Vocaroo: Voice Recording quick and easy

I have been looking for some options for presentations because some of my students are very hesitant to talk about things in front of the class. While I require them to do some sort of book talk or presentation, I decided to allow them to do it in a different way so I looked around for some tools online that can be used for that purpose.

Vocaroo is an easy tool to use for just the purpose I wanted, quick oral presentations.  I think because of ease of use and the method of delivery any class could use it.  Social Studies, English and Foreign languages.   I love the fact that it doesn't save everything on a site, you just receive a link with the final product and embed that into your page.

I could see a recording from this site embedded into a blog or a website with some sort of oral description.  A foreign language teacher could very easily use this for an oral prompt for an assignment or a test as well.

I love that the result can be emailed directly so if you are assigning students an oral presentation, they can complete it and email it.  The link can be embedded as well.  It is so easy!  I think it can be a real benefit to reach those students who fear public speaking.

Blabberize: Quick mini oral presentations

Being that I am originally a foreign language teacher, I often have that side of my brain running when I look at a website.  How could this be used in a foreign language class?   I found a fun one today called Blabberize.  It's free and it is quick, but it could be very beneficial in a foreign language class or even some other classes where a quick presentation could take place.

Here is how it works:  You find a photo or a picture and upload it to their site.  Then, you record a clip of information one of three ways, microphone, telephone or upload.   Then, the site merges the audio together with the image and you have a talking photo.

I see this being very useful for a quick response in foreign language.  It appears that only one person can speak so no conversations but maybe students can answer a quick question or something.

I wouldn't use this often in my classroom, maybe from time to time as a change in pace. It's definitely worth looking into.

A New form of book reports: Trailers

With students today being so much more tech savvy than they were ten, or even five years ago, the need to change out methods of instruction is vastly growing. But, what about our way of collecting information and assessing students?

This semester I was given two sections of a course called Library Media.  In Indiana, this is a course that is designed to focus on research as well as the ongoings of a school library.   Students are to focus on digital citizenship, reading and recommendations.   One of the assignments I decided to do was to replace the traditional book report with a book trailer.  I felt letting kids do a more technology based presentation/ recommendation would be more exciting and let them use a little more creativity than simply writing a report.

The students used one of two online platform called Powtoon or Animoto.   Both of them allow users to create fast presentations that come out as a video.   Many of the kids chose Powtoon because it let them modify the fonts and change the size of text.  They are also able to do transitions, which they liked.

The outcome was really a great one.  I was pleased with the results and it made the assignment so much more fun.

Anyone who requires students to read a novel or even a book excerpt can require students to do a book trailer in place of the traditional report.

Emaze for presentations

As the school year approaches it is time to start organizing and planning for lectures and presentations.  Most people turn to the traditional PowerPoint but there are some other programs out there that can do neat presentations for free or cheap.

Emaze is one of these sites.

Emaze is a platform that allows users to build professional looking presentations with various backgrounds.   Aside from creating your own presentations, there are millions already available to use.

Pro members can download and collaborate, but free members can basically just make slides and save them at emaze. There is a pro plan available for education as well that is half the price of the business plan.  The paid version is monthly and there are different sized accounts.   But, I don't do anything that isn't free, so I will stick with the freebie.

I found some really nice presentations that relate to content I plan to teach this year.  Why re-invent the wheel?

I am impressed by the ease of use of the site and the availability of so many presentations to be used.  Teachers can find a lot of sources for their classes and can build presentations as well.  I can also envision a teacher using this in a class as a means of a project.  

MIXLR for live broadcasting

While I am not much of a podcaster, I know a few of my colleagues who would probably enjoy hosting their own radio show.  Even as a foreign language teacher, I could see myself having my students do a small radio broadcast for a speaking activity.

Mixlr is a free broadcasting site that downloads an app to your computer or device.  The free version gives you an hour of broadcasting whatever you wish.  You can be a DJ and play music, do a talk show- whatever.

You can embed the broadcast into your blog so when people visit, they can listen to your podcast/ broadcast.

