Small-Town Perspectives, Big-Time Motivation: Composing and Producing Place-Based Podcasts

A pal from Virginia sent a link to this ERIC abstract to me this week.

iMovie app

Hey guys,

    I was messing around with my iPad I got for Christmas (thank you Santa!!!!) and I noticed that iMovie, Keynote, pages, and a bunch of those other apps are free right now. Not sure how long it is going to last, or if anyone else needed to download them, but I thought I would share the news. Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Flipped Classroom Tips (From A Teacher Who Is Mid-Flip)

Great tips for flipping newbies:

Interesting Report of a Flipped Classroom in the UK

Be certain to check the links provided in this article:

connector for apple TV to projector

December 14 Flipped Classroom Session

The December 14 session of the June Harless Center Flipped Classroom group was very productive despite the coating of ice that coated many streets and sidewalks in the area.

We had review and enhancement sessions on iMovie, ExplainEverything and Touchcast.  We reviewed procedures for connecting to Google Hangouts from a PC and a tablet.  PJ, Summer, Nikki and Jason shared some of their instructional videos and how they used them in their classes.

Dr. Maynard made an announcement that significant donations are being made to the Harless Center to continue and expand the flipped learning project through the purchase of classroom sets of iPad tablets.  Dr. Maynard also submitted a proposal to the Higher Education Policy Commission to fund the professional development portion of the flipped learning project.

It was suggested that we take a look at Nearpod to determine if it will fill a niche in this project.  It is being used very effectively in many schools for blended delivery and reinforcing classroom instruction.  After we have a chance to download the Nearpod app and try it we should have a discussion of it in an upcoming session.

The Wayne County teachers have asked that the Harless Center follow up with Wayne County to determine when they can expect to receive their iPad tablets for the project.

The professional development session concluded by selecting Saturday, January 11 as the next meeting date.  The time will be from 10 am – 3 pm and the location of Drinko Library will be confirmed.  The agenda for the day will be supported development of flipped video.  Everyone will need to bring materials to prepare one flipped lesson.  This could be notes, a textbook, images, links or anything you think you will need to prepare a short lesson for your class.  We will breakout into small groups for the morning. Each small group will have a mentor who will assist with technical aspects of your choice of development tools (iMovie, Touchcast or Explain Everything).  After lunch, we will share our videos and help each other in making better resources for our students.  Of course, this January date is subject to weather.

The possibility of a February meeting as a Google Hangout was suggested with the focus on assessing flipped lessons.  We can split our Hangout into morning and afternoon sessions as we did in November if desired.  A sign-up sheet will be posted as before for the Hangouts if a Hangout is selected for February.

Edutopia's Take on using Google Hangouts for Classrooms

Short video on how to use Google Hangouts in a classroom setting.



Link to article:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/educators-schools-google-hangouts-mary-beth-hertz

Near pod information: http://www.nearpod.com/

Explain Everything Update

Hello all! The explain everything app has a new update available! Here are some of the new and improved features:
-configuration of toolbars to anywhere on screen
-INSERT SOUND FILES FROM DROPBOX, MUSIC LIBRARY AND OTHER CLOUD SERVICES! These files can also be edited with this app!
-inspector tool allows for flipping or rotation of objects (Pretty cool for physics demos!)
-compatible with their new presentation app called Final Argument
-fixed bugs with merging and adding re-recorded tracks at the end of projects

If you haven't downloaded this app, I recommend doing so. You can play around with our iPads at the FLIP meeting today and check out this apps new features!

Camtasia

I have found the links for Camtasia.  I really like this program.  Though it is expensive, I think it is worth every penny.  If anyone is interested, I can show them how to work with this program at some point in the future.


Here is the link for downloading a 30 day trial of Camtasia Studio.  http://www.techsmith.com/download/camtasia/

Here is the link for the pricing breakdown for educators:
https://store.techsmith.com/education.asp

Test generator

Notes from November 30 Flipped Hangout

I was really pleased that our Google Hangouts were so productive on Saturday.  In fact, since we had such quality discussions that we should consider scheduling another meeting as a Hangout this winter.  Hangouts are a great way to model some distance learning capabilities to supplement flipped units. 

We started the Hangout by exploring some of the features of Google Hangouts.

• ·         Discussions of potential educational uses for Hangouts included involving students in class discussions who are:

o   Confined to home or hospital

o   Unable to attend class due to weather

o   On an athletic or academic trip

• ·         We also considered ways to connect classes in WV with students across the country or even overseas via Google Hangouts.  Think about the ability to do a class presentation to students in another country!

We briefly discussed our thoughts on the example flipped videos that were posted to Vimeo?

• ·         What advantages/disadvantages are there to using video?
• ·         Keeping video open, available to everyone or putting behind a password

Opportunities for expansion of the flipped program

• ·         WE forum gift

o   Amount to be determined

o   Will purchase class sets of iPad Mini tablets

• ·         ITQ grant development

o   Expansion of program in Cabell, Mason, Mingo and Wayne Counties

o   Funding to include training, software, expenses to national conference

We had a discussion of a number of tools for flipping:

• ·         Cam Studio, Adobe Presenter, iMovie, Explain Everything, Touchcast, etc
• ·         Vimeo, YouTube, TeacherTube, Weebley, Moodle, Edmodo, etc

Next steps:

• ·         Steve needs to check on tablets for Wayne teachers
• ·         Jason Gibbs will post information on academic pricing for Cam Studio
• ·         Lewis will post a link to an online assessment program
• ·         For the December 14 meeting (10 am at Drinko Library) everyone needs to bring, bring a video to share.  Post the video on some video service (YouTube or Vimeo) and submit a request to get the video whitelisted.  Be prepared to discuss the video at our December meeting.
• ·         A guest from Gilmer County plans to attend our December meeting to learn how we are doing flipping and to contribute to the discussion by sharing ways that he is doing flipped units in his rural county.
• ·         Please bring your calendar to the December meeting so we can schedule sessions for January – May 2014.

As always, it is a pleasure working with such quality educators.  I am very proud to be a part of this project.  Teachers in this part of the state continue to show the innovation and leadership that characterizes our region.