eLearning at TIGS: Di Epoff’s Blog

Change the picture resolution of one or all images inside an existing Powerpoint show

1. Click the picture that you want to change the resolution (resolution is the fineness of detail in an image or text produced by a monitor or printer)
2. Go to Picture Tools > Format tab > Adjust group, click Compress Pictures. Note If you do not see the Picture Tools and Format tabs, make sure that you selected a picture. You may have to double-click the picture to select it and open the Format tab
3. To change the resolution for the selected picture only and not all of the pictures in the document, select the Apply to selected pictures only check box. To change all the pictures on all the slides, leave unchecked.
4. Click Options > Target Output, click the resolution that you want.
5. For Moodle: select Email size, for powerpoint in a classroom select Screen size and for high quality projection/slide prints select Print size.
6. Be sure not to overwrite the original file: Save As the compressed slideshow so that you can make a different resolution show if you need to later.

Resize a picture before you insert it into a Powerpoint show

Following are three options for resizing pictures before they are inserted in powerpoint:

Situation A: No special software needed on your computer except and internet connection. Solution: Use a web 2.0 application such as picnik.com

1. Log onto the internet and open picnik.com.

2. Click the Get Started Now button (you dont need to register!)

3. Click the Upload a Photo button and locate your original picture file (Note: it must be a flattened Jpg    file)

4. Click the Edit Tab > Resize button and enter the new dimensions: make the largest dimension 600pixels (ie either width or height - picnik keeps the proportion of the other dimension provided you have the Keep proportions checkbox ticked). Click OK

Situation B: Download free software on your personal computer/laptop for resizing images (school PCs have Picasa already)

Solution: Use Google Picasa 3. Picasa is a fantastic free image browser and editing program that is easy to follow. You can upload your images online to Google web Albums (like Flickr). Or you can export them to a folder or to email.

1. Click the Download button and follow the prompts to install on your computer

2. Locate the image you wish to resize using the browser pane to the left of the Picasa 3 window to locate the folder and then click on the image/s you wish to resize

3. Click the Export to Folder Button underneath the main window and create or locate a new folder to store your resized images in. Check resize > use the slider to the required pixel dimension eg 600 pixels > choose maximum image quality. Click OK. Your resized images can now be found inside the folder you designated as your Export Folder, ready to insert into Powerpoint.

Situation C: You have access to Photoshop (available on all school PCs)

Solution: Use Photoshop

1. Open Photoshop and go to File > Open and select the image you wish to resize

2. Go to Image menu > Image size and change the largest pixel dimension to 600 pixels. Click Ok

3. Check any layers are flattened and Save As a maximum quality jpg file. Remember not to save over the original.

A grey drizzly sky greeted me today when I stepped onto the tarmac at Maroochydore airport. I’m up here to attend the three day Learning Technologies 2008 Conference. Since my arrival at Mooloolabah TAFE for this afternoon’s workshops, drizzle has turned to heavy rain! Nonetheless I am excited about today’s workshops and the conference.

I’m anticipating a big learning curve this afternoon as the workshops I’m attending are:

Using Audio, Web and Video Conferencing for Teaching and Learning with Carol Daunt Skyring

and

Blended Distributed Delivery with Kerry Russo and Mark Walshe

I have written this article in response to the Learning Technologies User Group’s online pre-conference forum of the same name. I am attending the LTUG Conference in QLD from 5th-7th November 2008.

Has technology Revolutionized Education?

Technology will revolutionize education when it is used as a wholesale instrument of pedagogy, rather than as a resource.

Technology on its own is of little benefit to many teachers: a data projector is a good substitute for an overhead projector, perhaps. Unfortunately I have observed this in many secondary and tertiary classrooms.

If real change is to take place, teachers need to learn how to effectively use technology as a tool for student learning, rather than use it merely to display resources or source information. In most Australian schools, a digital education revolution seems light years away!

Installing computers in any number of classrooms will not effect change until teachers change their way of teaching. This can be achieved through subtle shifts in pedagogies: posing questions that encourage students to use computers to discuss-collaborate-research-interact-analyze-answer problems-present solutions, rather than source information-find facts-copy-paste-print.

