Moving at the Speed of Creativity

This podcast is a collection of recorded audio from a workshop shared with teachers in Gadsden City Schools, Alabama, on June 10, 2009. In the workshop, teachers learned how to use a Sony UX-70 mp3 digital audio recorder to record audio in an oral history interview. Teachers also learned how to use free Audacity software to do some basic audio editing of their recording: selecting different clips of audio, deleting selections, splitting selections into new tracks, moving tracks to different places in the recording, importing background music, adjusting the audio level so it does not overwhelm the narration, and exporting the finished, edited audio file as a WAV or MP3 file. Teachers were introduced to the free website SlideShare, which can be used to upload PowerPoint and other multimedia presentation files that are synchronized to recorded audio. Following our workshop, I interviewed Eric Lee, who is an educational technology professional development specialist with the “Technology In Motion” project of the Alambama State Department of Education. This podcast concludes with a brief overview of some excellent educational application for the iPod Touch (iTouch) as well as the procedures for subscribing to free podcasts on the iTunes Store.

 

 Podcast320: Lessons Learned Recording, Editing, and Publishing Digital Audio [01:05:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (567)

Show Notes:

1. Podcasting and iTouch 101 for Educators (Resource links from today’s workshop in Gadsden)
2. Great Questions List (for oral history interviews) from StoryCorps
3. Audacity (free, open-source and cross-platform audio editing software)
4. Introduction to Educational Podcasting
5. iTouch 101 for Educators
6. Sony UX-70 MP3 recorder
7. Technology in Motion EdTech Professional Development by the Alabama State Department of Education
8. Wiki resource site of Eric Lee, Technology in Motion Trainer at Jacksonville State University Regional Inservice Center
9. Copyright for Educators (a SlideShare SlideCast)
10. Guidelines for Social Media Use in Schools
11. The Future and Its Enemies by Virginia Postrel
12. Celebrate Oklahoma Voices Project
13. Story Chasers Inc.
14. Handouts for the Celebrate Oklahoma Voices Project

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This is great– Tim Holt is spearheading a Podstock Southwest conference to be held August 6-7, 2009, in El Paso, Texas.

Visit Podstock Southwest

The “first PodStock” (yes, I’m proud to say ‘I was there!’) was held in Wichita, Kansas, on May 1-2, 2009. I’m not entirely sure if I’ll be able to attend PodstockSW or not, since our family has been planning to attend the XIT Rodeo and Reunion in Dalhart again during those dates in August. (I made a video “storychaser style” last year during the XIT, which I titled “72 Years of Free BBQ.” If I come to PodstockSW, can you promise equally amazing eats, Tim?!)

The call for proposals for PodStock Southwest is available as a PDF file, and is due June 17th. That’s a quick turnaround! I’m wondering if in addition or in lieu of all formally scheduled sessions, it would be good to turn this into a BarCamp event? Just a thought! BarCamp seems to epitomize the grass-roots nature and spirit of a Podstock conference. I think it still could be beneficial / a draw to have invited keynote speakers, but at least some of the sessions could be setup in a BarCamp model, or the entire conference sans keynotes could be.

Technorati Tags:
conference, education, learning, podcasting, podstock, school, texas, workshop, #podstocksw09, elpaso

We had a great turnout for the Oklahoma City Public School’s annual “Tech Day” conference, held at US Grant High School in southern OKC today. I had fun live-blogging Tammy Worcester’s keynote, “Beyond Copy and Paste: Building Integrated Technology Projects.” Tammy is a wonderful presenter and her message really resonated with the diverse group of K-12 teachers here in Oklahoma City. It’s always challenging to address a K-12 audience with widely varying technology skill levels, and Tammy did a great job. She is a learning consultant with ESSDACK in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Here are the wiki links from my three sessions today. My 8 year old daughter, Sarah, helped run our Ustream webcasting setup all day and recorded the first session. Sarah also helped me co-present our final session today about our family learning blog, “Learning Signs,” and did a super job presenting and teaching as well. My relatively new (and relatively inexpensive) Nady wireless mic worked GREAT, and Ryan Collins is my hero for his comment on Sunday solving the mystery of the timing out Sony Digital 8 camcorder: Removing the tape made the camera stay on all day long without interruption! Yeah!

