Ed Tech Blog

Jet Audio

2011-02-08T10:37:00.000-08:00

JetAudio Basic is a relatively new free program that plays and converts multiple audio and video file formats. This conversion ability is especially important when you want to compress and “shrink” the size of your files for upload to your course web site. It comes with an audio CD burning utility, an equalizer, and a utility for tagging and renaming your mp3 files. Its customizable interface allows you to change the skin on the player and make adjustment to suite your tastes. For the music lover in you, there is even a database with lyrics to many songs. It also has an alarm clock – a feature that may be nice to have, but doesn’t really fit in with the other features. (Be careful when you download to not designate it as your default player, unless that is your intent. )

For more information on this free utility, navigate to: http://www.jetaudio.com/products/jetaudio/

Skype

2011-02-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

Skype is a phone call via your computer. Very easy to set up - you'll need a computer, internet access and a microphone. If your computer has a built in video camera or if all parties have a webcam - you can video chat as well.

Go to skype.com to download their free software.

http://www.skype.com/

Here is a tutorial showing you step by step how to get started:

http://www.roch.edu/dept/et/articulate/skype/player.html

SNIP SNIP!

2011-01-14T14:48:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wanted to use just a portion of a youtube video in your presentation? Enter SNIP SNIP! Simply enter the URL of the youtube - then the timeline you'd like to snip out. Instant new embed code - that allows you to show only the portion you need!

Here's how:

Jeopardy!

2010-11-08T10:22:00.000-08:00

Looking for a fun way to help students prepare for a test? Ed Tech has a Jeopardy system including a large format screen and 3 interactive buzzers and a scoring console. Jim Stegge, professor of Biology shown here, piloted the “Classroom Jeopardy” system to assist his students in their review for an upcoming lab test.

“It only took about 20 minutes to fill in the answers and questions for the game,” said Stegge, who chose to do a single round of Jeopardy as well as final Jeopardy for his class.

If you are interested in incorporating Classroom Jeopardy into your class,this system is available for check out. You can upgrade current Powerpoint Jeopardy to the new system as well. If you are interested, and want assistance,contact Guy Hamernik in Educational Technology to get started.

Provided by website-hit-counters.com site.

Meebo - A live chat widget

2010-11-03T14:35:00.000-07:00

This week we are featuring Deb Vang, our new online advisor, and how we have incorporated a live chat widget into the online advisor webpage. This widget indicates to the enduser when you are on or offline. If you are online, they can start an instant chat with you.

Any online instructor could replicate this either on a department webpage, or D2L to host live chats in an area students visit often.

You simply set up a free account at meebo.com and follow the "get started" instructions. Within minutes, you'll have created your own widget.

Here's what Deb's looks like:

Cool Iris

2010-10-27T11:25:00.001-07:00

Cooliris (www.cooliris.com) is a web browser plug-in that allows the user to dynamically organize web-based images and movies. In addition, it's a handy tool to organize your personal or departmental images and multimedia. Cooliris integrates with popular web social networks such as Facebook and Youtube, and allows you to subscribe to video channels from your favorite networks, cable, and video sites (such as HULU.) All of this is provided in a fun, high-tech interface. Cooliris may even speed your searches for media! To experience Cooliris, watch the following movie:

Evaluating with Audio/Video

2010-10-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

Need a new twist to correcting papers?

http://screenr.com/ekl

Shout out to Melissa Houghton for the request!

National Archives Experience

2010-10-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

DON'T CLICK on the following link unless you have a lot of time - you will be hooked for hours! The link will take you to the National Archives Experience. Choose from thousands of starting topics, and a host of related topics to view and read will surround your topic. Drag something else into the middle and you'll view a new set of relationships. Creat your own pathways and customize for class activies.

Not only is the material presented worthy of a look, but the genius in presentation is something to behold. This could lead to amazing teaching and learning.

Don't miss this one!

http://www.digitalvaults.org/

Pen-Casting

2010-10-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

This blog is a shout out to Mary Olson from BTEC.

