Z A M Z A R !

I promised this post for one of my colleagues, so here it is, MC!

I know Zamzar isn't new, but it is seriously one of my favorite tools for teaching.  Zamzar converts media.  The best thing about Zamzar is that you can take the URL of a YouTube video (for instance) and Zamzar will make it dowloadable for you-all for free!

We've been using a lot more YouTube videos on my team, especially since Discovery Education has put many of their (including History Channel) videos on YouTube.  Sometimes bandwith or the network going down completely are issues at our school, so if you can turn that streaming content into a saved file on your hard drive, you can continue on with your lesson.

I've made an instructional video showing how to use Zamzar.  I hope you find Zamzar just as useful as I have.

Tech Tuesday...iPhone

A fantastic (and free) app for your iPhone or iTouch in the classroom is called RemotePad-it works as a presentation remote, but allows you to control the computer remotely (not just in PowerPoint), it even has a keyboard.  If you use PowerPoint & a SmartBoard (or any projection set up), you will benefit from using this app.

To use it, you need to have your phone and computer running on the same network (via IP or network name).  Once you download the app, there is a file to download (also free) to the computer you are using.  Just open the program on your computer and then run the app on your iPhone.

A benefit of using this over a regular presentation remote is obviously that it's free (if you already have an iPhone/iTouch) and that it runs on the network and not as infrared remote, so you can use it from anywhere in your building that runs the same network.  I've been pulled into quick meetings while my students were going through PowerPoint notes; I kept going through the slides from another room.  

There are other presentation-type apps for the iPhone, I've tried a couple of others, including one that allowed you to preview slides directly on your phone, but RemotePad seems to be one of the best ones in terms of reliability and functionality for the price

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Every Move You Make.

I know there have been times that for whatever reason, I would have liked to record what I'm doing on my desktop as a video to share with colleagues and students.  Perhaps it is new software that you are sharing with other teachers or showing your students how to take an exam using eCART or Blackboard.  This post will outline two methods of doing so.  For each of these options, I've created a video (using the other one) to walk you through the steps-so the video about SmartBoard was made using CamStudio and vice versa.

If you have SmartBoards at your school, you'll have access to the SmartBoard software/tools.  Within that software, there is a recorder (video) included with it.  

If you do not have access to the SmartBoard software and/or you wish to do this on your home computer, you can get similar software online for free with CamStudio (video).  CamStudio is free software for Windows that allows you to record from your desktop - you can then save the file. 

After using both of these applications, I think CamStudio is a much better product.  Here's why:  

• Although you have to download it, it's much easier to use.
• The recording is better, especially the audio. Did you notice on the CamStudio video, the first few seconds are difficult to hear?  I used the SmartBoard recorder to make that video and it seems to be an ongoing problem with it.
• There are more options for customization within CamStudio.

While working on this post, I did download Jing, which has a very snappy interface and is both PC and Mac compatible.  However, while it does have a free version, you are limited to non-.avi file saving and there seems to be widespread problems with audio.

Image Editing

I've recently come across Aviary.  It's mainly an image editor (although it does seem to have some audio editing, which I have not tested).  Aviary seems like it could be a great tool for students, it's not new, but what is new is that all of it's tools are now free.  I know the kids at my school have access to Photoshop while at school, but since it's very expensive software, most kids do not have it at home.  Aviary makes many of the Photoshop tools available for free.  It is a great way for students to be creative visually without having to spend money on software-the website even has tutorial videos, so you can learn how to use it, too!

An example of what you can with Aviary (from Aviary website):