Digital Storytelling on a Shoestring - UStream Archive - Wiki Links

Powerful Ingredients for Blended Learning (updated fairly extensively since my May 16th workshop at ESC16 in Amarillo)

We didn’t add links yet to our wiki page for our Family Learning Blog presentation, but we will before this session is repeated at NECC in Washington D.C. on June 30th. Many thanks to Dawn Danker for co-presenting today and sharing how she’s been using Ustream with her son for him to share video-based book reports with a global audience!

Technorati Tags:
digitalstorytelling, education, learning, oklahoma, technology, video, okcps, techday09, techday

This podcast is a recording of Dean Mantz and Brian Richter’s presentation on May 2, 2009, at the PodStock 2009 conference titled, “Integrating Podcasting into the Classroom Using Moodle.” The session description was: How you use podcasting in the classroom-Integrating them into the class using moodle. This will include a quick lesson on how to do a Drop.io cellphone podcast. Dean’s bio in the PodStock09 program was: Dean Mantz is currently at USD 376 in Sterling, Kansas as their Network Coordinator. One of the biggest benefits of taking this position is getting to work with my wife and be in the same school district as both of my children. As a teacher I was responsible for developing an Exploring Technology module class. I also taught American History. In 2000, I assisted in the development of the Rice County Technology Academy. The academy provided opportunities for students to enroll in a variety of career curriculums. Students could participate in A+ training, Webmaster curriculum, and develop themselves as Certified Cisco Network Associates. I have truly enjoyed my time working with kids and teachers on how to integrate technology. Brian’s PodStock09 bio was: Brian Richter has taught at Sterling High School since 1989 in the Social Science department. During that time, he has focused much of his time integrating the teaching of economics into world and US history. He has served as a staff teacher and consultant for the Kansas Council on Economic Education for the last six years and also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas. He was selected as the Kansas Economic Teacher of the Year in 2006. Brian graduated from Emporia State University in 1989 and earned his Master’s Degree in Teaching Social Sciences from ESU in 1995. He is following his father’s footsteps; Don Richter of Syracuse was elected to the Kansas Teacher Hall of Fame class of 1995.

 

 Podcast319: Integrating Podcasting into the Classroom Using Moodle by Dean Mantz and Brian Richter (PodStock2009) [46:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (779)

Show Notes:

1. PodStock Session Notes from Dean Mantz on the PodStock Ning
2. Moodle
3. PodStock Ning
4. NiceNet
5. Sterling Online Learning Community
6. Blue Snowball
7. iPod Touch and Thumbtack mic I would suggest either audiomemos or iTalk (free applications).
8. SanDisk Sansa m250 2GB MP3 player
9. Skype and Supertintin or Pretty May Recorder
10. Tony Vincent’s Podcasting Booklet Podcasting_Booklet.pdf
11. Podcasting Rubric TnC Podcast Rubric.pdf
12. Pre-service student PSA podcasts These are pre-service podcasts created based on public service announcements based on educational issues.
13. Interviews with students about technology and their projects.Mantz’s Mission podcasts
14. Podcasting and Education - January 2008 article from Campus Technology magazine
15. Mantz Mission: Dean’s Blog
16. Dean Mantz on Ustream
17. Dean Mantz on Twitter
18. Dean Mantz on Classroom 2.0
19. Sterling College
20. USD 376 in Sterling, Kansas

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This evening I uploaded and synchronized an audio recording my keynote Saturday for the Webheads in Action Online Convergence 2009 Conference, publishing a Slidecast on Slideshare:

I apologize for the rather poor audio quality of the recording at times, I should have simply laid my audio recorder on the table when I was sharing this presentation over Elluminate– I think the distracting noises which you’ll hear at times are my recorder bumping into the table where I was sitting during this online keynote. (I’ll avoid that mistake in the future!)

In addition to publishing part 1 of this series (my keynote at Podstock09) as a Slidecast today as well as this “part 2 of 2″ WiAOC09 keynote, I created two PDF quickstart guides for SlideShare and Slidecasts which may be of interest. Feel free to uses these for your own learning needs as well as workshops / training opportunities under a CC Attribution license:

1. A Quickstart Guide for SlideShare (1 page PDF)
2. A Quickstart Guide for Slidecasting (1 page PDF)

Technorati Tags:
#podstock09, digital, education, podcasting, podstock09, school, storychasing, storytelling, technology, video, slideshare, slidecast, #wiaoc09, storychase, publish

This morning I created a Slidecast using Slideshare of my keynote address from the PodStock conference several weeks ago, shared in Wichita, Kansas, on May 1, 2009. This presentation is part one in a two part series titled, “Storychasing: Empowering Students as Digital Witnesses.” A Slidecast includes multimedia slides synchronized to a mp3 audio file.

