educational technology. Renee’s video is a beautiful example of this.

I found this video today when I was researching links to add to a new page on the Storychasers’ website: Storychaser School Clubs.

Technorati Tags: digital, reading, technology, writing, voice, audio, recorder, nwp, edtech

Use Digital Voice Recorders to Hear Student Voices originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on February 2, 2012.

Creating MultiMedia eBooks
wfryer.me/ebooks

Snowflake Gets Lost: a FREE enhanced eBook by Rachel Fryer
meetsnowflake.com

Improving Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking Skills with Media
wfryer.me/improve

Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing (eBook)
wfryer.me/pwm

Software I run on my Mac
wfryer.me/apps

Crafting Your Professional Digital Footprint
wfryer.me/footprint

19 April 2011: iPad Training for Business Productivty
www.ipadwithwes.com

Student Media Examples
share.playingwithmedia.com

99¢ Podcasts for Playing with Media
learn.playingwithmedia.com

Mapping Media to Common Core
maps.playingwithmedia.com

iPad App Coffee Chats
1st Tuesday of each month in Edmond, OK at The DIV
wfryer.me/appchat

YouTube
www.youtube.com/wfryer

K-12 Online Conference: 250+ FREE PD videos about tech integration
k12onlineconference.org

Social Media:
twitter.com/wfryer
facebook.com/wfryer

Contact Wesley Fryer
www.wesfryer.com/contact

Moving at the Speed of Creativity (my primary blog)
www.speedofcreativity.org

iPad Quick-Edit Videography
wfryer.me/ipadvideo

Tell a Story in 5 Photos
wfryer.me/5photos

Celebrate Oklahoma Voices: 940+ videos
lc.celebrateoklahoma.us

Celebrate Kansas Voices: 220+ Digital Stories
celebratekansas.ning.com

Celebrate Texas Voices: Digital Stories
celebratetexas.ning.com

Oklahoma CCSS Diigo Group
http://groups.diigo.com/group/oklahoma-ccss

Storychasers: Empowering Digital Witnesses on the Global Stage
storychasers.org

Stuff I Want to Share at OTA – Encyclo-Media 2012 originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on February 2, 2012.

I’m sharing a couple sessions at OTA/Encyclomedia in two weeks in OKC and several at Heartland eLearning at UCO in Edmond in early March. These are all listed on wiki.wesfryer.com. My upcoming OKC-area workshops/presentations are:

OTA/Encyclo-Media (Oklahoma City, OK):

• 02-07 Creating Multimedia eBooks – Room 6 from 2:45 – 3:45
• 02-07 Simple Ideas for Powerful Sharing – Room 6 from 1:00 – 2:00

(Remember a Google Spreadsheet version of breakout sessions is available via wfryer.me/ota12)

Heartland eLearning (Edmond, OK):

• 03-05 Workshop: Playing with Media: No-Edit Audio Recording
• 03-05 Workshop: Playing with Media: Quick-Edit Videography
• 03-06 Bridges to Musical and Artistic Creativity

Also I’m doing a full day iPad Productivity Apps workshop on April 19th in OKC, information and registration details are on iPadwithWes.com.

It’s short notice, but tomorrow evening I’ll be speaking about designing websites with WordPress for mobile platforms like iOS (iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch) as well as Android – basically using free mobile themes. This is free at the monthly OKC WordPress meetup, held at “The Div” in Edmond. More info is on the Oklahoma City WordPress User Group’s MeetUp website. I’m not positive but there’s a good chance this session may be live-streamed free via Ustream. If it is I’ll tweet it out.

If you’re in or around the Oklahoma City area, I hope to see you at one of these upcoming learning events!

If you’re interested in checking my availability for a presentation in your district or for your organization, please contact me via the inquiry form on my Speaking page.

Technorati Tags: oklahoma, otaem12, wes, wesley, fryer, city, okc, edmond, presentations, heartland12

Upcoming Wes Fryer Presentations in Oklahoma City (Feb – Mar 2012) originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 29, 2012.

In the morning and for part of the afternoon, Rachel and I created an ePUB eBook with a fiction book she’s been writing all school year by hand with a classmate. (Literally since the first week of August!) She recorded each of the seven book parts with RecordPad, and I compiled the book with typed text, scanned pictures drawn by her classmate, mp3 files I converted with Switch, and Pages software. We’re getting the last illustration (hopefully) from her classmate to tomorrow to scan, and will most likely publish it on ePubBud, Amazon, B&N Nook Books, and a new website domain I registered for her and am configuring tonight. She created the main website graphic today using Brushes on an iPad. She’s going to give the book away as a free download, but offer it for purchase as a hardback! It’s precious!

This afternoon, my 11 year old daughter worked with two classmates on a science project about the Ejyafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.

Using two laptops, they continued research they had started earlier in the week and created a narrated slideshow video as their “final product,” following the instructions in their teacher provided rubric. They created a presentation using Keynote software, and wrote a project script using Pages. They found photos to use from multiple sources, including Flickr Creative Commons, and included attribution on each slide for the websites where they found the images. I encouraged them to use a minimum of text on each slide, and instead use large images to make their points. (Presentation Zen style.) They recorded their final video on an iPad using “Explain Everything.” To get the Keynote slides from the laptop to the iPad, they used PhotoSync software to transfer the images. The $3 “Explain Everything” app allowed them to create their narrated slideshow directly from the images transferred with PhotoSync. They used my iRig microphone for the recording, and they sound great!

They recorded their script twice, reading it from the screen of a laptop in Pages instead of printing it out. They did a super job, and are justifiably proud of their afternoon of work! I’ll feature this narrated slideshow soon on “Student Media Examples.”

Technorati Tags: ebook, ipad, playingwithmedia, book, volcano, Ejyafjallajokull, iceland, narrated, slideshow

A Saturday Filled with Media Creation and #playingwithmedia originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 28, 2012.

Great job, Google geek and dad Daniel Lee.

Technorati Tags: chrome, video, youtube, media, kids, family, share

A Touching Example of Family Digital Documentation originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 26, 2012.

This video is a 73 second interview with Laquita Semmler, principal of Mustang Elementary in Mustang, Oklahoma. Mrs. Semmler won a $2000 technology grant from the Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principals (OAESP) at the mid-winter conference on January 20, 2012, in Oklahoma City. She is planning to use the funds from the grant to purchase a new iMac computer and mobile cameras to provide students with tools to be videographers and journalists for their school website.

Instead of Flip cameras, which have been discontinued by Cisco and do not import video in a Mac-friendly format, Storychasers recommends student videography teams use iPod Touches or iPads for quick-edit videography. In addition, an external microphone is a MUST to improve audio quality. (A $60 iRig mic, available via the Apple Store, was used in the video above.)

Congrats to Mustang Elementary students and staff, and kudos to Mrs. Seemler for applying for and winning this student technology grant!

Technorati Tags: oaesp, videography, mustang, elementary, grant, student, win, winner

OAESP Grant for Student Videography at Mustang, Elementary (Oklahoma) originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 21, 2012.

It is absolutely fantastic to be able to teach students with an iPad2 using an AppleTV, an HDMI-ready flatscreen TV, and an open wifi network. The mirroring feature of the iPad2 to an AppleTV is hands-down, without question, the best way to teach a class using an iOS device. (The iPhone 4GS will also mirror to an AppleTV, but earlier iPhone versions won’t and the iPad 1 won’t either.) I LOVE being able to be “wireless” and untethered from the television/display and be anywhere in the room during our lessons.

Earlier today, I helped some elementary administrators setup for a presentation at the Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principals (OAESP) mid-winter conference using an AppleTV, an iPad and a projector. In that case we used a $40 HDMI to VGA converter recommended in this iEAR.org post and everything worked great. The main lesson learned there was to bring and use our own wifi hotspot. We downloaded all the YouTube videos used in the presentation to a laptop in advance using saveyoutube.com, and transferred them directly to the iPad’s photo roll using the PhotoSync app and PhotoSync Companion software. We did this because when we tested the setup earlier, we found the wireless performance of video playback was slow and choppy at times. This could have been due to the way the conference hotel’s router was configured, and/or because of a lot of traffic on the router. Using a wifi hotspot we’d brought along worked well, even though it wasn’t connected to the Internet. All the videos and the Keynote slideshow were copied offline on the iPad2 used for the presentation, so no Internet connectivity was required.

Getting back to Puppet Pals and our lessons learned… I’m working with 12 students and we have 3 iPads, so they’ve been working in groups of four. Last week we discussed the basics of three act structure, which I’ve drawn and described as “the story arc.” This is the first time any of these students have worked with iPads or videography like this. While everyone has seen movies and has some movie literacy, their initial tendency is to want to have characters fight and zoom around the screen. Last week each group made an initial video (each about 60 seconds long) and today we started by watching and evaluating them. These first videos didn’t have much of a semblance of “story,” but we were learning the basics of the program including how to manipulate characters, how it’s helpful to move characters when they are speaking, how to pass the microphone and speak clearly into it, and how to pause recordings if needed to discuss a plan for the next scene. Different students served as scribes today as we discussed some strengths as well as ways the initial movies could be improved.

Here are some of our lessons learned.

DISCUSS APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE FOR THE CONTEXT
Both weeks we’ve had discussions about appropriate language, considering the fact we’re in a church for Tiger Club and that we’re hoping to share these videos with other people online. Even with these discussions in advance, it’s been important to facilitate both the planning and production of videos with students. Two other adults are available for our class to help the students, but their involvement has been minimal. We want to have fun and are having fun, but boundaries are important and this wasn’t a conversation I was initially planning on having with students before our first lesson started. It’s an important conversation. For one of our videos today I actually had to edit out about 4 seconds which had some profane words which ‘slipped out.’ Fortunately it’s easy to do that in iMovie. It’s valuable to discuss with students the importance of choosing their words carefully depending on their surroundings and context. Reminds me of Ruby Payne’s book.

AN iRIG MIC IS CRITICAL TO ELIMINATE BACKGROUND NOISE
Our first two meetings we’ve just had one iRig mic to share among three groups with three iPads. If you watch and listen to some of our videos from today which are embedded below, you won’t have any doubts about which group used the iRig and which didn’t. The iRig does a fantastic job filtering out background noise in a classroom. Since we have three groups of students working in a small classroom and many are laughing/having fun as they’re creating videos, the iRig is really a must.

REMEMBER YOUR APPLE TV REMOTE CONTROL
Last week I forgot to pack and bring my remote control for the AppleTV, and as a result I couldn’t configure it to access the local church’s wifi network. Don’t forget the remote. It is possible to configure an iOS device to use the Remote app to control an AppleTV, but the device and the AppleTV have to be connected to the same wifi network for this to work. That initially requires use of the remote control.

DOWNLOAD ALL CHARACTERS FROM PUPPET PALS DIRECTORS EDITION FIRST
Puppet Pals for iPad comes in two versions, one that is free (with only a few character and background sets) and the $3 “Directors Pass” version which comes with all the characters and backgrounds. Definitely spring for the $3 version, but download all the backgrounds and characters in advance so students won’t have to do that when they are in class.

PROVIDE SOME LIMITS FOR STUDENTS IN PUPPET PALS
Even if you just have a few character and background sets downloaded and available in Puppet Pals, the choices can be pretty overwhelming for students. It’s always instructive to see how often students will copy or mimic something you demonstrate initially for them in a whole group setting, rather than striking out on their own with novel ideas. (That dynamic is why some constructivist learning advocates discourage showing students examples, I think.) It’s good to model possibilities, but I think it’s also helpful to provide limits. I asked students both last week and today to choose no more than 3 or 4 characters, and no more than 3 different scenes. We have been working to build short, 1-2 minute videos, so this is plenty. In some cases students used more characters in their groups, but generally this limitation has been helpful and students have followed it.

LET STUDENTS DO ALL THE iPAD DRIVING
Even during the whole-group demonstrations of the Puppet Pals app, it’s worked well to have different students do all the clicking and swiping on the app: They’ve “done all the driving.” It’s very good to facilitate this with oral instructions, rather than simply “do it” for students yourself as the teacher. They learn more when they ‘drive’ and they are far more engaged. Most students want a chance to participate, and there are plenty of ways to do that in an iPad lesson with Puppet Pals.