It's been over a year since we first told you about livescribe. (http://rctcet.blogspot.com/2009/09/livescribe.html)

Mary has recently mastered this recording pen and has been using it to explain test results to her students noting some common errors and expanding a teachable moment in a visual way with accompanying audio.

Here's Mary's pencast: http://tinyurl.com/235codm

You simply click the play button. Note you can expand to a full screen view in the upper right hand corner.

In a continued effort to create community, feel free to use the comment area and share some other ideas of how you might use this pen. Remember - Ed Tech has 2 of these pens available for checkout.

Widgetbox

2010-09-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Much like adding a gadget to your desktop via Windows 7 (or on a MAC) you can add "widgets" to your website, or D2L site using WIDGETBOX. Widgetbox is a free Web 2.0 app that supplies you with code to embed everything from a window into your blog or video library, to polls and slideshows. For example? We have embedded this Ed Tech blog into our Ed Tech Website, as well as a D2L class. Try it out at: http://www.widgetbox.com/

Here's our blog in our webpage:

Here's our blog in D2L:

Compress to Flash in a flash!

2010-09-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

Any Video Converter is a free tool which can convert and compress your video files into multiple formats including flash video. This is the native video format of sites such as TeacherTube and YouTube. It also allows you to convert and save videos from these sites to your local hard drive. Videos you create can be easily converted and uploaded to D2L. To learn more about this intuitive software, watch the short tutorial movie below. Click here to download Any Video Converter for PC OR MAC

Free Counter

Google Docs AND harmon.ie

2010-08-31T11:41:00.001-07:00

If you haven't tried google docs - you need to! Not only can you create several types of documents online and store them there, but you can make them available to others for collaboration purposes.

Google Docs:

Create documents, spreadsheets and presentations online. Keep them private, or share them with others by simply inviting them by supplying an email.

The coolest thing we've seen lately? An app that incorporates your google docs (and sharepoint sites) into your OUTLOOK! Shout-out to Thomas Yung in Technology for this one!

Here is an example of a shared document appearing within Outlook. When changes are made to this document - all those who "share" it see the reflected, updated changes.

http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html

http://harmon.ie/

WIZIQ

2010-08-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried to explain a problem over the phone, or in an email using text? Sometimes being there works wonders. Here's a free, easy way to meet with students virtually to share your desktop, whiteboard, documents and a host of other features.

It's called WizIQ and it's basic mode is free. Here' some of what you can do online with this product:

1. Explain visually using a whiteboard (notice you can hook up a webcam and talk through the problem at the same time)

2. Share and annotate on documents :

3. Create quizzes - and distribute with a URL:

Plus... show your desktop to demonstrate a task. Free, easy and even fun. Start your year out right by engaging your students differently - or use this as a new means of support, or anytime when distance is a barrier. You will need a microphone. Perfect for that hybrid class!!!

Go to http://wiziq.com/ and create your account today!

Rubric Study

2010-05-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

This week we're featuring Tim O'Neil's study on adding a Rubric when using the discussion board in online classes. Tim would welcome you to actually register into this voicethread (can be done in under 30 seconds) and add to the discussion. Talking about rubrics is very timely with our upcoming D2L version upgrade where the rubrics tool has been vastly improved!

From Tim: This VoiceThread presentation is sharing the results from a 2009-2010 FIDG grant on Engaging and Assessing Online Dialectic. I try to run my online discussions very much like my face-to-face courses but the asynchronous environment has challenges for the back-and-forth dialectic that I prefer to use for teaching. The project compared two groups of students - two online sections in each group - over two semesters. The first group received the traditional, written instructions on excellent online participation, the second group received a rubric for assessment in addition.

You can access the presentation below and can pause it at any point to add your own comments or questions using text, microphone, webcam or telephone.

Picasa as Photo Editing Tool and More!