I made several mistakes during this presentation and fixed a few of them in this asynchronously shared recording, but did not fix everything. I changed Hudson “bay” to “river” in Audacity, but did not fix my reference to the book “The Rise of the Creative Class” from “Dan Pink” to “Richard Florida.” (I got a bit rushed toward the end of the preso.) I also edited out the audio file I initially played incorrectly as “Lupita’s Mother’s Day podcast” from this recording. The photo from Pearl Harbor and the USS Oklahoma Survivors videoconference was taken in 2007 rather than 1997. Dr. Lynell Burmark says the human brain processes an image 40,000 times faster than text, rather than 60,000 times. I may have made other errors… if so, please forgive me. This was the first time I was able to share this session, and ended up sharing part two yesterday as a keynote during the Webheads in Action Online Convergence 2009 Conference online. I’ll be editing, uploading and syncing my recorded audio from that second part of this presentation soon.

I created a one page PDF QuickStart Guide for SlideShare today also, which I plan to use in several weeks when I spend a full day with Alabama educators in Gadsden City Schools. I need to increase the margins on this document and add a CC license, but I’ll keep the URL to this document consistent after I make those changes. I’m also going to make a similar QuickStart guide for Slidecasting. These will both be linked from my Intro to Podcasting wiki curriculum page. As always feel free to use any of these materials for your own learning and workshop needs under a CC Attribution license.

A less edited version of this keynote is available as an audio-only podcast here on Moving at the Speed of Creativity. I think it’s valuable to be able to see the slides in sync with the audio, however, if you’re viewing and listening to the presentation in a “tethered” mode. (Using a laptop or desktop computer.)

Technorati Tags:
education, safety, school, technology, video, youtube, storychasing, podstock, podstock09, #podstock09, #podstock, podcasting, record, online

In this podcast from the road, I compare the available features, limitations, and relative benefits of using the web service drop.io compared to Gabcast for cell phone (or regular land line phone) digital recording. Gcast is another available option for phone-in recording, and I discuss it a bit as well. Both Gabcast and Gcast became commercial-only phone recording services in the spring of 2009, but drop.io still offers 100 MB or about 450 minutes of free phone recording to anyone. In the podcast I provide an overview of a lecturecasting via cell phone pilot project I helped facilitate this past spring with a local university using Gabcast, and also describe how participants in our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices digital storytelling project have used Gabcast in the past to permit relatives in different towns to record and share oral history interviews digitally. Cell phone digital recording can be used to create “no-edit” podcasts which are immediately available on the Internet for others to access. When students are asked to provide summary podcasts of instructor lectures for class, these types of solutions can be ideal. It is also wonderful to be able to empower ANYONE with access to a phone to be able to provide audio input or feedback for a project. I am loving drop.io and highly commend it to you. Check out the shownotes for this podcast for extensive links to the resources mentioned in this episode.

 

 Podcast317: Comparing Drop.io and Gabcast for Cell Phone Digital Recording [51:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (720)

Show Notes:

1. Drop.io
2. drop.io voice:  leave voicemail on a drop
3. Sony ICD-UX70 MP3 Digital Audio Recorder
4. Gabcast
5. GCast
6. Duke Digital Initiative
7. Duke Digital Initiative - Evaluation of 2004-05 Academic iPod Projects, June 2005 (PDF)
8. Echo360
9. 2009 Mother’s Day Podcast (created free with GCast - no cell phone recording used tho)
10. Audacity (free, open source audio editor)
11. Celebrate Oklahoma Voices
12. StoryChasers
13. Apple OS X Server Podcast Producer
14. MidDel Public Schools
15. MidDel Public Schools PodSquad
16. CNAME Registry Change: Helping more teachers and students access a Ning website via a subdomain and a CNAME entry in DNS
17. Digital Video Instigators (mini-lessons) from Celebrate Oklahoma Voices
18. Scribe Posts by Darren Kuropatwa
19. Pick-A-Prof
20. University of Central Oklahoma
21. Liz Kolb’s blog: From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning
22. Cell Phones as Classroom Learning Tools - Liz Kolb’s 2007 presentation for K-12 Online
23. Dean Mantz on Classroom 2.0
24. Dean Mantz on Twitter
25. PodStock Conference Ning
26. BlastCast podcast (our post today inviting parent feedback via drop.io phone recording)
27. The Dirty Thirties by Jeanette Hale (a digital story example which used Gabcast)