REQUIRE STUDENTS TO DISCUSS AND CREATE A PAPER-BASED PLANNING DOCUMENT FIRST
With just about any multimedia project, getting students to plan, get organized, and in some cases WRITE is the hardest part of the entire experience. It’s also the most important, however, because it contributes the most to the eventual success and quality of the project. This week students did plan and write out more details about their planned videos and stories, so they each have more of a semblance of a narrative. Remember I’ve just worked with these students two times for 50 minutes each week, and it’s challenging to do that without any prior relationship or experiences together. I’m not claiming we’ve created any masterpieces here, but we ARE definitely having fun and I think the kids are picking up some things about telling digital stories. I’m learning a lot too!

I created a new, free YouTube channel tonight to share these videos. (multimediasandbox) Here are the student planning pages for today’s videos (very sketchy and simple, but more than we did last week) and the videos they created. I am particularly proud of this first group’s video, who came a LONG way because of the planning and storyboarding they did last week following our lesson time.

What does it say that two of my three student groups made videos which primarily focused on two groups fighting? We talked about the importance of conflict and tension which leads to an eventual climax/resolution for the characters in a story, but we didn’t insist it had to be about fighting. Next week I’m thinking I’ll have students draw some characters out of a hat that they’ll be required to include in their story, along with a sentence or sentence fragment they’ll have to use and build on for a novel plot. I’m thinking I’ll add an additional guideline that their characters can’t fight. Can you think of other or better guidelines to use next week?

LAND FIGHT

PRESIDENTIAL FIGHT

SHREK 4 REMIX

(no photo of the planning doc is available)

Technorati Tags: ipad, puppet, pals, lessons, learned, videography

Lessons Learned Using Puppet Pals on iPads in an After School Program originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 19, 2012.

I haven’t decided who I’m voting for this year for President, I’m ideologically aligned with many Rootstrikers and I don’t think any of our current Presidential candidates are. Whatever your personal political leanings might be, it’s an important time to discuss the election with U.S. students in our classrooms as well as media literacy. How do you know what to believe when you see something in the media or online? What authority do you trust? Why? How can you check the facts and weigh bias? Why do these questions matter?

Go forth, fellow educator… and teach both young and old to ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. Some of them will be good ones. No one is serving hemlock today at your school, thankfully. Bring forth your best efforts to encourage critical thinking. The future of our nation hangs in the balance.

Technorati Tags: media, politics, video, youtube, pac, super, superpac, unitedstates

The Best Political Spin Money Can Buy originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 19, 2012.

More photos are available in this Flickr set. Also check out the ten minute video I posted from the weekend, “7th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, Bushwhackers, and Jayhawkers (Kansas in 1861 – 1865)“.

What fun!

Technorati Tags: kansas, trapper, trappers, rendezvous, scout, scouting, campout, iphone, documentary, newton, troop

Trapper’s Rendezvous 2012: An iPhone documentary originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 15, 2012.

This evening I uploaded two large, high definition videos to YouTube from this past weekend’s Trapper’s Rendezvous campout in southcentral Kansas. The first was a 788 MB, 10 minute “no-edit” video about Kansas during the Civil War years of 1861 – 1865. The second was a 1 GB, 13.5 minute edited video (an “iPhone documentary”) I created with iMovie ’11. During the upload of both videos, my high speed cable modem Internet connection went down for awhile and came back up. I’m guessing the upload stress of my continuing CrashPlan backup (260+ GB worth, running for more than a week) along with Netflix streaming by other members of my family caused the interruptions. Whatever the case, the fact that uploads to YouTube using the latest Chrome browser now RESUME when you cancel an interrupted download and choose to upload the same file is GREAT. But-for this YouTube feature, I don’t think I could have successfully uploaded and shared these videos online tonight.

If you haven’t already, it’s time to ditch Internet Explorer, whether you use a Windows or Apple computer. IE is slower, has poorer support for web standards, and frankly… just isn’t cool to run on your computer anymore.

Added to these persuasive reasons, now you know IE doesn’t support recoverable and resumable YouTube uploads. Remember, “Friends Don’t Let Friends Use IE!”

Technorati Tags: youtube, upload, firefox, chrome, resume, recover, recoverable

Recoverable and Resumable YouTube Uploads with Chrome and FireFox originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 15, 2012.

More photos from the 2012 Trapper’s Rendezvous are available in this Flickr set.

Technorati Tags: kansas, history, civil, war, civilwar, jayhawker, bushwhacker, jayhawkers, bushwhackers, quantrill

7th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, Bushwhackers, and Jayhawkers (Kansas in 1861 – 1865) originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 15, 2012.

Tomorrow my wife is teaching a preschool Bible lesson at our church, and wants to show the students a YouTube video she found. She does not have reliable wifi access in the classroom where she’ll share this video, however, nor does she have an AppleTV and a HDMI-capable computer which can mirror her iPad2′s screen. She does, however, have an iOS Apple Composite AV cable which will plug into the classroom television. To make an iOS-friendly, offline copy of the YouTube video on her iPad2 tonight in preparation for tomorrow’s lesson, these are the steps I followed.

1. Use saveyoutube.com to download a mp4 YouTube video version

There are many different video formats, and not all of them “play nice” on an iPad. Generally mp4 videos will play on an iPad, however. I used the website saveyoutube.com to download an mp4 version of the desired video tonight. I did this by simply adding the word SAVE in the website address after “www.” and before “youtube…”

Then I right clicked (or control-clicked on a Mac) the link and chose to save it to my computer’s desktop.

2. Use PhotoSync Software to Transfer the Video

PhotoSync is a fantastic $2 app in the iTunes app store which lets you directly transfer photos and videos between iOS devices and desktop/laptop computers. After installing PhotoSync on your iPad you also need to install “PhotoSync Companion” software (free) on your Windows or Apple computer.

Launch PhotoSync on both your iPad and your laptop/desktop computer. On an Apple computer, simply drag the downloaded mp4 video to the PhotoSync dock icon to transfer it to another device.

A prompt should open on your computer asking you want device you want to select as your transfer TARGET.

If you use this app on a school or other organizational network, it’s possible routers in use and/or the network configuration may prevent these apps from working. On a home network, however, ports should be open and work fine. This PhotoSync support article indicates the apps use the “Apple Bonjour Protocol” and specifically its “Multicast DNS implementation (mDNS)”. Ask your network administrator for assistance if you don’t see a device you want to transfer media to, and direct him/her to the PhotoSync connectivity support FAQs.

This evening I used the PhotoSync feature to create a new album directly on the iPad from my laptop, so the transferred video would have its own category.

The complete transfer of the 17 MB YouTube video took less than 30 seconds to finish on my home network. I love PhotoSync!

Today in the elementary principals’ meeting I attended, the assistant superintendent showed several YouTube videos directly on his iPad using the mirroring functions to an AppleTV. If you have an AppleTV but need a conversion solution from HDMI to VGA for your projector, definitely check out the recommended setup and purchase links from Tim Kamps listed on the iear.org post from October, “Apple TV may revolutionize the use of a teacher iPad in the classroom!” I just ordered those items last week and they arrived today, and I’m eager to try them out later this week in a lesson I’ll be teaching to middle school students using Puppet Pals Director’s Pass for iPad. If you have an iPad2 and are using it with students, I’d say an AppleTV is now mandatory classroom equipment thanks to its mirroring capabilities. Remember you can (and should probably consider) adding a passcode to your AppleTV for mirroring mode when you use it in class. If you don’t, anyone in wifi range with an iPhone4S or iPad2 (and on your wifi network) can ‘take over’ your AppleTV and play any video they want.

Do you have other favorite ways to download YouTube videos and transfer them to an iPad for later sharing with students? If so please share those links and ideas.

Technorati Tags: youtube, download, ipad, copy, appletv

Temporarily Copy Offline YouTube Videos to Your iPad originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 10, 2012.

This afternoon my kids and I spent a few hours playing with the iOS application Collabracam, which permits multiple cameras to be used simultaneously in a video shoot. We found the application buggy and in need of an update, but the idea of the app is GREAT and we ended up creating a reasonably cool 3.5 minute video for “The Zebra Print.” In this post I’ll share some of our lessons learned using Collabracam.

Collabracam allows you to use up to five iOS devices at the same time to make a video. One iOS device is used as the base station, in ‘director’ mode. The other devices (up to four) can be remote cameras, connecting to your director base station device via wifi. We used two remote cameras and a base station for our video.

Initially we tried using an iPad2 as the base station, and another iPad2 and an iPhone4 as the remote cameras. The Collabracam base station / director app gave us errors, however, so we read some of the app documentation and learned it’s best to use the SAME MODEL of iOS device. We didn’t have 3 of the same device, so we changed to use the iPhone4 in director mode, and both the iPad2′s as remote cameras. Once you have the app installed a device can take either role (director / base station or remote camera.) While we got our setup to work, I want to test the app and see if the errors we ran into are eliminated if all devices are the same iOS model.

The screenshot below shows Collabracam on the “director” device. You can see the live video from both iPad2s.

We ran into problems when we started, stopped, and started over with the app. The director / base station device in most cases didn’t “see” the remote cameras when we started over. To fix this, we found closing every instance of Collaboracam on all devices (double clicking the home button, holding down a finger on one of the apps so they started to ‘jiggle,’ and then clicking the red X in the upper left corner) fixed the problem.

We found the connections between cameras and the director / base station device work best when you:

• Open the iOS devices which will serve as remote cameras FIRST, and select the camera option on both.
• Secondly, open Collaboracam on the device you’re using in “director” mode as the base station, and then you should be able to immediately connect to the remote cameras.

We ended up doing thirteen different takes, at least in part, for this 3.5 minute webshow. The episode we finally took was number twelve, but I had to edit it together on my computer. That’s not how Collaboracam is supposed to be used. After you finish shooting a video, you should leave all the remote camera app devices open. The director / base station app will transfer the videos from each remote camera to itself, so they can be put together in a final video file. For some reason, however, in our “take 12″ our Collaboracam setup recorded and saved one scene on both cameras. As a result, the app didn’t know which one to insert into the final video so it was omitted. (That’s the one I had to insert on my laptop using QuickTime Pro 7.)

The most confusing and frustrating part of using Collaboracam was figuring out how to switch between our different cameras during the live show, and having the apps malfunction. According to the documentation, on the director / base station device to you start recording you should:

• Click on the desired camera and press the REC button. It should turn red.
• Click on the secondary / standby camera you want to use next. It should turn blue.

When you want to change to the standby camera, on the director / base station you should click the REC button, and then select the next standby camera.

Perhaps because we used two iPad2s and 1 iPhone4, and not all identical iOS devices, our remote cameras did NOT change status from “recording” to “standby” as they should have when cameras were changed on the director / base station device. The colors (red and blue) changed on the director app, but for some reason that communication didn’t reach the remote cameras to display properly. The remote cameras recorded fine, but the “remote / recording” status light didn’t change as it should have.

Overall this was a good experience and I REALLY love the concept of Collaboracam. If you have a classroom cart of fourth generation iPod Touches or iPad2s, this would be a super app to use with students to create a recorded webshow. We tried using a Glif iPhone4 tripod mount initially when we were using the iPhone as a camera, but ended up not being able to use it since the iPads were our remote cameras. In the future I’d like to find and use some kind of iPad2 tripod mount, but I haven’t seen anything like that yet. It’s challenging to hand-hold the iPad2 for long periods of time shooting video, but switching cameras makes that a little easier on your videographers.

Unlike a television studio’s cameras, there are NOT red lights which light up on an iOS device when its camera is “live” with a Collaboracam setup. We tried having the videographer wiggle a finger to show their camera was in use, but since our “status” signs in the app weren’t working correctly I ended up just pointing to our actresses to show which camera was “live.”

Collaboracam is a $5 app, but its iTunes Store page indicated it is currently half price. I’d recommend waiting till the the app is revised and some of these bugs are worked out to buy and use it. (It’s in version 1.2 now.) The idea is GREAT, however, and if you have access to enough similar iOS devices to use it it can add a whole new layer of complexity and possibilities to your web shows!

Stay updated on new Zebra Print web shows by following @thezebraprint on Twitter.

Technorati Tags: webshow, Collabracam, video, playingwithmedia

Playing with Collabracam for The Zebra Print Webshow originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on January 7, 2012.

• 60 images
• 1 second per image (total of 60 seconds)
• The video tells a story

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Fryers in Oklahoma City!

