Jing is a great tool for screencasting. You can capture anything on your screen and create an image or create a movie with your voice or your video included. Jing is easy to use and it it has a free and licenced version (that is not expensive). The movies you create cannot be longer than 5 minutes, though, but that makes it better when we are speaking of videos for instruction, doesn’t it?

Click on the image to see a brief tutorial on how to install and use Jing in your computer.

There are several ways of adding audio to a Powerpoint presentation, including using the same program to do it. However, files are usually too large even when they are saved as .flv. So here is another option that I have used and recommend. It is easy to install and simple to use.

Recording voice and uploading to a website or online course system may require certain steps, as you may have seen in my tutorials on how to use Audacity. Or it may be very simple if you just use a chat application that allows you to record a voice message and sends it back to your email as an mp3 file. You take that file, embed into your website or course, and that’s it…
This is what i tried with Google Talk and it worked really well, so I am going to share what I did:

1. I opened Google Talk and from my list of contacts I selected one and clicked on the arrow that shows me the option of sending a voice mail

Select voicemail in G Talk

2. The message will start recording after a “Beep”. When you are done recording you click “End Call”

Record and end call

3. When you ended the call, your contact will receive the mp3 file in their gmail, in this format:

G talk mp3 file and console in email

You can send a voicemail to yourself so that you receive that file, or you can have the contact send the mp3 file back to you.

4. Download the mp3 file and you can use it directly in your course, blog or website, or you can also edit it with audacity.

This is an example:

Sample of MP3 recorded in G Talk

How can I use that in my online course site?

1. Create a welcome message for your students

2. Provide audio feedback for their assignments

3. Add audio to images, screenshots or powerpoints

4. Create podcasts with information, minilectures or comments to your class.

]]> http://edtec101.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/recording-voice-messages-for-your-class-and-audio-feedback-too/feed/ 0 NScagnoli Select voicemail in G Talk Record and end call console http://edtec101.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/how-to-get-started-with-google-docs/ http://edtec101.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/how-to-get-started-with-google-docs/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:57:28 +0000 scagnoli http://edtec101.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/how-to-get-started-with-google-docs/ ]]>

from www.screencast.com posted with vodpod

from www.screencast.com posted with vodpod

from www.screencast.com posted with vodpod

Feedback is key in a teaching and learning interaction. In fully online courses, it helps to keep alive the flow of communication between the members of the virtual community (Scagnoli & Willging, 2003), and it increases the sense of “presence” of the instructor or classmates in the interaction (Ice et.al, 2007) .

Feedback usually took the form of text or talk, in face to face interaction. Now, with the easy access to more sophisticated and less costly (free!) voice recording applications, audio feedback has become more popular in teaching. Either as MP3 files or in other formats, instructors record their voices and post them on the web, in the Course Management Systems, or in sites such as iTunes, My Podcasts, Del.icio.us, so that they can reach the students with their comments. Some instructors even invite students to do the same, and post comments or their assignments using audio. This task has become more easy to perform due to better access and more flexibility in producing, storing and re-producing audio files. Educational and Social podcasting is another phenomenon that is changing the way that students and faculty interact.

One of the most widely used software applications to record and reproduce audio for the web is the so-called Audacity, a free audio recorder and editor that can be downloaded from the web, and produces immediate results that the users can publish and share.

Audacity can record, edit, reproduce, import and export sound files in different digital formats. This feature makes Audacity a very powerful piece of software.

How do you use Audacity?

• from www.screencast.com posted with vodpod
  This tutorial shows step by step how to download, install and run Audacity

• “How to… Audacity“, by Tony Hursh from CTER

How do you make sure that your podcasts reach your students?

There are several ways to publish your mp3 or other audio files to the web. Commercial (for fee or for free ) sites offer podcasting solutions or hosting for MP3 files. Or the files can be stored in your college server and the file can be streamed via a m3u file, or you may have access to iTunes or iTunes University, which will host and reproduce your audio to the class. Even Del.icio.us can be a solution to create a comprehensive list of your podcasts, (they will provide RSS feed for the site!).