2010-05-04T08:22:00.001-07:00

Looking for a fun way to organize and share your digital photos? Want to have access to a photo editor to do simple retouches, add effects, and build collages? Want a tool that integrates well with the pictures in iPhoto on your Mac? Want a program that does all this on the PC? Enough of these darn questions. If you answered "yes" to any of the above, then you owe it to yourself to check out Picasa, free photo editing software from Google. The video below explains some of the features of Picasa.

If you want to find out more information or want to download the program to your home computer, visit http://picasa.google.com

Google Reader

2010-04-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Does your class require you and your students to keep abreast of news events while they happen? Politics, sports, local news, and pop culture all change daily. A web reader can deliver these stories direct to you right after they're posted! Stay up to day with your favorite news sites and blogs. You can access/read all of them in one place with a reader. There are several brands of readers (all free) out on the web, but we recommend Google Reader for its ease of use and large menu of types of sites you can "register" to receive.

Google reader lets you subscribe to your favorite websites. Each posted story contains a link to the original content, and an email link to send the article to anyone in your address book. Signing up is easy (especially if you already have a Google account.)

http://www.google.com/reader

How about making your own media?

2010-04-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

We often get asked how to "borrow" youtube videos to embed into powerpoint productions. Typically, we are apt to help - but it is important to point out that technically downloading personal copies of Youtube videos is not supported by the Youtube terms of service. There are tools and sites, such as Zamzar, Meep, Vixy and others that assist in this process - but be aware that if you do this and it is in violation of youtube's terms of service, you do so at your own risk.

If internet connection allows, it's always best to link directly as opposed to downloading a video from the web.

Better yet - there are a host of media creation software out there to try. Here's an overview of what Microsoft offers:

Delicious

2010-03-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

This week's blog entry, Delicious, has been around for a long time. I still frequently run into people who don't know what it is - so we've decided to feature it. It's one of those must-have organizational tools that you won't know how you did without once you have it.

How many times have you bookmarked a favorite/necessary website at work, only to get home and realize you can't get to it because you saved it on another computer? If you learn to bookmark on the web, instead of your computer, this doesn't have to ever happen.

Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows you to tag, save, manage and share Web pages all in one place. With emphasis on the power of the community, Delicious greatly improves how people discover, remember and share on the Internet.

Things you can do with Delicious
Bookmark any site on the Internet, and get to it from anywhere
Instead of having different bookmarks on every computer, Delicious makes it easy to have a single set of bookmarks kept in sync between all of your computers. Even if you're not on a computer you own, you can still get to your bookmarks on the Delicious website.

Share your bookmarks, and get bookmarks in return
If your friends use Delicious, you can send them interesting bookmarks that they can check out the next time they log in. Of course, they can do the same for you. As you explore the site and find interesting users, you can use the Subscriptions and Network features to keep track of the Delicious tags and users you find most interesting.

Start your account now: http://www.delicious.com/

Wordle

2010-03-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

Wordle is a web tool that generates a "word cloud" graphic - a visual representation of text. You provide text, the site creates a graphic giving prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source you provide. You can provide the text manually, or link to a website/blog to import the text.

These "wordles" were created from the text found in this blog. You can apply varying color schemes and fonts to your project.

To create your own, go to http://www.wordle.net/ .

How could you use this? Please comment below.

Windows Speech Recognition

2010-02-23T16:29:00.000-08:00

Based on a student request, we went searching for a way to use your voice to write a paper and had to look no further than our own backyard so to speak! Speech recognition has been around for quite a few years, but with Windows 7 - it's at its best. Available previously in XP and Vista, the latest version of this software is superior in ease of use in every way.

Hidden under program accessories, in the "Ease of Access" folder, you'll find this gem of a tool. The tutorial is extremely well done, and helps your computer recognize your voice, while teaching you how to operate the software.

This is perfect for those of us who still are hunting and pecking on the keyboard, not to mention a wonderful asset for disabled students. Try it yourself, and share it with your students.

2010-02-18T13:45:00.001-08:00

Teacher Tube is a new streaming video site, similar to YouTube, which was created by teachers for teachers. The site (which is barely 2 years old,) contains more than 26,000 videos from instructors throughout the world.

