Saturday, July 07, 2007

VoiceThread


VoiceThread is yet another photoblog, but is refreshingly free of advertising, so far, and is very easy to register with and use.

A nice feature is zooming in, magnifying the photo, and swooping around with the mouse. You can record an audio or type a comment, and comments are attached with cartoon bubbles to pictures of the commentators--a nice feature for getting the feel of who is talking to whom.

This would make a great project base for kids to write and audiocast with a picture prompt. There is a good instructional slide show to tell them how to do it. As the narrator says--it's one picture, but with 65 stories, or more, embedded in it. How interesting to hear all the stories unfold with pictures of the narrators.

Friday, July 06, 2007

SplashCast



SplashCast purportedly
enables anyone to create streaming media 'channels' that combine video, music, photos, narration, text and RSS feeds. These user-generated channels can be played and easily syndicated on any web site, blog, or social network page.

One particularly nice feature may be that
When channel owners modify their channel, their content is automatically updated across all the web pages 'tuned' to that channel.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Effects of technology on SLA

I'm using this video as an experiment, but the question it poses is for real--I'm preparing for a presentation at the CALL-IS Academic Session in NYC.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Second Life Video Gallery


This set of videos, Second Life Video Gallery, gives a very good picture of many facets of activity in SL. Makes for fascinating watching, whether you are interested in education, politics, or aspects of personal interaction. I found the making of a guitar prim (Suzanne's Guitar) absolutely absorbing.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

SitePal for free!

Received a notice from Bravenet that members can get a SitePal avatar on their site for free during the month of June (2007), so I hopped over and got one. You should be able to hear/see the result in my sidebar. Hope this is not too annoying. Leave me a comment if you think I should take it down.



PS: The "free part turned out to be a trial, so I took it down. It got annoying anyway.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Moving to a wiki?

I am seriously considering moving this blog to a wiki where I can categorize and organize better. I am afraid the blog is just not orderly enough for the kind of archiving I feel is needed. The work I've put into EVO video is an example of how to get the kind of organization that is most useful, I think.

When will I ever have time to do the move? Good question...

Larry Ferlazzo's pages

I am totally hooked on Larry Ferlazzo's Websites Of The Day For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL blog and his Teacher Page. This guy is a non-stop search engine and comes up with 2-3 new English teaching sites per day.

As always, caveat emptor: you will need to check each site that sounds promising to see if it really matches your English learners' abilities and interests. Many, many sites on the Web look good for learning/teaching, but often are of simply too high a language level to be of much use to learners. Those that Larry recommends are no different. With over 7,000 sites noted, however, you will probably find many of use.

Friday, June 08, 2007

JumpCut


Wow!--This online video editor works almost exactly like iMovie or Windows movie maker. You upload the photos or video, and then add titles, captions, various transition effects, timing, etc. You can also add a separate audio track. I don't have quite all the features down yet, but it is fun to play with.

JumpCut movies can be private (friends only), and require registration to view, so this might be a good classroom solution.

Five Flashcard makers online

This from Larry Ferlazzo, via the Webheads e-list:

Having students make flash cards in the classroom out of pen and paper is always a good learning experience — both in their creation and in their use.

Now there are countless sites on the web that allow students to make and use them online. As in quite a few of the activities on my site, I don’t necessarily see any major advantage to doing it online as opposed to doing it “old school.” It’s just a nice change of pace sometimes.

I’ve found five sites that are free and easy enough for English Language Learners of all levels to use. Students can create the permanent flash cards online and then they, or any other student, can access them.

You’ll find these five sites under the Student Flash Cards category on my Examples of Student Work. [This page has some great student work!--E.]

Four sites that have been on my site for awhile are
Flashcard Machine [requires registration and login]
Flashcard Exchange [printable, several languages, many ready-made to share]
Study Cards Online [create, study, share]
Study Stack [once logged in, you can add data to others' stacks]

I think they all function well, and it’s hard to say any one is better than the other. I just learned about the fifth one, Memorizable, and haven’t had the opportunity to check it out fully yet.