(cross-posted from Learning Signs, our family learning blog)

Artist: Steven Curtis Chapman

Buy “Declaration Of Dependence” on: Android Market, AmazonMP3, iTunes

Technorati Tags: video, youtube, 60×60, 2011, family, challenge

2011 in 60 Seconds [60in60 video] originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on December 29, 2011.

Using this “Flickr Advanced Search” option, I was able to readily find photos I took each day for the past two months. There were a few days I didn’t have photos and had to use images from adjoining days, but for the most part this method allowed me to photographically re-represent the past sixty days. I turned off the “autopost to Twitter” feature of my Tumblr blog during this process, since I didn’t want to inundate my Twitter-stream with sixty image posts in rapid succession. This was a worthwhile and fun process, since it helped me identify as well as archive some of my favorite images from the past two months. I used Tumblr’s browser-based option to “use a URL instead” and directly posted images I wanted from their Flickr pages. Here are a few of my favorites I re-discovered.

For my Photo365 project in 2012 I’m planning to use Instagram instead of Tumblr. If you haven’t tried posting a photo per day with a smartphone (and you have a smartphone, which really streamlines these processes/steps) I strongly encourage you to give it a try in 2012! Photo365 projects provide great ways to regularly practice photography, further develop “a photographer’s eye,” play with a variety of smartphone photography apps, and document your life experiences for posterity. See my December 15, 2010 post, “Tumblr for my 365 Photo Project in 2011” for more background on how I got started on this project.

Update 5:20 12/27/2011: I’m pleased to learn Instagr.am permits cross-posting to Tumblr in addition to Twitter and Facebook. As a result, I think I’ll try sharing my 2012 Photo 365 images with the Instagr.am iPhone app and cross-post from the app to Twitter, Facebook, and my Photo 365 blog.

The app could also cross-post to Flickr, but instead I’ve created a task/recipe with ifttt.com for Flickr cross-posting which will add some custom tags.

Technorati Tags: photo, date, meta, flickr, photo365, tumblr, instagram

When Photo Date Meta Info is Handy originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on December 27, 2011.

This video is a great example of fair use and legal video remixing. Show this to your students and discuss it. Is this legal? Are the creators going to be sued by Lucasfilm? Why or why not? See copyright and fair use resources from the Media Education Lab at Temple University for more on this. I also have helpful links (and a free chapter of my eBook) on the copyright page of playingwithmedia.com.

Hat tip to Dawn Pearce for sharing this.

Technorati Tags: star, wars, vader, parody, video, youtube, starwars, luke

Vader Did You Know? [video] originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on December 20, 2011.

Last May, before I presented at TechForum Chicago, he had a chance to visit Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. On both visits, college staff have been a bit surprised that he isn’t in high school yet but wanted college tours. I’m convinced, however, we need to find ways to help our children, grandchildren, and students go on serious college visits LONG BEFORE they start high school. By the time students are juniors or seniors in college, if they haven’t taken the necessary coursework and earned good grades in challenging courses, it’s too late for them to do much if they have an epiphany as a result of college tour like, “Boy I need to really apply myself in school so I can go here and win a good scholarship.” One of the highlights of our visit to Northwestern’s College of Engineering was meeting Ben Slivka. Ben led the team which developed Internet Explorer at Microsoft for many years and really made an impression on Alexander concerning the value of engineering and problem solving skills.

One of the ideas I’ve been kicking around for about a year is developing a grant-funded program through Storychasers to enable students to both visit university STEM departments as well as participate in day-long, short “job-shadowing” experiences with actual engineers, scientists, and others involved in STEM-related work. If we’re really serious about increasing the number of qualified applicants in STEM fields, we need to get students interested, motivated, and EXCITED about the work available in these career fields when they are in elementary and middle school. High school is too late IMHO.

In this program I’ve been building in my mind, students would be required to create and share short, reflective videos following their college visits and job-shadowing experiences. This would not only provide them with opportunities to reflect more deeply on their experiences and what they learned, but also give others who could not join them for this firsthand experience the chance to vicariously hear a little about what they did, saw and lived. This weekend I had Alexander think about what he might share in a short, narrated slideshow about his tour of the KSU Engineering College. I brainstormed some open-ended questions for him to think about, and today he created (using the application SonicPics on my iPhone along with an iRig microphone) a five minute narrated slideshow. Here’s his video reflection:

This is the planning sheet of questions I wrote for Alexander, and we discussed together prior to his recording of this SonicPics video. He did all the “clicks” to make this video, I was his tech and content coach.

Our tour guide at KSU, Richard Reed, recently graduated from the college in Chemical Engineering and is currently in the Master’s program in Nuclear Engineering at K-State. One of the key statistics we heard from Richard involved attrition. Most students drop out of the engineering program in their freshman or sophomore years. Of about 130 students who initially declared chemical engineering in his class at KSU, only 30 graduated on time in four years. It’s a tough program and lots of people opt to change majors within the college of engineering or go a different direction with their academic studies. Richard was a FANTASTIC tour guide, and spent an amazing 2.5 hours with us in all. He’s a great ambassador for KSU and KSU Engineering, and I know gave Alexander lots to think about as he ponders his future options.

On a technical note regarding this video: For some reason the direct upload to YouTube from the Sonic Pics app didn’t encode properly on YouTube. While the entire video is 4:50, once uploaded to YouTube it just showed a time duration of 3:15 and didn’t have the images synced properly. I downloaded the video to my laptop and uploaded it to YouTube, but the result was the same. I think this is a problem with the video codec used by SonicPics. To resolve the problem and make the video display properly on YouTube, I wanted to use QuickTime Pro 7, but a Lion-compatible version is not available online. The .m4v video format from Sonic Pics is apparently not handled well by YouTube’s default conversion process. I opted to download, install and use MPEG Streamclip (free) and exported the video using a variety of different settings as a MPEG4 (.mp4) video file as well as a QuickTime (.mov) file. None of those conversions worked either: The first image of the SonicPics slideshow was skipped and the image sync on the rest was messed up.

After some Google searching, I discovered this Apple support article about installing QuickTime 7 on Mac OS 10.7 Lion. My $70 Lion USB installer was useless for this. I had to locate my old OS 10.6 Snow Leopard install DVD and found the “Optional Installs” package. I was able to use it to install QuickTime 7, and then enter my Pro code in the preference setting to activate the Pro conversion features.

Using the “Audio/Video issues with .MOV and .MP4″ YouTube support help article, I exported the .m4v SonicPics video as a QuickTime .mov movie and uploaded it successfully to YouTube. This was a ridiculously long process and took me over an hour to figure out. Hopefully this issue will be resolved in a future version of SonicPics and/or the encoding process utilized by YouTube.

Technorati Tags: sonicpics, student, video, ksu, engineering, interview, storychasers, reflection, kansas, state, university, northwestern, convert

Increasing STEM Interest via College Visits & Reflections originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on December 18, 2011.

A recording of Wesley Fryer’s 68 minute videoconference on December 12, 2011, “Narrated Slideshows,” is available as a 99¢ download. This is a high quality screencast published at 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, and is 1.6 GB in size. (A high speed Internet connection is required for download.) The workshop description was:

Learn how to create and share a narrated slideshow online including recorded audio synchronized to selected photographs or images. We’ll discuss different examples of narrated slideshows and review effective processes for facilitating student narrated slideshows. Websites and tools for creating narrated slideshows we will explore include VoiceThread, SlideShare, and SonicPics for iOS.

Use the ADD TO CART link below to purchase via PayPal or Google Checkout.

This podcast is a QuickTime mp4 movie file which can be viewed on a laptop or desktop computer using free QuickTime Player software from Apple. It also looks great on an iPad!

All referenced links and resources from the podcast and videoconference are linked on wfryer.me/slideshows.

If you are interested in having this workshop shared via videoconference for your school or educational organization, please request it via the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration. (link coming)

Visit learn.playingwithmedia.com for more information about upcoming scheduled workshops supporting the eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing” by Wesley Fryer.

Technorati Tags: images, ipad, playingwithmedia, slideshare, voicethread, sonicpics, ios, iphone, ipod, ipodtouch, narrate, narrated, audio

99¢ Podcast: Narrated Slideshows originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on December 17, 2011.

Visual literacy and visual communication skills can be developed effectively through image-based communication. In this session we will discuss examples of five photo stories, explore copyright-friendly websites for finding images to use in five photo stories, and learn how to create and share five photo stories with a variety of web-based tools.

Use the ADD TO CART link below to purchase via PayPal or Google Checkout.

This podcast is a QuickTime mp4 movie file which can be viewed on a laptop or desktop computer using free QuickTime Player software from Apple. It also looks great on an iPad!

All referenced links and resources from the podcast and videoconference are linked on wfryer.me/5photos.

If you are interested in having this workshop shared via videoconference for your school or educational organization, please request it via the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration.

Visit learn.playingwithmedia.com for more information about upcoming scheduled workshops supporting the eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing” by Wesley Fryer.

Technorati Tags: photos, images, playingwithmedia, media, learning, classroom, teacher, student, pd

99¢ Podcast: Tell a Story in 5 Photos originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on December 14, 2011.

Smartphones like the iPhone have ushered in a new golden age of digital photography. The best camera is the one you have with you. The higher resolution along with the editing/processing capabilities and uploading/sharing options of modern smartphones make iPhoneography a flexible as well as fun type of digital photography. In this session we’ll explore a variety of concepts, techniques, and applications related to iPhoneography.

Use the ADD TO CART link below to purchase via PayPal or Google Checkout.

This podcast is a QuickTime mp4 movie file which can be viewed on a laptop or desktop computer using free QuickTime Player software from Apple. It also looks great on an iPad!

All referenced links and resources from the podcast and videoconference are linked on wfryer.me/iphoneography.

If you are interested in having this workshop shared via videoconference for your school or educational organization, please request it via the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration.

Visit learn.playingwithmedia.com for more information about upcoming scheduled workshops supporting the eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing” by Wesley Fryer.

Technorati Tags: howto, iphone, iphoneography, photography, tutorial

99¢ Podcast: iPhoneography originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on December 8, 2011.

Learn to shoot, edit, and publish a video on an iPad in a fraction of the time this process takes with a laptop computer and “traditional” video gear! Flash-based video camcorders on mobile computing devices (like the iPad) can empower learners to create and publish “quick edit” videos. In this session we will discuss example iPad videos, explore different apps for quick-edit videography, and learn to to successfully facilitate student-created iPad videos. We’ll also learn about options for puppet videography with iPads, including actual finger puppets as well as virtual puppets using apps like Puppet Pals. Prepare to have fun and unleash a wealth of creative ideas with your students during and following this workshop!

Use the ADD TO CART link below to purchase via PayPal or Google Checkout.

This podcast is a QuickTime mp4 movie file which can be viewed on a laptop or desktop computer using free QuickTime Player software from Apple. It also looks great on an iPad!

All referenced links and resources from the podcast and videoconference are linked on wfryer.me/ipadvideo.

If you are interested in having this workshop shared via videoconference for your school or educational organization, please request it via the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration.

Visit learn.playingwithmedia.com for more information about upcoming scheduled workshops supporting the eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing” by Wesley Fryer.

Technorati Tags: ebook, ebooks, epub, howto, playingwithmedia, podcast, technology, tutorial, video, vodcast

99¢ Podcast: iPad Quick Edit Videography originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on December 8, 2011.

A virtual ‘explosion’ of digital creativity can be an exciting thing to catalyze and witness. After creating an approximately eight minute video yesterday using the $3 iPad app “Puppet Pals Director’s Pass,” my eight and eleven year old girls spent a few hours today creating puppet videos with the app. In order to share these videos on our family learning blog, I decided to create a new “channel” on Vimeo to serve as video sandbox site. In this post I’ll share some “whys” and “hows” for video sandboxes both at home and in your classroom.

If you’ve been sharing video online for 10+ years, or maybe even less, the FREE options available today for sharing web-based video seem almost too good to be true. Back in the early to mid 2000s when I worked at Texas Tech University, I spent a fair bit of time figuring out how to use an Apple QuickTime Streaming Server which our college had purchased to share student and faculty videos. The process wasn’t easy and it wasn’t fast. Fast forward to 2011, however, and we’ve metaphorically moved from horses to the Enterprise when it comes to video sharing. Websites like YouTube and Vimeo open up a world of free, online video sharing I couldn’t have imagined or hoped for in 2001.

