Redefining Ready Scholarship: Student Perspectives

By: Kim Miklusak & Rachel Barry

District 214 has introduced a new scholarship opportunity for current seniors.  The District 214 Foundation is offering a $1,000 Redefining Ready Scholarship in a new and exciting format: a video!  For students to apply for this scholarship, they are to submit a 30-second video on how they found their career path and post it to Twitter with the hastag #redefiningready. 

We, Kim and Rachel, got involved in this project when the teacher of the Teacher Internship Class asked us to step in to show multiple apps for students to use to create these videos.  The apps included Adobe Voice, Explain Everything, Educreations, and ShowMe.  We showed students how the apps worked and what videos from the apps looked like and then discussed with them the pros and cons of each based on what they wanted to accomplish with their project.

Students were then given time over the next few weeks to work and explore the apps to see which would best tell their story.  Here are some finished student samples:

Patty's Student Example           Jasmine's Student Example

Here is what Jasmine had to say about the process:  

As soon as I heard about the #RedefiningReady Scholarship, I wasn't so sure, if I would want to record myself, because I am not a good speaker when it comes to recording myself, or me being recorded with a device. Then when I found out I have 2 of my classes that are giving us an opportunity to work on the Scholarship in class, I was starting to consider working on it. The next step was finding an app that I could use for the recording, which was not hard at all. I already had iMovie on my ipad for a previous class project. I then had to start writing a script and find pictures and music of what I wanted to say in the scholarship that shows that I am Redefining Ready. I changed my mind on what I wanted to talk about so many times! Once I got my script written out, I asked my brother to help me record myself [but he didn't, so] I had to figure out how to use voice over on imovie. It took me about 26 tries to get the right video that I wanted. i enjoyed making this Scholarship. I learned many new skills that I have never knew how to use them. I encourage all seniors this year and in the near future to take this opportunity.

More information about the scholarship can be found here.

Easier Presentations for All Subjects with Adobe Voice

By Kim Miklusak

I was first introduced to Adobe Voice through pre-service teachers who raved about the app, citing that it was so easy that kindergartners could use it!  I hadn't had an opportunity to try it out in class until this week when our American Literature class began preparing for our oral communications unit on a real-life nonconformist after having read Sula by Toni Morrison.  This will be part 1 of a blog; next week I will share out student samples and provide more feedback.

I cannot stress how simple Adobe Voice is for any subject or grade!  It's the best of a few apps all in one.  Also, it's free, which is always helpful.  The app first allows you to name your presentation and select a template if you want one.  All this does is set up key words for certain slides.  You are welcome to change, add, or delete slides to meet your goal.

There are several simple and pre-made template for backgrounds and slide transitions as well as layout design.  The downside (or upside) of this is that you cannot design these slides as you want.   You can also select music--which I wouldn't suggest if you have students speaking over it.  If you are not speaking in the presentation, you can set how long you want each slide to play for.  Otherwise the slide stays on the screen for as long as you talk.

When you want to add a photo, you are given a few choices including from your camera roll, taking a picture, or searching.  All of the search options are copyright safe!  This is a huge digital citizenship teachable moment for students.  One thing I noticed, however, is that there is not always a huge amount of photos.  I found more available for reuse through Google; I simply saved them to my camera roll.

After the presentation is done, students can record their voice if they would like.  This is the easiest option ever.  You simply hold down the record button and speak.  If you would like to record over what you just said, you just press the button again!  This is a huge bonus over other similar apps in that you don't have to re-record your entire presentation if you mess up on one slide.  The down side in comparison to some other apps, however, is that you cannot write or draw on any of the slides, which may not be a problem depending on why you are using it.

When you're ready to share, it's as easy as ever.  Among the options are emailing a link or tweeting.  For example, here is a link to the sample I made to share with my team and students.  However, the option I'm most appreciative of is the ability to save it to the camera roll because then I can upload it and have students upload them to a Schoology Media Album to share!  Now every student in class can provide feedback on all of the presentations.

I will post again next week with student samples and more feedback. 

Embed a Video within a Video!

By: Rachel Barry

Students in my class watch videos to obtain the content of a skill in an individualized and differentiated method.  You can learn about this structure in this earlier blogpost.  I have always used Educreations for these videos, as the app is incredibly user-friendly.  I am able to input a picture or .pdf to then annotate for students to view.  This has been a great tool for me over the past three years!  

One issue that I encountered is when it came to skills that involve the graphing calculator.  Using screenshots, I was able to make it work in Educreations, but it wasn't as user-friendly as I would like for my students.  Here is an example of one of these videos.