Memorizable creates tables in a wiki where the user can click to answer and flip through the table as if with a deck of flashcards. Does not appear to be a useful way to study, but one might find other uses for this way to manipulate tables in a wiki.

MakeInternetTV.org

MakeInternetTV.org is looking for 1-2 minute videos
from experienced video bloggers on various aspects of filming and editing. MakeInternetTV. org is a free resource for people to learn the basics of making videos.

Erik Beck, of Indy Mogul on Vimeo, made a video that is a great example of what the group is looking for in Bringing-the-site-to- life

The videos must be CC licensed, as they will be included on a free DVD to distribute to high schools and middle schools.

Contact person: Dean Jansen
Participatory Culture Foundation

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Leafletter

Leafletter is a cute application, similar to Tabblo, but somewhat easier to use. Students could create a multi-page online newsletter fairly quickly by adding text and images to one of 35 template "blocks." I don't know what the limitations are, but archive/storage of pictures doesn't seem to be a problem.



My Leafletter is here.

UseAMap.com

Marian Thatcher turned me on to this nifty application of Google Maps. You go to the site, find your location, and UseAMap will create a map with a short address that can be emailed, embedded in a Website (as here), and edited/updated when you like. You can also use it as a starting point to get directions to other places. The map link will pop up to a full screen size, and can be used with Yahoo Maps and Virtual Earth Maps as well. The interface is very fast and efficient.




You can find me here.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Graham Stanley on Web 2.0


Graham, with his usual aplomb, has made a very nice instructional video about Web 2.0 at Teacher Tube.

He covers blogs, wikis, podcasting, and Second Life (as seen in this screen shot).

Saturday, May 05, 2007

A Periodic table of Visualization


This chart is an incredibly cool bit of visualization about various ways to visualize concepts. Run your cursor over each "element" to see a visual example. Where but on the Web?!?!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

ZamZar.com


Convert files from your desktop or a URL, free. ZamZar sends the converted file to your email. Very convenient.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Mrs Brown's Galaxy

This Eric Idle ditty happens to also contain some amazing factoids.

http://dingo.care2.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf

This is just for fun!

--Elizabeth

Sunday, April 15, 2007

TeacherTube


Live Action English Interactive at TeacherTube

TeacherTube is a very safe-looking site where you can upload instructional video for students and/or fellow teachers. This is a sample from the Live Action English Interactive CD.

You can limit your audience to a group you create. You can also use tags to help sort your videos to the correct audience. Teachers can report any video that appears to be inappropriate for the educational audeince. There are currently many fine, almost-professional quality instructional videos at the site on a wide variety of topics, e.g., raps for teaching geometry and fractions, a discussion of pbwiki, how to use templates to create a newsletter, etc. Most videos go way beyond desktop recordings. You can also upload supporting documents/files--nice.

An interesting feature of home-made video instruction by teachers: it's spot on. (And a big thanks to Jacqui Cyrus in Guam, who tipped me off on this one!)

Friday, April 13, 2007

ChangeDetection.com

I had been looking for some equivalent to RSS for Web pages that were not set up with an XML feed, and finally came across

ChangeDetection.com

After registering, you can enter any number of Web page addresses and
ChangeDectection will send you an email when changes are made to them.
(Like Feedblitz does for RSS-capable pages.) Nice little bot.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Excuse me...Getting Directions

Mike Marzio has a clip on Google Video that is super! The American version will be coming out soon (we hope!)


ESL/EFL - Giving Directions - "Lost in England" - Closed Captioned version

Creating a (e)Learning Environment

Recent podcast by Michael Coughlan contains a number of ideas for supporting teachers who want to use technology. My personal favorite: forget the closed circuit stuff and get it all out on the Web.