Instructors have used this resource for project submission and resource sharing. It's instructional uses allow its content to not be blocked at most institutions. Instructors may upload their video content, or link to any of the content on the site.

For more information, visit www.teachertube.com

Here is a brief yet interesting video about an amazing deep space Hubble Telescope discovery:

SpokenText

2010-01-31T09:28:00.000-08:00

Click on the play button below. This is a recording made with a free web application that takes written text and converts it into an audio file. It is very quick and easy. Spokentext.net allows you to make recordings of text by uploading documents, web pages, or by typing on the fly.

With the initial free account, recordings only last 30 days hosted on their server, but you can download your recordings to keep permanently. Use the comments below this blog to add discussions on how likely you would be to want to use this often.

Sharepoint

2010-01-27T08:15:00.000-08:00

Sharepoint, though full of organizationally complex benefits, is a particularly good document management system. Watch this video by commoncraft for a general overview. RCTC is running a simple version - let us know if you'd like your own site!

Screener

2010-01-12T09:18:00.001-08:00

Screenr has just been introduced as an open-source free video screen capture application. Designed to be used in conjunction with twitter, we have found it to be a very useful tool on its own merit. The biggest improvement over other open source video capture applications, is the ability to download the final product to your computer and own the file.

Fast facts:
Record your screen actions for up to 5 minutes
WEb based - nothing to download
Mac or PC based
Share by link, or embed code
HD available
FREE!

Try it yourself: http://screenr.com/

Here is the sample we made:

Everyone is tweeting on twitter!

2009-11-18T13:39:00.001-08:00

Imagine having instant access to new ideas, important campus updates, meeting results - all by just answering your phone! Imagine being able to communicate to all your students instantly by simply texting on your phone! When I first learned about twitter, I admit...I was a skeptic. It struck me as rather narcissistic.

But for every negative I could come up with, there was a positive screaming out "but wait!" Here are the top 10 reasons to twitter in the educational setting:

1. Immediate - Connect to students/people in an instant.
2. Concise - Every professional email in theory written in just characters.
3. Handy - Twitter from your phone.
4. Network - effectively communicate without leaving your chair.
5. Goldmine - A wealth of information waiting out in cyberspace.
6. Collaborate - Together we're better - a virtual staffroom.
7. Self awareness/reflection - Reading about other educators’ experiences makes you question/confirm your own practices
8. Idea generator - great medium for sharing ideas and getting feedback.
9. Get smarter: Following smart people on Twitter is like a mental shot of espresso
10. Don't be left behind! EVEN THE PRESIDENT IS DOING IT!

How to twitter:

Customizing your D2L Homepage

2009-11-10T15:47:00.000-08:00

Did you know you can customize the look of your D2L homepage? If you are bothered by the "role switch" widget, or want to make a custom widget featuring youtube, a blog or other information - watch our video and learn how to create your own look.

Click here to view video

Articulate

2009-10-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

Energize your courses with Articulate Engage—a quick and easy tool that lets you create lean-forward experiences that learners love. The ability to produce dazzling interactions that turn passive viewers into active learners.

Easy-to-use templates let you create rich-media interactivity in minutes. Choose from a wide range of interaction types, including process, timeline, pyramid diagram, labeled graphic, interactive FAQ, and more. The familiar Flash format allows interactions to integrate seamlessly into virtually any e-learning course, or even stand alone on any Web site. Once you see how quickly and easily you can create great looking interactive content, you'll never want to produce passive e-learning again.

Here's a quick sample we made using videos shot with nursing faculty Nancy Hust and Amy Sands. You can upload images, or videos along with customized text to create a quick, professional engaging activity:

click here for sample

This software is available for staff use in GL132.

Quandary

2009-10-12T14:03:00.001-07:00

Remember the old "choose your own adventure" books where you get to decide what the character does, but have to suffer the consequences if the choice was wrong? Now you can create your own adventure for your students with Quandary, from Half-Baked software. A quandary reads like a story, but contains a large number of Decision Points where the reader will have to make a choice between several courses of action. Clicking on the link carries the story further, but a different decision point will arise with an entirely new set of choices.

