Friday, July 1, 2011

Education Wiki Platforms

Although in class we used Wikispaces, there are other popular wiki platforms. Along with Wikispaces, PBWorks and Wikis in Education's WetPaint are free for K-12 educators. (Pro tip: Don't go to "wetpaint.com", though. That is decidedly NOT a K-12 website. Just warnin' you.)

Creating a Form (Quiz, Survey) in Google Docs

Google Docs, in addition to creating documents and spreadsheets, allows you to create "forms" that can then be embedded in other programs, such as Blogger or Wikispaces. A form can be a survey, quiz, or poll. It is simply a way to gather information. Because of the nature of the form, it is not very secure. Your students won't be stopped from voting more than once, putting someone else's name in, or other mischievous actions.

From your Google Docs homepage, click the "Create New" and select "Form". Create the survey/quiz/poll as desired. To add another question, there is a button in the left top corner of the page with a green plus sign "Add item".

When you are done with your form, you will need to get the "embed" code to place the form into your blog or wiki. Click the button titled "More Actions" and select "Embed". You will need to copy the code in the box by highlighting it and right clicking and selecting "copy".

If you would like to place this form in a blog, simply go to a new post and paste the embed code. If you would like to place the form in a wiki, you must add the code as the "Other HTML" widget. Just paste the embed code in the box that comes up when you select the correct widget.

If you want to edit your form after you've embedded it, but before people have started taking it, you must go back to the Google Docs form page and click the "Form" tab on the blue strip near the top of the page. You will have to go back through the embed steps and replace the revised in your blog or wiki.

New Media 2011 Class Recordings

These aren't a substitute for class, but perhaps they can help you remember the procedures that we did in class. There is a search function in the video that sort of works if you are trying to find when we talked about a specific thing. Hover your mouse over the video while it is playing and the search field will appear on the left side of the screen.
  • Part 1 (Google Docs, Wikis, and Google Forms)
  • Part 2 (Podcasts)
  • Part 3 (More podcasts)
  • Part 4 (Review of day 1, blogs)
  • Part 5 (More blogs, image editing)
  • Part 6 (More blogs)
  • Part 7 (Google Reader, Twitter search)

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Podcasting with Audacity and Min.us

Once you have created your podcast in Audacity (complete with intro and outro music from a place like Free Music Archive), you must save it as mp3 file.

First, you must download the right encoder (lame_enc.dll) if you haven't already done so. Select the edit menu, go to preferences, select libraries. On the libraries popup menu, click on the "download" button next to "LAME MP3 Library".

Once the encoder is downloaded, select from the file menu "Export". Name the file, and select "mp3" as your file type. You will be warned about the reduction in the file size; click "OK". Fill out as much or as little of the metadata song information as you want, and then click "OK".

Once you have your mp3 file saved, open a browser window to min.us. Click "select" and find your mp3 file and click "open". Voila! You are done. Be sure to write down the unique address in the address bar before you leave the min.us site.

Project Requirements*

(*Requirements is a strong word. We want you to do these general things, but if there is something else you want to do, just let us know!)

Your blog will be your "home" project--you will link or post all your other projects to it so we can see them. At the end of the last day of class, you will just email me a link to your blog with your projects.
  • Create a blog
  • Modify the blog layout
  • Modify the blog settings
  • On your blog, post a picture, a video, and link to other websites
  • Create podcast with intro and outro music
  • Link to your podcast
  • Create and link to your wiki pages (personal page, vacation page (with external link and picture), form/survey page)
  • Anything else that catches your fancy

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Technophobia 2011 Class Recordings

While not a replacement for the pure joy of being in class with us, hopefully these recording will be helpful if you want to remember something that we did together in class.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Podcasting Tip

This article gives a great example of using podcasts to extend the learning time for your students:
Instead of lecturing during class, he creates screencasts, which include narration and digital recordings of the PowerPoint presentations on his computer screen. His students watch the screencasts — also called vodcasts — at home and work on assignments at Michigan Center High School.