Toast This!

Screen Toaster is really one of the most useful tools for my classroom. Over the years, I’ve watched many of these types of videos and always wondered how people created these mini-tutorials on the software they are explaining.

As I created mine (Photoshop Quick Lesson), it was an interesting and exciting process to go through. Interesting because I was able to experiment with pausing it, re-recording, trying to capture video with my audio, and redoing it so many times. I had some difficulty at first with the speed of the mouse as I was capturing my tutorial. I learned that if I moved the mouse and paused the recording, the mouse would move flawlessly, complete the command and then I would start recording again to explain the steps that was shown on the screen. The only “sign” of when I paused was the amount of “dead” time you heard. There were some moments when there were a few seconds of silence as I waited for the mouse to “do its thing”.

It is exciting because this is something that I am going to use in my Advanced Broadcast Journalism classes. The senior producers can utilize this tool to teach mini lessons to the first-year students on particular Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro “tricks”. I can link these to my curriculum page and put them on our class’ Ning.

I am also going to utilize this as I teach non-linear editing. I can make little vodcast tutorials for students that are absent. What a great way to implement technology.

Free online screen recorder

Screen Toaster Name: pkady
My video url: http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stWENVQ0JIR19YRl9UW1ldUVRT

Voice Threads

This is such a unique tool. What I like about this is that students can utilize this to improve on their speaking and listening skills. Every semester I do a lesson on listening skills (in my Work Internship class). The lesson is based upon an activity that identifies students that choose to NOT listen under direction. This activity starts the “listening” dialogue and we discuss strategies as to how to listen better. This lesson launches our communication unit. We then go into body language, interpersonal communication skills, conflict/resolution, speaking, and writing skills.

I am excited to learn about this tool because we just began the communication unit this past week. As the culminating activity of the unit, the students are required to host a TV show, interviewing an industry professional (of their chosen career path). They are graded on their interview (listening skills during the interview, body language, speaking skills, and on-camera presentation) and also their written outline with questions.

I would like to use voicethread as the last part of the activity so that the students can critique each other’s interviews while watching them. What a great way for instant feedback from each other, while demonstrating their knowledge of each aspect of communication.

To answer the question, “Would you use it?” YES!!! I’ll set it up for the unit I am teaching right now. And, I don’t mind paying the 10 dollars for 60 minutes of phone commenting! Although, can we get a school subscription?

I recorded my audio comment on the last photo that Alicia posted. All others, I typed. I did try to upload a sound file from my camera, but I needed to upgrade to do so. I think it would be a good investment if the school did purchase a subscription. I can see many teachers utilizing this.

Animoto

Interesting tool. I have to tell you, it was a little frustrating uploading the photos. (1) because it took too long [I'm used to copying and pasting into a drive, which takes seconds instead of several minutes] and (2) I couldn't see or build the video project [they do it for you]; I didn't feel a sense of ownership to it (maybe because I was a video editor in my former life).

Pros:
1. What I did like were the segment effects that were used. These effects may take hours to build in a sophisticated editing software program.
2. The out-of-focus and z-axis footage looked great in the background (again, it would normally take a long time to layer that effect)
3. This is a great tool for students to use that do not have access to editing software; however, most computers now come with free software (imovie, movie maker, etc.). These programs allow you to "build" the project yourself.

Cons:
1. I didn't like the "helplessness" feel of the video project. I couldn't "cut" the photos to the beat of the music and I wasn't able to see it instantaneously. I had to wait for it to do its thing.
2. I couldn't make changes to it once it was finished; I had to start from scratch again, uploading the same photos...taking more time...I couldn't just access the photos from a "saved" section on the site. It took me over an hour and a half to keep uploading the same photos. SIDE NOTE: just figured out how to edit the video without re-uploading...it seems simple, yet I'm not interested anymore.
3. I had to make three different versions of the video before I felt that one was adequate. This one was okay...I would have rather opened up on Manny Ramirez, instead of me with the St. Louis arch at the Cardinal's stadium; plus, the video was supposed to end with the three of us (me, husband, father-in-law), not the Braves' jumbotron. Although, I didn't want to have to upload the photos for a fourth time...so I just left it as-is.

For me, I feel like I could have created a better-produced video on editing software that RBHS owns in the same amount of time it took me to upload the same photos 3 times. Like I said before, I didn't feel a sense of ownership to this project because all I did was upload images and added text and music.

However, I can understand how it would be successful in other applications and for students that do not have software access or experience in producing a video.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Creative Commons

Being a teacher of media literacy, I continuously stress the importance of copyright usage to my students. No matter what application (class demo, video project, web project, graphic design) the medium is used in, I expect my students to follow all copyright laws when utilizing photos, videos, music, etc.

Currently, I have two practices (I would love to hear about other ideas that I could use):
1. My students contact the artist, publication house, music label, etc. to get permission from the organization/artist to use the media. This provides students an opportunity to learn how to write professional emails, business memos, practice telephone etiquette, polish their research and time-management skills, and to identify the intricacies of copyright usage.
2. If they cannot get permission from the appropriate copyright holder, then they are to either (a) create/design the media themselves or (b) use creative commons to retrieve what they are looking for.

One example:
In the broadcast news class, the student producers and writers have been using creative commons since the beginning of the school year. It is amazing how much free media is available for them to use. They have used it to design over-the-shoulder graphics, video for b-roll (that they can't capture themselves), and music to lay under features.

I think CC is a great tool to use, especially in an educational setting. Alicia asked, "Could this help or hinder their understanding and respect of copyright law?" My answer is simple: Educate our students on copyright law and model YOUR knowledge of it (basically, don't break the law and show them how to access copyrighted information legally). Once you have done that, using CC can definitely help the students to not only understand the law, but also respect it.

Video Post

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