I've always wanted to know how to embed YouTube videos into PowerPoint presentations rather than having to work with links or otherwise moving out of PP--just too clumsy and distracting. So this morning I discovered a very easy, if not intuitive, method to do just that. Here's a video explaining the process:
Here's to (less boring) PowerPoints!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
More from Dr. Web 2.0
Thought I'd post another video from Dr. Michael Wesch. In this one, Information R/evolution, Dr. Wesch eloquently examines and compares traditional hierarchical means of collecting, storing, and finding information with the profound changes evolving with the read/write web. I think the guy's just brilliant--
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Web 2.0--Ruminating Beyond the Cool Tricks
For this post, I'm stepping back (or stepping up) to look at the Web 2.0 world as a concept, not only as an ever-growing array of fascinating, useful, and clever tools. This may sound like a presumptuous undertaking for a relative newbie to many of these issues and ideas, but I'd like to frame the conversation through the lens/lenses of Dr. Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University.
Dr Wesch is an internet phenomenon--creator of a series of clever, pithy little videos that do a great job of playing with the concepts around the read/write web and its continuing evolution. Here's the first video he created, after trying unsuccessfully to simply write about Web 2.0:
Wesch vividly emphasizes the continual change and evolution, at seemingly ever more rapid rates, of this rich, user-generated world. By the way, this video has received well over 4.5 million hits on YouTube in the past year.
On a larger and deeper level, Dr. Wesch continues to explore changes in teaching and learning, using (and perhaps, integrating) technology as an embedded and expected tool, but not simply as the be-all or end-all solution to teaching and learning challenges. He emphasizes the vital importance of continually rethinking possibilities.
In my own teaching and learning, I'm highly aware of the quickly accelerating pace. While Web 2.0 and beyond intrigues me, it also adds another layer of learning and preparation with both desirable (new tools/information/access) and not so desirable (it's time consuming!) ends.
Working with my current crop of college-age musicians, I can still relate to and understand the technological changes they have seen in their lifetimes--they all remember little red cassette tapes of stories and music from their childhood and the myriad changes that have happened since, for example. While generally pretty tech savvy, most of them don't spend tons of time exploring the internet, and I'm still able to introduce them to new ideas and tools--at least in the short run.
What concerns me though, are the younger students coming up. What will our college students look like in even five years? Those kids, at around age 13, are technology natives, unlike our current students. How will they respond to the professors already in place, who will always be technology immigrants?
How might this change our teaching/learning styles and relationships between teachers and students? Just venturing a guess--perhaps our roles will focus more on bigger topics of critical and creative thinking, analytical and evaluative techniques for vetting and making sense of the enormous amount of available material. Just like the flattening and expanding of expertise on the internet, teachers will need to continually evolve in how we share, flatten, and expand our sense of expertise along with that of our students.
Dr Wesch is an internet phenomenon--creator of a series of clever, pithy little videos that do a great job of playing with the concepts around the read/write web and its continuing evolution. Here's the first video he created, after trying unsuccessfully to simply write about Web 2.0:
Wesch vividly emphasizes the continual change and evolution, at seemingly ever more rapid rates, of this rich, user-generated world. By the way, this video has received well over 4.5 million hits on YouTube in the past year.
On a larger and deeper level, Dr. Wesch continues to explore changes in teaching and learning, using (and perhaps, integrating) technology as an embedded and expected tool, but not simply as the be-all or end-all solution to teaching and learning challenges. He emphasizes the vital importance of continually rethinking possibilities.
In my own teaching and learning, I'm highly aware of the quickly accelerating pace. While Web 2.0 and beyond intrigues me, it also adds another layer of learning and preparation with both desirable (new tools/information/access) and not so desirable (it's time consuming!) ends.
Working with my current crop of college-age musicians, I can still relate to and understand the technological changes they have seen in their lifetimes--they all remember little red cassette tapes of stories and music from their childhood and the myriad changes that have happened since, for example. While generally pretty tech savvy, most of them don't spend tons of time exploring the internet, and I'm still able to introduce them to new ideas and tools--at least in the short run.
