So Much to Learn...So Little Time

Non-Web Applications I Use - Part 1

This is going to be a biggie. Please have patience. (This also my first use of ScribeFire)

I've been meaning to do this for a while, as a follow up to the post I did back in October about web tools that I've used. The purpose of this post is to look at the computer based apps I use day to day or in putting together special projects. Unfortunately for you PC users I use a MAC so most of them are mac-based, however I'm sure there are PC versions of some things.

So here we go. To make it easier for me I'm just going to list in alphabetical order, as I go through the applications menu.

Audacity
A great, FREE audio editor. You can record directly to it via your computer (use internal or external mic), voice music whatever you want. You can also import audio files from other sources such mp3 recorders etc. Once your sound file is in the editor you can cut, paste copy etc until you have the sound file you want. You can also import copyright free music from various websites (google podsafe audio and see what it comes up with. Now to export your file as mp3 (the most commonly used and recognised form of audio compression) you also have to download and add a Lame 3 encoder. You only have to do this once and instructions come with the download. Click here for features, here for screenshots and here for tutorials. If you use a variety of different computers there is also a portable version which you can download to your usb drive and use on any computer. Here is the mac version.

My aim is ensure that at least one suite of the new pcs in school has Audacity uploaded to enable the students to use it in school. Asked for it ages ago, but we only have one technician and then I've not been there.

Audio hijack
Does what it says on the tin, records to record any audio on your mac. If your macine can play it, audio hijack can record it. With the pro version you can create podcasts containing music clips and skype / iChat recordings. You can record your vinyl or cassettes and have the recordings sent direct to iTunes. You can even record from multiple sources. As yet I have only used this once to record a skype chat with Joe Dale. The sound quality seemed fine. I think though that I would like to investigate the pro version further, I wonder whether it can't be used to record input from multiple microphones, then I could use it to record conversations with more than 2-3 voices and upload to garageband to edit.

Uploaded with Skitch!

Disc Label
Lets you produce labels, covers, case inserts for cds and dvds that look seriously professional. It can import track lists and track info onto your design. You can use pictures from iPhoto and it is LightScribe compatible. Used it to produce  cover for the fundraising DVD I produced towards end of term, for the schools chosen charity, Spinal Injuries Scotland.

Uploaded with Skitch!

(Photo copyright Slacker)

DVD Player
It plays  DVD's!

Uploaded with Skitch!

Griffin Final Vinyl

A piece of software that comes with Griffin's iMic. The iMic is a usb audio adapter that allows you to connect your mac or pc to any sound input device. Along with Final Vinyl this device allows you to convert your vinyl and cassettes into mp3 files. Compatible with GarageBand, iMovie and Final Cut Pro. This could be useful to back up some of the older cassette based resources we have in the department.

Uploaded with Skitch!

GarageBand

I love GarageBand. It is so easy to use and yet so powerful and great fun, and that's just the podcasting element to it. I've not even made a serious exploration of the music-making side. I've made podcasts, vodcasts, enhanced podcasts, imported from iMovie etc etc.  Well what is it. Its a recording studio on your mac. If you are so inclined you can record your own music by linking real or software instruments (as I say I haven't gone into this yet). With the newest version,'08, there is the Magic GarageBand function which can help you get started. (Here's one I did for a film I made about Huntly Cricket Club).
I really do enjoy being creative with this application. I like the recording process, the way it handles, how you can add images to reflect part of an audio recording (enhanced podcast) and I'm just beginning to discover all the effects and fun things to do with each track. What I love most of all are the included loops, sounds and melodies (all without copyright) contained in the package. I enjoy trying to find the right piece of music to fit the mood. All in all its my favourite toy. Tons better than audacity. Apparently the closest windows app would be mixcraft.

       

Uploaded with Skitch!

Uploaded with Skitch!

I can Animate
THE animation tool for Mac. Used mainly for stop motion animation (think Wallace and Gromit). You can capture from a digital video camera or a web cam. Clips can be exported to iMovie. You can create animations by drawing within the app and you can also make time lapse films. I've tried stop-motion and time lapse, both of which are time consuming but still fun. Before using I Can Animate I tried a couple of other similar apps (iStopMotion and Frame Thief)
Both of these were fine to use but I Can Animate just felt more instinctive (and I didn't have to pay for a full version..ha!)
Tell me what you think:
Swordfight (Frame Thief)
Murder Most Fowl (iStopMotion)
But my favourite is this one
Yanick Gets His Hair Done (I Can Animate)

I would like to use this in class but the time it requires I just don't have. It's something I'd like to get kids to look into doing at home to get them creating something to which they can add some French. I had thought about an animated pencil case.