How can I use audio files in my teaching?

• Give short messages to students on the topic of the week. Sometimes it is not the reproduction of the whole lecture, but a short and meaningful phrase or sentence, will become meaningful to the user and will help him understand or enhance his knowledge on a certain subject. Some faculty have found that podcasting is a great way to reach the students in the middle of the week with some information that they may need as they prepare for the next week assignment. Five minutes podcasts have proven to be enough to enhance teacher presence in an online class, or in large classes where the instructor and the student will very unlikely share a one-to-one conversation.
• Respond to students postings in a forum with audio. Instead of the usual typing a response, “voice” your comments, and let students hear you say your message to them.
• Provide extra explanations or instructions with audio comments in your CMS or in your website.

If you know about other uses or articles on the “use of audio feedback” in e- and blended-learning, please share those in the comments to this message.

Printable handout

“I have everything in my favorites in my computer, I cannot remember those URL when I am using your computer”, my friend complained as we were developing a training seesion. Then I asked: “Have you tried del.icio.us, or furl?”. “What are you talking about, I am talking computers here”…”me, too” I explained.

“How would you feel about having all your bookmarks or favorite sites in an Internet bookmark, as a list of favorites that you find in any browser, in any machine connected to the Internet?” I asked…”That would be a future perfect!” my friend exclaimed. “Let me take you to that future” I said, and I “walked her through” the del.icio.us tutorials online. “I can’t wait to try this myself”, she said, and a couple of hours later my del.icio.us account was being hit several times by my friend and I was receiving new and very interesting links from her, who, (of course) is in my network.

So what is so special about del.icio.us or other social bookmarking sites?

- Reach your bookmarks from any browser, from anywhere and from any computer connected to the web

- Share bookmarks with different groups, create tags that you share with others, and build a library of web resources with your class.

- Find links from other users with common interests, you can go to the sites created by other users who also save your links and explore what sites they have bookmarked in your area of interest. 

- Subscribe to topics that are important to you or subscribe to specific topics by a user ( Open instructons how)

How do you get started?

There are several tutorials that will help you get started:

• Social Bookmarking in Plain English

• Watch this short step by step tutorial to get started
  from www.screencast.com posted with vodpod

I have an ID but I only need to install the buttons

If you only need to install the buttons in your browser, follow this link: INSTALL BUTTONS, remember that you may need to close your browser after the installation, and when you re open it you will see the buttons.

How can my teaching and professional performance benefit from the use of del.icio.us

• Research – Keep track of all online resources that you use in your writings, or if you are researching an industry, or if you need to store all links to all information about a particular topic in one place.
• Podcast – Post your podcasts or listen to other member’s podcastas. Start posting your mp3 files to del.icio.us and del.icio.us will create an RSS feed for you.
• Reference log or library list Create a library list for your class with notes that explain what each article is about, or providing instructions to activities for each reading.
• Collaboration – Friends, coworkers, and other groups can use a shared account, special tag, or their del.icio.us networks to collect and organize bookmarks that are relevant — and useful — to the entire group.
• Vacation – Save links to hotels, activities, and transportation and use meaningful tags to find your links online. Share with friends and family adding “for:username” tag when you save your tags.
• Cookbook – Save the favorites recipes to del.icio.us. Use meaningful tags, and you will easily find that recipe when you are looking for it.

Other ways to integrate del.icio.us to your website and other uses:

If you want to explore other uses of del.icio.us and how to integrate that into your class website or other sites, go to http://del.icio.us/settings/

Why do I use Google Docs a lot?

Print handout

Being able to work in a same text document, or power point, or spreadsheet is something that many of us value a lot after having spent several hours trying to find a document or the last version of that paper or presentation that we we preparing with someone else. It is not the same to keep sending and re-sending attachments of the same document, going over a rainbow of colors in the comments and tracking, and at the end, not knowing which one is the last version.