What concerns me though, are the younger students coming up. What will our college students look like in even five years? Those kids, at around age 13, are technology natives, unlike our current students. How will they respond to the professors already in place, who will always be technology immigrants?
How might this change our teaching/learning styles and relationships between teachers and students? Just venturing a guess--perhaps our roles will focus more on bigger topics of critical and creative thinking, analytical and evaluative techniques for vetting and making sense of the enormous amount of available material. Just like the flattening and expanding of expertise on the internet, teachers will need to continually evolve in how we share, flatten, and expand our sense of expertise along with that of our students.
Friday, January 18, 2008
LinkedIn--MySpace for Business
I set up a LinkedIn account about a year ago, after attending a conference and learning about the social networking--or more accurately--straight-ahead networking site. LinkedIn is clearly focused on the businessperson, with none of the bells and whistles (that is, it's a listing, not of work of art on its own) of the more socially oriented sites. It does provide, however, a terrific way to upload your resume, work history, photos, and other interests in straightforward and professional format.
So I set up a site, added a few links, and basically forgot about my account. Recently, I received a request to link that inspired me to update my site and create a few more professional links. Those have led to additional links and the chain is gradually growing--even with little conscious activity on my part.
It's fascinating to see the exploding degrees of separation in real time. While I only have 14 direct contacts in my list so far, here are the stats for two and three degrees of separation:
Direct connections: 14
2nd degree of separation (friends of friends): 700+
3rd degree: almost 67,000
It's truly astonishing how quickly this develops and how well it illustrates the principle of building circles of acquaintances. It's exponential and a great visual tool for students, even if they don't keep it actively growing.
The format is straightforward and a bit dry visually, but functions well in the professional environment for which it is intended.
Be sure to explore all of your institutional connections in developing your connections. You may be surprised by the number of people you know who are already on LinkedIn.
So I set up a site, added a few links, and basically forgot about my account. Recently, I received a request to link that inspired me to update my site and create a few more professional links. Those have led to additional links and the chain is gradually growing--even with little conscious activity on my part.
It's fascinating to see the exploding degrees of separation in real time. While I only have 14 direct contacts in my list so far, here are the stats for two and three degrees of separation:
Direct connections: 14
2nd degree of separation (friends of friends): 700+
3rd degree: almost 67,000
It's truly astonishing how quickly this develops and how well it illustrates the principle of building circles of acquaintances. It's exponential and a great visual tool for students, even if they don't keep it actively growing.
The format is straightforward and a bit dry visually, but functions well in the professional environment for which it is intended.
Be sure to explore all of your institutional connections in developing your connections. You may be surprised by the number of people you know who are already on LinkedIn.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Atomic Learning--software training at your fingertips
Do you ever wish you had a technology guru sitting at your side? Atomic Learning is a fantastic website for teachers and trainers that serves this purpose beautifully.
What is Atomic Learning?
"Atomic Learning provides web-based software training and support for more than 110 applications," according to their website. Presented in short videos of 40" to several minutes in length, the training is clear, accessible, and perfect for those of us whose eyes glaze over at the idea of perusing the arcane language of a technical manual. The trainers, teachers themselves, patiently walk the viewer through each step in a given process. It's invaluable to actually see the cursor move across the screen as the steps are described. And of course, one can re-view steps as many times as necessary without annoying a tech support person. In addition, I picked up a number of shortcuts useful in a variety of settings, just from this aspect of the demonstrations.
How does it work?
The core of the training can be accessed through several different modes. On the homepage, clicking on Our Tutorials, brings up a comprehensive listing of software programs in PC and Mac formats. Selecting a topic, say, "PowerPoint" from this master list brings up a detailed list of videos pertaining to that topic. All the videos are quite short, making it easy to jump into and out of topics quickly and get directly to the topics you want to focus on.