The key is to create a paradigm shift through pedagogy and teaching practice so that the way our students learn is revolutionized! The shift toward student-centred, problem-based learning environments will empower Gen Z and Y students to do what they do best: use technology as a primary language to learn everything they need to know, just-in-time. For these new generations of students, authentic learning is technology-centred and their chief native language is digital.

Educators can theorize the need for change and manufacturers can invent amazing whizz-bang technology, but the revolution will not even begin to take shape until teachers are assisted and supported in the process of creating new pedagogies to embrace ICT as a learning tool in their classrooms.

The real revolution must be facilitated by administrative bodies and governments, not merely through the installation of hardware, but more importantly, through the supply of ICT focused professional development opportunities and support for teachers.

The technology itself will not inspire revolution. However, the meaningful use of technology may revolutionize education. Such a revolution will be human-centred, driven not by the technology itself, but by the wisdom and insight of teachers, and the enthusiasm and engagement of their students.

Creating podcasts allows students to share learning experiences and contribute to new learning environments.

Whilst this requires some in-depth skills and knowledge, a good way to start to use podcasts is to access them as resources and information sites for your subjects and your students.

The iTunes store has lots of podcasts available, and is a good source of language podcasts. Some universities are now uploading lectures to iTunes.

Here are some interesting Podcast sites for you to check out:

edna

edna 2

iTunes

Douchy’s biology podcast

room 208

digital podcast directory

podkids australia

tech savvy girls

podcasting in education

australian podcast directory

the pod lounge

science and engineering podcast directory

nasacast

necc podcast

podcast 411

A podcast is music and/or video delivered or downloaded to your computer for you to listen to or view at your leisure.

‘Podcast‘ generally refers to audio. ‘Video Podcast’ (or ‘Vodcast‘) refers to the distribution of video files in the same manner.

A podcast is syndicated and sent out to a receiver ia a syndication feed (eg. RSS) otherwise it is just an audio file.

You can subscribe to podcasts so that they download automatically to your computer, and then you can upload the podcasts to your MP3 player or iPod..

There are a host of hosts on the net who provide free podcasts for you to download.

You can use free down-loadable software, such as iTunes, to subscribe to the podcasts (for no cost) and even have your podcasts sync-ed with your iPod to get the downloads next time you plug it in.

abc online have a great podcasting site called

dig: music with depth

where you canexperiment with listening to and downloading podcasts.

They also have

abc podcasts and vodcasts

on their general podcasting site.

So how does it work?

A podcast is syndicated and sent out to a receiver, otherwise it is just an audio file. So, you need a syndication feed to get it out there (such as an RSS feed)

Who uses podcasts?

A diverse range of people accessed podcasts in 2007-2008: mostly 12 - 55 year olds, both male and female (Kel Hathaway 2008).

A summary of the steps involved in importing an audio file into Audacity

You must convert the file through iTunes if your files are not any of the following: WAV, AIFF, OGG, or MP3

1. In iTunes Edit menu go to > Preferences > Advanced > Importing > Select Import Using WAV encoder

2. Go back to the iTunes library & click on (select) the file, then go to the Advanced menu> Convert selection to WAV

3. A duplicate file will appear next to the original. If you cant see which one is which, go to the View menu > View Options > ckeck the ‘Kind’ box and then go back to the library to identify the WAV version of your file.

4. Drag this file to the desktop. You can then drag it straight into Audacity and it will load in the Track pane

To edit an audio file

1. Drag in from the far left margin of the track until you see a greyed out area the cursor will convert to a pointer finger - slide to the exact edit point

2. Do the same with the right side of the track

3. Go to Edit > cut

To add voice (recording with a microphone)

1. Attach a peripheral device if desired ( a microphone)

2. Go to the control panels (Audio/Sound) to check that it is the active recording device. Or, use the inbuilt microphone (it will not sound as good)

3. Click the Red record button in the toolbar to commence recording

4. Click again to stop

To export as an MP3 file

1. Go to File menu > export > selcet type eg MP3 and the destination folder

2. You may need to install the Lame MP3 encoder to Audacity first - its an “optional extra”. Follow the instructions at Lame Installation to download and install Lame.