If we want to promote digital literacy in our homes and our schools (and I think we should) we need to provide “media sandboxes” for publishing a variety of content easily and quickly. One of the theses of my eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing” involves the QUANTITY of media we create and share. I contend the more media we create and share, the more we’ll develop our communication and other literacy skills. You want to get better at doing something, like communicating? If so, you need to do it A LOT. That’s where “media sandboxes” come in. Without a defined media sandbox, it can be much more difficult and challenging to share media we create. A media sandbox proves the virtual space to publish and share interactively. In addition to family and classroom learning blogs, I contend we need video channels for media publication. When we have an established video channel, we don’t have to ask ourselves and struggle with questions like:

Should I publish this online?
Where should I publish this online?
How can I share this in a safe, interactive way with others?

Our family learning blog (learningsigns.speedofcreativity.org) is the primary space where my kids and I share “digital evidences” of things we’ve learned or created. In the past, when I’ve needed to share a video there, I’ve usually posted it to my personal YouTube channel (youtube.com/wfryer) which contains an eclectic mix of content. Generally it’s been fine to share my kids’ work there, but after introducing them to the Puppet Pals iPad app today it became clear this wouldn’t work anymore. My girls were enthusiastically creating multiple, long videos… and I decided to create a new space for them. As you might expect, while some elements of these videos are fun and engaging, at times they get pretty long. (Sarah’s iPad puppet video today is almost ten minutes long, and Rachel’s second puppet video was over twenty minutes.) I didn’t want to ask myself, “Do I want this video published to my personal YouTube channel” so I created a new, unique channel on Vimeo.

I could have created another YouTube channel using a different Google account, but over the past year I’ve really started to like Vimeo for classroom video sharing. The classroom blog I’ve maintained the past four years for fifth and sixth grade Sunday School students I’ve taught (blastcast.wordpress.com) works great for sharing text, links and images, but I’ve needed to post videos elsewhere. While we’ve used a free Posterous site to cross-post via email to the WordPress blog, the video versions Posterous creates are Flash-based and don’t play on iOS devices. For this reason, and because I wanted a “classroom video channel” where all our videos could live, in February of this year I decided to start using a classroom Vimeo channel (vimeo.com/blastcast).

Unlike YouTube, which permits users to upload an unlimited amount of content as long as videos are less than fifteen minutes in length, Vimeo lets users of free accounts upload longer videos. The hitch is the total file size of videos you upload: At present, free Vimeo accounts limit users to 500 MB of uploads per week. This aggregate file size limitation hasn’t been a problem for my Sunday School classes, and so far it’s been fine for the Vimeo channel I setup to complement our family learning blog (vimeo.com/learningsigns).

I used the free Vimeo iPhone application (which also runs fine on an iPad) to create my free “learningsigns” account and upload videos to it today. The app asked for a unique email address and password you want to use, and does not require that you confirm the email account address before uploading.

After creating and/or logging into your Vimeo account in the app, click MY VIDEOS in the lower right corner and then the “+” sign in the upper right corner to upload a new video.

After entering the desired title for your video, it will upload and you’ll see a progress bar with the amount uploaded so far. Short videos, like Rachel’s 80 second Puppet Pals creation “Santa Goes to Washington DC,” are relatively small and upload pretty quickly on a high speed Internet connection.

After your video uploads to Vimeo it will transcode, or convert into different formats. After that process is finished, it will be playable in the Vimeo app. Before or after transcoding is completed, however, different sharing options are available. I chose to share our videos today via email, using a free Posterous website I created specifically to “cross-post” content from email directly to our WordPress blog. This is a technique I use for my Sunday School Class blog (blastcast.posterous.com)as well as our family learning blog (learningsigns.posterous.com). You simply can’t beat the ease of sending a quick email link to web-post a video, and Posterous does a nice job of “auto-embedding” videos from sources including Vimeo and YouTube. This makes the process of sharing videos during or after class, or at home when a video has been uploaded, quick and painless. See my May 2011 post, “Configure Autoposting to a WordPress Blog from Emails via Posterous,” for specific steps to set this up.

To email the link to your Posterous blog or elsewhere in the Vimeo iPhone app, click the SHARE option below a video:

Then, choose EMAIL as your sharing option:

I strongly encourage you to consider setting up a family learning blog to share text, links, images and video. It’s very empowering to have “media sandboxes” available for publishing content, and I attribute much of my own learning with media technologies to the chances I have to “play with media” and share it in these spaces.

In addition to creating media sandboxes for yourself and your family, I encourage you to do this for your classroom. My favorite classroom blogging platform at present is Kidblog.org. Rather than a classroom YouTube channel, which is subject to far more commenting by strangers as well as potentially objectionable “related videos” displayed in the sidebar, I encourage you to consider setting up a classroom video channel on Vimeo. (You can and should turn on comment moderation for YouTube videos, but even with moderation turned on you may not want to upload ALL your classroom content there.) Although the weekly file upload amount is limited on a free account, there are multiple benefits to the site and service which make it great for a classroom channel. Like Flickr, after creating an account users can specify a “custom address” to use and share with others. That preference setting is what’s allowed me to currently have three different, free Vimeo channels with easy-to-remember addresses: vimeo.com/wfryer, vimeo.com/blastcast, and vimeo.com/learningsigns.

The Western Academy of Beijing is one school currently modeling this idea of providing media sandboxes for teacher and student publishing. Their school video sandbox is on media.wab.edu, and is “powered” (as a YouTube clone site) by MediaScripts. WAB’s photo sharing site for teachers, staff and students is on photos.wab.edu and is powered by Gallery2. Sheldon Bradshaw, who co-facilitated the digital storytelling cohort with me at the Learning 2.011 conference this year in Shanghai, is the instructional tech guru behind these media sandbox sites. If you know of other schools and districts utilizing YouTube/Flickr clone sites like this for video and image sharing, please add the links in the comments to this post!

If we don’t play with media, we’re not going to get comfortable communicating with it and we’re certainly not going to master its use for learning inside and outside the classroom. Consider creating media sandboxes for you, your family and your classroom! When you do, please tweet me the links (@wfryer) so I can check them out and share them with others! Also remember to check out and share examples of STUDENT media use with text, images, audio and video on share.playingwithmedia.com.

Santa Goes to Washington DC from Learning Signs on Vimeo.

Addition 12/6/2011: It turns out videos posted to Posterous via email ARE playable as embedded videos on an iPad in the Safari browser. There is still a problem using email with videos from the iPad, however, and that is file size and length. An 80 second Puppet Pals video is too big to be emailed to Posterous from the iPad. I’m not sure if it’s possible to override default attachment file size limits or not.

For this reason I still recommend Vimeo for web-posting videos to a custom channel. Then you can readily add them to a Posterous or other blog with the provided link, and even email from the Vimeo app to your Posterous blog. (That’s what I did several times this past weekend with success.)

Technorati Tags: blog, media, playingwithmedia, share, video, vimeo, channel

Create Media Sandboxes for your Family and Classroom originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on December 4, 2011.

The free VoiceThread for iPad app has been available for awhile, but this afternoon was the first opportunity I’ve had to play with it at length. Rachel, my 8 year old daughter, just finished reading “Christmas in Camelot” (a Magic Treehouse book) this weekend and was VERY excited to tell me all about it. It’s been a few years since she last made a VoiceThread book report, so since the VT iPad app is now available I figured this would be a perfect chance to put it through its paces. We had fun and were successful making the VoiceThread book report. Here are a few of our lessons learned.

LESSON 1: THOROUGH PLANNING SHEET

This advice comes as no surprise to writing teachers. It’s essential to help kids / students create a thorough planning sheet for a digital book report before they go to a tablet device or computer. Kids often want to find pictures or record their voices first, but those steps always come AFTER planning what you’re going to say. This was the planning sheet Rachel prepared today.

LESSON 2: SAVE FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS IMAGE PAGES IN NEW TABS

I helped Rachel used the Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-Only image search page to find extra pictures for her VoiceThread. She took the initial cover photo, but needed three more pictures. There are now over 30 million photos in the most permissive Flickr CC image category available online! We readily found great images to use for a “tree house rope ladder,” a “Christmas wreath,” and a “king crown.”

After we found an image online, I had her open it in a new tab on the iPad. She did this by holding her finger down on the image and choosing OPEN IN NEW TAB. Next, she clicked the ACTIONS tab above the image and chose VIEW ALL SIZES. After choosing a large version, she held down her finger on the picture and chose SAVE IMAGE. This saved a local copy to the iPad photo roll so we could import it later on VoiceThread. I had her leave the image webpage tab open, however, so I could copy the URL / web links to the image pages and put them into the VoiceThread as text comments later for proper attribution.

LESSON 3: BEWARE LARGE NUMBERS OF IPAD PHOTOS & VIDEOS

If you have hundreds of photos and videos on your iPad, as we did when we started this book report project this evening, you might run into problems. Every time we tried to add a photo to a new VoiceThread from our camera roll on the iPad, the app crashed. I asked my 13 year old to help troubleshoot this, and he identified the fact that we had almost 400 photos and videos on the camera roll as the possible problem. This proved to be the case. Alexander saw that photos from other camera roll albums imported to VoiceThread fine, but the camera roll images didn’t.

He deleted, with my permission, about 250 screenshot images our family members have created over the past six months. This brought the number of photos on the iPad photo roll from 390 to down to 138. This did the trick, and the VoiceThread app imported photos from the camera roll fine without crashing.

LESSON 4: USE AN EXTERNAL MICROPHONE FOR GREAT AUDIO QUALITY

Rachel used our iRig microphone to record her audio narration for each slide of her iPad VoiceThread. We LOVE using an external microphone with the iPad: It does a great job filtering out background noise and creates an exceptionally clear recording. This has been true for every iPad app we’ve used for recording. The iRig works immediately when you plug it in, it’s not necessary to make any settings changes.

Full disclosure: IK Multimedia has donated a new iRig microphone for me to give away this month in a drawing on SHARE: Playing with Media. All you need to do to enter the drawing is share ONE example of student work (with parent and student permission, of course) using the contribute form on the site.

Have you played with the VoiceThread iPad app yet? What are your impressions and recommendations? I really like how you can moderate comments directly on the app. We have a backlog of comments on many past VoiceThreads our family members have created, like “Getting a New Haircut” in 2006. I think access to the iPad app will make moderation of those comments a much faster process!

I added Rachel’s book report for “Christmas in Camelot” to the “Great Book Stories” wiki collection of VoiceThread book reports!

Technorati Tags: app, book, edtech, ipad, learned, lessons, report, technology, voicethread

Lessons Learned using VoiceThread for iPad originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on November 20, 2011.

I’ve been looking for a significant day or reason to offer a 50% discount on my eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing,” and today’s events are the best reason for personal celebration I’ve encountered in many moons. So… please share this far and wide, anyone worldwide can purchase any of the three versions of my eBook from now through midnight EST Sunday, November 29th at a 50% discount! This means the enhanced/multimedia EPUB for iPad is $7.50 instead of $14.99, and the “standard” EPUB version along with the Kindle version is $5.00 instead of $9.99. Use the “ADD TO CART” buttons on my eBooks page and the following discount code:

docatlast

These links are available on both www.speedofcreativity.org/ebooks and playingwithmedia.com/pages/about. Tutorials and links about transferring the eBook to different kinds of eReaders (including iPads) are available on www.speedofcreativity.org/ebooks/help.

Also remember to share examples of student media work on share.playingwithmedia.com. This month (November 2011) I’ll be giving away another iRig microphone (courtesy of IK Multimedia) in a drawing as I did in September to Michigan educator Brad Wilson. All you have to do to enter the drawing is share ONE example of student media (with student and parent permission, of course) using the contribute form on share.playingwithmedia.com/contribute.

Technorati Tags: code, ebook, epub, media, playing, sharing, with, discount

Discount this weekend: Playing with Media eBook 50% off thru Nov 20th! originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on November 19, 2011.

The iRig microphone ($60) is my top recommendation and the only microphone of these three options I’ve personally used as of this writing. (Full disclosure: IK Multimedia, the creators of the iRig, donated an iRig and other iOS goodies for me to give away in monthly drawings on SHARE: Playing with Media.) The iRig does a great job filtering out unwanted background audio during recordings. It’s my favorite iOS peripheral, EVER. We’ve record multiple audio and video interviews on the iPad2 with the iRig, my favorite is definitely, “The Hobbit in 5 Minutes.”

