I strolled across this little beauty this afternoon- this Be Funky cartooniser makes an outline from your photo and then you colour it and add some cartoon like text- great for a bit of fun or to make an interesting avatar for a Voicethread or for those who are not allowed to put their direct images on the internet.
Here I am in Sydney by the bridge. BTW this is my first post written with the aid of my new Wacom INTUOS 3 tablet that Wacom gave me to play with while I was at the Adobe Summit. I am quickly getting the feel of it and I think it is speeding up my workflow.
A couple of years ago I asked the powers that be in NZ if we could have a NZ font- you know the one we’re supposed to teach in school. They said that would be a good idea and that was the end of that. So I hit the internet and found John Greatorex in Australia who makes fonts. I emailed him and he said he would make me one if I snail mailed him with how they were supposed to look.
About a month later he sent me the trial to test. I have used that font ever since. It is great for wall displays and making up really neat personalised writing exemplars.
A teacher asked me today where I got my font from and it prompted me to pass on this really practical find from a few years back
Click on the font graphic to see the whole set- $60 for a school site licence.
This is not an endorsement as he would probably no longer remember who I am but I thought it was worth a shout out!
Again through my Twitter network via @Murcha from Aussie and @MrKp from the UK I found a link to a fun website, Feedjournal.com, that makes your most recent blog posts via the RSS feed into a newspaper
To see what it looks like click on the above link or the graphic. Great if you’re not fond of reading on line. A thought ran through my mind as I re-read the newspaper- without this blog I would not have the motivation to write at all- and I have written and shared quite a bit over time!
And then to finish off I uploaded it to Issuu an on line publisher to give a cool little page turny look to the whole thing. To see it in a better size click on OPEN PUBLICATION.
It’s not like I don’t have plenty to do but I keep getting sidetracked by new finds and interesting conversations. The school holidays are great.
The writing of my first cluster milestone is starting to weigh heavily on my mind. I suppose its a bit like writing school reports- a necessary evil.
Good for Animoto for sharing their educational account so that teachers can now create longer than 30 second videos for free and download them for playing and keeping on your computer- great for playing and sharing if your internet is slow and spends a lot of time buffering.
As Ewan McIntosh says- it takes zero skill levels to create great videos. To access the educational side of Animoto use this link and ask Rebecca for an educational registration key. She does ask to be kept in the loop as to the kinds of things you are creating.
The quick example I made celebrates my first term as ICT facilitator for Discover IT Tasman.
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach wrote an excellent post that reflects what has been festering in my mind since taking up the ICT Facilitator’s role this year. I have attempted to ‘make the shift’ in my classroom but how can I best encourage others to make similar moves in the way they learn and teach. She highlights nine principles needed to make a shift to 21st century learning pedagogies.
If I can quote her- “Real change, transformational change happens when there is personal ownership of the new technologies and concepts. Today’s new economy is all about human capital, which starts with the educators in a school and then extends outward to all members of the school community.”
People- change is best sustained if people are able to support each other on their learning journey if they can learn in supported groups- we are not islands and the collaboration we strive for in our classrooms needs to be modelled by ourselves as adult learners. This is where action research can be such a powerful tool. He aha te mea nui? He tangata. He tangata. He tangata.
Leadership- because any sort of change can be threatening the support and guidance of those in leadership roles can be critical- the process can be so un-necessarily difficult when classroom teachers are not well supported by those they look to for leadership.
Including all members of the learning community- everyone is part of the process- efforts need to be made to bring all on board- whanau, support personnel, professional colleagues, the wider community.
Developing a shared vision for how things need to be- the need to make sure that teachers together articulating the core beliefs. Our new NZ curriculum statement goes some way to addressing this issue.
Own it- this phrase has been very powerful for me since I first heard Sheryl say it at TUANZ last year. It’s good to use 21st technologies personally before ‘going public’. Become familiar with them, practise and become used to them. My first experiences with communication on line was through the use of email- personally with relatives overseas- because I could see the immediate uses of it I became better at using it.
Communication- we in NZ at the bottom of the globe can be as connected as anyone globally- geography has become less of an issue through UStream, Skype, Twitter etc. Communication with teachers and students outside of your classroom. I am able to communicate with people from UK, Australia, USA, Canada, Uzbekistan- all over.
Know your culture and try to anticipate trends- Sheryl says that participatory media has a tendency to ‘go viral’- we need to try and think ahead of the possible consequences of giving these tools to children. A number of children in my class now have their own personal blogs not moderated by me. I endeavour to have given them the skills and common sense to be safe on line.