You can create your own scenario for ethics, law, sociology, etc. with this simple tool. All you need is a PC and a little imagination!

This shareware program only works on pc at the moment (sorry Mac users.) For more information,click here.

Want to try a couple of Quandary mazes out for fun? Click here.

Livescribe

2009-09-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

Impressive. Amazing. Easy. All words to describe Livescribe's breakthrough technology that lives in a pen. This amazing tool visually records what you write, while simultaneously recording the audio you speak. Files are immediately uploadable to your D2L site, or embeddable in a blog as below. New adjunct math instructor Chris Person-Rennell has become a quick expert and uploaded several lessons for students to view. He shares a sample below. Livescribe is available to use in GL 122.

Click here to view Chris's lesson.

Barcode Scanning Makes Registration Smoothe Sailing

2009-09-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

You never know where you'll find technology inspired greatness! We only had to look out our back door this week to see the Student Success Day volunteers scanning registrant's IDs as they entered the building. A number of "success days" back, after painstakingly taking down student names by hand, Deb Ellsworth got a brilliant idea. She approached Teddy Wieczorek and Wail Kailani from the library and inquired about the potential of the library barcode scanner. With their help, she arranged for a loan of the scanner and they connected it to a laptop where data can be directly imported into an excel spreadsheet. Deb was exhuberant about the amount of time it saved - for both volunteers and students waiting to register. Subsequently, media services has ordered scanners that are now available for checkout for staff who could use this technology.

2009-09-14T14:56:00.001-07:00

What is all the hubbub about MP3s, and why should I use them in my class? MP3s use the third audio layer of the MPEG (moving pictures expert group) compression standard, thus the name. This compression removes much of the extra audio information and frequencies that your ear can't hear and delivers a file that is 1/12 the size of equivalent audio. What this means for you and your students is fast upload and download of audio files to your D2L site for Distance Ed. classes, as well as "Web Enhanced" classes.

RCTC's Educational Technology Department has purchased SonyMP3 recorders for check-out. MP3 file creation is a snap, as you record your lecture or review, connect the recorder to your computer, and upload the audio files to your D2L class. It's just another way the Educational Technology Department can help you reach your learners. To learn more, stop down to the Educational Technology Department, or visit us during one of our Technology Showcases.

Virtual You - Make an Animated Movie

2009-09-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

For this week's blog, press the play button on the movie!

To build your own virtual you,
http://www.xtranormal.com

PREZI! (or powerpoint is so yesterday!)

2009-09-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

This summer one of the most refreshing things found everywhere at the D2L conference was another free Web 2.0 tool called Prezi!

Prezi takes your tired Powerpoint presentations and WAKES THEM UP! It does away with linear slide organization. Working from one giant canvas, Prezi allows you to feature, zoom and create relational patterns connecting thoughts - allowing you to say what you want to say concisely and beautifully.

While we may not be experts yet, take a look at our mini-sample: (Picture it full size!)

Click on the arrow located at the middle-bottom of box to control. Keep clicking thorugh.

Now!...try it yourself at

http://www.prezi.com

Interested in an inservice? Be sure to leave a comment below:

LP Conversion is Here

2009-06-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

Have old instructional records that are out of print? With the help of the Educational Technology department we can convert those old LPs to CD with our new USB record player. This Sony LP player includes a transducer which digitizes the audio for input to the computer. When used with the included audio software, the file can be saved in any number of file formats including .aiff, .wav, and mp3. The LP is recorded in real time, so there is no quick duplication. This should help preserve the much needed LP audio tracks that you need in your class.

To take a closer look at this Sony player, stop down during one of our Technology Showcases in the Technology Support Center, Room GL120.

Turning Point Clicker Kits

2009-05-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

This week we feature Holly Bigelow for her use of the TurningPoint 2008 Clicker Kits to enhance student participation.