I can envision this as a way to do school announcements each day; it seems easy, as each broadcast gives you a specific embed code to add to the site. This would be a great way to link to social media as well.  As you record, it also creates a live link to share on Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler and Google+.  The showreel can be placed on a blog to see archived conversations.

There is also a chat component built into the program, so visitors can go to your showreel, listen live and ask questions to the speaker over the system.

I can see a lot of possibilities with a school using this program.   A virtual interview | Daily announcement |  A broadcast of a library program | A message from the administrator | A student radio show | Basketball game play by play - the list goes on and on.

Presentations without PowerPoint: Powtoon

Someone posted an article about tools that can be used to as a means of establishing a presentation. Powtoon was one of the sites listed.  I had to check it out.  I LOVE it.  I have finally found a free site to make really nice, crisp presentations that can be published directly to YouTube, and it's really easy.

I created my free account, which can link to Google+, Facebook or LinkedIn.  You can also use an email account to establish it.  It has you determine if you are a student or a teacher, which I liked.  I established a teacher account, so I am not sure what appears on the student side.  I made a quick thirty second presentation in about five minutes.  It was easy and there were a lot of options available to make a nice slideshow.  It was quick, simple and definitely something I would use again to make some slides for the library.  I can use it for tutorials, new release videos (I use Animoto now, but maybe I can mix it up and use this as an alternative.) I think the kids would enjoy seeing the presentations and would benefit from them.

I have a few teachers at my school who have students do PowerPoint presentations.  I am going to share this option with them because I think the kids will enjoy the many options it has to offer.  I also think the teachers will enjoy seeing the presentations because they are different than the same old same old.  I think the teachers will appreciate its ease of use and the students will be able to figure it out without a lot of help.

This is a very simple, free product for the kids and staff to use.  I hope some of them try it out.

Presentations without PowerPoint: Thinglink

For years, PowerPoint has been the go to program for making presentations, but, there are many other programs out there that can be used to make presentations, Thinglink is one of them. I decided to build a virtual library with Thinglink and identify all of my genre sections and share what sort of materials are there.

A colleague shared that her teachers are using Thinglink to do interactive presentations about Historical events.  Thinglink lets you embed video, text and more images.  It's accessible by a simple click of a button. The educational version, which is free, actually lets teachers establish groups and add students so kids work is within the teacher's channel.  What a fantastic opportunity to change up your presentations.

Imagine this:   A teacher does a PowerPoint to present a specific topic.  On that PowerPoint, there is a video, some text, some images and a timeline.  Wouldn't it be awesome to embed a Thinglink into your website that contains the same information and let students refer to that?  You can even embed a worksheet or a project into the actual image.

I can see Thinglink being used for all sorts of projects- There is so much that can be done with it. The images you see here are the featured links of the day.

Presentations without PowerPoint: Piktochart

Part of being a Library Media Specialist is the need for infographics and presentations to share with staff and administration.   I have discovered that piktochart is an awesome way to make really nice infographics and presentations alike.

A colleague of mine made a series of presentations to share with her staff using this program.  They were nice and very user friendly.   It's a fast way to present any form of information.

Because it is an infographic, it could be used also to share data.  It doesn't have to be just a presentation.  There are a few options, presentaboard, an infographic, a report and a banner.

The final look can be shared in presentation mode and share the entire document with a group.  I have seen a few other LMS use this program to make documents to share with the powers that be.
I am going to start using it as a means of sharing data with my staff and my students.  The presentations look really nice and they are so very easy.  I recommend trying it if you need to make an infographic or a presentation.

Presentation without PowerPoint: Haiku Deck

Sometimes, as we teach, we want our kids, or our leaders to create something different than a PowerPoint, just to change things up.   PowerPoints and Google Slides are the old standby, of course, but if there is something else that is free and that makes it look nice and is easy, why not?

