BP16_2009103_Reflective_Media_Asset

References:

Screentoaster (2008-2009). Retrieved October 16, 2009 from http://www.screentoaster.com

BP15_2009103_Extra_Post

http://blabberize.com

References:

Mobouy. (2008). Blabberize. Retrieved October 16, 2009 from http://blabberize.com

BP14_2009103_Web2.0_Tools_My_Comment

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2009

bp11_20091014_Web 2.0 Tool_Edu20.org

Edu20.org

One of the things that I noticed last year about being a young teacher in a technological world was how many requests that I would get to be Facebook friends with me students. Because I use the same technology that my students use, Facebook, instant messaging, my students would find me online. I also found that my students, especially my female students, would come to me for advice and just to talk. Having once been a middle school girl myself, I know how important it is for them to have a trusted adult that they can talk to. Thus, I decided to look for an educational social networking site. There were many that I came across during my search, but none of them contained the aspects that I was looking for. However I did find a tool even better, Edu20.org, which was provided to us in our assignment this week. Edu20.org has everything that I was looking for and more.

Edu20.org allows users to create an online school. I could really see this tool used in an online college class, but I think that it has elements that can work great in public schools as well. There are so many tools incorporated into this site from messaging, chat, wikis, blogs, widgets, groups and multimedia to creating assignments, rubrics, and calendars, just to name a few. I could see using this in the classroom to create groups for each of my classes or bands. I could post new music or videos that I find that I want students to explore. Having a discussion board, would allow students to talk to each other and with me about music.

Each student could also create a blog, which his or her classmates and myself could comment on. Edu20.org also allows students to create a digital portfolio of their work. The best part of Edu20.org is the element of control over who sees your profile. This makes Edu20.org a safer place for students to be on, than say Facebook or MySpace.

As with all other social networking sites, parent permission would be imperative. I would encourage parents to also join the network and join the parent group, so that they were aware of what was going on in the classroom. Even if I only use a couple of the features of the site, it would definitely be worth it, having a safe and constructive place that my students could communicate with each other and me.

References:

Edo20.org. (2009). The free, easy way to teach and learn online. Retrieved on October 14, 2009, from http://www.edu20.org/

BP13_2009103_Web2.0_Tools_Lala

© Lala (http://www.lala.com)

As a music educator, I play music examples for my class all of the time. Sometimes, they are examples of the piece we are playing. Sometimes they are examples for style, form, or of pieces that somehow relate to a concept that we are studying. Sometimes they are popular music, in an attempt to get kids to see the connection between orchestra class and the music that “moves” them.

In any case, I see Lala as a great tool for me. Lala allows users to, for free, upload all of the music on their computer. Then you can listen to the music from your library on any computer that has Internet access. This is great for me, as it can be a pain to burn a CD from my laptop every time I want my kids to hear a 30 second sample of a piece. The Lala Music Mixer even catalogues your music for you!

Furthermore, Lala allows you to sample, for free, an entire clip before you purchase it. There are over 7 million to choose from, many of which are classical music. This is nice because sometimes when I’m looking for something on iTunes I’m not really sure what I’m getting when I click purchase. And it only costs $.10 to purchase a song for unlimited listening on the Internet. (You can pay more to be able to download it, but paying a dime to be able to listen to a song from any computer that has an Internet connection is a great deal!)

Lala would probably also be a great tool for teachers who had students create slideshows, podcasts, or movies regularly. Kids could create an account and upload their music from home, and then have access to it at school.

There is a networking aspect to Lala, as well. Users can search and discover new music from other users, be it their friends or music experts that are also using the site.

References

Lala. (2009). Retrieved October 14, 2009 from http://www.lala.com

BP12_20093_Web2.0_Tools_Screentoaster

http://www.screentoaster.com

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Screenflow. It is such a great tool for creating tutorials—I think it’s my favorite tool I’ve learned about so far in this program.

