Attached here is a brochure advertising the Educational Vodcasting Workshop scheduled for August 4-6, 2008. The event will teach participants how to make vodcasts, how to use them in a variety of educational settings, and how to manage vodcasts. The brochure seeks to promote the use of vodcasting in schools by giving examples of its potential uses such as:
· Providing more class time for hands-on learning by making the vodcast part of a student’s homework
· Allowing access to daily class materials via iPod, phone, computer or DVD for students who miss class
· The ability for students to replay content whenever, wherever, and as often as needed
Upon reviewing this brochure, as a TL, would a workshop like this be useful to you if your school agreed to send you? Do you think the pro-vodcast points given above are valid? Why or why not?
Monday, March 24, 2008
How to Make a Vodcast
Vlogging and vodcasting are new concepts for me. I’ve never created either one so my initial question was how would someone with no prior knowledge create a vodcast? Vodstock.com is a great resource for getting started. The “How to make…” page will tell you what equipment you need and give you an overview of the creative process along with additional links with helpful tips and guidance.
Feel free to explore this page. There is a lot of information here. The page contains tutorials, video podcast and vlog directories as well as links to a variety of vodcasts arranged by category. Here’s a tip though…if you browse for vodcasts click on “Keyword” and look for your category. Something’s not working correctly with the “Browse” function.
Feel free to explore this page. There is a lot of information here. The page contains tutorials, video podcast and vlog directories as well as links to a variety of vodcasts arranged by category. Here’s a tip though…if you browse for vodcasts click on “Keyword” and look for your category. Something’s not working correctly with the “Browse” function.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Teacher and Student Uses of Vlogging
Many teachers and students are beginning to use vlogging/vodcasting in classrooms in many new and creative ways. TeacherTube.com was created in March 2007 as a resource which provides an online community for sharing instructional videos. Attached here is a link to a vlog posted by Mr. Bosch, a middle school Science teacher. Mr. Bosch maintains a blog about what his students are doing in class but created this video blog in order to show a clip of his students working on a particular class project. The students are working on gathering information on characteristics of various ecosystems and are sharing the results of their work by creating their own vodcasts, which Mr. Bosch will post to his own website for viewing.
Mr. Bosch illustrates one great way for teachers and students to use vlogging and vodcasts to communicate information and to share student projects. As teachers/teacher librarians, we can use vlogging/vodcasts to communicate information about what our students are working on and what they are learning in the LMC. We can also use this tool to provide students a new and different forum through which they can communicate directly about what they are studying, what their interests are, etc. Do you see vlogging/vodcasting as a useful tool in the K-12 setting? Do you see other ways in which this capability might be used in schools or in the LMC specifically?
Mr. Bosch illustrates one great way for teachers and students to use vlogging and vodcasts to communicate information and to share student projects. As teachers/teacher librarians, we can use vlogging/vodcasts to communicate information about what our students are working on and what they are learning in the LMC. We can also use this tool to provide students a new and different forum through which they can communicate directly about what they are studying, what their interests are, etc. Do you see vlogging/vodcasting as a useful tool in the K-12 setting? Do you see other ways in which this capability might be used in schools or in the LMC specifically?
Blogging on Vlogging
What is a Vlog? What is a Vodcast? According to this website a vlog (which is also known as a vodcast, vidblog, vodblog, video podcast, vcatch, among other terms) is simply internet television. Vlogging/Vodcasting has taken us a long way from text only communication. Not long ago all we had was text and maybe a few static images. With the social advancement of the web we developed blogs, which you are all well aware of by now because, surprise, you are using one right now! But blogs didn’t provide sound or video. Then the MP3 entered the mix, allowing for sound and music on the internet. Finally, with broadband internet we were able to watch videos, and this is when vlogging (which some still refer to as video diaries) came on the scene. Vodcasting is considered to be the video version of podcasting, hence the name since VOD stands for “video on demand.” Bottom line, it’s all television; it’s just on a computer screen instead of your TV. In the weeks to come we will explore the potential applications of this technological capability in the K-12 setting.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Multimedia Storytelling Lesson Strategy
Over the past few weeks we have been discussing the many aspects and benefits of using Digital Storytelling in the K-12 environment. We have explored possible classroom applications for this technology and have looked at the various tools used in creating digital stories. Wouldn't it also be useful to have a digital storytelling lesson plan outline? In January 2002 a new series premiered on PBS called American Family - Journey of Dreams. This series tells the dramatic story of a Latino family living in America today. As a part of it promotion of this series, PBS is also encouraging students to tell the story of their own families through multimedia storytelling, which includes digital storytelling as well. Through this website, PBS provides a Teacher's Guide which includes objectives, materials, a detailed procedure, and assessment recommendations for a multimedia storytelling lesson plan. This guide is based upon the American Family project, but it is general enough to be used with any topic you wish your students to explore.