This blog will show first a video of Google Docs in Plain English is a good introduction to the concept, then you will see a link to my video on how to get started, and finally a link to the Google tutorials with more details and ideas.Finally you will see a list of possible pedagogical and collaborative applications of these tools.

Link to a short simulation that shows how to get started using the Google Docs from www.screencast.com posted with vodpod

Google Tutorials on Google Docs

More tutorials:

_______________________________________________________

Possible Pedagogical and Collaborative uses

1. Co-create documents: Work with a colleague in a same document or have students develop a paper in groups.

2. Create and Publish Web pages. Creating a web page in Google docs is very simple. And once it is created you can publish it online using Google server. No need for FTP or sending to another server. And, also, you can allow access to multiple authors and viewers before it is fully public. 

3. Build a presentation together Have students work on presentations of materials, or of course contents and post them on the web for the class

4. Peer review Have students or colleagues review and comment other students’ work on a topic

In this post I am going to introduce Gizmo as an application and as a teaching resource.

Gizmo5 operates on SIPphone VoIP platform and it offers free VoIP services. It is a new way to use voice, a way where calls were free. It is very similar to Skype but has some unique features that make it appealing for online conferencing

To read more about Gizmo, click below,

As an application

Gizmo, as well as other VOIP and messenger applications, can be used as a resource for teaching and learning. First let’s see how it works and then we will explore its possible educational uses

It is a VOIP application with an important set of features that make it attractive for personal and professional uses. These days, Gizmo has a feature that makes it stand out from other competitors, such as Skype. This may change soon, but for now, Gizmo allows for recording meetings without having to download a third party application.

There are several tutorials that help to get started with Gizmo, but here I have created a short introduction to get started and links to other sources of information. I hope this tutorial is helpful to those looking for a different use of technologies for teaching and learning

GETTING STARTED

1- Go to http://gizmo5.com/pc/
2. Create a Login and download Gizmo
3. Ask your friends for their Gizmo IDs and add them to your list
4. Start using Gizmo by clicking on the name of an online user
5. The following image shows a text and video/audio chat in Gizmo witn 2 users

When you are in call, you will see a Recod button in the call window, and you can start recording the call. All parties will be informed that the call is being recorded. The call will be saved to your desktop and will play back in Windows Media, quicktime or the default player in your computer.

NOTE: Gizmo also allows you to contact friends with other IDs (AOL, IM, Google)

Group Chat or Conference Call

You can maintain a conference call with people online or on their phones and record the calls.

To have a conference call with Gizmo Users

Click on the icon to create a group chat (at the bottom of the screen)

The dialog box below will open, once you select those items, your group will receive the invitations and will be ready to start

If you want to invite others on a phone conference call, just select the conference call tab on top of the menu and it will provide a box to enter the number for your conference and step by step instructions

Watch a short clip that shows how to move through the gizmo windows

As a resource for teaching and learning

It can be used with different pedagogical and support purposes, here some ideas:

Office hours, interviews, group interaction, guest speakers.

Advantages: (A)Flexibility (office hours can be held from anywhere with an Internet connection), (B)Discussion as class resources (You can record the meetings if what is being discussed may be helpful to the class), (C) Group discussions (If there are more than 2 students coming in at the same time, everybody can share the same group space in Gizmo)

Office Hours: Invite your students to have a Gizmo ID and to come to office hours online.

Guest Speakers: Invite subject matter experts to talk to your class live, they only need a web cam, a microphone and headphones (or headset) and a Gizmo ID.

Interviews: Record mini interviews with students, subject matter experts and colleagues using Gizmo, and use them to expand the learning experience. This can be done by students too.

Group Interactions: (students-students, instructor-assistants, assistants/instructor-students) Students do not have to come to campus to meet as a group, an online chat with sharing of files may fulfill the purpose of the meeting.

Other useful links

FAQs and Support