We do not know what we do not know- new things will come along that are totally random- we can expect the unexpected. We will need to be able to run with these new challenges.
The power of collective wisdom- we all learn together. We are all learning and what each of us thinks matters.
Thank you Sheryl for insightful post. I encourage my readers to read Sheryl’s blog in its entirety as she is able to write in much eloquently than I but I wanted to write my own version to help me move my own thinking along by giving it my own ’spin’.
I have a Lead Teacher day coming up focusing on Movie Making and I am looking for movie making on the web using things like Animoto to compliment the straight ‘how to’s’ using iMovie or Moviemaker. This one is a great find- from National Geographic- you quickly select your film clips, accompanying sound, music and caption and drag them onto the timeline and voila! A movie that is there for retrieving using a code (Here’s my great effort- 992811893) - a great way for children to get the idea of dropping things into a timeline. You could do all sorts with this one- sorting, classifying, researching, just having fun.
Our video based on events in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina- made over a period of one day and based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Uploaded to our Podomatic podcast page. Click on the the big grey triangle to watch it play.
Cue Prompter- turns your computer into a teleprompter
Animoto- upload your own photos to make a 30 second video with music
Vlog- how to compress for the web and other video tutorials
Voki- create an animated, talking character for your blog
Flixn-record for the web directly from your webcam
Motion Box- Basic members can upload, and share up to 300mb of video, for free!
Gawker - is an application for Mac OS X that creates time-lapse movies using a webcam. Images from your camera can be shared, allowing other users to record your image stream. Streams can also be combined to create a time-lapse movie with up to four locations side-by-side.
I am the Bloggers Cafe at L@S and John (sorry John but I can’t remember what your real name is now) asked what’s a blog?- This photo shows fellow blogger Lorraine Watchorn showing him and this blog post will help show the power of it- just like Mark Treadwell did for me a couple of years ago. All done in the seven minutes before the next workshop.
I am in a bit of a blogging frenzy at the moment but couldn’t resist sharing this great find from Andrew Churches of Educational Origami fame. The Historic Tale Construction Kit is an on line storytelling site that is just so easy to use and I could imagine it hooking some kids into wanting to write a whole series of slides, developing character and plot along the way. Cheers Andrew.
At the beginning of the school year (in the Southern Hemisphere that is) you might be keen have you students build themselves an avatar if you are not sure about putting individual photos on line or as a identity in Voicethread. Chris Betcher recently posted this find ‘Build Your Wild Self‘ from the New York Zoo. You can build your avatar and add animal features to it. Kids would love the opportunity to be wild and wacky.
They link to each other but until this evening I have had to convert the .m4a enhanced podcasts made in Garageband to .mp3 audio only files, upload to another Podomatic page that I made just for that purpose, use the Firefox add-on UNPLUG and through a tricky piece of code embed the .mp3 into Blogger. The ‘how to’ on this procedure is on my Bling4yrblog page if you still want to do this.
But tonight, just for fun, I tried to upload the .m4a file to Blogger movie and it worked! Now our enhanced podcasts play right inside our Blogger posts without having to click on an outside link. I didn’t think it would seeing it says they only process AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, Real, and Windows Media. Yay!
I still prefer to view our podcasts within iTunes but I like the visual appeal of viewing as well as listening to our podcasts from within our blog. Click on the screen grab to view how it looks. Kieran will be ever so pleased now he can add another video to his blog.
As our Waimea-South ICTPD cluster enters its final phase I thought I would construct a Voicethread to chronicle what we have learnt along the way with responses from all seven schools in our cluster.
I was really proud of the way my nine and ten year old students at Appleby School articulated what they felt their learning with computers had achieved this year.
I was also pleased that a number of teachers locally and around the globe were able to record their views. It would be great if you were able to add your own comments and grow the resource.
If you want a ‘how to’ to on using Voicethread go to my Bling4yrblog for help.
I got a phone call at 6:45 this morning telling me that Dorothy had been knocked down with the flu and wasn’t going to be able to fly down from Auckland to facilitate our Waimea South ICT cluster’s Pedagogy and Podcasting day and could I possibly step into the breach! I have not taught for the last eleven weeks while I have helped my mother cope with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease so the prospect of paid employment was welcomed. Back to the chalkface next term though!