Holly Bigelow, Director of Admissions and Records, wanted to encourage involvement in a recent presentation. Using the TurningPoint 2008 audience response system, she converted her PowerPoint slides into an interactive presentation that included audience feedback. The Clicker Kits are available to checkout from Educational Technology. Stop by for a demonstration. Congratulations to Holly Bigelow for using technology to enhance participation!

Featured Staff: Nancy Hust and Amy Sands

2009-04-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

This week we feature Nancy Hust and Amy Sands for their innovative ideas to help students retain vital information to pass their tests and nursing boards.

The RCTC Nursing instructors decided that the current procedural materials used in their courses could be better explained through video to aid students. Using an instructional design approach, Hust and Sands broke down several procedures into a detailed step-by-step process. With the aid of the RCTC Educational Technology Department, the nurses used their acting talents and nursing professionalism to recreate these situations for videotape. The edited procedures were then captured and streamed through the RCTC server and the links were posted in their D2L class sites. To view these exciting procedures, click on the link below. Congratulations to Nancy Hust and Amy Sands for using technology to enhance student learning!

CLICK HERE

Doodle!

2009-04-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

Tired of the time it takes to plan a date and time for a meeting between several people? You can either do it the old fashioned way and send out an Outlook invite - and receive several “Decline to attend” responses - or you can set up a poll in Doodle to see what time works best for everyone, and then lock it in place. In short, Doodle makes it easy by using a web poll-based scheduling system. (It’s not a calendar. )

Doodle takes the pain out of scheduling events by replacing the human coordinator with a simple web application. No registration is required for organizers or attendees and it's free! It has a clean, simple, intuitive interface. Schedule meeting options in 3 easy steps then email the link to attendees to gather their input. That’s it. When the organizer views the results, a tally appears at the bottom of each suggested date.

For more information and to sign up, click here: http://www.doodle.com/

Educational Gaming

2009-04-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

For those that may have missed the gaming seminar at last week's staff development day, Educational Technology would like to share links to some great games you may find useful in your classes.

Purpose Games

These first two examples come from purpose games (www.purposegames.com)

How well do you know your Minnesota geography? Take this quiz to find out!

CLICK HERE

Think you know Hollywood? Match the P name with the leading actor or actress.

CLICK HERE

Study Mate

Studymate provides games that can be used by learners such as Flash Cards, Crossword Puzzles, Matching, and Pick a Letter. RCTC has paid for Studymate licenses, and you can download the application to your home PC, or ask the friendly TSC Staff to install it on your imaged workstation. Your completed quiz can easily be uploaded into your D2L class site. Contact Educational Technology if you would like assistance. (Sorry Mac users, this is currently a PC only download.)

How to access: Log into your D2L account. Under "Course Offerings," enter the Resource Room. Click on the Studymate Link (about 1/3 of the way down the page.) Download by clicking on the Studymate 2.0 link. When the installer has completed its job, launch the application. Copy and Paste the RCTC institution name, Support Contact (Missy Hagen,) and serial number into the required field when prompted.

Do you know your Springsteen from Springfield? Ann Gillian from Gilligan? Take this Pop Culture quiz to test your knowledge.

Click Here

Game Show Presenter

Want to turn your class into a game show? This fun (and sometimes obnoxious) game can be purchased for $149. per license. If you want to try it out, you can download a copy to evaluate with the link below.

CLICK HERE

Quia

Quia allows users to play classic games like Husker Du and Battleship while learning course materials. This game is sort of a hybrid between Purpose Games and Studymate, with many different type of games available for creation. Licenses cost at most $49. per instructor annually, and are actually cheaper if more licenses are purchased. For more information...

Click Here

The Last Lecture

If you enjoyed the Last Lecture and want to learn basic computer programming, try Alice. This free program allows you to animate 3D characters using fun, easy to follow tutorials. Kids enjoy it too!

Click Here

Have you built a game using one of these tools? Using a game not featured here? Tell us about it!

