BP10_2010322_OneMinuteMessage_VoiceThread

BP9_20103120_Web2.0Part3_Comment_on_Q's_Blog

My comment to Q's latest Web 2.0 discovery

BP8_2010317_Web2.0Part3_Comment

My comment to Jeinine's 3rd Web 2.0 tool

BP7_2010317_Web2.0_VoiceThread

The Web 2.0 tool I'll talk about for this post is Voice Thread. Voice Thread is an asynchronous communication tool. One person, the creator, creates a group and posts some type of media - image, document, movie, whatever. Then, anyone invited to the group can post their comments and feedback. What is unique about Voice Thread is that comments can be in text, audio or video. You can even phone in your comment. This feature works great for those who don't want to just leave a text message, but don't have the means to leave an audio or video comment. Voice Thread also allows users to "draw" while commenting. By this I mean if the creator of the group posted an image or video, you can enhance your comment by drawing on the media to get your message across more clearly. The drawing does not stay on the media permanently; rather it exists only during your comment.

Voice Thread can be used for people to comment on an image, video, document, presentation or any collection of those. I said previously that Voice Thread is asynchronous, which it is, but more accurately I should say that you cannot chat live. It isn't really meant for live discussions anyway. Voice Thread is meant more as a tool to create dynamic comments.

Voice Thread can be a beneficial (and fun!) tool for education, specifically for assessment purposes. For example, in a graphic design class, a student completes a rough draft of their assignment and posts the assignment (an image) on Voice Thread. The teacher can then go into Voice Thread, provide video or audio feedback and draw on the assignment to point out what they are talking about. Because this type of feedback has the potential of being both auditory and visual, I think students would have fun and benefit from it. Plus, in the process they might find inspiration for new uses of Voice Thread along the way.

BP6_2010315_OneMinuteMessage

One Minute Message: an Animoto Promotional

Animoto Promotional

I didn't realize Animoto would fade my voice out like it did at the end, but it did

and the fade cuts out a few words. I paid for this video to be over 30 seconds long so

I couldn't go back and fix it!

BP5_2010314_Comment_to_Laura's_Blog

my comment to Laura's blog

BP4_2010314_DiscoveryWeb2.0Tools_Edmodo

In a world where social media technology is growing rapidly, it is important for educators to embrace this technology so it benefits education as opposed to becoming an enemy of education. An effective social/collaboration Web 2.o tool for this purpose is Edmodo. Edmodo is mix between blogging and twitter with an educational slant. An educator creates a teacher account and sets up a “group” which essentially acts as the classroom. Posting in the classroom is much like posting on twitter, but instead of short bursts of text, you can write up long messages, embed videos, add polls, files, etc (hence why Edmodo is also like blogging). I personally liked the filtering options that Edmodo provides. In any size class working in Edmodo, posts will start to add up fast. What Edmodo allows you to do is a nondestructive filtering of posts based on a subject like just polls or just videos, etc. Filtering allows the user to more quickly find a specific post in jumbled mess of posts.

While you wouldn’t hold a full class on Edmodo, Edmodo does work as a classroom out side the classroom. The teacher can post assignments, reference materials and any additional comments to facilitate projects and class lessons. Students can provide feedback, ask questions and post any material they might have researched that they want to share and discuss. A possibly underrated benefit to Edmodo is the relative safety of the site. School administrators and parents might be more at ease allowing students to socialize and work on Edmodo (because it is controlled by the teacher only) as opposed to trying to set up a classroom in Facebook or other social site. Teachers can also post YouTube videos to Edmodo without having to send students to YouTube or worry about them reading potentially derogatory video replies.

Like Twitter, Edmodo is fairly minimalistic with a small learning curve. It shouldn’t be too “scary” for teachers hesitant about technology. With students already into the world of social media, they should enjoy Edmodo and pick up on it quick.

BP3_2010308_DiscoveryWeb2.0Tools

I said this in my last post and I'll briefly mention it again to add context to this post. I am not presently teaching (although I am working on my teaching certificate), but my goal after Full Sail is to teach video technology or some type of media design class. Like many teachers, and as an idealistic soon-to-be teacher, I am always looking for ways to add a little extra spark to learning. I'm looking for tools and methods to make students want to learn, to look forward to tomorrow's class. Because my goal is to teach media, I want to use as much media and technology as much as possible in the class in ways that make the material relevant and exciting, but also reveal the potential of media and technology.

So while researching web 2.o tools, I locked on to Animoto. It's a tool that automatically creates slideshows based on media uploaded by the user. What makes Animoto stand out is how sleek, professional and dramatic its slideshows are. Because it takes the heavy lifting and complicated mess out of designing these video slideshows, Animoto is a perfect tool for education. Teachers don’t have to know much about technology to create an exciting video. I've known about this program for a while, but it hasn't been until now that I'm realizing it's full potential as a tool for education.

My main focus for Animoto is using it to create the anticipatory set, or hook, for each lesson. With upbeat music and stylish animation, Animoto can be used to create exciting videos to introduce lessons and assignments. Feeling more like an MTV music video, an Animoto slideshow is a great way to perk a student’s interest. While excited, they are more likely to remember what they saw in the video. If the video/slideshow contains the correct information and it perks the student’s interest, I’m assuming they would enter the lesson with a better understanding of what is going on and what to expect. In fact, if a fun Animoto slideshow/video is created to also summarize lessons, it might be the perfect method to get students to remember what the learned in class. It would also be a great way to introduce or summarize a potentially confusing or uninteresting subject. These videos could be posted on YouTube for the student’s access whenever they need them.

References

Animoto. (2010). Retrieved March, 7 2010 from http://animoto.com/

Animoto for education. (2010). Retrieved March, 8 2010 from http://animoto.com/education/case_studies

hlkljgk. (Photographer). (2007). new view. Retrieved March, 08 2010 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/hlkljgk/2073362767/

BP2_2010305_GoogleReaderRSSfeeds

After graduating Full Sail and obtaining my teaching certificate, my goal is to teach high school video production or at least some type of media design class. For this reason, the RSS feeds I subscribed to on Google Reader pertain mainly to video production, education and the latest news in media technology.

Creative Overflow - packed with graphic design inspiration, artwork, news, articles, tutorials all centered mostly on graphic design, but covers anything to do with digital creativity

Moving at the Speed of Creativity - supposedly a well known education blog focused on creativity in education, web 2.0 and using technology to enhance education

Woody's Sound Advice - blog all about the sound component in video/film production; has professional advice on audio and some great interviews with film composers and other professionals in the audio business

Filmmaking Central - great collection of video production news, tutorials, reviews, podcasts and blogs

Red Vw Bus - blog on the latest internet and media news

BP1_2010303_iGoogleScreenShots

Here are my iGoogle screenshots. Some gadgets are minimized to make all gadgets visible in one shot.

Home tab

FSO tab

AR/CBL tab

ETC tab