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I shared Danielle’s wonderful “Mother’s Day Podcast” this past Friday with attendees at the 2009 PodStock conference in Wichita, Kansas, and was inspired myself to record several “no-edit” Mother’s Day podcasts with my own children this afternoon. We used my relatively new “Sony ICDUX70 Digital Voice Recorder” to make these precious audio memories and messages for mom. The Sony records directly in MP3 format, so no file conversion or editing is required. It does record at 128 kbps, which is a higher bitrate than is needed for an audio podcast, but since they were small and to save time I didn’t bother compressing/optimizing them further. Options for free audio compression software programs include iTunes, Switch, and Audacity. I did use iTunes to edit the ID3 tags for each recording and also add an image as podcast show art. I was VERY pleased with this option to create a “no edit” podcast so readily! (For more on podcast bitrates, refer to this chart from Libsyn which I have linked on my workshop curriculum for “Intermediate/Advanced Topics in Podcasting.” My basic podcasting curriculum is also available.)

We published these both to our family learning blog (using EduBlogs.tv) as well as to my MobileMe website using iWeb 2009. Each of these are 3-5 minutes in length. I think they are all touching (of course I’m quite biased) but Rachel probably takes the cake for using the most expression in her answers! When you are five years old, apparently NOTHING can top a gift from the Disney Store!

Remember when you want to embed an EduBlogs.tv mp3 audio file like I have above but do NOT want it to autoplay, you can simply change the code “autostart=yes” to “autostart=no” in the embed code which the EduBlogs.tv website provides for your uploaded file.

Hat tip to Carol Anne McGuire for this precious podcasting idea! These were the questions we used in our podcast interviews today:

1.Tell me your favorite thing about your mother.
2. What does your mother do every day when you are away at school?
3. What does your mommy look like? (How would you describe her to someone who has never seen her before?)
4. What does your mom like to do when she is not working?
5. What does your mom like to eat?
6. How do you show your mother that you love her?
7. How does your mother show you that she loves you?
8. If you could give your mom anything in the whole world, what would you give her?
9. What makes your mom smile really big?
10. What have you learned from your mother?

If you have a digital audio recorder and/or a computer microphone, why not record one or more Mother’s Day podcasts for the mothers in your life this week? It’s a gift they are sure to treasure and remember.

Technorati Tags:
podcasting, podcast, mothers, day

Here’s the Ustream archive from Kevin Honeycutt’s closing comments at the 2009 PodStock 2009 conference in Wichita, Kansas. Yes, he did play the iPhone guitar app!

Technorati Tags:
#podstock09, podstock, stories

These are my notes from the session “Podcasts and Intellectual Property” by Glenn Wiebe at the 2009 PodStock conference. Glenn is a Curriculum Specialist at ESSDACK in Hutchinson, Kansas. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. Glenn’s site is “Social Studies Central” and it’s a super resource. He writes the “History Tech” blog. Glenn’s preso and podcast, “Are You Legal? Copyright and Plagiarism in the Classroom” are available. Here is Glenn’s copyright handout for today in PDF format, as well as the handout “Beating the No U-Turn Syndrome” (PDF) from Doug Johnson.

I’ve recorded this with audio and webcasted/archived this session via Ustream.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer!
- Eric Holder is the new attorney general for the US, he is a lawyer, I am not!

Glenn started this session by having participants brainstorm the specific copyright questions we have now, and wrote them down on a whiteboard
- sharing student work and copyright
- how do students protect their work
- lessons for kids: how do we teach kids about copyright?
- how do we avoid simply playing “the fear card

share concern with Doug Johnson about “hypercomplying” by school districts
- we will talk about “the u-turn syndrome” that Doug discusses

You may leave here with more questions than you came with

remember: there is LOTS OF STUFF you can use

Copyright MYTHS:
- if I do a good biblography, I’ll be ok legally
- this is for kids and education, so it’s ok and “fair use”
- if I am not putting it on the web it is ok
- if it is out on the web teachers can use it however they want
- copyright law is about mainly protecting rights of copyright owners/enriching them (IT IS ACTUALLY MAINLY FOR CREATIVITY AND PUBLIC GOOD)

“There is no such thing as true intellectual property; there is only temporary permission to control and idea.”
- not sure about the source of this

loaning someone a physical thing that we own can help us understand intellectual property: sharing

the law is designed to:

…promote the betterment of society by encouraging the creation of, and the public’s access to, useful works.

