LearnShifting

 I have written about cameras before and all have their place. The iPod nano 5th generation is a great small camera that captures in 640 * 480 format. The flipcam is okay but I never really got into it (plus Cisco stopped making them). Then I fell in love with the kodak playsport which is probably my most often used camera as it is used to film everyone from our Chief Executive to a basketball match. These cameras are waterproff to 3 metres and although not indestructable are ideal for students to use in the production of their videos. Kodak has recently filed for chapter 11 so I don't know how long that camera will be made. Anyone see a pattern here?

Now I have a new love and although in some cases not as easy to use for interview or documentary situations (I still prefer the kodak) it absolutely shines in others. The camera I am talking about is the gopro hero2d... It is the one on the far right.

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This entry was posted on March 16, 2012 at 6:39 AM and has received 117 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Someone sends you a file with a video embedded in it... Hoe do you get it out? Solution is easy. Change the file extension from .pptx to .zip and extract the video from the media folder within the resultant zipped archive.

Longer Microsoft step by step technote here

This entry was posted on January 4, 2012 at 3:15 PM and has received 162 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

 Joe completed an assignment on Chinese mythology this week and in one of his slides he had pictures embedded into shapes. Some of his classmates asked him how to do it and it made sense to create a small movie. These little movies can be created with camtasia if you have the software or jing or community clips from Microsoft, or screenr from the folks at articulate.

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This entry was posted on September 1, 2011 at 10:24 PM and has received 355 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

Chomp. Chomp. CHOMP. Our first mobile app has officially launched, and it's already taking a bite out of iPad screens across the country. Introducing... ScreenChomp! This free screen recording app is just the canvas you need to jot your ideas down and share them – with the world, or just a friend or two.   Helpful to anyone, but developed with teachers and students in mind, ScreenChomp records your touchscreen interactions and audio so you can... Send helpful tutoring videos home with students Allow kids to create videos that help their classmates Explain complexities from afar Record your most recent brilliant idea Share doodles with friends and family A whiteboard with many colored markers, a wide-open Canvas, and easy sharing through ScreenChomp.com or Facebook make it as easy as Record. Sketch. Share!   Learn More »

This entry was posted on August 24, 2011 at 11:32 AM and has received 255 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Now as a rule, I don't support the idea of downloading video from places like YouTube as it contravenes their terms and conditions. The preference is always to embed the content into a course in our Learning Management System using the embed HTML code that is available for just about all embedded videos nowadays. This ensure that the content lives in the cloud and you are just linking which makes your LMS Moodle sequences more portable.

However... if you are teaching in a very remote location and the live playback of video across the Internet and the intranet is not there yet, and the last ting on your mind is building a portable piece of courseware because you just want the dang video to play... there is an option. It will cost you 39.90 US dollars.

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This entry was posted on May 26, 2011 at 4:53 AM and has received 435 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

My son likes playing with Lego. Lego has been around so long that I believe on a recent archeological dig in China they found a prototype of the Great Wall of China built in Lego...

Lego has evolved to a point where you buy a computer game, let's say Lego Star Wars and as you proceed through the game, or rather you child proceeds through the game, requests to purchase the Lego spaceships and characters in the game increase.

Some may argue that we buy these games, paying money to a company advertise their wares through gameplay on our computers. That is not a discussion for this eLearning place however effective the strategy might be.

I really only wanted to comment on two observations.

Reward Systems

Reward systems in these games are generally based around earning points by finding or doing something and you use those points to buy tools that will help you advance through the levels in the game. Joe's teachers over the years have used a similar strategy in the classroom. Paying attention, doing work well, working as a team member, being well behaved earn points, marbles, jellybeans and once enough "micro-credits" are accumulated, the marbles convert to a silver ball which means that with the extra strength of the silver ball, minor transgressions will still be pointed out and the threat of losing the silver ball and being relgated to collecting jellybeans and marbles is enough to keep kids in check.

When does that strategy cease to be effective? I think at about the same time that interest in the Lego Star Wars games wanes and collecting baubles and credits loses importance and is replaced with the collecting other things of importance to us. By the way this is not about materialism although it can manifest itself in the earn and trade nature of games.

Given that many kids in class do play computer games, our classroom teaching can't compete with the 3D wizardry of the multimillion dollar game companies, but we can learn from the reward systems used (which are based on reward systems in life) and as art imitates life... take the good, leave out the bad and use what you can to keep them interested and making it easy to pick up points for good behaviour or attention so they can get to level one, but not too easy that they don't care about going back to zero again.

Those of you who are teachers and have taught for a while will go "I've been doing that all my career" and that is right... Joe's teachers are great examples of teachers putting good classroom strategies in place to improve performance at both an academic and behavioural level.

This is mainly for us first time parents who realise that whatever you do to do your best for your child, you are always trying to understand the best way to provide the best path... the "do I let him" or "don't I let him" or "Would it help if we..."

So if a reward system in a computer game can keep a child engrossed for hours, I want to map the secret of that onto other activities - like getting him to eat vegetables.

Virtual World (on the computer) and Virtual World (Lego spaceships attached to child being flown around the house)

The playing of the game on the computer leads to similar play with the Lego objects in the house. I was thinking that using my iPod nano to film Joe and putting that on YouTube (or just on the computer) maybe with the right storyline we can add to the way play activities become learning activities. Making a short movie with kids waving light sabres around is one thing and it is fun for all involved, but it wasn't until I suggested that we make a "Masterchef" movie with Joe and his cousins that a real interest in cooking was sparked.

So by using a Lego Star Wars spaceship we could make a movie about a visitor from another planet travelling to places affected by climate change and reporting back to the grand council on Naboo on each of the findings. With Joe combining the two worlds of a computer game and a real world he researches, prepares and then shoots a story that presents a serious topic using a visual treatment that I know his mates would love to watch.

These observations are written as a parent and not as a teacher (which I am not - although I know some very good ones) and this is not a shameless endorsement of Lego (although you have to agree they are pretty cool).

May the force be with you!

This entry was posted on February 10, 2011 at 7:26 AM and has received 668 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

• Fast
• Great Quality Video
• Easy to use intuitive interface

Version 8 is a monumental leap from version 7 and 7.5.

The backend administration pages don't look much different although in addition to addition teleconference call providers in to blend teleconferences with your connect session, you can now blend in SIP audio video streams which means that we can connect Office Communication Server into Adobe Connect as a stream.

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This entry was posted on January 19, 2011 at 7:42 AM and has received 449 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

There are three things (which means I will probably write about five things) about YouTube I would like to share with you. The first is a challenge...

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This entry was posted on December 30, 2010 at 3:44 PM and has received 458 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

 I try not to cross-post from my other blogs but having just returned from a wonderful holiday to Singapore, Malaysia and a brief stopover in Bali I combined a little road testing of the iPad again in a travel/holiday environment.

anyhow the link to the article and a YouTube video shot, edited and uploaded to YouTube without going near a laptop, desktop or netbook is included.

The movie of this is continued at the blog...

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This entry was posted on December 22, 2010 at 10:47 PM and has received 371 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

We are strong users of Adobe Connect 7.5 and are very pleased with the value it adds to our eLearning environment in the Northern Territory. Well Adobe has released version 8 of the product and rather than me try to interpret the reviews in great detail, I will provide the links.

http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/584/

When are we planning to migrate? Possibly before the start of term next year depending on a number of factors. Have any readers deployed Adobe Connect 8? Let me know what you experience has been.

This entry was posted on November 18, 2010 at 12:46 PM and has received 234 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.