Audacity provides a quick tutorial on the basic features in its Welcome Screen. if this has been disabled, you can find it under the Help menu. launch Audacity > go to Help menu > Show Welcome Message

Click on the blue links: Play Back; Record; Edit Sound; Export Sound & Burn to a CD to see whats possible. Follow the onscreen instructions

Audacity ^® is free open source software for recording and editing sound.

Features

Audacity is a fast multi-track audio editor and recorder for:

• Windows 98 and later
• Macintosh OS 9 (Audacity 1.0 only) and OS X
• Linux/Unix and other *.nix-based systems

Audacity supports several digital audio formats with support for 24 bit and 32 bit sample formats as well as 16 bit. Supported formats include:

• WAV
• AIFF
• OGG
• MP3

The Audacity Wiki (an online editable public resource and pages by multiple authors) contains tips, tricks and information about Audacity and digital audio. Anyone can edit pages to make them more useful or relevant. You can go there by clicking on this link:

Audacity online Wiki

Learn a bit more about Audacity by exploring links on this page: About Audacity

Where to get it

The Audacity program is available from the Audacity downloads page at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ .

Get your Music into Audacity

Option 1: Start with an audio file like an MP3 that you already have on your computer: import it by clicking Project > Import Audio. If the audio file is saved the wrong format, it will not import into Audacity. In iTunes, you can convert it through the Advanced menu. Select the file in the iTunes library > Advanced menu > Convert selection to AIFF > an AIFF version will appear in the library window. if you arent sure which one is which, go the View menu > View Options and check ‘Kind’ to display the kind of file first.

Option 2: You can also record music from records or cassettes (see Transferring tapes and records to computer or CD) or any audio that is playing on your computer. For example if you heard some music on internet radio that you thought would suit your purpose, you could (on Windows or Linux) record it into Audacity - see http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=recording&i=streaming . On a Mac, you’d use a tool like Audio Hijack to record sounds playing from an application such as your web browser to an .AIFF audio file.

Option 3: To import music from a CD into Audacity you need to extract the audio from the CD to a WAV or AIFF audio file by using a program such as iTunes and import that audio file into Audacity. see below for setting this up correctly.

CD–EX is a good free Windows program to extract CD audio.

Or you can use Windows Media Player if you are on Windows XP (click Rip > Format > WAV lossless, or iTunes (either on OS X or Windows). First set the “conversion format” in iTunes Preferences under Advanced > Importing > Import using AIFF (or WAV) encoder”. Click “Audio CD” on the “Source” pane on the left. Select the tracks you want to extract and right-click on them and click the option “convert selection to AIFF”.

On OS X, CD tracks should also appear as AIFF files in the Finder, so they can simply be dragged into Audacity or imported from the CD with Project > Import Audio.

[edit] Create your Voice Track

1. To create a voice track record it with your microphone on to a new track in your Audacity Project. As the voice recording will be on a different track from the music, it can after recording be edited entirely independently of the music (see “Editing and Effects” below).

To record with your microphone, you set the recording source to microphone in Audacity’s mixer toolbar input selector http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm (or, if you are on OS X, you set the microphone as the default recording source in Apple Audio-Midi Setup). Then press the red Record button.

If you want to be really professional, why not do a level test of your voice before you record for real? Click on the downward pointing arrow in the right hand (red) recording level meters http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_meter.htm and click “monitor input”. While speaking into your microphone as loud as you would for the loudest part of what you want to record, adjust the recording level slider (by the microphone symbol) on the Mixer Toolbar http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm so the recording meters are almost reaching the far right-hand side (but not far enough to bring the red hold lights on). If the recording level meters are not visible, go to the Preferences and check “Enable Meter Toolbar” on the Interface tab.

2. To record your voice track while listening to your music track, check “Play other tracks while recording new one” in the Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences, and press the red Record button. The Preferences are under usually under the Edit Menu, but on OS X are under the Audacity menu. Note: obviously you must use tight fitting headphones to record while listening to a music track, to avoid your microphone picking up the music playback in your voice recording.

