Here are a few other links that came up today in class.

Thank you, Matt for finding the link about setting up multiple email addresses. http://edublogs.org/forums/topic.php?id=64#post-1391

Misty, for providing the link for Voice Thread
http://www.voicethread.com

Craig for the humorous imitation of the Common Craft videos.
http://toiletseatalert.com/

1. Your responses to my blog entries on this site.
2. Your individual wiki “smackdown” or comparison.
3. Your contributions to the group articles.  List your contributions on the Discussion page of each article you’ve contributed to.
4. Your 1 minute Podcast, which should be uploaded to your individual blog. 
5. The final project that you’ve set up.  i.e. the Blog, Wiki, or Site that you’ve created for your group. 
6. Your writeup of that project, which is posted to your individual blog.  Be sure to cover each step of the ADDIE Process.
7. Your presentation of the project, which is also known as your final podcast project.  (4-8 minutes)

I’m going to share my feedback on what I’ve seen of your collaborative articles, and clarify any questions you may have about the final podcast. I’m willing to meet with people on a first come, first served basis after class, but will not be lurking online all day this Saturday.

I’ve (finally) put up more information about the podcast assignment. On that page, you’ll see 4 different software programs you can use to create your final podcast.

I have no problems with you finishing early, but you have until Aug 15 to wrap up all projects.

Classroom 2.0 is similar to a myspace or facebook profile, which is great if you’re into that. It’s a great resource with plenty of other good options, but I’m mentioning it looks like a good, teacher-friendly way to get the code to embed in another place.

Once you’ve got an audio file, you can upload it to your Classroom 2.0 page.  You’re allowed to upload a total of 100 tracks, each of which can be up to 20 mB.

Then you can click the Get More Badges link on the right side of the page and you’ll get a player that you can embed in your site. I uploaded a royalty free song from my computer. If I had uploaded more files, it would play all of them in a playlist. Note: The badge actually plays your playlist, which will work well if you want to play through all the student’s podcasts.  It’ll work poorly if you’ve uploaded your favorite Snoop Dogg track to listen to as you grade papers.  So plan accordingly.

You can share music and movies on the Edublogs.tv site, too. They also will generate the embed code to run audio or video players.

I used to recommend Odeo.com as my favorite podcasting resource, but can’t say it’s the best place to go. If you’re curious, you can read about their last 3 years in this techcrunch article. If not, here’s the way Odeo displays and episode of an ESL podcast. You, too could upload your files to odeo, then get badges that look like this. (I think they’re better than the badges from Classroom 2.0. )

Nothing required for you to do here… just including it as good info to know about.

1minute

Here is a link to the Apple’s tutorial for Garage Band. It’s a good intro, but I hesitate to use it.  You do not need to make chapter markers, or an enhanced podcast.  You should not use iWeb to upload your file. (At least, not for this class)

Instead, you’ll create your podcast, save it to the disc, then insert it into your edublog using the add media button for audio in the edublog editing window.

I’ve made a brief screen movie that shows you more about using Garage Band.  Click here to view Karl’s tutorial.

For PC users, you’ll need to download the free audacity program.  Once you’ve installed it, you’ll need to follow these directions on how to install the LAME plugin that you need to export your podcast as an .mp3 file.  If you don’t install LAME, you won’t be able to get the .mp3 file that you need.

To help you get started using Audacity, these tutorials show you how to create a podcast with Audacity.

In class we mentioned a number of changes to the timeline, which have been updated on the the schedule page.

The edublogs.tv site is very similar to teachertube.com, it’s a Youtube for educators.  You can upload your own video files (currently up to 50 mB, but moving to 100mB soon). Clever people that they are, the edublogs.tv programmers have added a feature that lets you grab any school-friendly youtube videos and import them into edublogs.tv, which (hopefully) your IT crew allows into your school.

At this point, your edublogs.org user account is different from your edublogs.tv account. If you plan on using video or podcasts in your classroom, this might be the tool you’re looking for.

Youtube has so many distracting videos, that it can be hard to use. In under a minute I was able to find a video this good. Hope you enjoy it, too. I think it summarized many of the points I wanted to make about the next generation of learners in a way that I found powerful.

Your prompt:
Leave a link to another good video you found on Edublogs.tv

Here are a few resources for free or royalty-free sounds. If you’re using Garage Band, it comes with a number of loops to use in your backgrounds.  If you aren’t, here are a few more resources for you.

• http://www.freesound.org/
• http://www.podsafeaudio.com/
• http://www.opsound.org/
• http://www.samplenet.co.uk/
• http://ccmixter.org/
• http://www.flashkit.com/loops/

No comment required for this post, but if you have better options for audio, please share them in the comments.

You only need the iTunes application installed, you don’t have to have an iPod to listen to podcasts.  

If you like, you can go to iTunes U free of charge. You won’t get the prestigious degree, but you can view lectures from dozens of universities including Stanford, MIT, or UC Berkeley. 

You don’t have to watch the whole thing, but please watch the first minute or two of the iTunes U Tutorial. It provides a good introduction of the types of content that is available.  After that, you’re welcome to continue watching to learn how to download and subscribe to shows, but I’d like you to move on and look at the other podcasts on the iTunes store.  (iTunes U Tutorial) 

iTunes U isn’t the only place to find Educational Podcasts.  Click the Podcasts link in the iTunes STORE menu, and you’ll find more categories of podcasts.  There is a section for Kids & Family, an Education section, even and Educational Technology section. 

Prompt

For this assignment, I’d like you to go in and to listen to at least 3 podcasts, then share your favorite in the comments below.  

I’d like you to look at shows you could use with your class, though that isn’t a requirement.  Nearly all podcasts are informational, so find something that interests you or will be interesting to your students.) Tell us what you listened to and what you like best and why.  I know it’s hard to link to the shows in iTunes, so I won’t ask for that, just give us the title of the show and the category it’s listed under. 

Tip: Click on the “See All” links to view your choices in podcasts more efficiently.

Consider the alternative.  You can set up your account with Gcast , Then log in and configure your pin number. After that, you dial the phone number they give you and your files get published on the web.

Here’s my quick sample I did from my cellphone. (If you’re wondering, you are able to delete a recording and start again before your podcast is published online.  It’s so easy, I know you’ll be able to figure it out. )

After about 5 minutes, my audio file was available on my gcast page. I clicked on a link that promised to help me add my podcast to MySpace, and was directed to a page with player options for what you see here.

You’ll see that my gCast page allows you to pick which tools you’d like to subscribe to the podcast with… iTunes, a few different feed readers, or an email subscription.  I’m not sure that I’d use that feature, though.  I’d probably embed the code in a class web page instead.

So is the quality great?  Not really, but imagine sending out a voicemail to all your students (or their parents) in just minutes.  It won’t win an academy award for sound production, but it might just be the right tool for the job.

Interested in other ways to podcast by phone? Click here to learn about 3 other tools you could use.

Comments are optional on this post. If you check it out, I’d love to see a link of what you made.