“the public’s access to” the ideas and information is key

I WONDER IF GLENN HAS SEEN THE TEMPLE MEDIA LAB’S VIDEOS ON COPYRIGHT CONFUSION? (Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Media Literacy Education)

basics of copyright law
- copyright protects the creator of a creative work
– a unique way of expressing something
– requires only a minimum amount of creativity
– does not include facts or broad ideas

yes, your students’ work is copyrighted and protected, from the moment it is created
- students should protect their own work, that is their responsibility

this is important, if you post a student’s work it could be a violation

can’t copyright 2+2 or “democracy: facts or broad ideas can’t be copyrighted

example from several years ago, author of book “Let’s Roll” wanted to make money on that phrase and she was sued by someone who had copyrighted that phrase
- the court said that is too common a phrase, and it was not a legitimate copyright
- anyone can sue at any time, however, in the US

What could happen:
- $250 - $10,000 per infringement / misdemeanor or felony
Who is liable:
- teachers, administrators, media specialists, BOE

Doug Johnson has NOT found any evidence of a school actually being sued
- there certainly are cases of “cease and desist” letters

some participants have seen fines levied for software copyright infringements

I MENTIONED THAT I’D LOVE TO SEE A LIST OF THOSE SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS WHO HAVE BEEN SUED UNDER COPYRIGHT. I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT LIST. DOES IT EXIST?

Americans and U-Turns
- this is the point made by Doug Johnson
- in Thailand, and in lots of parts of the world, unless there is a sign that ALLOWS a U-Turn you can’t do it
- your first assumption there is unless it is specifically authorized, you can’t do a U-Turn (this is the opposite of the US)
- so the link is: in the US we focus way to much on what IS NOT permitted than what IS permitted
- that changes the philosophy a bit and some of these questions

change the focus from what is forbidden to what is permitted

there ARE guidelines about seconds and percentage of use, and many educators are looking at that as the law

MY POINT WAS THIS IS FROM THE 1986 GUIDELINES OF EDUCATIONAL FAIR USE FOR MULTIMEDIA, THOSE WERE WELL-INTENTIONED GUIDELINES BUT THEY HAVE LED IN MANY CASES TO A CHILLING OF FAIR USE RIGHTS BEING EXERCISED. IT IS A MYTH THAT THOSE GUIDELINES ARE LAW. SEE MY ARTICLE “COPYRIGHT 101 FOR EDUCATORS” FROM 2002-2003 FOR TCEA, AND MY FEB 2009 PRESO AT ITSC “COPYRIGHT FOR EDUCATORS” FOR MORE ON THIS.

when in doubt, err on the side of the user not the owner
- that can be scary, because it may contravene what some school districts are saying

Teach the point of view of both consumers and producers

things that are clearly legal
- using works in the public domain
- using a US government work
- using Creative Commons-licensed or “podsafe” content
- making “fair use” of a work

Creative Commons was started around 5 years ago of people creating their own rules

ACTUALLY AS THE VIDEO “GET CREATIVE” EXPLAINS, THE FOUNDERS ASKED THE US COPYRIGHT OFFICE HOW TO GIVE NOTICE AND PERMISSION IN ADVANCE FOR SOME TYPES OF REUSE, AND THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE SAID “WE DON’T KNOW.” THAT IS WHY CC FOUNDERS GOT CREATIVE AND STARTED THE PROJECT.

So what is fair use, the law allows some use without specific permission:
1- to criticize and comment
2- to write news articles
3- for research / scholarship
4- to practice parody

Law allows reasonable manner of use, comes down to 4 questions
- on page 9 of the handout, there are 4 questions you need to ask and your kids need to think about
- this is checklist adapted from some people in Indiana University

Remember “the pirate code” from Pirates of the Caribbean? These are guidelines!