Making a feed connection

While browsing through Vance Steven's ESL-Home pages (an excellent list of links), I discovered that Bob Palmer (in Japan, I believe) had used Virtual=Real (this blog), as an example for his instructional video on creating an RSS feed connection with Bloglines and with other methods. Talk about "Old Dutch Cleanser" cans*!

Thanks, Vance and Bob.


*For those unfamiliar with that reference: in the old days, a cleanser can had a picture of a Dutch girl holding the same cleanser can in her hand, ad infinitum. (You had to be there...)

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Weblog portfolios in an intensive English program


This is a nice article with great links to a number of resources on electronic portfolios.

http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/wp.html

Written in preparation for TESOL 2007 in Seattle: eFairs Classics, Electronic Village, by Thomas Leverett, CESL, Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale IL USA.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Video Academic Session at TESOL

This is my wiki-based presentation, Trends in Digital Media - 2007, for the Video IS Academic Session. There are lots of links.

I found using the wiki for the presentation instead of PowerPoint was much more flexible. I was able to add and rearrange things up until the last moment. My only concern was having a good Internet connection in the room, but that turned out to be no problem, so I could use the links directly on the wiki page, rather than opening all of them as tabs in my browser.

It was a bit disappointing that so few people showed up--don't know if it was the time of day or the topics, but there were some really interesting presentations.

EVO Presentation at TESOL 2007


Just a very short video of the EVO presentation in Seattle, March 21, 2007. To see the slideshows and other presentation material, visit our wiki, CALL IS Electronic Village Online Communities.

Unfortunately, it was very early Wednesday morning, the first day of the conference, and so there were only 30-40 people attending.

Most of the participants on the panel were also Webheads. The entire Web cast recording can be heard at Webheads at Worldbridges.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

The Free Dictionary by Farlex

This is a nice learning site that could be used for a student's homepage. The Free Dictionary has the following cool educational stuff:

  • Word of the Day with audio
  • Quotation of the Day - build a quick lesson around understand the
    meaning--equivalent in L1?
  • Immediate links to a dozen or so dictionaries/thesauri
  • News items with vocab linked to dictionary
  • Quick Match Up test of 5 words and their meanings
  • This Day in History - talk about historical events (past tense)
  • Today's Birthday (historically famous people)
  • Hangman game
  • Local weather -- talk about the weather (present and future tenses)

Internet4Classrooms: Useful instructional Web pages

This collaborative project has lots of ideas for using not only Word
(Microsoft Word Modules), but a bunch of other common classroom tools.

(Published originally in Learning with Computers.)

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Dutch MPs visit Second Life

This was posted to Webheads in Action by Gavin Dudney. I suspect the MPs had considerable tech help from Delft Univ. in setting up their avatars, etc.

The considerable amount of time avatars spend typing in air indicates a real need for a stable audio feature in Second Life.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Second Life and Baldric's Presentation

Spent Sunday morning (5 AM for me) at Second Nation and later EduTech. Naturally, I got a little lost and only arrived at Baldric Commons' presentation after it was over. As other Webheads mentioned, getting lost is one of the disadvantages, but now I've created landmarks of the various places most likely to be used, e.g., the Webhead Hut and the EduNation Seminar Room. (I also keep a cheat sheet with the coordinates at hand on paper.) One of the frustrations of SL is that the names of buildings are not searchable. Even finding someone who was in the correct place was hard, as the teleport only gets you into the vicinity (around 200 m.) I expect familiarity (and landmarking) will resolve these problems.

We also tried to use Skype at EduNation as a means to voice chat simultaneously, but I had the usual difficulties with getting into Skype. At last I seemed to have my computer settings match up with Skype's expectations, and joined the Skype conference. In the meantime, I had missed getting to EduNation to see Baldric's presentation. (Another frustration--learning everyone's SL name and deciding which name to use at any given moment. In voice chat we ask, "Can you hear me now?" while in SL we ask, "Who are you in 1st life?")



Thanks to Candace Pauchnick for the photos of Sunday morning at her Website: http://henry.sandi.net/staff/cpauchni/Webhd2LF.html
Since I wanted to see people, I failed to notice the sunset! So another tip--it pays to look around.