Option #2 to consider is a $10 iPad Audio Adapter from Speech Recognition Solutions. Your total cost will be more if you don’t already have a microphone with an 1/8″ mono input jack. If you do have an existing external microphone that will plug into this adapter, however, this would be your least expensive iOS external mic option.

Thanks to Daniel Espejo for sharing this iOS audio adapter via Twitter.

Option #3 is a bluetooth audio headset for iPad, like the Logitech Wireless Headset for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. That particular model is a little pricey on Amazon now at $70. Hat tip to Nancy Sharoff for sharing this mic option via Twitter.

Have you found or tried other external microphone options for an iPad? If so please chime in with comments.

Technorati Tags: adapter, ipad, ipod, ipodtouch, irig, mic, microphone, touch, logitech

3 External Microphone Options for iPads (Nov 2011) originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on November 15, 2011.

The students conducted their veteran interviews using iRig microphones and the free Cinch app on their iPod Touches. Earlier the teacher created a single, shared account in Cinch and logged in each iPod Touch’s Cinch app so they were ready to go. Cinch web-posts audio into customizable “albums” to a single account, and provides mp3 download links for shared audio. It’s entirely free and unlike AudioBoo, there is NO LENGTH LIMIT to Cinch recordings. From a management standpoint, it seemed like an easier plan to immediately label and upload audio interviews rather than use an app like iTalk Recorder or Voice Memos since Cinch files can be readily shared online.

With the audio interviews conducted, the challenge now becomes helping students edit those interviews into short segments they want to include in a video (narrated slideshow) on an iPod Touch. For our Storychaser workshops in the past we’ve always used Audacity software and either PhotoStory3 (on Windows) or iMovie (on Macs.) The biggest challenge here, from what I can figure out, is editing an audio file on an iPod Touch and then making it available within the iPod (music) app on the iPod Touch WITHOUT syncing the Touches to a computer again. I’m not sure this is possible: If you know how, please let me know.

My suggested apps and workflow for this same process on an iPod Touch are as follows:

1. Create a free Dropbox account to share files among students – save each veteran interview in mp3 format there (using a laptop computer: downloading mp3 files from cinch, then uploading to DropBox)
2. Use the free app Hokusai to have students import their audio on an iPod Touch from DropBox, then edit just the part they want to keep/use, and add a short audio narration intro (they would need to write this first as a script, it would introduce the project and their veteran briefly) – export the final audio back to DropBox
3. Add the edited audio files to iTunes on the computer which syncs to all the iPod Touches in a new playlist, and sync the touches (so the new audio playlist is available)
4. Have students find and save 5 to 10 photos to use during their audio interview video. If they took photos during the interview, those can be used. Photos can be emailed to a free class Posterous blog, and photos copied on the student’s iPod touch from that website to their own photo roll.
5. Use the free app Splice to import the photos for the video and import the audio, and create an exported/final video

My favorite app for creating narrated slideshows is SonicPics, but the free version (Sonic Pics Lite) is limited to just 3 photos. Splice seems like the best free app option at this stage.

Have other ideas or suggestions? Please let me know!

Technorati Tags: app, audio, interview, ipad, ipod, oklahoma, project, touch, veteran

Creating Oral History Interview Videos on an iPod Touch originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on November 13, 2011.

Interested in helping students become better readers, writers, and critical thinkers? We need to “play with media” to become more effective communicators and improve our media literacy skills as both learners and citizens. As you learn to play with digital text, images, audio and video, you will communicate more creatively and flexibly with a wider variety of options. Author and educator Wesley Fryer will inspire and empower you, as a creative person, to expand your personal senses of digital literacy and digital agency as a multimedia communicator! Learn more, order Wesley’s eBook, and access session resources on www.playingwithmedia.com.

I shared my slides from this presentation on SlideShare and also recorded the 2nd session of the day on my iPad using the free app Cinch. At some point I may download the audio and sync it to the SlideShare, but for now I’ll share it “as is.” My favorite participant quotation of the day was from a teacher prior to the first session who asked at the door, “Is this the reading session?” I answered, “Yes it is!”

Be sure to also check out the new website I created this week (learn.playingwithmedia.com) for a series of 12 repeated workshops (24 in all) I’m offering face-to-face in Oklahoma City as well as over videoconference connections in December. You connect via Skype or H.323 video to these hour long sessions, which will be from 2-3 pm CST. We’ll be connecting via the amazing Blue Jeans Network. If you want to connect via your iPad, you can do so either using the free Skype app for iPad or the free Polycom RealPresence Mobile app for iPad. Face-to-face workshops will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 am CST, with locations in Oklahoma City still being finalized. Cost to attend each one is $50 per person for face-to-face 3 hour workshops, and $50 per site for each videoconference. Registration for all 24 sessions is available online via EventBrite.

I created an updated PDF flyer for this workshop series which you’re welcome to print and share.

12 Days of Playing with Media

Technorati Tags: communication, conference, development, howto, media, pd, professional, read, reading, share, student, students, teacher, writing, write

Improving Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking Skills with Media originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on November 11, 2011.

This morning at my Friday morning men’s group meeting, Gordon Anderson shared the diary of his grandfather who fought in World War I in the U.S. Army. He also shared some photos.

Fired all morning until 11 am. Armistice signed.

That day is one we remember now on November 11, 2011. The price of peace. The sacrifices of a nation. The daddies who went off to war and never came home. The young men who lost their lives in a battle on a distant shore, and never grew older to know the great blessings of fatherhood. The dads and moms, sons and daughters, who serve today in places we might not recognize and might be challenged to pronounce. The servicemembers deployed to secret bases off the media radar screen. The friends and neighbors who will not be home for the holidays this year, because “duty calls” and they have answered. These men and women we remember today and thank.

Today I am also thinking of the hundreds of Americans serving as military contractors for the United States abroad. Nations have employed mercenaries since the dawn of warfare, and today is no different. I am thinking of the families and friends who know intimately the cost involved in a headline, “Another car bomb exploded…” Whether they wear a military uniform or not, their death and sacrifice means the same thing to a spouse, a child, and a parent.

May God grant wisdom and discernment to our leaders who order our servicemen and women into harm’s way. May we never forget their sacrifices, and may we always remember their service with gratitude.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Why Veteran’s Day is November 11th originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on November 11, 2011.

Each workshop will be offered in three versions:

• a 3 hour hands-on, BYOL (bring your own laptop) workshop held in Oklahoma City ($50 per participant*)
• a 1 hour, interactive videoconference for participants using Skype or a H.323 video endpoint ($100 per site*)
• a 60 minute, downloadable video podcast (99¢)

* Pricing is for credit card payments, an additional processing fee applies if paying via school purchase order.

Sessions include:

• Dec 1: Creating Multimedia eBooks
• Dec 2: iPhoneography
• Dec 5: Tell a Story in 5 Photos
• Dec 6: No-Edit Audio Podcasting
• Dec 7: iPad Quick Edit Videography
• Dec 9: Classroom Blogging
• Dec 12: Narrated Slideshows
• Dec 13: Classroom Radio Shows
• Dec 14: Puppet Videography
• Dec 19: Classroom Learning Portals
• Dec 20: iPad Media Creation
• Dec 21: Classroom Backchannels

Each face-to-face workshop will take place in Oklahoma City from 8:30 to 11:30 am. 15 seats are available for these sessions. Workshops are BYOL: Bring Your Own Laptop. Wifi connectivity and electrical power will be provided. Videoconferences will be held each day from 2-3 pm CST, and 4 different remote sites per workshop can attend. (The number of attendees at remote sites is up to event organizers.) Videoconferences will be bridged by Bluejeans Network, which permits simultaneous, disparate endpoints to participate in the same conference. This means you can connect whether you have a fancier H.323 videoconferencing endpoint from Tandberg, Polycom, LifeSize or another vendor… or you simply have a Skype connection via your laptop, desktop computer, or iPad.

All registrations for these workshops and videoconferences are via EventBrite. Videoconference session recordings will subsequently be available as 99¢ downloadable podcasts. Participation in videoconference sessions includes agreement/permission to record and commercially share the interactive session.

I hope you’ll plan to join in one or more of these December workshops, either in person in Oklahoma City or online via videoconferencing technologies. “Bring your device and we’ll meet in the cloud!”

The image above is also available as a downloadable PDF via Scribd, if you’d like to share this with others.

Join in 12 Days of Playing with Media originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on November 9, 2011.

Of all the photos I snapped during the two day adventure, this one of the Statue of Liberty facing the rising sun is my favorite. I took this with Pro HDR, an awesome app Dean Shareski shared on a Seedlings webcast back in January 2011.

Of the 10 iPhoneography capture apps listed in my July 2011 Appolicious list, Pro HDR and Pano are the only ones I actually used this weekend in NYC besides the default iOS camera app. Both Pro HDR and Pano are also available for Android, btw.

For at least the past year or so, I’ve traveled with only my iPhone as a camera. I own a fancier and higher resolution camera with a better lens, along with a more capable digital camcorder, but I simply don’t want or need the bulk of those devices anymore. I’m a mobile storychaser. From time to time I’ve taken some video with my iPad, but generally it’s far less convenient to use on the go (since it doesn’t fit into my pocket) than my iPhone4. There was one person on our ferry ride to Liberty Island on Saturday shooting some iPad video. This is the first time I’ve seen someone else doing this in a public venue.

On Saturday I shot five different short videos on my iPhone visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and edited them together into a single 9 minute, 50 second video I posted to YouTube. I used iMovie for iPhone to edit these together “quick-edit” style. I didn’t bring my iRig mic with me on this trip (accidentally leaving it at home) so these were all recorded with the built-in iPhone mic. I was very pleased the audio quality turned out pretty good. A little wind noise in a few cases, but not bad.

One of the biggest highlights of my visit to Liberty Island was a seventeen minute conversation I had with Glenn Stoops, a character-actor who convincingly plays Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi on Liberty Island. I posted this last night as a podcast on “Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts.”

Auguste was the original designer of the Statue of Liberty. This podcast is good enough (thanks to Glenn’s terrific interview responses) that American history teachers could consider using this with students as free, digital curriculum. (I’m going to submit this to Curriki soon.)

It was very meaningful and memorable to see the new “One World Trade Center” under construction on the site of the former World Trade Center buildings. As I reflected at one point in the video, it’s been a thought-provoking fall (to say the least) visiting Shanghai, Doha, Qatar and now New York City. Lots to consider regarding politics, economics, and faith in these three amazing places.

I enjoyed recording some ambient audio in New York and posted several files along with photos to my sounds blog. These included Approaching Grand Central Station, Disembarking at Grand Central, 5th Avenue Walk, Beggin’ Change on the Street, and Enroute to Liberty Island.

I found both my visit to Liberty Island and Ellis Island extremely thought provoking and meaningful. The audio tours on both were a huge part of my experience, and the fact that I was alone (which I didn’t prefer… I would have LOVED to bring my family with me, but it wasn’t in the cards this time) allowed me to listen to a LOT of tour audio. One of the best parts of the Ellis Island museum was the “Peak Immigration” exhibit which isn’t part of the ‘standard’ audio tour. The room in the panoramic photo below was pretty amazing as an example of visual storytelling. Check out the full version (8691 x 859) and pan across to get the full effect. This made me wish for a classroom wallpapered with “Electric paper.”

Images of the pograms against Jews in eastern Europe, Russia and central Asia in this exhibit were tragic and heart wrenching. SO much to think about and juxtapose in this area with current events.

My visit Friday to Times Square was a very different but also memorable experience. Digital screen and billboard overload, as expected.

The only similar experiences I could compare to Times Square were sitting at a restaurant on The Bund in Shanghai, overlooking the Huangpu River and Pudong, watching the skyscraper-sized billboards and advertisements come to life after sundown in September.

My thoughts spending about an hour Friday evening people-watching at Times Square definitely colored the thoughts I’d planned to share with my sixth grade Sunday school class today. The messages of how “the world” wants us to think and act are pretty overpowering in NYC. It’s always challenging to “think different,” but perhaps more-so in such a media-drenched environment. Times Square isn’t as unique in that respect as it once was, I suppose. Screens and media messages are everywhere.

If you’d like to learn more (including specific skills and tools) to be a “mobile storychaser” I encourage you to buy a copy of my eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing.”

Technorati Tags: history, newyork, storychaser, storychasing, tourism, travel, nyc, statue, liberty, storychase, ellis, island, manhattan

Storychasing Times Square & Lady Liberty in NYC originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on November 7, 2011.