Alternatively, you can type a specific query into the search bar on the home page and go directly to a list of videos related to your question. For example, if I type "Importing audio files" into the search bar, a list pops up that covers that topic in a range of different software programs.
What else does it do?
In addition to these master lists, Atomic Learning also provides a variety of resources especially for classroom teachers. Here are a few examples:
Lesson Accelerators provides specific lesson plans for teaching students that include software useage.
Teacher2Teacher focuses on professional development lesson plans aimed directly at teachers.
Workshops for teachers emphasize general communications using computer technology, including pod and vodcasting, mail merge and newsletter production, storyboarding, and more.
In addition, Atomic Training specifically targets the adult learner and corporate training. This appears to be a newer aspect of the site with less information readily available. Even so, most of the Atomic Learning videos would be perfectly suitable for learners of all ages, in all settings.
Great! How do I sign on?
Atomic Learning is a subscription service that is necessarily constantly revised and updated. A single user subscription is $99/year, with substantial discounts offered for bulk and institutional purchases. Even at the single user rate, Atomic Learner is a great investment.
How might I use this service in the classroom/training?
As a college teacher of music, career development, and communications, Atomic Learning will be a very useful tool both in the classroom (I'm adding Blogs to the list of assignments in my "Writing About Music" course this semester) and to get me up to speed in refining and expanding my use of PowerPoint, Audacity, and other software. I have even contacted the librarian at my college to inquire about an institutional subscription to this handy service.
What is Atomic Learning?
"Atomic Learning provides web-based software training and support for more than 110 applications," according to their website. Presented in short videos of 40" to several minutes in length, the training is clear, accessible, and perfect for those of us whose eyes glaze over at the idea of perusing the arcane language of a technical manual. The trainers, teachers themselves, patiently walk the viewer through each step in a given process. It's invaluable to actually see the cursor move across the screen as the steps are described. And of course, one can re-view steps as many times as necessary without annoying a tech support person. In addition, I picked up a number of shortcuts useful in a variety of settings, just from this aspect of the demonstrations.
How does it work?
The core of the training can be accessed through several different modes. On the homepage, clicking on Our Tutorials, brings up a comprehensive listing of software programs in PC and Mac formats. Selecting a topic, say, "PowerPoint" from this master list brings up a detailed list of videos pertaining to that topic. All the videos are quite short, making it easy to jump into and out of topics quickly and get directly to the topics you want to focus on.
Alternatively, you can type a specific query into the search bar on the home page and go directly to a list of videos related to your question. For example, if I type "Importing audio files" into the search bar, a list pops up that covers that topic in a range of different software programs.
What else does it do?
In addition to these master lists, Atomic Learning also provides a variety of resources especially for classroom teachers. Here are a few examples:
Lesson Accelerators provides specific lesson plans for teaching students that include software useage.
Teacher2Teacher focuses on professional development lesson plans aimed directly at teachers.
Workshops for teachers emphasize general communications using computer technology, including pod and vodcasting, mail merge and newsletter production, storyboarding, and more.
In addition, Atomic Training specifically targets the adult learner and corporate training. This appears to be a newer aspect of the site with less information readily available. Even so, most of the Atomic Learning videos would be perfectly suitable for learners of all ages, in all settings.
Great! How do I sign on?
Atomic Learning is a subscription service that is necessarily constantly revised and updated. A single user subscription is $99/year, with substantial discounts offered for bulk and institutional purchases. Even at the single user rate, Atomic Learner is a great investment.
How might I use this service in the classroom/training?
As a college teacher of music, career development, and communications, Atomic Learning will be a very useful tool both in the classroom (I'm adding Blogs to the list of assignments in my "Writing About Music" course this semester) and to get me up to speed in refining and expanding my use of PowerPoint, Audacity, and other software. I have even contacted the librarian at my college to inquire about an institutional subscription to this handy service.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
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