I learned from a colleague about Haiku Deck, a free app for iPad and a free account on the web that can be used to make dynamic and beautiful presentations. One of the reasons I like it is because the images you use are within the app and can be used without the risk of violating copyright.  It's also an easy program to introduce to students so they can build dynamic presentations for a class project.

I took about five minutes and build a slide show to use as a sample.  It autosaves and the images within the presentation are gorgeous.  A student or a teacher can create some very dynamic and beautiful presentations.

One thing to note; you cannot import your own images.  You can embed a chart with data but all the images you use come from within the app.  If you are doing a specific presentation, you may not be able to find all of the images you are looking for.   If you are looking for a different way to make a presentation, Haiku Deck is a free way to do so. The images alone are worth a stop to the site.

Alternatives to PowerPoint pt. 4

As you have seen, my focus of late has been PowerPoint alternatives and ways to do similar or better things for free.  A few weeks back, I did a post about a site called Thinglink that I think fits this topic perfectly.  I decided to again write about it and offer some potential ideas, mainly because I attended a conference last week and the Thinglink chat was all the rage.  I saw teachers and students using it in action and that, to me was a home run.

Thinglink, as we talked about before, allows a visual object to become ultra dimensional.  It allows for embedded text, links, and video.  Teachers have been using it as an alternative to PowerPoint.  In one class I visited, the teacher had kids research a topic related to the era in the novel they were reading.  Each student had to be responsible for finding and linking the information to the visual.  Because it has direct links, embedded tools, etc, the actual citation information is also included right into the document.  Yes, it makes MLA not really the citation tool of choice, but, it is requiring kids to use critical thinking and research skills to find the best information for their topic.

I am going to use it as a tool in my French class this year.  Each student will be assigned a specific vocabulary topic and will be required to create a thinglink that has the words somehow included.  I am guessing they can even embed audio!  I am so excited to play around with this tool.  I think the kids will appreciate something different than the norm for a project, as well.

Here are a few ideas I saw for using thinglink:
1) Research of a topic in class and use the thinglink to expand the information.
2) Vocabulary thinglinks.
3) Student centered flip: Have the students develop some of the lesson and use a thinglink to present it to the class.
4) US Geography (Or any continent, country, etc.).  Assign students (lower grades) a state and have them use a thinglink to map out whatever they can about it. Older kids can get a nation and go through it's historical changes, or take a continent and identify the different places, how they have changed, etc.
5) Battleground activity: Select a war, identify a battle site (Bighorn, Gettyburg, etc) and have the students create a thinglink that covers the topic.

The list can go on and on....

Alternatives to PowerPoint pt. 3

I have been spending a little time talking about other options teachers can use to replace PowerPoint.  Sometimes, students can't afford the software and other times, finding something new makes the classroom have a different feel.

I am all for options.  I feel allowing kids to choose which project platform they want makes the student have more ownership of the project.  If they can choose some of the final outcome, they often spend more time and fare better in the long run. I want to talk today about a platform many already know: Prezi.

Prezi is a great free tool to use in place of a PowerPoint.  Kids often like it, they like the animation, the ability to embed video and text and the way the final presentation comes out.  Prezi is easy and it looks clean and professional so the final outcome can be very well presented.

Students can share the link of the final project with their teacher.  I like the different forms of thngs that can be embedded as well.  Students can make a very outstanding presentation with prezi.  Using it from time to time instead of a PowerPoint makes it a change of pace.  Offering as an option for students to use also makes it a great tool.

As I said before, I am all for options.   If a teacher requires students to do a presentation but offers a list of tools, students will find the one they like the best and the one that works best for them.  It offers a change for the kids and the teacher.

Alternatives to PowerPoint pt. 2

My last post was a delve into some options to replace PowerPoint, because as I learned from my twitter via RT and MT, a lot of kids can't afford it and don't have it so expecting them to use it for a project is almost ridiculous.   I am going to look at a few more options, today, we are going to look at weebly.

