This month I attended Aware training for administrators at the BISD technology portable building. The speaker, Julie Turner, Instructional Technology Director, taught the administrators how to use the tabs feature on the first screen to analyze and sort student data. She taught how to use the filter feature to set up a specific targeted group of students to find those that need added help in a specific way. The data can also be colorized to differentiate, divided by columns or tabs, and filtered by gender, economic status, ethnicity and demographics. Teachers can create a journal page for each student where they write down notes on specific students. Teachers cannot see other journal entries by other teachers, but the principals can see all the journal entries for their campus.
The program will print out all the answer sheets for a benchmark test with the students names preprinted on the sheets. After the benchmark, the teacher takes the answer sheets to the Eduphoria scanners hooked up into a computer. After scanning, the teacher goes into the response editor and can see any problems associated with student’s failure to bubble in correctly.
One interesting feature is that counselors and teachers can create other lists on tutored students and at-risk students separate from their classroom list. The principal needs to approve the list, but they are able to track more than the students than just those in their classroom.
On September 24th, I attended the TASB/TASA convention in Houston, Texas, at the Brown convention center. I attended four breakout sessions and one general session during that day. The first session was entitled, “Mastering Stake holder Relations in Difficult Times.” The speaker discussed the effect of C.A.V.E. people (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) on a community. Basically, research has shown that CAVE people take advantage of communication vacuums in a community. The presenter, Suhail Farooqui from K12 Insight, showed that through a systematic use of technology communications, districts can keep the majority of parents, who are in fact pleased and positive toward the district, informed. Through a communication structure of using surveys to inform and inquire, districts can prove that they are transparent and show collaboration on a regular basis to all of their stakeholders.
Another session I attended was on “Digital Communications: What’s Public and What’s Not!” led by TASB lawyer, Joy Baskin. During this time, Ms. Baskin explained how to determine if an email, text, and notes taken at board meetings are subject to the Public Information Act (PIA). Basically, anything that goes through the school email or a school cell phone and is discussing a school issue is subject to a public information request. The big question though, is whether or not; a personal cell phone or a personal email account can be scrutinized in a public information request. Personally, I would be shocked if the courts said it was OK to violate a person’s privacy when no criminal activity is suspected. But the key case is in Dallas now, where the newspaper wants to see all the texts on the Dallas mayor’s personal cell phone. They also pointed out that deleting things – like emails – doesn’t really do any good as there are forensic technologists that can find virtually anything from the past on the internet.
The fourth session I attended was led by the Trustees for Texas and the Visioning Institute. They propose that we do not wait to transform education in Texas, we do it now. They do not like that the direction of education in Texas has been made by politicians and their policy advisors and that parents, teachers, principals and superintendents were left out of the planning process. They dislike all the high stakes testing and are a group that wishes to try new and different approaches to education. One superintendent has an elementary school that had discontinued giving grade reports to the students. They do keep grades, but only give them to the parents when requested. To summarize, the shared vision includes: safe schools; encouraged creativity; curriculum that is relevant, challenging and meaningful; appropriate learning standards; standards that motivate students to succeed; technology access; students owning their learning; an atmosphere where all talents are developed; multiple assessments are used and in a positive way; and students are prepared for life, further education or their career.
Finally, I listened to a lecture given by Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind. He spoke about how arts education is essential to the development of creative ideas in our nation and innovation is what will keep our economy stable into the future. He discussed the importance of developing both the right creative side and our logical, linear side as well. And that technology use is a factor in leveling the field for India and China with us. Pink said our students need to have both depth and breadth and learn to communicate and collaborate to be competitive in the world for jobs.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Web conference Reflection
September 19, 2010
This web conference discussion began with questions to Dr. Abernathy about the PSA we were creating. I thought it was very enjoyable and enlightening when Dr. Abernathy changed the conference up and she asked the questions. She asked several questions to the group through her audio and then asked us to type into the chat line how we accomplished the task in our group. Her questions included why did we need two narrators, what problems had we had compiling our information, how did we communicate as a group, and how did we learn and overcome the problems associated with different file extensions. Answers were varied and interesting. One group communicated by email which seems difficult. Since our group had our own wiki and were using Skype to communicate instantly, I felt like we were ahead of the class.