3. After you have finished recording, just press “play” in Audacity to hear the result – the music track and your voice track will be mixed together just as they will when you come to “export” the recording as a computer audio file.

[edit] Editing and Effects

The Edit menu allows you to do things like cut pieces out of the music where you don’t want it, and on the Effect menu to do things like fade the music in and out, and so on.

1. Select your track first, and dont apply effects whilst you are playing, recording or pausing the track. You can select all of a track by clicking on its Track Panel (where the mute/solo buttons are). You can select part of a track by clicking in the track and dragging to left or right with your mouse, or with the left or right arrow keys.

Another useful tool is the Time Shift Tool <–-> top left of the Audacity screen (hit F5 to select it). With this you can move your music and vocal tracks back and forth so you get the music in the right place underneath your words.

2. Make the tracks as loud as they can be without distorting. To do this hit Edit > Select > All and Effect > Amplify and click OK. Then go the Track Panel of each track and slide the -…+ gain slider on each track to left by the same amount to reduce their volume. This is necessary because you have amplified both tracks so when played together they will otherwise distort. Now hit the green Play button to play the music and voice track together and watch the green playback VU meter next to the red recording meter. If the red hold lights at the right come on, move both gain sliders further back by the same amount.

[edit] Export and Publish your MP3

Once you have edited your recording in Audacity, you need to export it as an MP3 which is a universal compressed audio format that will play on iPods and other portable devices (and will also be suitable for others who may just want to listen to it on their computer) and which will also be small enough to distribute via the web.

1. To export your Project to an MP3, install the Lame MP3 encoder to Audacity - its an “optional extra”. Follow the instructions at Lame Installation to download and install Lame.

2. Click File > Export as MP3 which will mix your voice and music tracks to an MP3 file. A dialogue box will pop up asking you to edit the ID3 tags. These are tags which most audio players can read which give information such as the Title and Genre of the track. There is a short podcast tutorial here explaining about tagging MP3s in Audacity: http://www.creativecow.net/articles/mcmahon_frank/pod1/pod1.html .

Uploading to a website (podcasting)

Option 1: Once your MP3 is exported to your hard drive, you can upload it to your website and create a link for it. You can create a simple download link which is just the web address of the file e.g. http://www.mypodcast.com/podcast.mp3 .

However, if you give a plain text link like this, what happens when the user clicks on the link depends on their setup i.e. whether this downloads the file to their drive or launches their default MP3 player.

If you instruct your user to right-click the link, this will always enable them to download the file to their drive.

Option 2: If you embed your MP3 in your webpage using “embed tags” you can choose if your MP3 plays in the background or if the browser’s media plugin appears in the webpage, which will give the user an on and off button to play the file in the browser. You can also choose whether to autoplay the file on page load or not, and so on. This page shows you how to use embed tags: http://www.webreference.com/js/column20/embed.html .

If you want to make a plain text link from which users can stream your MP3 into their default MP3 player, you can just create a text file with .m3u (or .pls) extension and paste into it the full web address of the MP3, then upload the .m3u file to your webpage.

Many podcasts are distributed with what are known as RSS feeds, instead of (or as well as) offering downloading or streaming of the podcast content. When read with a feed reader program, these feeds offer a summary link to (or direct downloads of) recently updated podcast content. You can read about creating .RSS feeds for podcasts here .

If you do not have your own server or access to a website, there are other ways to put your podcast on the internet. Online services like BlogMatrix, AudioBlog, Liberated Syndication, PodBus and Podblaze offer space to upload and store your podcast. Some of these services offer free hosting while others will charge a small fee for different storage limits. Please refer to the different web sites for more information. To use a hosting service, simply sign up for an account and upload your MP3 files.

Finally, don’t forget to promote your podcast on the major podcast directories and search engines, such as iTunes and Podcast Alley .

Voicethread is a Web 2.0 application that allows you to create and share digital stories over the net. This application is a great tool for getting students to build digital stories, or to annotate slides.

A VoiceThread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways:

- Using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and share them with anyone they wish. They can even be exported to an Archival Movie for offline use on a DVD or video-enabled MP3 player.

