Wordle example

Both Wordle and TagCloud seem similar in that they look at the frequency count of words in your blog site and then create a collection of Key words based on their frequency of use.   My blog theme site makes use of TagClouds but in case you’re interested in Wordle, here’s a link to this free service….http://www.wordle.net/

Peer Instruction update and clickers

For those of you who remember our presentation re clickers in ITC, one of the early primary researchers in this area was Prof. Eric Mazur. He now apparently has a social networking site trying to build more interest among educators particularly when it comes to using tools in the on campus classroom to improve learning…

Here’s a short article based on his book - Peer learning. This one is at his social networking site… http://www.turning-talk.com/mazur/article-intro-jun09

Creating Wimba pod and vcasts in Moodle

I know, I know… Wimba sounds like an animal in a Disney flick. Wimba is an integrated set of voice tools which are available in your Moodle course shells. The primary reason for licensing these tools is to help teachers add “human presence” characteristics that are missing in learning management systems like Blackboard and Moodle. Adding a Wimba voice activity is simple if you have a microphone (generally <$20) for your computer.

To add a voice tool, turn the editing on in Moodle and in the activities pull-down menu in your center blocks, select one of the five Wimba voice activities.

1. voice authoring (limited to 20 minute maximum per recording) - shows as a popup audio file that students can play. You can add as many as you want to each center block or you can them to side blocks.
2. voice email (limited to 3 minute max)- students can send a voice email to other students or teacher.  Wimba makes use of the email address in Moodle profiles.  Email recipients get an email with link to the voice mail which is hosted on Wimba’s site.
3. podcasting (limited to 20 minute maximum per podcast)- Teachers can add a podcasting tool with links to separate podcasts.  Teachers can also import audio-only podcasts made with other tools like Audacity or Quicktime provided the files are in MP3 or WAV format.  Teachers can also enable it so that students can post their own podcasts.
4. presentation- (limited to 5 minute maximum per slide/web page)- Teachers can annotate web sites/files.  Students can add audio comments that are associated with the pages directly in the presentation.
5. voice boards -(limited to 5 minute maximum post) - Both teacher and students can post audio posts and comments in a voice board.  Teachers can export portions of the voice board as MP3 files.

Like other Moodle activity tools, you can set the availability for most of the tools listed above but you cannot assign a grade  in the tools themselves yet.  Instead, grades have to be entered directly in the gradebook.  Wimba reps have stated that they expect the “grading functionality” will be added over time beginning  fall 2009 with upgrades to their product.  Also, as always, both teachers and students need to type text transcripts with their posts for hearing-impaired students.  Some proponents have suggested that you write your script, record it, and post a copy of your script as the transcript.

Finally, with the integration of Wimba and Moodle, teachers may finally be able to make use of human presence tools that require little technical skill and little money - just a USB microphone.  Even with these tools, the challenge, as always, is designing good authentic collaborative activities that reduce “transactional distance” and add to your “classroom community.”

Using Jing to create web demos

Jing is a free  web cam and screen recording application.  It can produce flash (SWF) files - free version or the more useful MP4 videos ($20 annual fee).  Jing videos can be output for email, Youtube, or uploaded to your individual Screencast site (limited to 2 gigs total for your site).  Jing is a product of TechSmith the company which produces Camtasia.  Jing can be downloaded from from http://www.jingproject.com.

Here are the details….

• No licensing cost
• Works with Apple and Windows OS
• Movies are limited to 5 minutes or less in length
• Movies can be imported into Imovie, Moviemaker, or Camtasia
• Movies can be saved as MP4 ($20 annual fee) or SWF formats
• Can combine webcam with screen recording
• Movies can be stored at Screencast.com (up to 2 gigs)

Some recording tips…

• Record in the morning or before your voice is spent.  Trying to record after a day of lectures isn’t advisable.  Your voice will sound tired and flat because you’ve been talking all day and and your energy level is down.
• Use a good USB microphone/headset to record your voice.  If you use a webcam, make sure the lighting is good so that there aren’t any shadows hiding your face.  I recommend Logitech’s desktop USB microphone or headset which are available from http://www.compusa.com or some other vendor.
• Practice your demo two or three times before you save a recording to reduce any errors or stuttering and so that it is more concise.  Remember, you’re limited to 5 minute recordings.
• Narrate your demos as though you’re talking to someone rather than reading a script or book.  They key word here is “conversation.”
• Jing does not provide the means to caption your videos.  They can be imported into Imovie or Windows Moviemaker if you’ve got MP4 files where you can add captions.  At the least, type a transcript or take the script you wrote for your demo and provide a link to the transcript with your demo for hearing-impaired individuals.

Add Your Video to WordPress

• Disable the visual HTML editor in your WordPress file first
• Finally, if you want to embed a screencast video in your WordPress blog, just upload the file to your individual Screencast site. Your movie shouldn’t be more than 450 pixels wide; otherwise, it will dwarf your post. If it’s large than 450 pixels wide, read below to see how to resize it.
• Next select the share link for the file in your screencast site. Select the embed code and copy it to your clipboard.
• Then paste it into the WordPress post window. Now if you will have to do a little math here. If your movie for example is 800 pixels by 500 pixels, then you need to reduce it down to say 450w by 311h. In the embed code, substitute 450 for 800 and 311 for 500 anywhere you see it in the embed code. The safest thing is to capture your window at the smallest size you can live with and the you won’t have to do any scaling.