I got some new duds from Baldric. Dare I ask what he was doing with high-laced, high-heeled boots and a denim mini-skirt in his inventory? (He-he.) I wonder what percentage of time men vs. women spend in shopping for clothes? Though men do seem concerned about getting the right body image, facial hair, etc. Vance was quite pleased with his (muscle) T-shirt. I'm sorry Sus Nyrop wasn't there, as she has one of the more imaginative costumes I've seen--well, except for the woman with black wings...

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Kids Vid

This is a great site from Gladys Baya over in REO:

Kids' Vid ..."an instructional Web site to help teachers and students use video production in class to support project-based learning." The site also has examples from a recent competition.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Second Life Update

I've been exploring a bit in Second Life. I met Sus Nyrop there (avatar=SuNy Foss), and she teleported me to Dove's (128,128,0), where you can get new outfits for free. I couldn't seem to pick up the free iPod, however.

I made the mistake of passing up on the offer of 250 Linden dollars (the local currency), so I am stuck with my present avatar body. I did learn how to change the color and style of my sweater, though I wish it covered up my belly button. For now it's me in jeans.

I got lost after Sus signed out, and thought for awhile I would never get back to EduNation (70,49,23). I felt like my 10-year-old self when I got on the wrong bus and couldn't find my way home one Saturday afternoon. I wound up at the entry to an "Adults Only" site that felt really creepy (in SL, I mean).

So Doug Coleman is right--the virtual has to feel real to make it authentic.

I also seemed to be unable to find EduNation in the SL >search window. Bummer. Finally, while clicking around I found an "educational" region of SL, and by going there I eventually found the link to EduNation. I ran upstairs in the Webheads beach hut (noting how nicely the palm trees swayed out the windows, and how the moon was just rising beautifully low in the sky), sat down on the couch and had that perpetually steaming cup of coffee on the table--or wished I could, anyway. (How do you pick up the cup???)

So here's my avatar--Babette Hanson.

Google Widgets for Your Website


Google has released its Widgets for anyone to glue into their Website.

Google Widgets

Takes forever to browse them, however. Spend an afternoon.

Teachers' TV

Another video-based set of guides to using technology at various levels, even with young children.

Teachers' TV also has videos of several classrooms as examples of how technology is used in them.

Note: The sound seemed to have a streaming problem, so you might want to watch it silently and then click the >Play button again to hear it.

Friday, November 03, 2006

On-Line Practice Modules

Step-by-step video lessons on how to use a variety of applications used in K-12 classrooms. Covers most common applications

On-line Practice Modules

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Second Life

Virtual realities for ESL/EFL are just beginning to be explored. You can create a world and all the creatures in it, and have them move around and interact. A VR for language learning would have to do more than shoot-em up, however.

Here's a little construction tutorial for Second Life, where EduNation is going to come into being under the wise leadership of Gavin Dudeney, with help from Graham Stanley, Vance Stevens, and other Webheads. Coordinates for EduNation are 70, 49, 23 -- Try out the informative introductory tour by sitting on the tour stool (Command-Sit).


Warning: contains some profanity towards the end.

Other cool stuff sent to me by Nicky Hockly at the Webheads' list:

The Second Life homepage
This gives you a good overview of what SL is all about

Getting Started With Second Life
A step by step guide to getting started in SL, from installing and
registering to learning how to move around in SL

SimTeach
A site for eduactors interesting is using environments like SL in
teaching and learning. The site includes a blog, a wiki, a
discussion group, and some sample SL videos

SLED Archives
The archives from previous discussions held by educators in SL

You Tube – Sample Second Life Videos
A selection of videos that show you clearly what life is like in SL

And there is a gamers user group at GameLearning
Hope this gets off the ground!