A VoiceThread allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place, from anywhere in the world. Read more

To understand the breadth of what this application has to offer, view the What is Voicethread video

You can create a Voicethread in 3 easy steps: in one minute according to the website:

For an overview, view the 1 minute Voicethread video

1. Browse & Create images, documents and/or video. You can import from Powerpoint, Word, Excel or PDF, and Flickr or Facebook too.

2. Comment: use your voice - record with a microphone, write text etc

3. Share: invite, email, embed etc. there are privacy options

See a sample Voicethread here: Beach

Controls

You can set privacy controls and moderate any comments before they are published by checking the options

Setting up your microphone

- Click on the My Voice tab/menu

- Choose microphone settings button: for Mac or Windows and follow the prompts

Video Doodling

This is a great feature for annotating video clips or drawing attention to details in a clip. View the Video Doodling video for more information

On Monday 11th August 2008, a group of 13 TIGS teachers and staff attended a workshop on using Flickr and Gickr.

Flickr is a Web 2.0 application that enables you to host and share your photos.

• Access all your digital images in one place.
• Show off your favorite photos to the world.
• Share photos with your friends and family.

In 3 easy steps they learnt to:

- Share their photos using Flickr

- Edit, crop, add fonts etc

- Upload and organise files

- Make things like cards, photo books, prints etc

- Explore

You can:

Take a Flickr tour to learn of its potential: FLICKR TOUR

To post to Flickr, use one of the handy uploading tools (for a batch), the web upload form (for bits and pieces), or send your photos or video in by email (great for cameraphones). As your collection grows, you can organize it into sets and see everything via your archives.

This site has links to all of the upload options:

Flickr tools for uploading

I recommend you download the Flickr Uploader 3.0 from this site, although you can upload via the normal upload button.

Click Download and then Open from the download window and follow the Wizard prompts to place the application in the Program files and a shortcut on the desktop.

Simply click on the shortcut and drag and drop files into the window. Set your privacy options then click Create A Set button. Be patient whilst they upload!

BUT….

You can only upload files smaller than 1Mb each

Do not upload more than 10Mb worth of files at a time

I advise you to prepare your files first so that you can upload easily and minimise your monthly upload quota (around 100 Mb)

Use Adobe Photoshop or a similar photo editing application to resize your images for the web:

PREPARING YOUR PHOTO FILES FOR UPLOADING

In Photoshop:

Open the file > go to Image menu > Image size and change the longest side to 750 pixels. This could be the width or the height depending on if its portrait or landscape format.

Then go to File menu > Save for Web and Devices. Go to the pull down menus to the right of the image and select > jpg and maximum. Click Save and save in a new folder called something like ‘Flickr Beach resized.

Note: Be careful NOT TO OVERWITE your original files!

UPLOADING FILES TO FLICKR

1. Click on the Choose button > select your files from the resized images you just saved

2. Click Upload. Flickr will show you how much memory of your monthly allocation these consume. It will take a while to upload - maybe time for a coffee!

In November I will be attending the 2008 Learning Technologies Conference, where George Siemens will be the keynote speaker.

George is a prominent writer and researcher on learning, networks, technology and organizational effectiveness in digital environments. He is the author of Knowing Knowledge, an exploration of how the context and characteristics of knowledge have changed and what it means to organizations today.

Read more about George and his ideas at these web spaces: eLearnspace, Connectivism and Knowing Knowledge.

In his session George will explore the seemingly obvious ‘networks and connections as the foundation of learning’ and present new perspectives on how to foster deep, critical, understanding through effective implementation of learning networks. He will address:

• What are the characteristics of learning networks?
• How do they differ from social networks?
• What types of attributes are evident in conceptual networks versus social networks?
• What about neural networks?
• How can educators utilize attributes of networks for teaching and learning?
• How do we foster networks of a particular type to serve intended learning goals?