This web conference discussion began with questions to Dr. Abernathy about the PSA we were creating. I thought it was very enjoyable and enlightening when Dr. Abernathy changed the conference up and she asked the questions. She asked several questions to the group through her audio and then asked us to type into the chat line how we accomplished the task in our group. Her questions included why did we need two narrators, what problems had we had compiling our information, how did we communicate as a group, and how did we learn and overcome the problems associated with different file extensions. Answers were varied and interesting. One group communicated by email which seems difficult. Since our group had our own wiki and were using Skype to communicate instantly, I felt like we were ahead of the class.
Web conference Reflection
September 17, 2010
In this web conference, discussion continued over the specifications of the public service announcement assignment. Some students apparently were very behind in their assignments, based on the questions. But most of the questions centered around the current PSA assignment. Students continued to have questions such as could there be only one narrator. Dr. Abernathy said “no”, we needed to have at least two. This way we would learn to stream more than one audio together. Students also asked about the time constraint of 60 seconds – as this is hard to do and have something significant to say. Dr. Abernathy said no more than 60 seconds. Dr. Abernathy also continued to emphasize the need to collaborate. This is essential if we all are going to get to learn the different aspects of making a PSA. Also, collaborating over the internet will be a needed skill in our future and this project forces us to learn this essential skill
In this web conference, discussion continued over the specifications of the public service announcement assignment. Some students apparently were very behind in their assignments, based on the questions. But most of the questions centered around the current PSA assignment. Students continued to have questions such as could there be only one narrator. Dr. Abernathy said “no”, we needed to have at least two. This way we would learn to stream more than one audio together. Students also asked about the time constraint of 60 seconds – as this is hard to do and have something significant to say. Dr. Abernathy said no more than 60 seconds. Dr. Abernathy also continued to emphasize the need to collaborate. This is essential if we all are going to get to learn the different aspects of making a PSA. Also, collaborating over the internet will be a needed skill in our future and this project forces us to learn this essential skill
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
EDLD 5363 Embedded Blog Week Five
Our group’s production of a PSA on school bands ran quite smoothly. Shannon first set up a Google Docs wiki that we could use to upload all of our contributions to the project. We also each got a Skype account prior to beginning and created a Skype group. This turned out to be a great way to track our conversations and questions through the chat history.
Since I don’t work outside the home and I have helped with four successful bond elections, this topic was one I was comfortable with. I submitted a complete script and a script outline to the group wiki. Julia also submitted a script, and our audio editing person – Lynne, combined the two to create our narration script. I submitted an audio file of me speaking the entire PSA as did others. Lynne has a friend with a great radio voice and he recorded all of the explanations.
Once we had our script, we all went looking for video to fill the background. Each group member submitted video footage and/or some stills. I submitted school photos, research articles on bonds, the Boerne ISD board policy on employee behavior during bond elections and I took photos of senior citizens. Shannon worked on the video and would submit a trial run on Sunday and we would plan a Skype chat to discuss it on Wednesday. One goal I felt important was that the video be useful beyond this assignment. One picture that we had used was of a crowded school - in Africa. Since it could be construed as deceptive by anti-tax voters, we changed that picture.
There are a few things we could do to improve the PSA, but only in the interest of making it bullet proof from complaints in a bond election. I think we could have made two changes to the script to make the PSA more accurate. One, when the narrator says taxpayers are responsible for paying back the interest; it should have said “interest and principle”. Also, in the script when we discuss what the bond election will do to our taxes, we could have said that “in the current economy” it is possible to refinance debt without significant change to our tax rates. Since the economy changes, the PSA would have more staying power. Many school districts have no choice but to raise taxes for a bond election.
Our PSA has a Creative Commons license and we identified all the people in our video in the credits.
Our team effectively collaborated according to the definition given by Randy Nelson in the video - “Learning and working in the collaborative age: A new model for the workplace.” Each person accepted a job with which they felt skilled and able to do time-wise for their life. Everyone was respectful of each other’s opinions and appreciative of other’s contributions. We hope to work together again.
