Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Back again -Podcast

I am back again after a visit to near by University (Findlay)for a conference.It was a good conference given that it was the first one for a small University. Pretty well organized. I am amazed how the smaller colleges and universities seem to be doing so much and so well.
As soon as I came back to work found the server down and everyone going crazy at the start of Intersession .
I found some good resources for Podcasting.
Good news:>> we (kent State) will be the first iTunes University in Ohio.We are going to have a big debut party for that at Kent State on 22 June. So that should be fun.
I have read quite a bit about podcasting etc.being the new craze but I sometimes do wonder if this is just a phase or its being used in the best way it possibly can and should everyone and anyone jump on this because its new and cool. Is there any research /data to prove it is significantly affecting teaching and more importantly learning.
I doubt it. Podcast to me are really good and effective if done in an innovative, creative ways for some creative ideas. concepts and fields of studies. They (video podcasts especially) are great for demonstrating ideas or concepts.
The re usability and the ability for students to go back and review a material over and over are great advantages. Again the quality of the podcast will depend on the instructor and there creativity, which (from what i have seen in things like simple voice over ppt etc )is questionable in many cases.
Just recording your lecture and put it on web is not enough and is probably waste of time if enough time and effort is not put in.
I am just starting to explore and understand all this.
University of Washinton seems to be doing lot of cool stuff with Podcasting , screencasting etc. You can read their blog HERE
An extremely comprehensive guide about Podcasting in education can be FOUND HERE

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Youtube videos

Video's from Youtube



Monday, April 23, 2007

Gabcast

I just created my Gabcast audio entry .Gabcast is an interesting tool . I found it really easy to use. Recording audio and publishing it on your blog takes 2 clicks and 1 phone call.
People who might not have access to microphone /internet at a certain time can still add audio files to their blogs or websites. I don't know of any other way to record phone conference call and publish it so easily.

My Gabcast posting:Phone records #1

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Audio


Here is my audio link for Assignment 3.
This is a decent site about audio media. You can use Audacity which is a free, open source software for recording and editing sounds or Amadeus Pro for Macs.
Free basic download for Real Producer (Win and Mac) .

Adding audio, video to a course or for any teaching /learning sounds like a great idea to me. I 'd like to do help other users integrate such pieces to their course. But when i think of my own learning style, I can never learn anything by listening to anything or anyone especially not on web : i have never been able to sit through a online demo or any audio speech for more than 2 mins. at a stretch.. my mind seems to wander pretty quick in different directions. It probably doesnt fall in to my learning style.

Monday, April 16, 2007

More new tools discovered


Found new tool to play with pictures. Really easy and so much fun..
Its called Picnik .
You can use pictures from your Flickr or Picassa account and easily edit , share them using either one of your accounts.
There is so much to explore and so little time...

Friday, March 23, 2007

My Trial with Raptivity

I have been trying to test some tools that are easy and allow you to build interactive activities really quickly.
Like Janet mentioned in her Blog, Raptivity couldn't have been easier. Even instructors who are not very skilled can use to created tools on the go. We do not have license for it , i just downloaded evaluation copy for it and like it quite a bit.
I will keep looking, suggestions and ideas are more than welcome.
Sample

Thursday, March 22, 2007

All about Food

I have been obsessed with the "idea" of cooking food last few days (not that i have done any real cooking ; its all virtual at this point!!) but i have been visiting websites, looking at food blogs, drooling over my keyboard while surfing, printing recipe encyclopedia, buying tons of food etc.: basically everything except cooking.

So inspired by that is the theme of my banner: "Food"



The image doesn't seem that crisp for some reason. I created this one using the Powerpoint method as mentioned in the course.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Preeti's Blog Challenge

Thanks for stopping by. I am Preeti,I live in Kent, Ohio and work at Kent State University.
I love reading other people's blogs about things that are of any interest to me. But for some reason I just can't seem to think of much to write myself. I probably am just shy :)

I am so excited that winter is almost gone (for next few months at least). Winters look pretty in pictures but its not that fun in blizzards and snow storms. We actually had Uni.closing this time which rarely happens no matter how bad it gets , Uni is always open. sigh!!!
















You guys all have done such a great job with your blogs ..I need to put in more effort to get up there. !