Filling Dorothy’s shoes was a daunting prospect but I had a good part of my ULearnpodcasting wiki already prepared and was intending to put the finishing touches on the presentation next week. I needed advice with a couple of points so I turned to my Twitter mates for answers.
Firstly- could multiple people edit a wiki page at the same time? Thanks Chris Betcher from Sydney for your advice on this one- the answer is basically no! So we used Webnotes instead to record or podcasting topics and I will collate them to one page later.
Then I wanted to Skype in an expert in podcasting- luckily Jane Nicholls, from Dunedin was available and Paul Harrington from Wales offered as well.
Lastly I had forgotten the keystrokes needed to zoom in on the cursor on my Mac- not having taught for a while I had forgotten what it was (OPTION+COMMAND+PLUS) BTW- thanks again Jane! And I also learnt a whole new way I had never heard of before from John Pedersen from Wisconsin and Chris again from Sydney. You hold the CTRL key and scroll in with your mouse wheel). I love it- thanks guys!
Anyway the day went well and the room was full of concentration and podcasts by the end- we even managed to embed some of the podcasts in our blogs using the Firefox Unplug plug-in and a clever bit of code that I had already given directions for in my Bling4yrblog blog!
Don’t tell anyone but I would have done it for free!
I went to school today to gather up the reins from my wonderful long term reliever and think about what I want to do as next term starts in two weeks. While there I was able to take charge of my new TELA laptop- I took it home then and started customising it and I thought I would list here the things I do so that I can refer to it and not have to think too hard when I buy my new personal laptop with the next version of Apple’s operating system when it comes out in the near future (hopefully). While I was at school I saw them digging the trench to put the Loop cable in- maybe a welcome back present- due 12 weeks ago!
Try to plug in my wireless mouse but get too scared- last time I tried a little too vigorously with a new laptop it could have cost me $1000+ as a little wire thingee got bent and it was attached to the innards!
Chuck out stuff I don’t want in the dock and add stuff I want to be there. Enjoy watching things fthwat into a puff a smoke!
Let it access my home wireless access. Note that there are now two other wireless networks within cooee!
Do the updates- restart.
Install Firefox2. Increase the font size so I can see text better and set the home page.
Deactivate CAPS LOCK.
Add Delicious Plug-in for Firefox.
Add some often used links to the toolbar- class blog, edublog, bling, podcast, Twitter, Bloglines, Blogmeister, gmail, hotmail, mySkitch
Download and play with video Skype- ring some people and tell them I can see them and they can see me. Think that maybe a video image is maybe not quite such a good idea after all!
Download Skitch- find login and password on iPod and bookmark mySkitch.
Subscribe to our own podcast in iTunes- make a mental note to go to Brightwater School and download the rest of the episodes!
Watch a widescreen DVD-I always enjoy Finding Nemo! Note that Skitch lets you take screen grabs of DVDs.
OK- here is my latest find Jottit- a so simple way to gain yourself your own little quick web space for note taking. First of all you create a page- then you change the URL to one you like- customise the colour scheme and font- create another page that links to the first and away you go. It is a bit like Webotes but with this you can decide how you want to work- anyone can write to it, only selected people can add or just you!
Uploaded with Skitch!
I intend to use it to write my notes about my ULearn Workshops that I attend.
Another excellent explanation of how Google Docs work. I have downloaded this series and put them on my iPod to share with folks via a TV to help them better understand how they might use these tools.
I got a phone call at 6:45 this morning telling me that Dorothy had been laid low with the flu and wasn’t going to be able to fly down from Auckland to facilitate our Waimea South ICT cluster’s Pedagogy and Podcasting day and could I possibly step into the breach! I have not taught for the last eleven weeks while I have helped my mother adjust to a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease so the prospect of paid employment was welcomed. Back to the chalkface next term though!
Filling Dorothy’s shoes was a daunting prospect but I had a good part of my ULearnpodcasting wiki already prepared and was intending to put the finishing touches on the presentation next week. I needed advice with a couple of points so I turned to my Twitter mates for answers.
Firstly- could multiple people edit a wiki page at the same time? Thanks Chris Betcher from Sydney for your advice on this one- the answer is basically no! So we used Webnotes instead to record our podcasting topics and I will collate them to one page later.
Then I wanted to Skype in an expert in podcasting- luckily Jane Nicholls, from Dunedin was available and Paul Harrington from Wales offered as well.