Monday, September 25, 2006

9-11 Memorial

This is a short video including an interview with my nephew, Matt Hanson, who organized a 12-hour memorial at William & Mary College for the victims of 9-11.
911 Memorial
Interesting that the younger generation is communicating to the world through YouTube.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Revver.com

I've been thinking of mentioning this site for some time, but Nicolas Gromik's video convinced me to look it up again--it is a beautiful huge viewer, and the films can be downloaded from the site as well. (I assume the creator selects whether or not to allow this.

Here is the direct link to Gromik's vlog, hutong2
Henri Rousseau

Brenda Fohio does a great job of combining paintings and music. Among her work are her own paintings, which I still have to explore.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Talkr

Have you noticed the iPod icon at the bottom of each post? I've been trying to get Talkr to speak my podcasts, but it hasn't worked yet. This is the latest in a long line of trials.
--Elizabeth

Your Jackson Pollock


This is another site on the theme of what you can do with art online. To make your own Jackson Pollock, click to start, and swoosh and swirl. Each time you click the paint changes colors.

Mr. Picasso Head




This is like the old Mr. Potato Head, but a lot more fun. Find the true artistic spirit in your students.

Photos for Peace


This is a great collection of photographs from around the world by Peace Corps volunteers, posted at the Cote d'Ivoire's American Embassy site. They might be used for an intercultural project or to explore other countries' land and peoples.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Radio Children

Radio Children is a podcast made by children for children, with support from a variety of British museums. Educational and attractive.

(Thanks to Graham Stanley, podcaster supreme, for this tip.)

The Freesound Project

The Freesound Project sounds like it would be well worth joining.
From their site:

The Freesound Project aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, ... released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License. The Freesound Project provides new and interesting ways of accessing these samples, allowing users to

* browse the sounds in new ways using keywords, a "sounds-like" type of browsing and more
* up and download sounds to and from the database, under the same creative commons license
* interact with fellow sound-artists!

We also aim to create an open database of sounds that can also be used for scientific research. Many audio research institutions have trouble finding correctly licensed audio to test their algorithms. Many have voiced this problem, but so far there hasn't been a solution.
How can you help?

If you have audio samples which can be released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License please add them! Label them correctly and help us build a huge database.

Note we are not looking for songs, or compositions. We are looking for sounds. Field recordings, kit recordings, generated sounds, ... as long as the sounds are not copyrighted (in a non-compatible way) or if the sounds are made by yourself and you want to release them under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License.


Freesound is also looking for institutional help with sound files and mirror/server space.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

IPod U.

Here are three universities using iPod technology to deliver content, e.g. lectures, language practice, videos that are too long to view in class, etc.:

UC Berkeley webcast.berkeley
Stanford
Duke Digital Initiative

Why do project-based learning?

I've been meaning to reference this for a long time--

Why do project-based learning? The Multimedia Project: Project-based Learning with Multimedia. San Mateo County Office of Education. 1997-2001. 17 June 2006.

The whole PBL WebRing collection of sites is very helpful in defining collaborative tasks. There are rubrics for assessing creative projects, suggested lesson plans, models, et al.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Address Book Widget

I don't know how useful (or dangerous) this widget might be, but added to any Web page, it will allow the user to look up their own address book in one of a dozen or so services (like Yahoo!), in order to send a quick email to someone, e.g., to send your Web page address to a friend.

Would this create a privacy or spam problem?

Plaxo Address Book Widget

Mandarin Design


I've been having a lot of fun with Mandarin Design, working out "opacity," getting my feet wet in CSS, and trying out banners and logos. The site has nice links to other sites with more on creating interesting Web designs. This is a logo for my consulting company, Computers for Education, based on a design in Typogenerator, linked from Mandarin. What you get is very seredipitous.

Friday, September 01, 2006

iPods for Teaching and Learning FLs


Integrating ICT into the Modern Foreign Language Classroom with iPods

The languages faculty at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina has been experimenting with the use of iPods to enhance teaching and learning since 2004 as part of The Duke Digital Initiative. . . .

The mobility of listening comprehension activities and recording capabilities has opened up new avenues for language students and instructors.