Weebly isn't really a presentation site, it is more of a website, but now a days, who says a website can't be used to present a specific topic to an audience?  I attended a conference where a school is doing just that: Requiring weebly as the platform and having students add their content to a website platform. In the end, they have a digital portfolio that incorporates all of their projects to show off at an end of school term project. And, it's FREE!

Weebly is very easy to use.  When you log in, (you can link to Facebook or start from scratch) you can choose a purpose (education, and then decide the rationale).  Here, you can require students to choose project.  There is a simple tutorial to follow that goes step by step through the ease of use process.   One can add all sorts of media, text and graphics. Developing a layout is easy as well.

To use it with students offers a lot of options, I think.  It would be a great opportinuty to require students to do a project for Social Studies, English and Science.  It could also be dropped into other content areas where teachers have to hit a presentation/ writing standard but are a little uncertain about what to do.  This is an easy platform for kids to learn and it is a smart tool to use to make quick or complex presentations.   Students will catch on fast and be able to get very creative with their final outcome. 

One thing I like is the digital portfolio concept.  Once you have a site, you can keep making pages.  Each page could be a different project.   Like most projects, don't overdo it.  Vary what you do or kids will get bored and not want to stick with it. 

Alternatives to PowerPoint Part 1

Let's face it, PowerPoint is a very popular presentation platform used by many in the education spectrum, but, it's expensive.  The educational Office suite is over $150 (if you are lucky) and even the most basic version is going to cost you. Why not look at other alternatives.  Sites from the web that do similar things but are just a little different so the outcome changes.

One tool located on the web that does similar things to PowerPoint but is free to use is edcanvas.  Edcanvas offers a lot of sidebar tools to access for research.   It's easy and fund to use for kids and you.  The beauty, after the project is complete, you can add a quiz!  It allows for student accounts where you as the teacher can add students and see all of the boards the kids have made.  It also allows for a built in citation as all links are saved within the canvas.

I saw a presentation about it where both kids were using it to create PBL projects and teachers were using it to create their flipped notes.   Imagine, flipping a class in one tool.   Create a canvas, insert the necessary components you want to use for the lesson and have students follow through all the parts. Voila, end with a quiz. It's be best of the flipped class world!

Here are some ideas for student based projects:

1. Create a project about a vocabulary word.  Each student develops a canvas about a specific vocab word from the text being read and then they are saved in one teacher account, accessible to all classmates.  Easy study tool.
2. Create a presentation about a specific point in history.  Each student, instead of doing a long paper or a PowerPoint can create a edcanvas board about their topic.  Within it, they can embed images, text, videos and more.  (And it's FASTER than using PowerPoint).
3. Virtual Trip:  Each student is expected to make a canvas and insert facts on each tile about a virtual trip.  Each day could be outlined on the canvas and students could be expected to include very specific details. 

All in all, I think edcanvas offers users something new aside from the traditional PowerPoint. It's easy, looks nice and allows access to a lot of outside tools. 

Using Thinglink

Even though I wasn't able to attend the MACUL (Michigan Association of Computer Educators) Conference back in March, I did attend virtually via twitter.  I followed a lot of commentary from those there about a site called Thinglink that was being presented.  I had already seen a little about the site, but I decided I would spend a little time investigating it and trying to use it.   As soon as I got there, the ideas started popping.  Light bulbs were going off in my head and I was inspired.  I could envision making my library visually digital (if that is a term that works).

Thinglink takes images and allows you to place access to links, video, text, whatever right on the photo.  It makes your photo interactive. How cool is that?

I have decided my summer mission is to make several of these interactive images to train my students how to use the library and how to locate books.  Right now, we have several categories in the catalog and several different locations, but they are all amuck.  It's hard to know where to find everything. My hope is if I make the library interactive and place it on the website- kids can see the points and know where it all is.

I started trying it just to see how it worked.  It was fast and simple.  It took very little time to add links and type a little text.  I linked a lot to my dropbox.  I am thinking I could also use this in my French class as a potential PBL activity.  Kids could take an image and link to some points of interest and write some text in French. It may turn out to be a fun activity for the kids and for me.