The only problem is that I’ve been wanting to create tutorials for some of the software that we have at school, but I don’t own on my personal computer. For example, SmartMusic. I’ve been toying with the idea of purchasing this program for myself just so I can create tutorials using Screenflow. But I’ve not been that excited about spending the money. Then, I found Screentoaster.

Screentoaster is a free, online tool that allows you to capture your screen in real time. This is exactly what I need! I can use it to create tutorials for Smartmusic (without having to spend the money to purchase it for myself). I can also use it when I have time to create tutorials at school, instead of always having to do it from home on my Mac.

Screentoaster allows you to record all or part of your screen. Users also have the option to add audio and an embedded webcam to their videos. The easy to use toolbox allows addition of subtitles and editing of audio.

Videos created using Screentoaster can be downloaded for offline viewing (or further editing in other software), shared via e-mail, or uploaded to Youtube, social networking sites, blogs, or web pages. Videos created in Screentoaster are pretty high quality, but the file size is not too large.

In playing with Screentoaster, I noticed that the audio recording and screen recording aren’t always in sync. It’s easy to compensate for this, though, by moving the mouse after you speak.

For a free tool, I think that Screentoaster is very powerful. It seems very easy to use, and I plan on using it for creating and sharing tutorials, demos, and lectures (for my students AND my colleagues), when Screenflow is not available to me. Once I’ve used it more and have played with all of its features, I could even see having students use it to create their own tutorials and demos!

Here's an example of a movie I made using Screentoaster:

References:

Screentoaster (2008-2009). Retrieved October 11, 2009 from http://www.screentoaster.com

BP11_2009103_Web2.0_Tools_Teachertube

http://www.teachertube.com

My action research project is to provide parents and students with resources via a class website. One of the things that I’m hoping will be most useful to my students is the “quiz tip” videos that I’ve created for them. This videos give tips on notes, fingerings, rhythms, and other things that I will be looking for when I grade their playing quizzes.

These videos are all posted in albums on the website I created in iWeb. But, for some reason, they are not always accessible. I’m not sure what the bug is, but it’s frustrating for both me and my students.

I didn’t really know what to do, but when one of my critical friends mentioned that she was having a similar issue, I thought that maybe setting up a Youtube channel with the videos would give students an alternative way of accessing them when they can’t, for any reason, get to the ones on my website.

But the problem with Youtube is the problem with a lot of things on the Internet. There’s no way to control what else students will see, and I worry a little bit that the “Recommended videos” won’t be appropriate.

Then I remembered hearing people talk about Teachertube. Teachertube has all the same features of Youtube, in a safer, educationally geared environment. Instead of using Youtube, I am going to create a channel on Teachertube, post all videos that are on my website there as well, and link to it from my website.

Teachertube even has a number of advantages over Youtube. In experimenting with it, I learned that videos are reviewed by the Teachertube staff before they actually appear on the site. Also, there is no limit to file length. It contains a number of tutorials for teachers on how to use software and/or Web 2.0 tools. You can even upload support files to attach educational activities, assessments, lesson plans, notes, and other file formats to your video. (O’Neal, 2007).

I will also be using Teachertube to upload other videos that I might not post on my website, but that I want to show in class. Since I create most of these videos on my personal computer, and it’s a pain to disconnect the projector from my classroom computer and connect it to my Mac, this seems like a really efficient way of showing short videos in class. (I am SO lucky to have a projector mounted on my ceiling—I know!)

I’m looking forward to exploring Teachertube for other uses, as well. It’s cool that it features pictures and documents in addition to videos. I’m sure there are a lot of sources already on this site that I can use in my classroom.

© Teachertube (http://www.teachertube.com)

References:

O’Neal, C. (2007). Teachertube: a Youtube for educators. Retrieved October 11, 2009 from http://www.edutopia.org/teacher-tube

Teachertube. (2009). Retrieved October 11, 2009 from http://www.teachertube.com

BP10_2009102_Reflective_Media_Asset

References:
Masher. (2009). Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www.masher.com