Would you use this guide in creating your own digital storytelling lesson plan? If not, why? If so, what aspects of the lesson plan do you think would be most useful to you and why?
Would you use this guide in creating your own digital storytelling lesson plan? If not, why? If so, what aspects of the lesson plan do you think would be most useful to you and why?
Bookshare.org
Bookshare.org is an example of an assistive technology which is designed to help people with visual and other print disabilities gain access to books and periodicals that they might otherwise not be able to use. All one needs to do to gain access is to log on, provide Bookshare.org with proof of a print disability, and pay a modest membership fee. Schools can gain access to Bookshare.org for students with print disabilities without paying a yearly fee.
In our class discussions this week people have made many good points about the potential benefits of incorporating Bookshare.org into our LMCs. I have to agree that this is an assistive technology that I would want to make a part of my LMC and would work to make sure students with visual or print disabilities had the opportunity and training to use the resource to its fullest extent. Some people have mentioned that this resource might also be beneficial for students who are not labeled with a particular disability but who still have trouble (for various possible reasons) reading print materials. I would be very cautious about this. Bookshare.org makes its purpose, of serving people with visual and print disabilities, very plain. Whereas some benefit may be gained by any student, I would use Bookshare.org only with students who have a designated need. There may be other reasons why students without an identified disability are having trouble reading and Bookshare.org may not address their specific needs, but instead may only mask the problem for a while. I would make an effort to seek out another tool that might be better suited to help such students. Also, in using this resource with students who do not have an identified disability, the school may lose its rights to this resource which would come at the expense of those students who do have an identified visual or print disability.
Sorry that was so long. If you think I'm completely off the mark here, let me know.
In our class discussions this week people have made many good points about the potential benefits of incorporating Bookshare.org into our LMCs. I have to agree that this is an assistive technology that I would want to make a part of my LMC and would work to make sure students with visual or print disabilities had the opportunity and training to use the resource to its fullest extent. Some people have mentioned that this resource might also be beneficial for students who are not labeled with a particular disability but who still have trouble (for various possible reasons) reading print materials. I would be very cautious about this. Bookshare.org makes its purpose, of serving people with visual and print disabilities, very plain. Whereas some benefit may be gained by any student, I would use Bookshare.org only with students who have a designated need. There may be other reasons why students without an identified disability are having trouble reading and Bookshare.org may not address their specific needs, but instead may only mask the problem for a while. I would make an effort to seek out another tool that might be better suited to help such students. Also, in using this resource with students who do not have an identified disability, the school may lose its rights to this resource which would come at the expense of those students who do have an identified visual or print disability.
Sorry that was so long. If you think I'm completely off the mark here, let me know.
Assistive Technology is a Must!
This week's discussion has centered on Assistive Technology, or technology designed to be accessible by people with disabilities. This is a very interesting and important topic and I'm glad that we are devoting at least some class time to this topic. The article provided in class, Accessible Technology Can Help Colleges and Universities Remove Barriers to Education by Oblinger and Ruby (n.d.), contends that, depending on its design, "information technology can either be a blessing or a curse" for people with disabilities. Students with disabilities must be given access to learning through information technologies, just as other students are. Otherwise, as the rest of the world moves forward in its technological capabilities and understanding, people with disabilities will be left farther and farther behind. Assistive technology is an important part of finding a solution to this problem.
An interesting analogy is made in this article which helps explain that assistive technologies are not only beneficial to people with disabilities but may be beneficial to all. Just as curb cuts in sidewalks have helped people in wheelchairs, they have also helped people riding bicycles and pushing strollers. The same is true of assistive techonologies. If information technologies are designed to be more accessible for those with disabilities, they will also be more accessible and beneficial to all potential users.
People with disabilities have so much to offer the world. Given the right tools, access, and opportunities, their contributions to the workforce and to society in general can be so valuable. They see the world through a different perspective and with a different understanding than others do. It is in the best interest of us all therefore, to give people with disabilities every chance to learn and grow. Assistive technologies offer such an opportunity.
An interesting analogy is made in this article which helps explain that assistive technologies are not only beneficial to people with disabilities but may be beneficial to all. Just as curb cuts in sidewalks have helped people in wheelchairs, they have also helped people riding bicycles and pushing strollers. The same is true of assistive techonologies. If information technologies are designed to be more accessible for those with disabilities, they will also be more accessible and beneficial to all potential users.
People with disabilities have so much to offer the world. Given the right tools, access, and opportunities, their contributions to the workforce and to society in general can be so valuable. They see the world through a different perspective and with a different understanding than others do. It is in the best interest of us all therefore, to give people with disabilities every chance to learn and grow. Assistive technologies offer such an opportunity.
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