Nelson, R. (2008) Learning and working in the collaborative age: A new model for the workplace. Edutopia. Retrieved Sept. 21, 20 http://www.edutopia.org/randy-nelson-school-to-career-video10
Since I don’t work outside the home and I have helped with four successful bond elections, this topic was one I was comfortable with. I submitted a complete script and a script outline to the group wiki. Julia also submitted a script, and our audio editing person – Lynne, combined the two to create our narration script. I submitted an audio file of me speaking the entire PSA as did others. Lynne has a friend with a great radio voice and he recorded all of the explanations.
Once we had our script, we all went looking for video to fill the background. Each group member submitted video footage and/or some stills. I submitted school photos, research articles on bonds, the Boerne ISD board policy on employee behavior during bond elections and I took photos of senior citizens. Shannon worked on the video and would submit a trial run on Sunday and we would plan a Skype chat to discuss it on Wednesday. One goal I felt important was that the video be useful beyond this assignment. One picture that we had used was of a crowded school - in Africa. Since it could be construed as deceptive by anti-tax voters, we changed that picture.
There are a few things we could do to improve the PSA, but only in the interest of making it bullet proof from complaints in a bond election. I think we could have made two changes to the script to make the PSA more accurate. One, when the narrator says taxpayers are responsible for paying back the interest; it should have said “interest and principle”. Also, in the script when we discuss what the bond election will do to our taxes, we could have said that “in the current economy” it is possible to refinance debt without significant change to our tax rates. Since the economy changes, the PSA would have more staying power. Many school districts have no choice but to raise taxes for a bond election.
Our PSA has a Creative Commons license and we identified all the people in our video in the credits.
Our team effectively collaborated according to the definition given by Randy Nelson in the video - “Learning and working in the collaborative age: A new model for the workplace.” Each person accepted a job with which they felt skilled and able to do time-wise for their life. Everyone was respectful of each other’s opinions and appreciative of other’s contributions. We hope to work together again.
Nelson, R. (2008) Learning and working in the collaborative age: A new model for the workplace. Edutopia. Retrieved Sept. 21, 20 http://www.edutopia.org/randy-nelson-school-to-career-video10
Saturday, September 18, 2010
EDLD 5363 Public Service Announcement week 4
For our Multimedia and Video Technology class, we are creating a 60 second public service announcement. My group from Cohort 13 ET 8023 is Julia W., Shannon C., Russell D., Lynne B. and myself. Our topic is school bond elections. We have tried very hard to not be political so that this PSA is useful to members of our group beyond this class.
For an update to our current plan please visit our Project wiki:
https://sites.google.com/site/edld5363psavideoproject/home
For an update to our current plan please visit our Project wiki:
https://sites.google.com/site/edld5363psavideoproject/home
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Web Conference Reflection Aug. 31st 2010
The web conference began and only a few were willing to plug in their cameras. It quickly filled up though. Many had questions about the assignment and confusion about whether or not we needed to create an edited video to present.
During this web conference, Dr. Abernathy answered questions concerning the week 2 assignment and the changes that had been made. This assignment would include an audio only podcast on how to use one of the open source video editing software programs that we have reviewed this week. This audio recording will be done on the program Audacity and should be about two minutes long. We are also expected to blog about the software we have learned about this week. Dr. Abernathy also suggested that we read about” the art of the edit” which in on the website www.wikipedia.com.
Students had questions about when we will receive the new assignment and how we were going to load it into Epic if we have the wrong file name. I will find out soon! I was concerned that I was doing the assignment wrong since I still had the old assignment. I received the updated assignment later in the week through email.
During this web conference, Dr. Abernathy answered questions concerning the week 2 assignment and the changes that had been made. This assignment would include an audio only podcast on how to use one of the open source video editing software programs that we have reviewed this week. This audio recording will be done on the program Audacity and should be about two minutes long. We are also expected to blog about the software we have learned about this week. Dr. Abernathy also suggested that we read about” the art of the edit” which in on the website www.wikipedia.com.