Lastly I had forgotten the keystrokes needed to zoom in on the cursor on my Mac- not having taught for a while I had forgotten what it was (OPTION+COMMAND+PLUS) BTW- thanks again Jane! And I also learnt a whole new way I had never heard of before from John Pedersen from Wisconsin and Chris again from Sydney. You hold the CTRL key and scroll in with your mouse wheel). I love it- thanks guys!
Anyway the day went well and the room was full of concentration and podcasts by the end- we even managed to embed some of the podcasts in our blogs using the Firefox Unplug plug-in and a clever bit of code that I had already given directions for in my Bling4yrblog blog!
Don’t tell anyone but I would have done it for free!
Today I was invited to trial my presentation for ULearn07 on adding Bling to your Blog with a group of teachers at Brightwater School. It was good to be able to give the blog a bit of an airing and see if it stood up to local scrutiny and decide how it might best work for the real thing. I have thought a few more ideas for how I might best share what I have learnt. I started off with a quick run down of the features that you could add to your blog and gave examples by showing the blog posts and then we settled down for an hour of intense concentration using the blog to add the things that individuals wanted and I wandered around lending a hand if people got stuck. People helped each other as well so I wasn’t too rushed so that was good.
Working wirelessly on the Loop with internet access as fast as the world has to offer was a real bonus and I downloaded a 14MB Firefox install in seven seconds- that was impressive!
Now I am looking forward to Dorothy Burt’s presentation tomorrow on Pedagogy and Podcasting- I think I will have a go at a little live blogging from the event so watch this space!
Also you may be interested in the Professional Development that I have had this year so far that I have added to this blog in the top menu bar.
I got notification today of the venues and times for my ULearn hands-on interactive workshops in Auckland in October and thought I would publish it here because I wrote the abstract so long ago I have forgotten what I had said we would do…
1. Adding a little bling to your blog
Blogging is an excellent way to communicate with your community and make connections around the globe.
We will take a quick look at a few different blogging solutions and then focus on using Blogger as a tool.
We will look at ways to make it as safe and secure as possible, and then get into some fun stuff to add to your blog to brighten it up to make it a resource centre for your class and community.
Best suited to those who already have a blog and want to give it a little bling!
Sky Apple Marlborough Room 1
Breakout Round 5
Limited to 25 participants
2. Getting connected globally with podcasting
In this hands-on session we will have a quick look at a variety of types of podcast, audio, enhanced and video; and different genre of podcasting- scripted, interviews, Skype, video etc.
Then we will look at how to put a podcast together with Garageband, followed by how to have it hosted on line and subscribe-able in iTunes.
One of the great things about podcasting is the way we can use it to connect personally with others in your community and around the globe.
PC users are welcome but learning with Garageband is an Apple application which is difficult to mimic on a PC.
Sky Apple Marlborough Room 1
Breakout Round 6
Limited to 25 participants
Looking at the timetable my two presentations totally conflict with Ewan’s- damn it! Viewing of everyone’s presentations goes live next week and selection in September- if it was anything like last year you need to get in quick to get the sessions you want as there are 1400 registrations this year!
Having plenty of time to play as you do when you are on leave I took it into my head and via one of my comments to put a Clustrmap on this blog. I registered for Clustrmap as you do and spent and hour or so trying to find out where to put the html. No luck- nothing worked. What to do??? It was close to one in the morning and I don’t like going to bed before these sorts of things are sorted!!!!!
Why Twitter of course! I put out a general tweet for help. Miguel Guhlin leapt in to offer assistance. After asking a couple of pertinent questions he had helped me track down a tutorial in doing exactly what I needed and the job was done.
Graham Wegner also volunteered a hand but arrived a little later into the conversation.
It was a powerful example for me of collaborative learning with Web2.0 tools between Miguel in USA in the early hours of yesterday and myself in the early hours of his tomorrow!
I have spent the last few days exploring VoiceThread, a newish collaborative tool for recording voice with photos and inviting oral comments from others.
To support and record my own use of Voicethread I have made a new post on my tech blog Bling4yrblog along with an actual Voicethread. It takes you through step-by-step how to create a VoiceThread. VoicceThread has lots of possibilities and I look forward to using it in my class next term.
Thank you John Pearce for your expertise in embedding VoiceThread in Edublogs. You are a star.
Of course you are presently reading the blog of one of the biggest clutzes known to man! You need to make sure your Voicethread is public otherwise you will be the only one on the planet that can see it!!!!! Thanks Paul and Steve from Voicethread himself for your feedback.