I showed several videos during the presentation, and the first one was “Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh)” by Erik Qualman. My question to school administrators preceding and following this video was:

Why should communication changes matter in school?

Interestingly, the original YouTube version of this video has been taken offline by Google for a copyright violation. Apparently the music is copyrighted by EMI and Erik either didn’t file a fair use claim on YouTube for the use of the video or that claim was rejected by Google. The video is still available on Vimeo, however. It appears “the copyright police” on Vimeo aren’t as strict or sophisticated in their media analysis algorithms as those on YouTube for Google.

The copyright “teachable moment” from Erik Qualman here, which should be shared with students, relates directly to the “Harry Potter Can Fly” mnemonic for intellectual property and media creation guidelines. When students want to use music in a video project, encourage them to NOT directly go to copyrighted sources. Instead, challenge them to follow this menu of options:

Harry Potter Can Fly
H = Homegrown
P = Public Domain
C = Creative Commons
F = Fair Use

Only if homegrown, public domain and Creative Commons music options absolutely won’t work for the purpose and audience of a video project should copyrighted music be used. Copyrighted music shouldn’t be our “first choice” before an immense landscape of legal alternatives when creating and sharing media projects online.

Eric and other video creators today are well advised to use Creative Commons licensed music in videos like this, rather than entire copyrighted works. While the re-use of copyrighted music without permission CAN constitute “fair use” under U.S. law in some cases, it is much easier and CLEARER to simply use CC licensed media. digCCmixter is a great, free resource to use to find music for your videos and other student media projects. The website slogan makes it clear why: “You already have permission.”

More copyright-friendly music and audio resources are available on the Storychasers wiki, as well as the “audio” page of PlayingWithMedia.com.

I published the recorded audio from today’s 1.5 hour presentation in New York as an unedited podcast on “Fuel for Educational Change Agents.” Of the 99 slides I had prepared, I got to number 69. I used Switch software to convert the 34.4 MB MP3 file (which is 95 minutes long) to WAV format, normalized the audio with free Levelator software, then compressed that output file to a 16 kbps mp3 file (11.5 MB) again using Switch before publishing it. I did NOT edit out the 2 minute sharing/brainstorming sessions during the presentation, however, so if you’re using a mobile podcasting app like Podcaster.fm you can “skip ahead” 4 30 second clicks to avoid those.

If you have any comments or feedback from today’s presentation I’d love to hear them. Today’s presentation was a combination of the session slides I shared in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma in August, the “Smart Networks” session shared in Montana in August, and the “Playing with Media” sessions I’ve been sharing at face-to-face conferences as well as in online webinars like the DEN virtual conference a few weeks ago.

By far my favorite video to share today was seven minutes of David Wiley at TEDxNYED in March 2010. His messages about sharing and openness in education are VITAL for every leader in our communities (not just those “in education”) to hear and understand.

Hat tip to Dean Shareski for pointing me to David Wiley’s ideas in his pre-conference keynote last year for the K-12 Online Conference, “Sharing: The Moral Imperative.” My question to New York school leaders after watching that video clip was:

How can we share like this?

I think it’s a great question. With respect to the original topic of this post, copyright and intellectual property issues, Creative Commons needs to be a significant part of “the answer” to that question.

Remember you can access and contribute to the growing archive of student media projects using digital text, audio, images AND video on share.playingwithmedia.com.

Technorati Tags: collaboration, copyright, edtech, education, intellectual, newyork, property, share, technology, vimeo, youtube, erik, qualman

A Teachable Copyright Moment from Erik Qualman originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on November 4, 2011.

One of the best parts of DVD movies are the commentaries by directors, actors, costume designers, and others involved in the creation and production of films. A few years ago, Kevin Honeycutt and I were talking about student video production and came up with the idea of a “Director’s Commentary” or an “Actors’ Commentary” video assignment. The idea is for students to watch their video together, and record the audio of their discussion reflecting on what took place, what they learned, the “backstory” they want to share about different video elements, etc. They could follow a teacher-created rubric to “cover their bases” when creating the commentary audio. While I’ve wanted to share this idea and promote it ever since, today’s the first time I’ve actually created one of these “Actors Commentary” videos. In this post, I’ll share some lessons learned and suggestions for classroom teachers.

My 3 kids (who are on fall break) and I created, “Actors Commentary: The Hobbit In Five Minutes” today. The video track of this is identical to the 4 minute, 19 second “The Hobbit In Five Minutes” project we created in July 2011, but the audio track is different. We used my Sony digital audio recorder to watch the original video together, with the computer’s audio muted.

Prior to actually creating this “commentary video,” I mistakenly thought YouTube supported swapping or exchanging an audio file from MY computer in an existing video. This is NOT the case.

As several contributors in this YouTube Help forum post explain, the purpose of Audio Swap in YouTube is to basically salvage a video which has been taken down because of copyright violations and permit a user to still keep it online with copyright-approved music content. The ONLY options provided for a YouTube Audio Swap are choosing pre-selected and pre-defined music clips for which YouTube has obtained licensing permission from the artists and/or recording companies. You CANNOT upload your own audio directly to an existing YouTube video and swap it out. To do this, you must use a video editing program on your computer and make the audio switch.

Fortunately, iMovie software on a Mac makes this process very straightforward. I bet many readers have been reticent to embrace “the new iMovie” since Apple updated it from its timeline version (iMovie ’06) several years ago. I’ve had my doubts about the new version too, but was finally convinced the new version is better because of the realtime editing and effects features. There are three basic steps to swapping a new audio file into an existing movie you’ve created in iMovie to create a “commentary version.” I did this today with iMovie ’11.

First, create a new iMovie project. From the FILE menu choose IMPORT, then MOVIES. Select the exported / final movie you want to use for this commentary. (If you’re downloading from YouTube, my favorite, free browser-button tool to use is PWN YouTube. I use this within Google Chrome frequently.)

Second, drag your imported video from the Clip Library (bottom of the screen) to your project area. With the entire clip selected (double click it) choose the CLIP menu, then MUTE CLIP. It’s possible to extract the clip audio and delete it, but muting the clip works well (and with ‘minimal clicks’) for this purpose.

Third, drag your recorded audio file from your computer’s hard drive (your Finder) onto your iMovie project window. Make sure you drag the file as shown below, so it drops next to your video clip instead of on top of it. The entire background of the project window should turn GREEN, which means your file will import as background audio.

That’s it! Now you’re ready to share / export your video and upload it to YouTube.

I’ve created a new category for “Actors Commentary” videos on Share: Playing with Media, and added this example as a new post. Consider asking YOUR students to create an “Actors’ Commentary” video during the next video project they complete in your class. When they publish it, please share it using the CONTRIBUTE form on Share: Playing with Media!

This was a lot of fun to do, and I’m sure our family will have fun listening to this version as well as the original in the years to come. Playing with media can be quite engaging!

Technorati Tags: audio, edtech, imovie, learning, pbl, playingwithmedia, project, school, student, teacher, swap, commentary

Have Students Create An Actors’ Commentary Video originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 27, 2011.

So I don’t normally write things up but but dad asked me to share this. I love building and playing with legos. It is always fun to build fancy ships but the lego minifigure is also one of the best tools to make stopmotion films with. I have tried to make a couple of films of my own but it is really fun to also see what other films people are making.

One very good film that I found that I wanted to share made by pixelspersecond on youtube mimics the CSI Television show. This youtuber has not made brickfilms before but he has done an awesome job with this first one. He also does a wonderful job of making the different backdrops and lighting but what I love the most about this film that not many others do is that they make them talk. In other films they will have audio with voices but in this brickfilm they have gone in during editing and have moved there mouths using a computer program and synced it with the audio so it actually looks like they are talking. Just a warning before you watch this great film it is a crime show and there is a murder at the beginning of it were he added some unneeded gor so if you start watching it keep going because it gets a lot beter after the initial opening.

On a side note, I first saw this video on groovebricks which is a cool lego blog that I read so check them out as well!!

Awesome Brickfilm originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 24, 2011.

(I cooked brunch and ate with my family during Joe Brennan‘s session, “Digital Storytelling: Get it Write!” so I don’t have notes for it yet. I’m going to watch the webinar recording of that later and post notes. The little I saw/heard during Joe’s session was GREAT. Joe’s resources are on web.me.com/jbtv. Webinar recordings will be posted on blog.discoveryeducation.com.)

These are my notes from the keynote presentation by Dr. Astro Teller. His partial bio is:

Dr. Astro Teller is currently Director of New Projects for Google, working to help the company explore new potential business areas. Astro is also co-founder and a current Director of Cerebellum Capital, Inc, a hedge fund management firm whose investments are continuously designed, executed, and improved by a software system based on techniques from statistical machine learning. Astro is also co-founder and a current Director of BodyMedia, Inc, a leading wearable body monitoring company… As a respected scientist and seasoned entrepreneur, Teller has successfully created and grown five companies and holds numerous U.S. patents related to his work in hardware and software technology. Dr. Teller’s work in science, literature, art, and business has appeared in international media from the New York Times to CNN to NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Teller regularly gives invited talks for national and international technology, government, and business forums on the subject of the future of intelligent technology.

As a student in school, I fell into the habit of doing things more than once, like doing math problems 3 times
- this was because of my dyslexia
- it ended up being a great habit, however, because there is often more than 1 way to solve a math problem

in BC Calculus as a junior in high school
- sometimes my teacher (Mr. Benson) fumbled to remember things
- he responded: “I don’t need to remember almost anything, because I can figure it out from 1st principles”
- this was a huge “a ha” moment for me and transformational
- this moved me from seeing education as the accumulation of facts from picking up and enjoying learning the mechanics of doing different things
- with crucial thinking, you can re-derive all kinds of answers with available information
- that has really perspective-shifted me and shaped how I think students learn best

2nd story and confession: most of my experiences in schools come from teaching college age kids and talking to gifted high school students
- I acknowledge this is a unique group of kids, top half of achievers (maybe different than kids in poverty who don’t have basic needs met for safety, etc.)

My belief: Kids learn shocking amounts when they are motivated, and amazingly little when they are not
- I am talking about ‘what they get’ when they do or learn something
- simple example: Kahn Academy, it’s hugely absorbing to children (my son is ‘playing’ on Kahn Academy now downstairs at my house, the badges on the site are motivating for him)
- I know some parents who are paying their kids $1 per badge they earn on Kahn Academy (some of these parents have their kids finish high school math by 6th or 7th grade)
- it doesn’t sound like it’s possible, but it is

Motivation is the thing that separates all of us from the things we want to get done

1st Robotics organization
- is the Olympiad for building robots that compete with each other for accomplishing different tasks
- it’s phenomenal to watch these kids: who have never programmed, cut things out of metal, figure out how to solve things
- kids learn several grade levels of math, science and engineering in the 6 month period of time they are doing the activity
- motivation is the reason/key to this

At some level, kids intuit the ways they are often taught don’t often line up well with the ways they are going to spend their time later in life
- passion, persistence, integrity, critical thinking, creative thinking, adaptability, communication clarity, the ability to solve problems, etc are all keys
- the content areas of our schools are the MEANS not the ENDs (those are vertical slides… being good at the ‘horizontal slices’ (passion, persistence, etc are the horizontal slices)

Those skills are going to help people enjoy their jobs more (whatever those jobs are) as well as make more money
- the way information and skills are often presented to students is “under motivating” for kids (this is a real problem)

On the subject of inspiration: Teachers need to be inspired too!
- I’m out of touch with the prevailing winds in the teacher community
- in every other field I’m familiar with: paying for performance is the “de jure” focus
- I understand paying for test scores can lead to a test prep focus
- in the business world, we assess people’s performance in multi-faceted ways, there are LOTS of ‘soft measures” like how creative someone is, how hard they work, the qualities and not just the quantities they produce
- people in the business world are rewarded with titles, recognition, money, opportunities to learn more thing
- I would love to see teachers receive the same sort of thing
- I believe we need teaching to be seen as the most desirable and respected profession in the country
- we need to dramatically change how we interact with teachers and reward them in our nation, to focus on inspiration

Story of a teacher from the Bronx
- class expected to pass the end of course biology exam, she told all her kids they would pass
- 70% of her kids passed
- what bothers me about that story is the complaint people have: “If you have insanely motivated teachers, then the kids will succeed” – that bothers me because it’s a true solution
- all teachers DO need to be insanely motivated
- lots of the problems we see in schools today are motivation oriented

I’ve noticed we don’t teach kids to play soccer on a chalkboard (at least not for very long)
- it’s not just in grade school we make this mistake
- we do this into higher education as well, law school is a great example
- it makes no sense the things you do in law school are very disconnected from the things you actually do as a lawyer
- doctor prep can be much more apprentice-oriented, there is less of this in most law schools

We need kids at young ages to DO things they will do later in life
- I predict this will motivate them in huge ways

Aside about a NPR piece on the “Occupy Wall Street” protests
- upset student who had a history degree
- I think availability of liberal arts education is good but a luxury at the university level
- she seemed to think “our country owed her a job”
- she hadn’t seemed to think about how getting a liberal arts degree would connect with a job

BTW I have four children, two are 10 and two are 8, I worry about this a lot

There are 7 billion people in the world today, there will be 9 billion in 20 years
- resources for affluence are limited
- our children are going to have to compete at 10 times the level we did when we left college
- I’m not saying we should scare our children, but…
- people in India and China don’t mind working 12 to 14 hours to get what they want
- they understand they have to work hard, they don’t believe the world owes them a job or anything
- we need our kids to understand this so they will be motivated to work hard

Question from the audience: How do we get our school administrators to understand this perspective when they are so focused on testing scores?