Online Learning Club

2009-04-07T09:11:00.000-07:00

This week the Distance Education Committee unveiled their new Online Learning Club. The first presenter was adjunct faculty business instructor Todd Johnson. These sessions are presented virtually using Adobe Connect and recorded for later viewing to those who can't attend the meeting live. The topic for their first meeting was "Rapid Fire Feedback" in which Johnson gives audio and visual feedback to students while scrolling through their paper. Check it out:

click here to view Todd's presentation

Todd Johnson
Rapid Fire Feedback

Featured staff: Randy Renken using Voicethread

2009-03-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Randy came to Ed Tech early this semester looking for a way to create visuals to teach his students names and parts of the human skeleton. Typically Voicethread is a great tool for class interaction - however, it also is a tool which allows you to stop video action. This, combined with voice recording and the ability to annotate on top of the movie, proved to be not only a great collaborative tool, but also a great tool for creating presentations. Guy Hamernik took Randy's collection of bones, placed them on a turntable covered with black velvet and videoed each bone. Randy took it from there and narrated an entire collection of videos. Here's a sample:

http://voicethread.com/share/

sitepal.com

2008-05-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

Create an animation for your website!

Animoto

2008-04-30T09:58:00.001-07:00

Need a quick way to show off some digital images - or need to create a quick promotional ad? ("embeddable" in facebook,D2L, blogs, etc). Check out "Animoto" - a web 2.0 tool MnScu trainers are singing praises over. It's quick and easy. This video was made in seconds after taking some pictures at my daughter's frisbee tournament. The music is provided by the site - but it is possible to provide your own - or to record a voiceover.

Animoto

2008-04-30T08:52:00.001-07:00

The JING project

2007-11-26T09:08:00.001-08:00

ok - this is pretty exciting! (albeit i must say upfront that it is a project - and therefore subject to change - i.e. eventual charge.... but for now...free free free.)

Jing is a downloadable piece of software (sorry - this means no, you can't use it on your imaged computer - but IT is looking into it) try it at home - it's very slick and easy to use.

Jing works similarly to captivate, snag-it, camtasia - and other screen capturing software. It allows you to capture images of your screen OR capture movies of you working on your desktop in any application and immediately allows you to share them by providing a URL link to your users (students, co-workers, friends). The images/videos live on their server - making the permanence factor a little ambiguous. Check it out - if nothing else - it's great experience getting used to this type of software.

here is a sample i prepared in just a few seconds:

http://screencast.com/t/9aOoaczECY

here is where you can find out more information:

http://www.jingproject.com

Protopage

2007-11-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

This tech tip actually came from Jason Dahl quite a while ago - but i have only recently discovered how much i like it. Protopage is a webtool that allows you to create your own personalized page that gives you quick access to everything on the web that you go to most. You can use it to read news, access bookmarks, post photos, organize schedules and to do lists, post calendar items, sticky notes, the weather - the list goes on and on.

Creating a page is easy - and involves simply dragging and dropping "widgets" onto a page. Your page can be private or public and can even be set as your homepage which allows it to appear everytime you open your web browser. I just keep mine open all day long.

To start yours today - go to
http://www.protopage.com

Audacity

2007-07-23T09:27:00.000-07:00

Audacity is a free software program for recording and editing audio. Audacity runs on several operating systems, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows."

You can use Audacity to record sounds onto your computer, either live (with a microphone) or pre-recorded (from tapes or records). Audacity can also open and edit audio files, including tracks downloaded from the internet or copied from CDs. Audacity can open and save MP3, WAV, AIFF, and several other types of audio files.

You can edit recordings with Audacity the same way you edit text with a word processor. Audacity can cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together. Filters are included for altering speed and pitch, adding echo or reverb, removing noise from recordings, and more.

This is a free, downloadable product which can be found at:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Voice Thread

2007-07-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a new FREE gadget available on the web that has tons of possibilities in your classroom. It's called voicethread - and it allows you to upload photos and have people comment on them - either by voice or text. It's simple and free - you will need a microphone if you wish to use audio.