Uploaded with Skitch!

iDVD
When I first got my own pc one of the things I wanted to was transfer stuff from mini dv cassette to dvd. It seemed as if I had to download and mash up all kinds of different apps (either that or I was just daft and didn't understand what I was doing) and it just didn't come together. Then I got the PowerBook from school...
iDVD segues so seamlessly with all the other iLife applications that even one with my lack of nouse got it. Making a dvd is so easy with iDVD. It has some lovely themes, especially the new ones, which sing and dance and make everything look professional.
You can put together a dvd from scratch by choosing everything from themes down to the buttons, you can make a Magic iDVD where you just choose your theme and add your desired media or you can create a dvd direct from your digital video camera and the application does everything for you.
My one gripe with iDVD is that it seems to take an age to swap between themes and options. The new version is better and it now tells you how long your project will take to encode (a long process.) At the end of the burning you also have the option to burn another disc without having to encode it all again.

Uploaded with Skitch!

Powered by ScribeFire.

A 2oh student's plea.

Sean The Bass Player has come up with some interesting thoughts in his latest Students 2.0 blog post. In short he would like not only to be taught to pass exams but to ensure that students are kept up to speed with technology. His thoughts were piqued by the Queen going all 2.0 by posting her latest Message to the Commonwealth on YouTube, along with a variety of historical films.

Uploaded with Skitch!

He asks that if an institution as old as the monarchy can move with the times, why can't education?

I think this question is very valid. Why indeed does the education establishment not move and evolve more quickly. Well we all know the stock answer boils down to funding, or lack thereof; but unfortunately there also tends to be quite a lot of inertia in classrooms. If a certain way of doing things has got kids past their exams for the last10 years ago then it will jolly well do so now...if it ain't broke don't fix it.

The inertia thing is quite a difficult problem to deal with as it involves trying to persuade folk to do things they have no desire to do, and I don't wish to go in depth about that here.
But what about the other issue that crops up...funding. Many schools operate on networks that are long past their sell by dates. (My place has only just replaced the Windows '98 machines we were operating.) Now obviously updating these costs a heap of cash, but many of the very usable applications available on the net are free, especially to educators. I'm thinking of applications such as YouTube (or any video hosting site), Flickr, Animoto, Voicethread, Skype etc., etc. All these and more are free and are outstanding resources for educators and their students, BUT how many of us can actually access these sites in schools? Many are banned in the name of child protection, for (a very real) fear that kids will access inappropriate content.

This is where we the educators and students such as Sean ( and his 2.0 colleagues) need to step in by dealing with digital literacy on a daily basis; by educating and encouraging thoughtful, sensible use of the resources on the web. Then maybe, those who hold the keys to the filters may unlock them when they see that these tools are being used wisely and how useful they are to education. And then Sean et al  will feel that they are getting an education that goes some way to preparing them for a future that we cannot yet know.

Photo credit:  Dia 48 - School's Out, originally uploaded on April 18, 2007
by MëL

Working with eLearning Tools

Jane Hart's E-Learning Pick of the Day has provided me with loads of new applications to try out over the last few months.
Here's one I wanted to share. The E-Learning Guild has just produced a free to download ebook called 162 Tips and Tricks for Working withe Elearning Tools.
On first brief overview it is chock full of tips on how to use a plethora of web tools. The book is free to download and share but cannot be altered in anyway. So with thanks to the E-Learning Guild here is...

162 Tips and Tricks for Working With eLearning Tools

Online Teens

How creative are you?
Thanks to David Warlick for drawing my attention to a recent survey of teenagers in the US, by PEW Internet.

Content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57% of online teens in 2004.

How much longer can the vast majority of educators continue to ignore the fact that a huge number of the youngsters they teach each day are connected and online AND being creative. How many educators can seriously say they have actually created something recently. (I can. I can.)

Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation. Some 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, and 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. Boys, however, do dominate one area – posting of video content online – online teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online somewhere where someone else could see it.

Interesting that girls are dominating the blogging side whilst boys dominate the posting of video online. Could we learn from this fact. Do we need more visual ways of educating to bring more boys on board?

Another thing that comes out from the survey is that teens appear to be inveterate commenters:

89% of those teens who post photos say that people comment on the images at least "some of the time." Teens who post videos report a similarly large incidence of feedback, with nearly three quarters (72%) of video posters receiving comments on their videos.

Now we all know that at times these comments can be insulkting and appropriate but there are times when these comments can be useful critiques and show a level of thought and dare I say it a kind of Peer Assessment.

For me the "killer" info in this survey is this:

For many teens they are now an integral part of the system of communication that they use to conduct the work of their lives. Fully 41% of the teens who use MySpace, Facebook or other social network sites say they send messages to friends via those sites every day.

If just under half of all teens are using social networking sites to communicate educators must get involved in this (r)evolution at some time, otherwise we are going to lose all contact with those we are charged with educating.

Tellingly, even more so than internet stuff, mobile phones are THE preferred method of communication:

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of teens now have a cell phone and for teens who have them, they are the premier communication method for talking with friends.

Why? Well they are relatively cheap, easy to use and many can do most of what kids want them to do (and they don't have to share access with parents????). Although it pains me to say it I think these things are going to overtake computers as the primary net access source, so rather than banning them in schools
we need to educate about appropriate use and harness their power and omnipresence.

What do you think?

All quotes taken from PEW Internet and American Life Project Press Release (19 Dec 2007)

Using I Can Animate

Yanick Gets His Hair Done.

I'd been looking for an excuse to use I can Animate. When Yanick said he wanted his hair braided I took the opportunity to use the time lapse function. Just look at the clock to see how long the patient lad had to sit down. Bravo to Jeannette as well. I'm now the only one in the house his hair not braided...if you know me me you'll know why...

Click To Play

Something for A/H French

Hugo* is one of my Flickr contacts and produces wonderful examples of photo journalism. This weekend saw a demonstration in support of the homeless in Paris broken up in typical fashion by the Paris police. Hugo* was there and has produced an wonderfully human photo story, see embedded slideshow.
However this series of pictures could be used as a fantastic resource in H / AH, A'Level French when looking at the topic of homelessness or even simply protest. On the photo set's Flickr page, Hugo* has also included the article to which his photo's contributed. Every picture tells a story. Students could use individual pictures to describe emotions or use the whole show to produce their own news article. What could be more up to date and immediate than using 2 day old flikr photos.
What is wonderful is that these photos are free to use for non-commercial purposes and without alteration as long as Hugo Leglise-Bataille is credited.
Thanks Hugo*.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Photos by Hughes Leglise-Bataille

New...Talking Pictures

This looks like a fun piece of software.
Make your photos talk. Check out this preview, also get this software for free (worth nearly $60) if you blog about it before christmas. Click here.

Thanks to AB for the heads up.

Select a text and
click here for voice

Asterpix - Interactive video

Learned about this new video hosting web site last night from Vicki Davis' blog.
This is Asterpix and you can create interactive hotspots within the video, so interested parties can find out more about what is contained in the film. It sounded exciting so I just had to have a go.
At the moment you have to upload from another video hosting site such as YouTube (can't use blip.tv at the moment but I'm sure it will be added at some point). From there it is really easy to add notes and url's to a hotspot.
Check out my first shot: A slimmed down trip around Huntly purveyors of fine food and drink.

PBwiki Tutorial - 2

Welwitschia Tutorial 2 - Editing an Existing Page

Mailplane...the email client for Gmail and Mac users

I am currently trying a new email client called Mailplane and have 5 invites to give away to first 5 commenters leaving their names and email addresses.

Mailplane links your Gmail account to your Mac (only for mac users) and it appears to do various bits of useful stuff

• drag and drop files as attachments
• send photos via email as it has a default iPhoto plugin

Here's a review of it. I have not yet formed any opinions because I've not used it much yet. But get it while it's free.
First 2 readers to leave a comment etc also get a skitch invite because I have 2 left as well. (Also MAC only application.)