This is a way cool site with numerous links to descriptions of the Duke project, tips on using technology for language learning, etc. To quote further from their frontpage:

The iPods are used by the students and professors in the following ways:

The students:

* listen to audio clips based on their workbook and textbook as well as dramatic recordings of four short 'novellas'
* read text files which accompany the audio material to further improve their comprehension
* record dialogues and keep a weekly 'oral diary' using an attached microphone
* explore the use of Spanish language podcasts
* interview native speakers

The professors:

* record feedback on compositions and oral exams
* create an iTunes playlist including Spanish language songs used to reinforce grammar, functions and vocabulary in class
* make weekly recordings called 'audio flashcards' which are designed to revise vocabulary and review pronunciation
* monitor students' progress in speaking Spanish
* record native Spanish speakers of different backgrounds reading the course literature


Absolutely Intercultural podcast

This is a great new wiki space that combines the advantages of quick Web page editing and podcasting.
There is also a lovely, very detailed lesson plan to get started with intercultural podcasting. A great idea from our friends at the British Council (thanks for the tip, Graham Stanley):


Absolutely Intercultural podcast



From their site:
Absolutely Intercultural is the first podcast in the world to deal with intercultural issues. We’ll be releasing a new episode every second Friday evening, looking at all intercultural aspects of human intercultural communication.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Hellodeo

This is a try out at Hellodeo--the voice mail greeting with Webcam. As I've noticed with a number of widgets and proffered "add a button" code, some adjusting had to be done, e.g., Blogger won't accept /> as the end of an embedded src.



Don't you just love the big red button over my face?!?

Glitter Graphics Text

Myspace LayoutsMyspace CodesMyspace LayoutsMyspace CodesMyspace CodesMyspace Text Generator, Myspace GraphicsMyspace LayoutsGlitter GraphicsMyspace CodesMyspace, Myspace Codes
Unfortunately, Blogger shows the borders of the graphics--kind of spoils the effects. Found at Glitter-Graphics.com.

Getting Results

This is a multi-week, video-based course for professional development. Targeted at community college teachers, it is appropriate for all levels of teaching and learning, focusing on task-based, hands-on collaborative knowledge building. It really makes sense, and could be done with a group of teachers, either facilitated or not, as an ongoing discussion about how their classes can "get results." As the intro video tells us, students who never before could "get it" in a math class can now, with new teaching methods, really grasp the subject. Very professionally produced by the National Science Foundation and WGBH Boston.

Getting Results: A professional development course


The videos are captioned (yeah!), and you can turn captioning on or off. You also can select Windows Media Player or QuickTime, so you get the optimal player for your own machine. While the focus is content, rather than ESL/EFL, the techniques are excellent for a sustained content, task-based language learning setting.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Clocklink

Clocklink is a handy little widget to let you add a clock to any Web page by copying in the html. Seems to load and work without much fuss.

You'll find the clock I chose in the sidebar at the right, under my profile and email subscription link.

Websites as Graphs

Bee found this neat program. I'm not sure what the purpose is, but it is beautiful as the analysis takes place and the graph opens and expands like some kind of amoeba. I tried it several times, and it seemed to open and unfold in a different way each time.

Try it out at Sala Aharef's Webpage. This is the graph for my homepage, Computers for Education:



What do the colors mean?
blue: for links (the A tag)
red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
green: for the DIV tag
violet: for images (the IMG tag)
yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
black: the HTML tag, the root node
gray: all other tags

Class Blogmeister


Here is David Warlick's Class Blogmeister blog which explains how to use a blog with students. Warlick has created the Blogmeister so that classes can have safe blogging experiences. The blog also has some good quotes from teachers on why they use blogs and how they have been successful. The image at left is from his blog, showing how students can use blogging in a writing class.

Friday, August 11, 2006

FEEDblitz email subscription added!



OK, following the suggestions in LwC YG, I went to the FEEDblitz site and added an email subscription form to this blog.