Answer from Astro Teller: As a young entrepreneur I’d often sit down with my mentors and they would matter-of-factly tell me what to do
- “if you need to run your company with 50 people with no money, you just do it”
- problem with that is, I’d seen some of them do this but I didn’t know how to do it
- some of their ideas sounded as impossible as sprouting wings

Story of Ron Huberman who ran Chicago police force and succeeded, then ran Chicago transit authority and succeeded, and then ran Chicago public schools
- he said: I’m going to try and do so many good things while I’m alive, that some of the things will ‘stick’ by the time I die

my advice: Do what you think is right, and if they fire you then go and do something else
- in the end, however, surprising things may happen

If you were to ignore the standardized test and teach kids to be motivated (get them jazzed like a preacher gets you jazzed on a Sunday morning, heart-thumping excited) you’ll get all the learning and test scores you want for FREE

The “preacher issue” is a big one
- reaching inside people and grabbing them emotionally is of key importance
- there are people with that key skill, some teachers happen to have it
- teachers tend to practice that through kindness rather than trying to create a conflagration in your heart
- teaching is a marathon, it’s not a sprint
- I happen to not be religious, but we can try to create this kind of explosion in people’s hearts

Reason TED Talks are so addicting is because it leaves you with the feeling that ANYTHING is possible
- it sets your heart on fire, and we all crave that feeling (even children)
- this is more the job of educators
- more than teaching math and science, teachers need to help set the hearts of children on fire

My question for Astro: What things do you think are more cognitive/intellectual that kids need to learn in school which do NOT have a clear hands-on context?

his answer: there are some things that are hard to learn on your own
- math you can learn on your own
- but critical thinking you can’t
- you need to watch someone else do that, when you undergo a Socratic process
- to dig out what is interesting in a problem, why someone’s solution isn’t a solution
- public speaking is another example
- I believe we should teach “communication clarity” much more
- can you take your idea and install them in someone else’s mind
- that sounds much more fun than a 5 paragraph essay
- learning to become an orator is NOT something that people can typically do by themselves
- most of the things we think of as ‘most chalkboard-ish’ are the least well suited for the chalkboard
- are lots of examples of this: if a student desperately wants to win (RE First Robotics) they will work hard to learn and emerged as transformed people on the other end of that experience

When you become an adult, you learn that you can’t motivate all people the same way
- some want sense of achievement, some want recognition, some want more freedom to be left alone, some want money
- kids are the same, they fall into different categories
- kids fall into different categories
- when kids fixate on a long term aspiration, they realize you need to learn a lot (that motivation can transform kids, probably about 25% of the kids I meet have these kinds of long term aspirations)

other kids respond really well to environments of friendly competition like First Robotics

Question from the webinar chat: Do you want to start a movement?

Dr Teller’s answer: YES!
- Intro to AI class at Stanford that now has thousands of students

The slides and resources referenced in my spotlight session, “Playing with Media” are available on my handouts wiki. (See slide #11 for the eBook discount code, valid until midnight Eastern time on Sunday, Oct 23, 2011)

These are a few notes and resources from Dean Mantz‘ closing presentation, “Treat Yourself to A Story.”

Dean’s outstanding Livebinders collection of Digital Storytelling resources

www.partnersinrhyme.com is a source for legal/royalty free music/audio loops (more are linked on info.storychasers.org/home/resources/audio – also thousands of audio loops are available on Discovery Education Streaming if your school subscribes)

Dean shared two video examples from the “Celebrate Kansas Voices” oral history and digital storytelling project

A Woman Serves (student project shared by Vicki Constable

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Kansas Voices

Girl Fiddler by Jesse West

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Kansas Voices

Technorati Tags: denvirtcon, discovery, education, history, kansas, webinar, den, techtreat

Great Ideas from the Fall 2011 DEN Virtual Conference (part 2) originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 22, 2011.

Google’s official YouTube channel has hundreds of other good videos to use with students. I like their playlist of 15 second search tips.

Unit conversions, word lookups in Google’s dictionary feature, quick access to the Google calculator, and currency conversion are four of the videos relevant to academic curriculum included in the playlist’s 17 videos.

These are all “search engine tricks” with which we should be familiar as teachers. It’s not that we need to know this so we have digital “party tricks” at our finger tips with which we can impress others. Instead, we need to know “this stuff” as teachers because adept use of search engines is a hallmark of digital literacy… and we’re in the literacy business as educators.

Hat tip to Colette Cassinelli for sharing the “How Search Works” video via Twitter.

More information about Google search is available in the “About Search” section of Google’s “Facts about Google and Competition” website.

Full disclosure: I’m a Google Certified Teacher and I’m convinced their virtual Kool Aid tastes GREAT.

Technorati Tags: google, howto, tutorial, twitter, search

Explaining Google Searches and Page Rank originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 19, 2011.

All the apps in this list are free with the exception of iRig Recorder ($5), SonicPics ($3) and StoryRobe ($1). Note free versions of iRig Recorder and SonicPics (iRig Recorder free and SonicPics Lite) are available in more limited but free versions. The audio app list I created tonight on Appolicious is “clickable” so you can use that version to check out the different app features.

Since I’m not sure Appolicious has all my recent app additions included in my library, I also took some screenshots tonight of the current app folders I’m using on my iPhone for Audio Recording and Sharing, Photo Editing, Video Editing, Uploading Apps for Photos and Text, and Photo Capture or iPhoneography.

Are there any iOS apps in these categories which you’re using and absolutely LOVE? I’d love to know about them, and I bet Lorelei would as well. Please share them in the comments, along with direct links to their websites or iTunes pages if you can / feel so inclined.

Full disclosure: Humbledaisy, the creator of SonicPics, is a current advertiser on my blog.

Technorati Tags: app, apps, audio, education, ipad, iphone, iphoneography, ipod, ipodtouch, journalism, learning, photos, school, share, sharing, video

Favorite iPad / iPhone / iPod Touch Audio Editing Apps (October 2011) originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 11, 2011.

Thanks to teacher Brad Wilson for sharing this great example of “mobile reporting” and media use by students on the SHARE: Playing with Media blog. Check out Brad’s outstanding class blog powered by Posterous on stewart4.posterous.com.

It’s very important for students and teachers to communicate with elected state officials and let them know about the positive, powerful ways technology tools can enhance the learning process. Brad has set a great example not only for other educators in Michigan, but all of us no matter where we live. Today it’s common for negative headlines about education and schools to dominate, and we need to “tell our stories” as learners with social media tools and technologies. Like the wonderful project, “Nebraska Loves Public Schools,” we need to help shape perceptions in our states and countries about the TREMENDOUS value outstanding teachers bring to our students, our schools, and our communities each day.

Brad was the winner of an iRig Microphone in the September SHARE: Playing with Media promotion. The giveaway in October will be an RCA VR5320 1GB Digital Voice Recorder! To enter the drawing, you simply need to share ONE example of student-created media (with student and parent permission, of course) on share.playingwithmedia.com/contribute. More details are available.

Also remember to check out other GREAT examples of student media projects created with digital text, images, audio and video on SHARE: Playing with Media. This is one of the websites I’ve created to support ideas in my eBook, Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing. Recent submissions in the past couple weeks include “Notes on Marco Polo” (an “interactive notes” example from Alison Anderson using the iPad app “Show Me”) and Envirofest (a short video by grade two students taught Brette Lockyer about taking care of the environment made with the iPad app “Puppet Pals.”)

Technorati Tags: cinch, education, example, interview, ipodtouch, learning, playingwithmedia, school, student, students, pscholka, michigan

4th Graders Interview Michigan State Representative Al Pscholka originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 10, 2011.

Reflections on Unlimited Petroleum Wealth from the Persian Gulf originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 9, 2011.

http://www.sonicpics.com 

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from wesley fryer’s posterous

Flying Home From Doha [Narrated Slideshow] originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 9, 2011.

The book I reference in this video (and was thinking about last night as our airplane descended into the darkness by the Persian Gulf, south of Iran and southwest of Afghanistan, is “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10” by Marcus Luttrell. RIP Steve Jobs, members of SEAL Team 10 who did not return home in July 2005, and all those who have lost their lives in the ongoing wars in Southwest Asia since 9-11.

Technorati Tags: doha, qatar, video, youtube

Sunset over Doha [video] originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 6, 2011.

Smoked mackerel wasn’t something I was expecting. It was fishy (not a surprise I’m sure) and ok, but I probably won’t eat it again tomorrow.

The goat cheese had a powerful flavor, which I was expecting. The accompanying fig was good but different as a breakfast fruit.

Sushi isn’t a normal breakfast item for me, particularly with a little wasabi, but today it went well with orange juice!

The olives were amazing. I liked the black olives best.

Here are a few more photos of some interesting and unusual sights. (We haven’t been “out” to see a great deal as our presentations started today, but these are some highlights.)

This is the view this morning from my hotel balcony on the eighth floor. The area across the canal appears to be for construction materials. During the day dust built up on the horizon which I thought might be pollution, but we learned it is sand and dust.

This is a Porche police car, which was an escort vehicle for military officials visiting our hotel this morning. Never seen a Porche like this one!

This is the banner for our conference at Qatar Academy. Can you see who our sponsors are?

This was an interesting ad I saw from our car on the way back to the hotel. This is an Arab fellow who is dressed to look like Jack Sparrow / Johnny Depp. In the lower right corner you can see this is an ad for Kentucky Fried Chicken, but they must have a partnership with a seafood chain here because he’s advertising a shrimp dish. We don’t have this at KFC in Oklahoma!

This evening we’re headed to a dinner at the head of school’s house. I’ve started a Flickr collection for my trip photos.

On a professional note, session resources are available for my two workshops this afternoon at Qatar Academy:

• Promote Critical Thinking & STEM Skills with Scratch
• Visual Literacy with Pecha Kucha Presentations

Our learning in Doha, Qatar continues!

Technorati Tags: doha, education, qatar, technology, travel, academy

Unusual and Tasty Breakfast Buffet Items in Qatar originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 6, 2011.

Full disclosure: HumbleDaisy, the creators of SonicPics, are paying advertisers on my blog. (I loved their app long before I started accepting ads on my blog, however.)

Here are a few photos from my travel day. I love the in-flight map which shows the plane’s location, altitude and speed over earth. International air travel amazes me!

I recorded and posted two new audio files to my “Sounds of My World” blog tonight as well:

• Arabic Upon Arrival
• Italian Guitar in Doha

If some of these media shares from the Middle East inspire you, be sure to check out my eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing,” where you can learn more tools and techniques for sharing digital text, images, audio and video. If you have not already, mark your calendar for the free webinar, “Fall VirtCon 2011: Tech or Treat,” on Saturday, October 22, sponsored by Discovery Education. I’ll be sharing a spotlight session during the virtual conference about the ideas and techniques included in the book.

Check out more photos from today in the Flickr set I created. I’ll be posting more this week!

Technorati Tags: edtech, education, media, sonicpics, travel, qatar, doha, narrated, slideshow

Oklahoma City to Doha (narrated slideshow with SonicPics) originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on October 5, 2011.