Check out his webspace: it has amazing links to events, articles, interviews, sites and blogs

eLearnspace: everything technology

His elearnspace blog includes daily posts on a wide range of eLearning topics

Hi everyone

This is a summary of what we will do today in our Slideshare workshop:

We will:

1. Register as a slideshare user

2. Undertake a slideshare tour to grasp the basics

3. Browse slideshare to find some slideshows that interest us

4. Click on some slideshare tags to find slideshows related to specific topics that interest us

5. Setup our own Slidespace

6. Learn how to upload a powerpoint presentation and how to set privacy settings

7. Learn how to build a community: add Contact lists and Groups, and invite people to join

8. Learn how to stage and advertise events and invite people to come

9. How to add comments and respond to comments

10. Ask questions!

Slideshare is an online presentation sharing tool.

• If you, or your students create Powerpoint presentations, then you can host, tag and share them online in Slideshare. Your students can access them anytime on any web browser.
• Slideshare is also a great resource where you can share other people’s presentations.

Click on this hyperlink to go to slideshare.net

Click on the slideshare tour to discover several reasons why you might use slideshare

Click on Sign Up to register for slideshare. it is free. If you have already registered, log in by entering your username and password. Its a good idea to record these somewhere

Check out this slideshare presentation that reveals something of the power of visual presentations

You can browse hot Tags to find slideshows related to your interests or topics

This is how I found a slidecast on Podcasting

Or, alternatively you can enter a topic in the Search option

This is how I found a slideshow on Project Based Learning

This is a ’secret’ url to my private viewing of a draft slideshow I setup on slideshare:

DE eLearningDraft

polldaddy is free web.20 polling application that lets you quickly compose and post polls and surveys. A great device for getting quick feedback and evaluation from your students.

Click on the poll link, below, to view a polldaddy poll I asked my year 8 Visual Arts students to complete prior to leaving at the conclusion of a short series of Photoshop workshops

Year 8 Photoshop Poll

In polldaddy, you can set a number of simple options: you can slect from several poll styles, block repeat voters, instantly show poll results, set a close date and allow and moderate comments.

Here is another poll:

Year 8 Favourite Photoshop Feature poll

It is similar to a game environment!

Games are…

- fun

- entertaining

- engaging

- interactive

- social

- repetitive

- often surprising

Also, they have grown up in an audio-visual environment.

Rebecca Thorman’s 2007 blog entry How video games can show us how to engage Generation Y (or anyone)

provides tips for keeping talented Generation Y on-task and motivated…..

“Generation Y doesn’t want to lick envelopes. We’re up for the challenge. Let us lead your next project.

…with small steps... Video games give us a big high-five every time we reach the next level, self-motivating us to keep playing.

And Generation Y workers are intrinsic motivation junkies. According to Richard Florida, author of the Rise of the Creative Class, Generation Y “values intrinsic rewards more so than salary and benefits.” Extrinsic factors such as money, promotions, rank and prestige don’t do much for us.

We’ve been “suckled on the principles of intrinsic motivation,” argues Tamara J. Erickson at Harvard Business Online. We would prefer to have careers that make us feel good and do good for the planet. Shiny external bribes may turn our heads, but intrinsic factors keep our attention long term.

Employers can retain young workers by recognizing “smaller steps are far better than big infrequent increments” according to Erickson.

…and celebrate often! With each new level passed in a video game, there is a celebration. It’s rare that people get tired of playing video games. That’s because it’s fun to make it to the next level. Fun and celebration are essential to avoiding burnout. Too many workplaces just focus on the pot of gold, not the colorful journey to get there. Small successes should be shared and merit party-time.”

A blog is a personal space.

A blog has an author.

A blog is like a journal - you can throw your ideas around and focus on your interests. Hopefully, someone will read the blog and comment on your entries - providing feedback for the author.

A blog has been likened to Random Operating Memory (RAM) , or working memory.

A wiki is a collective space.

No one has special status as an author on a wiki.

A wiki tends to be more objective - a place to store, share and disseminate information, like a database. Also, it can be edited by any user.

A wiki has been likened to long term memory.

Wikis are exciting and empowering.

They allow asynchronous communication.

They encourage group collaboration.

They have the potential to develop diverse learning communities.

They are great learning tools for students, when handled appropriately.

Swan View Senior High School’s Wiki. You will need to sign-in first.