So when new items come in, you, the subscriber, can receive email notification. Remember, you can also subscribe to my RSS feed. Or both.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Wikispaces Help Videos


Here's some cool little screencasts of how to do a wiki, starting with joining Wikispaces.

http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour#introduction

Don't you just love the technology? (These guys have way too much time on their hands.)

Protopage - Your own homepage

Here's another neat trick from the LearningwithComputers YG. It's a homepage with all the stuff on it you usually look for when you start up:



Computers for Education in Protopage

My only problem is that I like a blank page after my first entree into the Web. It does pop up very fast, however. (I am assuming when you see this page it will not be editable.)

Bubbleshare slideshow

Finally got around to adding this show to my blog. Click the >PLAY icon to hear the audio and see the show.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Tabblo


Here's a nice advance over the usual photo sharing sites--you can create picture albums with titles and explanations and design more or less your own Webpage arrangement. Takes a bit of fussing, but it does work. (That's my son and my new grand-daughter in the lower left corner, BTW.)

Tabblo.com

Also has iPhoto and Flash plug-ins for faster uploading, though at high speed DSL or cable, it is pretty quick.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

The Daily English Show


So I am like totally hooked on The Daily English Show run by Sara, a young New Zealander with, apparently, a lot of time on her hands. She produces a new show almost every day, and each one is filled with sly wit: stick news (little stick-figure drawings), a conversation (with herself), where Sara looks down at the subtitles after each line, and then turns around and repeats the other half.

I still think the whole thing is a spoof--there is no way one could actually learn English like this--but it is fun...

Here is the Grouper link to DES or click on the image above for a sample of a recent show. (Also available on YouTube.com.) The scripts for each show are found at Sarah's blog.

If I were more adventuresome, I'd try getting this movie to play directly, but I don't want to bug anyone with the sound.

Jack and Elizabeth: The Movie


Mike Marzio made an interesting little video, mainly of Jack doing his anecdotes and story-telling. We had a fun afternoon--good memories. The episode starts with Mike live at the Sunday meeting of the Webheads in a voice chat. So I'm taking a video of him while he's talking to the Webheads. Weird and fun.

Direct link to the QT movie

Friday, May 12, 2006

How to make a video blog - FreeVlog

This is a chatty little video + screencast found at FreeVlog showing how to use a blog interface and add video to a blog.

Rather fast language for a NNS, but it can be replayed.

Monday, April 24, 2006

BlogCheese



You've got to love the name!

This clever site lets you use a WebCam and microphone (or combo) to make a video to store online. No uploading files.

Here's the link to my first effort (you may need to register first to view it):
http://www.blogcheese.com/ehansonsmi/

MySpace SlideShow Creator



So here's a direct link to creating a slideshow from your photos at Frappr--or elsewhere.


http://www.slide.com/main


Colorful, and a constant reminder of who you know.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Safari U

Your course--in print, on the Web--your way

Safari U allows you to create RLOs of your textbooks, articles, and other syllabus material using a wide range of top technology books from publishers that include O'Reilly, Prentice Hall PTR, and Addison Wesley. While primarily tech/science books are accessible, this FREE service might be expandable or useable by ELLs.

One big advantage is that you can include your own articles and links and share-share-alike. I love this model, but how does anyone get paid for their time/labor? I think the idea may be that many students will pay for the printed version of the materials because of the convenience of holding paper text.

This will be an interesting experiment to follow.

http://www.safariu.com

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Free CMS software -Whiteboard, Sakai, & Bazaar


There apparently are a number of free courseware management system (CMS) software products around, including Whiteboard.

(Free demo on the site.)




Other products include Sakai




and Bazaar by Athabasca, whom I like as a reputable resource for video, among other things. Bazaar announces itself, quite honestly, as a "content-management system."



References to these resources come from Skop Gabriel's Quick Resource Sheet #75. Write to Skop directly to get on his weekly newsletter mailing list and link to his resources: Skop Gabriel