Go to the following link to create your own! (There is a GREAT sample out here - called what is a voice thread)

http://www.voicethread.com

RSS Readers

2007-06-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

They say that surfing the net for news is so "yesterday". Rather than surging site after site to find out about the topics you are interested, bring the news to you by using an RSS Reader. RSS - stands for Really Simple Sindication - and are made into "feeds" which are often articles or audio podcasts that one can subscribe to much like one subscribes to a magazine or newspaper. If you subscribe to a feed, updates of the subscription appear on a "reader" - they are simple to add to or delete. I happen to use Google Reader - but there are several out there. Give it a try!

Photoshop Tutorials

2006-11-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

To coincide with our Photoshop classes this week, we thought it appropriate to post a link to some tutorials you can try additionally on your own.

There are a million sites out there with great tips for this piece of software. Simply google "photoshop tutorials". Here's a sample we found:

http://www.planetphotoshop.com/tutorials.html

Make your WIKI today!

2006-09-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

Wiki's are education's hot new trend to create documents and pages that multiple people can edit.

Check out pbwiki to make yours this weekend - where they claim it's as easy to make as a peanut butter sandwich. We agree!

pbwiki

Ed Tech uses wikis to post staff assignments and communicate department issues. Some faculty use it for creating class projects. It's fast, it's fun, it's easy - another online community!

Hellodeo

2006-09-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a FREE quick way to put up a movie on a website or D2L. Simply go to Hellodeo.com and follow the directions. Steve and Missy made this in 30 seconds. All you need is a simple webcam hooked up to your computer.

Anonymous Office Hours - Are they for YOU?

2006-09-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

Studies have shown that many students don't take advantage of office hours due to anxiety and that most instructors use this time to catch up on paperwork. There are also studies that show students who DO attend office hours are more likely to be successful.

We have discovered a tool developed by Marco Pollanen, a mathematics instructor from Trent University that allows one to hold online office hours - it's called enVision. This format for office hours works well for face to face classes AND online classes. Students can participate anonymously if they choose to.

It is a chat/whiteboard program for writing mathematical equations (more of a drawing program) as well as just plain text in chat mode. It is a java applet (java 1.1, no plug-in needed) that loads into a standard browser. It is FREE and available at www.xiom.org (there is currently no sound capability) Don't you LOVE people who share their stuff?

If this looks like something you'd like to download - contact computer services for assistance.

2006-08-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

Want to IM in D2L or your website? Visit: http://www.meebo.com and get started. If it says we are online - give it a try!

PDFs - the nuts and bolts

2006-07-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a great overview of PDF creation. How, when and why to create PDFs from documents vs. html. Written by Leslie Fisher

click here for handout

NEW THIS FALL at RCTC!

2006-07-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out the 2 new programs at RCTC.

Smarthinking - An online tutoring service for ALL RCTC students. Each student receives up to 10 hours of free time with an online tutor. The services range from live tutoring to submitting papers for review. Read all about it on the ET website.

TurnitIN - An anti plagiarism software available to faculty and students. Faculty you can set up an account to submit your student work - or/and you can establish class accounts so your student's can also self submit. Their are detailed handouts available on the edtech website.

Please call our department for additional information and/or to request a training time.

What is Skype?

2006-07-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

What is Skype?

www.skype.com

(from their website) "Skype is a free program that uses the latest
technology to bring affordable and high-quality voice communications to
people all over the world."

It is a way to make free phone calls over
the internet. Just plug a microphone into your computer and use the
easy-to-install Skype program to call other computer users or regular
phone lines and cells.

If you use a webcam you are able to make a video
call for free.

Welcome to the Ed Tech Blog

2006-07-22T08:20:00.000-07:00

A blog is a journal of sorts. It's free, accessible to anyone with access to the internet and a place to post news and information that is important (or not.)

Think of how this might be used in the classroom - It's where students are spending their time - meet them on their turf.

Check back here often for trends in technology in the classroom and specifically what is happening with technology at RCTC.

To create your own blog - go to:

http://www.blogger.com

happy blogging!