Students had questions about when we will receive the new assignment and how we were going to load it into Epic if we have the wrong file name. I will find out soon! I was concerned that I was doing the assignment wrong since I still had the old assignment. I received the updated assignment later in the week through email.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
EDLD 5363 Reflection and Review of Open Source Video Editing Software
My search for open-source software began at the website http://www.isoftwarereviews.com/free-video-editing-software-programs/ suggested by fellow cohort Shannon Copeland. Here I found there was a difference between open source and freeware. Since I have a PC, I was limited to three programs – Virtual Dub, Jahshaka, and Cinefx. My past experience with video editing software is none – ever.
When I read the word “easy” with Virtual Dub, I downloaded this program first. I tried to load a video from my laptop into the program but it would not take it. The video would not load because it was a clip that my husband had taken on his iPhone. I had forgotten where the video had come from. Next I downloaded the free program Any Video Converter to try to use a YouTube video in Virtual Dub. This was unsuccessful. I also tried to convert the iPhone video to a file with an .avi extension for Virtual Dub, but was unsuccessful again. Virtual Dub told me it would not accept the file because the direct show codes used by Windows Media Player are not suitable.
At this point I switched and tried to use Jahshaka. I downloaded Jahshaka and found that I was easily able to load the video from the iphone into the program. Once I got the video into the program, the program closed and said that Windows 7 had closed it and that I would be notified with there was a solution. I ignored the warning and opened the program again. I was able to manipulate the video in some ways, but never could figure out how to cut segments out of it. I was able to change the video color and draw on it. But since I was stuck, I decided to get online and go through a series of video tutorials I found at http://www.vimeo.com/2924170/. Daniel Avery, the creator of the tutorials, has made a series of help videos on Jahshaka introducing it and describing the different modules and what they can do. Mr. Avery stated many benefits of the program especially that it was free open source and it could be used to produce video for business. After watching seven of them, I went back to the program to see if I could edit the video again, but was unsuccessful.
My next step was to find detailed reviews on the program Jahshaka. It appears that it is a wonderful program if you know a lot about video editing before you start. It is a professional level software program according to a review on www.cnet.comJahshaka/3000-2169 4-10542308.html. It can work on virtually all video and audio formats, and it can do real-time 3D composting and Flash animation. Jahshaka is able to work on Windows, Linux and Macs. The downside to the program is that there is no help file what-so-ever within the program, which is stated to be its biggest flaw in a review on www.videomaker.com/community/freeware/jahshaka-freeware-a-list/.
Virtual Dub was sounding better now. I sought out online reviews on this program. On the website, www.iofilm.co.uk I found out that this software was developed specifically for editing video taken on your digital camera (avi files), since digital cameras rarely allow for editing. It can also read MPEG-1 files and can handle sets of bmp images. This program provides filters to erase blur and sharpen, resize, rotate and crop your home videos. In a review at http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/VirtualDub-Review-22893.shtml by Iulian Cernot, I learned the basics of using the program. I was encouraged to try again, but this time I used a video straight from my digital camera. It loaded easily, and I was able to edit out parts of the video to clean it up. I tried to connect two videos together but could not make it work. Virtual Dub makes the file huge as it is converted. I tried to use the Windows Media encoder download to compress it, but the encoder is not supported by Windows 7. I was able to compress it back down by using the program Any Video Converter. I posted it on my wiki at www.techlearner7.wikispaces,com under Multi Media Presentations.
For future video editing, I will use Windows Live Movie Maker. For this program, I will need to be aware of the different file types this program supports. Audio files that are supported include .asf, .wma, .avi, .mp3, .mp2, .mpa, and .wav. Supported video files include .asf, .wmn, .wm, .avi, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, and DVD files .vob.
Although part of me wishes I had spent the hours learning about the program I will use in the next assignment, it is true that working through the open source programs helped me to get the big picture of what the possibilities are with video- editing and the constraints of the different programs. I will soon uninstall the program Jahshaka from my computer, but I think I will hang onto Virtual Dub and see if I need it again.
Avery, D.. Jahhaka Review. Retrieved September 1, 2010 from www.videomaker.com/community/freeware/jahshaka-freeware-a-list/.
Avery, D. Tutorials for Jahshaka. Accessed on September 2, 2010 from http://www.vimeo.com/2924170.