What happens in 60 Seconds on the Internet (April 2011)

“What Technology Wants” by Kevin Kelly (a great book to read or listen to on Audible)

The Kindle Fire

Kindle Fire TV Commercial (30 sec)

Google Chromebook

“You had me at 8 seconds”

Chromebooks for Education (2:13)

See resources for digital text, image, audio and video sharing on playingwithmedia.com

See examples of shared student projects on share.playingwithmedia.com

Purchase “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing” as an eBook or paperback

Google Sketchup software (free)

Scratch software (free)

Green Cities – New Businesses

Green Cities – New Businesses from DeerfieldCS on Vimeo.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman Book Trailer by Alec G.

The Great Book Stories project (examples of student-created VoiceThread-based book reports)

Roman Weapons In Plain English

Technorati Tags: blog, book, edtech, education, inspirational, inspire, new, playingwithmedia, report, school, schools, share, sketchup, student, technology, video, vimeo, youtube, nhste, hampshire, newhampshire, work, bookreport

Reach for the Stars Using Media in Your Classroom originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on September 29, 2011.

These channels are “subscribable” using a YouTube account like a “normal” channel. This is a nice feature, and demonstrates how content published to the open web can be remixed, reorganized and redistributed in a variety of ways to communicate with a bigger (or in some cases more specific) audience.

I’m not sure how this YouTube referenced blog channel was setup or if it’s possible to “submit” a blog to become an aggregated video channel. Of course, I link to videos on Vimeo and other sites (like Celebrate Oklahoma Voices) from time to time, and those videos aren’t included here: just the YouTube ones. If you have any insights into how this works or how others can create similar YouTube video blog referenced aggregated channels (boy that’s a mouthful) please comment.

As a percentage, I wonder how many US schools permit teachers to access YouTube at school today? I wonder what the percentage is for student access at school? My unscientific perceptions tell me the numbers are growing, but slowly. We need more advocacy for balanced filtering, differentiated filtering, and campaigns focusing on digital citizenship in schools to change those numbers faster.

See resources for my August 2011 presentation in Montana on “Smart Networks” for more ideas along these lines.

Technorati Tags: block, blog, content, edtech, filtering, internet, learning, school, student, teacher, video, videos, youtube, aggregation, balanced

YouTube Aggregates Videos Shared on a Blog originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on September 29, 2011.

These links are also available on my handouts wiki. The videos “Mathboarding” and Rate of Work” are from Rushton Hurley‘s wonderful digital storytelling archive, “Next Vista for Learning.” An audio podcast of this presentation is also available on “Fuel for Educational Change Agents.”

Sponsors of Tomorrow-Rockstar (30 sec)

Engineering Process with Michael Solomon (3:37)

Find more videos like this on Celebrate Oklahoma Voices!

Mathboarding (1:54)

Rate of Work (1:07)

The Importance of Art Class at School and Creativity (1:15)

Technorati Tags: classroom, digital, edtech, education, maine, media, playing, playingwithmedia, storytelling, technology, video, yarmouth

Deepening our Learning Through Storytelling: creativity, STEM and stories originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on September 27, 2011.

Last week I received a question, via Twitter from Rob Ackerman, about how I’m adding audio recordings to the new sound blog I created this month, “Sounds of my World.” To answer this question, I recorded a twelve minute screencast showing these steps on my MacBook Pro laptop. Before sharing the tools I’m using to do this, I’ll point out (as I do in the screencast) a MUCH easier approach: Use email and a free Posterous.com website. That’s the method used by Australian educator Jess McCulloch on her sound blog, “Life Sounds Like This.”

The tools I’m using for this process (and describe in the screencast) include a WordPress blog, the free “Blubrry PowerPress Podcasting plugin” for WordPress, the free iTalk Recorder app for iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch, the PixelPipe iOS app uploading to Flickr, and free Switch software for audio conversions. Note the PixelPipe app was removed from the iTunes Store by Apple in 2010. Other apps and methods (described the in screencast) can be used to take a photo off an iPhone and share them as part of a blog post. Here’s the screencast!

Remember to check and and share examples of student media projects on share.playingwithmedia.com!

Note: I apologize for the “wind noise” in this recording. My foam windscreen for my headset microphone went missing awhile back when I loaned it to a student, and I haven’t replaced it yet. This screencast ended up being a lengthy saga to make tonight, because of some audio driver issues and needed updates in ScreenFlow. I ended up recording this five separate times, and published the 4th attempt because the 5th didn’t save properly. I’m relieved to have a finished version after spending MUCH more time than I’d planned making this recording. I hope it’s helpful to you, despite the distracting wind noise.

Technorati Tags: audio, blog, classroom, convert, edtech, learning, media, playing, playingwithmedia, share, sound, technology, conversion

Adding Audio to a WordPress Sound Blog originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on September 25, 2011.

The increasing availability of flash-based video recorders, or camcorders, continues to fuel the explosive growth of online video. “No edit” and “quick edit” videography has many advantages, but editing is still important at times and can be necessary in many cases. Fortunately, available tools continue to grow in their capabilities alongside hardware for capturing videos.

Google announced last week YouTube now supports enhanced video editing for clips you upload to the site. Unlike the previous online editor, which created NEW videos, you can now edit the same video you uploaded– even later, and not change the website link/URL or lose views/comments. This 40 second video explains how. Think “Instagram effects” for videos, but without an application. All the editing takes place in “the cloud.”

The video effects remind me of my favorite iPhoneography editing application, Camera Bag. (Hat tip to Marco Torres for sharing this back at ACTEM in 2009.) Even more exciting than those effects, however, is the ability to TRIM a video right on YouTube in your web browser! I used the new YouTube video editor tonight to trim some extra footage from the start of a clip I recorded back in November 2010 of David Glover explaining how “The Square” lets anyone accept credit card payments with an iPhone.

This capability is very exciting, since it eliminates the need to perform these “quick edit” video trims on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch before uploading to YouTube. The trimming can be done afterwards in a browser-based post-production process. It’s also great to see the YouTube editor provides the option to SAVE or SAVE AS when you make edits, so you don’t have to overwrite your original video if you don’t want to.

For people wanting to do even LESS work editing together video clips so they can be shared online with others in shorter versions (even with an included musical soundtrack) the website Magisto is here to help. I learned about Magisto today via Jennifer Van Grove’s article for Mashable. This two minute video cleverly explains the problem Magisto can help us solve: Breathing “shareable life” into video clips from trips and other excursions which are too long and boring to put online “as is.”

What is Magisto from magisto on Vimeo.

I gave Magisto a try tonight, uploading six video clips from our family’s visit to Disneyland last March which I’d never uploaded to YouTube or Flickr previously. The site has a limit of uploading a maximum of 16 different videos, or videos which total 600 MB in size at one time. My six videos (shot with an iPhone4) were about 480 MB. I selected the videos to upload just like email attachments, gave a title to my video, and chose a song. I could have uploaded one from my computer, but I opted to go with one provided by Magisto. I’m wondering if Madonna is earning a royalty for this?!

Here’s my finished video on Magisto. I also cross-posted it to YouTube right from the site. It took about 40 minutes for this to process and finish. It’s 1 minute, 40 seconds long. Magisto sent me an email message when it was complete. I’m not sure the “Holiday” music by Madonna exactly fits for the Star Wars / Darth Maul scenes, but given how little effort I had to put into making this video, I’m not complaining. It IS fun to see these video clips online at last with “new life!”

I elaborate further on the benefits as well as procedures of “no edit” and “quick edit” videography in my eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing.” If you’re not creating and editing flash-based videos yet, it’s time to get started! It’s exciting to see these new, cloud-based options for editing and enhancing videos. These complement mobile apps for video editing like iMovie, and provide even more choices for storychasers and iPhoneographers!

Technorati Tags: cloud, edit, editing, playingwithmedia, video, youtube, magisto, quick

New Video Editing Options with YouTube’s Browser-based Editor and Magisto originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on September 20, 2011.

Here are the slides I’ll be discussing during the webinar. Please tune in and bring lots of good questions!

More details about this webinar are available from eTechOhio. David Warlick, Kevin Honeycutt, and Scott McLeod are scheduled to share additional webinars in this series in October, November and December. I’m honored to be among these creative folks, and appreciate eTechOhio providing this opportunity for me to share my passion for student-created media projects!

Remember you can view examples of student-created media projects on share.playingwithmedia.com, and also contribute your own example this month to have a chance at winning an iRig microphone.

As a related aside, my opening keynote at the 2009 eTechOhio educational technology conference remains archived on the eTechOhio iTunesU channel. If you ever have an opportunity to attend and/or present at their conference, don’t pass it up! This year the eTechOhio conference is scheduled for February 13-15, 2012, in Columbus. Thanks to 2009 eTechOhio conference organizers, I met and started following Ryan Collins. Connections like this are priceless, because “connected learning” opportunities don’t have to end when a conference is over.

Hope to “see you” in Tuesday’s webinar!

Technorati Tags: ebook, edtech, learning, playingwithmedia, technology, webinar, etechohio

Join in a free eTechOhio Webinar Tues Sept 20th on #playingwithmedia originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on September 19, 2011.

Soundcloud is an excellent website and smart phone application offering the ability to not only record and share “no edit” audio recordings (similar to AudioBoo, Cinch, and iPadio) but also add “timed” comments. A timed comment is linked to a specific minute and second mark in a sound recording. I interviewed my 13 year old, 8th grade son tonight about his recent English project, “Living in Oak Ridge.” He created a Glogster site for the project with photos he’d obtained from his grandmother (my mom) who lived in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, during World War II. I used the free iOS application for Soundcloud to record this ten minute interview, using my iPhone and an iRig microphone. If you play the embedded Soundcloud audio recording below, notice how comments appear as the audio file plays back in your web browser. I LOVE this feature! As far as I know, this is unique to Soundcloud at this point.

Discussing Oak Ridge Glogster Project at Oklahoma City, OK by wfryer

Comments to a Soundcloud recording can be added using the iOS application, but those comments are not “timed.” To add a timed comment, you need to use your web browser. After logging in with an account to Soundcloud, click in the blue space below the audio “waveform” to add a comment.

Mouse over a comment and click REMOVE (if you are the owner of a Soundcloud recording) to delete unwanted comments.

It’s possible to include hyperlinks in timed comments as well as regular text. This is a great way to provide additional information as well as website suggestions relating to a recorded audio file. Links are clickable in the “hovering text boxes” which appear over the audio waveform as the recording plays in your browser, and also clickable below the sound recording. People can also reply to specific comments. Those appear as Twitter-style “@ reply” messages, however, rather than threaded / hierarchical comments. Soundcloud does not appear to currently support comment moderation, or to offer an education-specific version of its product.

The Soundcloud iOS app doesn’t appear to currently show comments. Users can add “untimed” comments to a sound recording, but not view or listen to any comments– just the original recording. The app is a great tool for creating “no edit” audio recordings, however, and I highly recommend it. SoundCloud supports “the ethic of minimal clicks” for student and teacher media projection, which I discuss in my eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing.” Soundcloud provides users with 120 minutes worth of free audio hosting, and older files can be deleted to make space for new ones if desired. Premium Soundcloud accounts offer more features, including the ability to download each track more than 100 times. This complete Soundcloud account feature overview shows what can be added if you’re willing to pay money for the service. Other platforms like AudioBoo, Cinch, and iPadio provide free, unlimited accounts, but don’t currently offer the “timed commenting” feature of Soundcloud. Soundcloud recordings are not limited in duration for individual episodes, either, as recordings are on AudioBoo. (AudioBoo’s limit is 5 minutes each.)

Check out additional audio sites and resources on playingwithmedia.com/pages/audio. I’ll continue to keep that site updated in the weeks and months ahead. Thanks to Sheldon Bradshaw for sharing Soundcloud during our “digital storytelling” cohort sessions at the Learning 2.011 conference in Shanghai last week!

Check out examples of student audio projects on SHARE: Playing with Media. Remember you still have a couple of weeks to contribute / share your own example of a student media project (audio or text / image / video) on the site and possibly win an iRig microphone!

Technorati Tags: audio, edtech, learning, media, play, playing, playingwithmedia, playwithmedia, recording, school, soundcloud, technology

Share “timed” comments on Audio Recordings with SoundCloud originally appeared on Moving at the Speed of Creativity on September 19, 2011.