Recommended resources
- CC Podcasting Legal Guide

GLENN HAS NOT TALKED AT ALL ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF DISCUSSING THE TRANSFORMATIVE ASPECT OF THE USE, WHICH IS THE TEMPLE UNIV MEDIA EDUCATION LAB MEDIA LITERACY GUIDELINES REALLY FOCUS ON THIS. I BROUGHT THIS UP AS AN ISSUE AND KEY POINT: IS IT A TRANSFORMATIVE USE OF THE MEDIA?

If you are Mac people, have kids make their own stuff with Garageband

Drape’s Takes: The Educator’s Guide to the Creative Commons

3 things to reflect on as you leave:
1- what is 1 question you still have - ask someone in your building that idea next week
2- what is 1 new resource or idea you gained this morning you didn’t have before

Technorati Tags:
copyright, education, school, podcasting

This evening I learned about the YouTube video “Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn’t seen it)” by listening to Justin Karkow’s “Digital Storytelling Frame by Frame” presentation on the 2009 Nebraska Educational Technology Association Podcast channel.

As a big Star Wars fan, I found this remix quite amusing and fun. Nice use of Final Cut Pro.

The NETA 2009 conference was held April 23-24, 2009, in Omaha, Nebraska. The podcast channel from the conference is GREAT. I was not able to attend the conference, but thanks to this audio podcast channel I can attend virtually, after the fact, and you can as well! Way to go Nebraska educators! I think it’s definitely a best practice to, at a minimum, audio record key sessions at conferences as the leaders at NETA did and make them available afterwards as free downloads. This substantially amplifies and extends the voices of those presenting at the conference as well as the sponsoring conferencing organization itself.

Go NETA! A twitter account was created for the 2009 NETA conference, which can be a good way for face-to-face conference attendees to find each other on Twitter. I’d recommend, however, setting up a non-year specific Twitter account for conference events so the account can “live on in relevance” after the year of that particular conference is over.

Hat tip to Elizabeth Helfant of St Louis MICDS for letting me know about this NETA09 podcast channel. (Twitter: ehelfant) As a related aside, if you’re anywhere NEAR St Louis consider attending their “MICDS Summer Teacher Institute” in 2009. Their lineup of presenters and presentation topics is FANTASTIC. This is sure to be a fantastic series of learning opportunities for midwestern educators!

Technorati Tags:
starwars, finalcutpro, fcp, youtube

The Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) is a great resource for not only identifying and/or announcing classroom collaborative projects, but also for finding professional development providers for your school and district who present over video. I’m pleased to announce that five of my educational presentations / workshops are now being offered over video (H.323, Skype, iChat or Google Video) via the Professional Development Marketplace of the CILC.

These five sessions are:

1. Powerful Ingredients for Blended Learning

Good teaching is similar in many ways to good cooking. Recipes are helpful, but master cooks often modify those to meet different needs and situations. The same is true for teachers. If we extend this analogy of cooking to teaching and learning in a web 2.0 world, what are the best “ingredients” to use as we help both teachers and students learn to be more effective, safe, and powerful communicators in our flat world? In this working session we will focus on six key ingredients: del.icio.us social bookmarks, Flickr photo sharing, VoiceThread digital storytelling, collaborative writing tools, websites for phone recording as well as SMS polling, and videoconferencing. Cooking can be intimidating for novices, but richly rewarding. Let’s learn to cook up some gourmet learning with some powerful (and free) web 2.0 tools!

2. Digital Storytelling On a Shoestring

Digital storytelling is applicable to learners of all ages, in all content areas. In this session we will view different examples of digital storytelling across the curriculum, and explore free tools which are available to get started creating and publishing digital stories on your classroom website.

Digital stories can take many forms. In the context of this session, digital stories which include digital images/photographs and audio narration will be explored, using the website VoiceThread. Options for creating digital stories in software programs like PhotoStory3 and iMovie will also be addressed.

3. Hyperlinked Writing

Hyperlinked writing is the most powerful form of writing because it permits authors and readers to connect words to a variety of other ideas and multimedia files on the Internet. In this session we’ll introduce the basics of getting started with hyperlinked writing. We’ll learn to critically evaluate content on WikiPedia and edit WikiPedia articles, create and edit our own hyperlinked pages on a free educational wiki site, and explore options for creating professional as well as classroom blogs for students.

4. Intro to Educational Podcasting

Learn how to use free software (Audacity) to create and publish audio podcasts on your classroom website. These podcasts can include recorded teacher-lectures, student projects, student-created news programs, or almost anything else. Synchronizing audio podcast recordings to PowerPoint slides will also be demonstrated using the free website SlideShare. No previous experience with podcasting or audio recording is required for this session!

