I ♥ These Sites!

I have been searching for FAR too long for a website that would convert videos from the Flip video output format (MP4) to a format that would work in Windows Movie Maker without a fee, without a huge logo being stamped on the video, without frustration with the user interface, without asking me technical questions in language I didn't understand, and that wouldn't crash half-way through the hours it was taking to convert the video. At last I found one; you might have heard me cheer across the county the first time I realized it worked! And I am happy to report it has worked every time I have tested it and as an added bonus ~ you don't have to download the program to your computer!

The website is: www.online-convert.com. It converts other things as well, though I haven't tested the others out. It is very user friendly but I did create a short video in case you want to see (one I also had to convert, lol, to get it to post here). If the video does not work it is likely a temporary blogger issue, not a conversion issue... promise!

So, another site I love is the one I used to create the previous video... http://www.screenr.com/. This site allows you to make a screencast ~ a video of what you are doing on your computer screen. In the classroom, a screencast could be posted to a blog or website and students can get the directions on how to use a computer application on their own desktops and review it at their own pace... no more repeating directions over and over in front of the classroom! This site is free and is internet based... no download of software required! You do need to register to save your video.

Want to use just a clip from an existing video from YouTube in your instructional presentation? This site ~ http://tubechop.com/ ~ allows you to focus on only the part of the video you hope to share... no awkward in front of the class searching for the right part of the video! After you have "chopped" the video the site offers several ways to share the clip (link, embedding, etc.).

One more just for fun: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-the-Heart-Symbol-Using-a-Computer! I have been wondering the trick behind creating a heart (like the one used in this blog title) and today I figured it out! On a laptop hold down FN, Alt, and L at the same time. ♥ If you substitute other letters for the L, you can get other symbols (and annoying beeps if you pick certain letters). ☻☺♣ ♠ Gotta keep up with the kids you know!

Some New Year's Learning Fun...

I'm going to start the year off on a light note...

As a student, I was never one to voluntarily speak up in class and oral reports were a huge source of stress for me. In college I was required to take a public speaking course and all my speeches were recorded and to this day, I cannot watch them. Even now, speaking to a group of students does not bother me but a group of adults gives me butterflies in my stomach for days beforehand.

Knowing there are students like me in my classes, I find myself drawn towards finding activities for students to replace the stand-in-front-of-the-class-and-talk speech on topics they have researched. Of course PowerPoint and presentation software are great tools and now free movie making software is available but sometimes I just want something that is a bit more on the lighthearted side... where you might laugh the first time you see it but then you want to listen to it again.

Here is one of those sites (middle school teachers if this looks familiar it is because I shared it last year via email): http://blabberize.com/.

I found the opening video funny though I do want to warn you that it includes a conversation about peeing in one’s pants in case you are in a room full of students taking a test or something at the moment. While this site certainly was not designed exclusively for the academic world, there are definitely ways to use its features in a classroom setting.

For example, here is a clip I made with a picture and information about Susan B. Anthony (the opposite extreme from the intro. video; I went serious) ~ it took only a few minutes to create:

If you don't have a place to embed your video, that is okay. Blabberize will give you a link to share with everyone. You can see the above one here.

What a fun way to make a famous person in history share information about his or her self, or to have a character in a book talk about the conflict in his or her life, or to give a small group of students at a station directions on an assignment while you are working with other students.

Here is a link to a blog entry about Blabberize that describes several ways to use it in an academic setting: http://blog.learningtoday.com/blog/bid/27337/Blab-On-Interactive-Classroom-Tool?source=Blog_Email_[Blab+On!+–+Interacti]

Have fun! Happy New Year!