Then, my wonderful colleague Midge Snow came to the rescue!  The app Explain Everything allows you to add a video within a video!  Here are two sample videos that I created for my honors geometry course:

Some helpful tips:

- Make the video to be inserted into the main video first.  

- Remember that Explore Everything is editable.  Unlike Educreations, you can rewind and override previous recordings, so the whole video is not lost if you make a mistake!

- Explore & practice.  Don't expect to make a perfect video the first time.  Allow enough time for you to make mistakes and correct them.

If you would like any help in creating a video within a video, please feel free to contact me or to stop down in the Collab Lab!

Combining technology and AP standards

Today the CollabLab welcomes guest blogger Kirsten Fletcher, a French teacher at Elk Grove.  She can be reached @MmeFletch

One of the standards for the new AP French test requires students to listen to authentic texts. While searching for comprehensible texts this summer during an AP conference, I came across a project created by an elementary teacher in France called “Photo de classe."

This project contains several videos interviewing elementary students on a variety of topics: their families, immigration, languages they speak, racism and what it means to be “French.” In addition, each student created their own video talking about themselves. It seemed to me this fit in perfectly with the AP theme “Quête de soi,” or Personal and Public Identities.

So the question became, how to use this amazing resource in class? We began by listening to the videos posted on the site. Since it is authentic language (not created for Americans), students were exposed to grammatical structures and vocabulary that they would not otherwise have seen. After watching parts in class, students went home and watched videos to see what individual French students had to say about themselves. The next day, they summarized what they had seen in small groups. We brainstormed what elements we had seen in the videos that we could use to talk about ourselves.

Then I assigned a video self-portrait. We took the elements that we had determined constituted “identity” and students had to include many of them in their project. First, they made a PicCollage as a starting point for their self-portrait. Then, they wrote out their presentation in a Google Doc and gave me permission to edit. After revising based on my suggestions, they recorded their 2 minute self-portraits. I gave them the option to use apps such as ShowMe, Educreations and Explain Everything. I also graded them based on the AP rubric, so they had to pay attention to vocabulary, grammar, formal register, sentence structure, and organization.

So far, the videos have turned out to be amazing. I’m thinking about posting them in some kind of public format just like the teacher whose classroom we observed did.

Student sample 1: http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=tuyZw2q

Student sample 2: http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=KiPkoN6

Interactive Whiteboards and Student-made Videos: A Review

Today the CollabLab welcomes guest blogger Quinn Loch, a Science teacher at Elk Grove HS.  He can be reached @Mr_Loch_EGHS

Interactive whiteboards on the iPad provide a way for you to record your voice and writing so they can be watched later. This can be great for providing notes to your students both inside and outside of class. Conversely, students can also use interactive whiteboards to explain and share their understanding of a topic related to your content. This provides a unique way for students to retain information and concepts--we all know the best way to remember something is to teach/explain it to someone!

Lots of options are available, and there is no “perfect” option. Below is my list of pros and cons for the more popular interactive whiteboards available on the App Store. By no means is this a complete list. Your best bet is to try them out yourself.

Explain Everything ($2.99)

Pros:

- Very powerful – Lots of export and import features

- Lets you edit videos during and after being made – great for when you make mistakes!

Cons:

- Takes a long time to encode a video (Encoding is done on the iPad.  A 3 minute video may take 5 minutes to encode)

- Not free

ShowMe (Free)

Pros:

- Easy to share videos – Great for student made videos

- Very easy to use

- Mp4 versions of your videos can be downloaded from their website

Cons:

- Cannot zoom in while writing/recording

- Videos can’t be sent directly to YouTube

Educreations (Free + In App Purchases)

Pros:

- Lots of shared videos from other teachers

- Very easy to use

Cons:

- Lots of features require a “Pro” account. (Unlimited number of videos, video file exporting)

- Can’t record a multipage document

- Can’t zoom in while writing/recording

bContext (Free + In App Purchases)

Pros:

- Lets you move between multi-page documents without breaking up the recording

Cons:

- $0.99 per video to mp4 (however videos can be downloaded after being uploaded to YouTube for free)

- Posts to YouTube can take very long (videos are encoded on their end, not on the iPad)

In my opinion, Explain Everything is the best overall option and is worth the money. Otherwise, I think ShowMe is the best free option. The reason I point out the ability to convert to mp4 is that having the raw video file gives you freedom to post it in lots of places and is more “futureproof” in the sense that it’s not associated with an app/service that might not be around forever.

I have used Explain Everything for my video notes, ShowMe for student created videos, and bContext for making video keys for ACT benchmarks.

Ultimately it all comes down to personal preference and your end goal. I hope some of this information helps! Thanks for reading!