5. Introduction to Twitter

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform which provides a powerful way for educators to connect with and build a personal learning community. Limited to just 140 characters, tweets can include links, @replies to individual users, and also direct messages (DMs.) In this session we’ll explore Twitter and how to get started using it to build a personal learning network. We’ll also examine a variety of Twitter tools which can be used to Tweet on the go, manage your Twitter account, and document feedback from conference events and other activities.

It’s interesting to note the CILC PD programs have a database entry for “Video Taping Notes.” Given the availability of recording solutions like the Tandberg Content Server and the Polycom RSS Server, this field might be more aptly named “Recording preferences.”

photo credit: Auntie P

I have a very permissive an open view of content and idea sharing, contrary to some. My “policy” on recording these CILC-offered presentations and workshops is:

Videotaping or recording with a content capture system is permitted, when reposted/redistributed a link should be provided giving attribution credit to Wesley Fryer. Refer to the following site for more information:
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/about/attribution-guidance/

I generally enjoy face-to-face workshops and presentations much more than virtual ones over video, but I recognize that budget, travel, and logistical issues often make professional development opportunities via video more practical and preferable than other alternatives. In my relatively new role as an independent, international learning consultant, I’m looking forward to more opportunities to teach and learn over video with educators around the world.

This is a shameless plug: If you’re interested in scheduling a PD workshop with me either over video or in person, please contact me over the phone or electronically!

As a final sidenote, if you’re interested in the origin of the marketing photo at the top of this post and now at the top of my Wordpress blog template, it was a picture taken at the open house for families at Classen SAS in January 2009 which I tweaked a bit in Comic Life and Seashore.

Technorati Tags:
video, videoconferencing, cilc, professional, development, pd, technology, podcasting, twitter, digitalstorytelling, digital, storytelling, web2, writing, hyperlink, hyperlinked, powerful, ingredients, wiki, blog

Check your calendar for Friday, May 1st and Saturday, May 2nd, 2009. If at all possible, please plan to join the learning and fun at the first PodStock conference to be held in Wichita, Kansas.

According to the PodStock website:

Podstock is a brand new conference designed to bring podcast creators and those who see the real value of podcasting as creators and consumers together. We’ll have breakout sessions on podcasting for beginners, as well as sessions for and by seasoned pros. We’ll explore podcasting as well as many other web 2.0 tools that can enhance learning and communication in your world. We invite you to join this site and add your thinking to the initial planning for this event. The conference will be held in Old Town Wichita, located in Wichita, Kansas and host participants from all over the country. It will be 2 days of education, learning & fun, so we hope you won’t miss it!

The PodStock Ning is open for anyone to join. The conference is sponsored by ESSDACK, and cost for the two-day event is $175 per person. ESSDACK has reserved a block of rooms at the Hotel at Old Town in downtown Wichita, at a special rate of $122 per night. (Make sure you identify yourself as attending the ESSDACK PODSTOCK CONFERENCE.)

At the invitation of Kevin Honeycutt, I’ll be sharing the opening keynote address at the conference, as well as several breakout sessions on podcasting, digital storytelling, finding and using copyright-friendly music in multimedia projects, and other topics. Think of this event as a StoryChaser’s fiesta! This is a very unique conference event– this isn’t a “paid keynote” event for me, but rather something I’m both honored and happy to do on a volunteer basis because grassroots-podcasting is something about which I am very passionate and want to support in multiple ways. I write and speak fairly often about “the learning revolution,” and you can rest assured that Kevin is an educator who is also a passionate catalyst for this unofficial movement. Just check out the splash screen on Kevin’s homepage. Pictures are worth a thousand words! With Kevin and many others at ESSDACK involved in planning this creative conference event, you can be sure it will be both fun and filled with terrific opportunities for learning and networking. Personally, I’m looking forward to a guitar sing-along led by Kevin…

I hope you can join us in Wichita for PodStock in about a month!

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Yesterday driving back to Oklahoma from a short stay in Kansas with my parents, I listened to a podcast recording of Dr. Margaret Beale Spencer’s lecture from February 23rd at the University of Virginia. The title of her lecture was, “The 1954 Brown Decision and Contemporary Education Challenges and Opportunities.” The U.Va. podcast channel is one of my favorites, as they always have a variety of intellectually challenging speakers from whom I enjoy learning, especially when I’m driving long distances in the car.