Cernat, I. Software Reviews. (2006). Retrieved September 2, 2010 from http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/VirtualDub-Review-22893.shtml.
CNET Editor’s Review. Retrieved September 2, 2010 from www.cnet.comJahshaka/3000-2169 4-10542308.html
When I read the word “easy” with Virtual Dub, I downloaded this program first. I tried to load a video from my laptop into the program but it would not take it. The video would not load because it was a clip that my husband had taken on his iPhone. I had forgotten where the video had come from. Next I downloaded the free program Any Video Converter to try to use a YouTube video in Virtual Dub. This was unsuccessful. I also tried to convert the iPhone video to a file with an .avi extension for Virtual Dub, but was unsuccessful again. Virtual Dub told me it would not accept the file because the direct show codes used by Windows Media Player are not suitable.
At this point I switched and tried to use Jahshaka. I downloaded Jahshaka and found that I was easily able to load the video from the iphone into the program. Once I got the video into the program, the program closed and said that Windows 7 had closed it and that I would be notified with there was a solution. I ignored the warning and opened the program again. I was able to manipulate the video in some ways, but never could figure out how to cut segments out of it. I was able to change the video color and draw on it. But since I was stuck, I decided to get online and go through a series of video tutorials I found at http://www.vimeo.com/2924170/. Daniel Avery, the creator of the tutorials, has made a series of help videos on Jahshaka introducing it and describing the different modules and what they can do. Mr. Avery stated many benefits of the program especially that it was free open source and it could be used to produce video for business. After watching seven of them, I went back to the program to see if I could edit the video again, but was unsuccessful.
My next step was to find detailed reviews on the program Jahshaka. It appears that it is a wonderful program if you know a lot about video editing before you start. It is a professional level software program according to a review on www.cnet.comJahshaka/3000-2169 4-10542308.html. It can work on virtually all video and audio formats, and it can do real-time 3D composting and Flash animation. Jahshaka is able to work on Windows, Linux and Macs. The downside to the program is that there is no help file what-so-ever within the program, which is stated to be its biggest flaw in a review on www.videomaker.com/community/freeware/jahshaka-freeware-a-list/.
Virtual Dub was sounding better now. I sought out online reviews on this program. On the website, www.iofilm.co.uk I found out that this software was developed specifically for editing video taken on your digital camera (avi files), since digital cameras rarely allow for editing. It can also read MPEG-1 files and can handle sets of bmp images. This program provides filters to erase blur and sharpen, resize, rotate and crop your home videos. In a review at http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/VirtualDub-Review-22893.shtml by Iulian Cernot, I learned the basics of using the program. I was encouraged to try again, but this time I used a video straight from my digital camera. It loaded easily, and I was able to edit out parts of the video to clean it up. I tried to connect two videos together but could not make it work. Virtual Dub makes the file huge as it is converted. I tried to use the Windows Media encoder download to compress it, but the encoder is not supported by Windows 7. I was able to compress it back down by using the program Any Video Converter. I posted it on my wiki at www.techlearner7.wikispaces,com under Multi Media Presentations.
For future video editing, I will use Windows Live Movie Maker. For this program, I will need to be aware of the different file types this program supports. Audio files that are supported include .asf, .wma, .avi, .mp3, .mp2, .mpa, and .wav. Supported video files include .asf, .wmn, .wm, .avi, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, and DVD files .vob.
Although part of me wishes I had spent the hours learning about the program I will use in the next assignment, it is true that working through the open source programs helped me to get the big picture of what the possibilities are with video- editing and the constraints of the different programs. I will soon uninstall the program Jahshaka from my computer, but I think I will hang onto Virtual Dub and see if I need it again.
Avery, D.. Jahhaka Review. Retrieved September 1, 2010 from www.videomaker.com/community/freeware/jahshaka-freeware-a-list/.
Avery, D. Tutorials for Jahshaka. Accessed on September 2, 2010 from http://www.vimeo.com/2924170.
Cernat, I. Software Reviews. (2006). Retrieved September 2, 2010 from http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/VirtualDub-Review-22893.shtml.
CNET Editor’s Review. Retrieved September 2, 2010 from www.cnet.comJahshaka/3000-2169 4-10542308.html
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