My main technical suggestion after listening to this podcast was that I wished it included podcast shownotes! I’d love to be able to readily link to and reference the research reports, authors, and other ideas Dr. Beale discussed in her lecture. Unfortunately UVA Podcasts do not currently include linked shownotes.

Dr. Beale’s observations struck home with me as I anticipate attending the jointly sponsored “Dropout Summit” this Wednesday in Oklahoma City, hosted by the Oklahoma State Department of Education, America’s Promise Alliance, and other partners. Perceptions of identity and strong, positive relationships with teachers as well as other adults are critical variables for student success inside and outside of the classroom. Dr. Beale encourages educators and others to look beyond the basic statistics and characteristics of socio-economic status and race when analyzing student resiliency to school dropout pressures, and look at protective factors which can strengthen positive student identity perceptions. The basic message “white is good, black is bad” is a common perception which plays into student identity and self-esteem. Dr. Beale encourages everyone to NOT accept the fallacy today that “race does not matter.” One of the most important elements in this discussion is the idea that our conceptions of race are socially constructed, so they can therefore be socially adjusted. (They are not set in stone by heredity or environment.) I’m thinking there are many ways we could help students as well as educators tangibly address these issues via our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices oral history and digital storytelling project. My wheels are spinning.

I am far from an expert on these issues, but I think they are very relevant to consider as we try to find effective ways to address educational challenges including dropout rates. Refer to the “High School Dropout Prevention” page of America’s Promise Alliance for more information related to this issue, including the 16 page April 2008 “Cities in Crisis report” (PDF) from the Alliance. I’m going to read the report in advance of Wednesday’s summit.

The causes of civil rights and equal opportunities for all people– educational and otherwise, regardless of background or history, are very important issues for me. I’ve written about these issues a bit in the past in the posts “Digital Witness to President Obama’s Inauguration” (Jan 2009), “Philip Randolph, civil rights, unions, and political change” (Dec 2008,) “Reflections on Dr. King’s Dream” (Jan 2008,) and “We can’t mandate what matters” (May 2007.) Of course people do not have equal opportunities for all things, because our world is inherently an unequal and unjust environment. If we are to make this world into a more humane and just environment, it’s up to us to make needed changes at local levels. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to attend this week’s summit and not only learn more about these issues, but also identify ways I can join others to continue in this struggle which continues to our present day.

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Well this is a bummer, but perhaps not entirely unexpected. As of Sunday, March 1, 2009, Gabcast is NO LONGER offering free, phone-based audio recording to mp3 format. According to the Gabcast blog, the following changes are now in effect:

1. No distinction among channel types (Free, Pro, Premium). There will only be one kind of channel and it will have all of the features that were previously reserved for Premium channels.
2. Telephone recording will become pre-pay, just like conference call minutes. Members that have used telephone recording in the past will have to purchase minute packs.
3. Our Amsterdam, NL access number unfortunately will no longer be available. This is due to a requirement passed down from our service provider that a local address in the country is required to continue with service.

Gcast is still offering free, phone-based audio recording. I have used Gabcast much more than Gcast, however, and am REALLY going to miss sharing Gabcast as a free, cell-phone based audio recording option with workshop participants in sessions focusing on cell phone digital storytelling as well as our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices digital storytelling project.

When you login to your Gabcast account, in the right sidebar you can view how many minutes you have available:

Gabcast minute packs are currently available for $1 per 10 minutes starting with increments starting at 100. ($10 for 100 minutes.) Purchased minutes can be used for ANY of the Gabcast channels you’ve created with your Gabcast account.

I wish Gabcast would offer new accounts at least 100 minutes of free recording time. Gcast does not currently have any limitations (as far as I know) for phone-based audio recording as Gabcast does.

One thing I did learn two weeks ago in Portland when I shared a workshop on cell phone digital storytelling was that Gabcast DOES record the phone numbers of people who call into your Gabcast channel. This is good from an accountability standpoint, since students (and others) who call into your Gabcast channel (if you share your channel number and password with them) CANNOT remain truly anonymous. When you click CALL DETAILS after you login to your Gabcast channel, all the recent phone calls (including the originating phone numbers) are shown, time and date stamped.

Are you aware of other web-based services like Gabcast and Gcast which offer phone-based audio recording services?

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