Tips for Successful Student-Created Videos

Today’s Topic:
Tips for Successful Student-Created Videos
Tech Tip: Convert Word 2007 Files With Zamzar
  • What are the “must-know” tips to create effective digital videos?

  • Are there some ready-made digital video lessons to implement easily at the end of the school year?

  • Where can I find an effective rubric to use when evaluating student video projects?

Ten Tips for Capturing Great Video
The Apple Computer staff provides a checklist of ten important things to consider when shooting a video.

Windows XP: Get Started With Windows Movie Maker
The staff at Microsoft has developed an online “how to” center for using Movie Maker to edit and add titles to digital videos.

iMovie HD Support
The Apple in Education site provides detailed support for how to work with video clips, titles, special effects and audio files in iMovie HD.

Digital Kids Club
The Adobe Software staff has created a variety of digital video lessons with step-by-step instructions accompanied by screen shots.

Video Project Rubric
UW-Stout’s Joan Vandervelde has created an excellent rubric to use when evaluating student video projects.

Tech Tip – Convert Word 2007 Files With Zamzar
The new .docx file format used by Microsoft Word 2007 is not compatible with earlier versions of Word. When a colleague sends you a Word 2007 file, it may be difficult to open that file if you only have Word 2003 on your computer. However, the Zamzar Web site now offers free file conversions from .docx to .doc files which are recognized by previous versions of Word.

Simply go to the Zamzar Web site and follow the four easy steps to convert your files. The converted files are sent to your email address. You can also use Zamzar to shrink audio and video files to more manageable sizes.

Announcements
Are you looking for a graduate course to meet your recertification requirements in 2007?
Sign up for summer session soon. List of summer online courses.Registration closes ten days before the course start date to allow time for assigning user names, passwords, and university email accounts.

What Our Students Are Saying…
About the Digital Media and Visual Literacy course:

"This course was exactly what I wanted and needed. I signed up for it simply to move my teaching career in a new direction: multimedia journalism. I am happy with this class and very happy that it met my expectations."
~ Instructor, Madison Area Technical College, Madison, Wisconsin- Madison, Wisconsin

"If you want to make quality video productions, this is the class for you. Make some time in your busy schedule to take this important and necessary step to better videos."
~ Educational Technologist from Ohio

"What I liked best was that this class answered questions that I would never have known to ask...in other words, it enlightened me to what I actually needed to know about video in order to not only use it more effectively, but teach it!"
~ Art, Computer Art, Video Production Teacher - Wurzburg, Germany

Call University of Wisconsin-Stout Online Professional Development (715) 642-0209 if you have questions. UW-Stout is an "international-student- friendly" program.


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posted by Karen Franker, Editor @ 5/15/2007 12:16:00 PM  

Wikis Re-Visited: How Teachers Are Using Wikis


Today's Topics:


Wikis Re-Visited: How Teachers Are Using Wikis
Tech Tip: Creating Online "To Do" Lists

  • How are wikis transforming teaching and learning in 2007?

  • What are some effective ways to use wikis in your classroom?

    Wild About Wikis
    David Jakes explains the educational benefits of wikis and lists some wiki-creation resources. He also includes an “Eleven Wikis to Watch” list and examples of teachers using wikis in the classroom.

    Uses and Potentials of Wikis in the Classroom
    S. Pixy Ferris and Hilary Wilder explain why wikis are a perfect fit for the way today’s digital native students prefer to learn.

    Wiki in a K-12 Classroom
    The WikEd staff provides brief descriptions of seven ways that wikis are effectively incorporated in K-12 classrooms.

    Tech Tip – Creating Online “To Do” Lists
    It can be a challenge to keep track of all those “to do” lists scribbled on sticky notes! Two free online tools make quick work of storing and organizing all of your lists in a central location, and makes them accessible from any Internet-connected device. Here are two popular sites to try:

    BackPack
    Backpack allows you to make pages with to-do lists, notes, files, and images. It also features a Calendar and Reminders that can be sent via email or to your cell phone at predetermined times.

    Remember the Milk
    An easy-to-use tool which allows you to print individual lists or a weekly calendar. Tasks can be prioritized and multiple lists created.

    Announcements
    FREE (Federal Resources for Educational Excellence) Site Redesigned
    A new "subject map" on the FREE site shows more than 100 topics and the number of resources for each. The goal of FREE remains the same: to make it easier for you to find more than 1500 teaching and learning resources available from the federal government.

    What Our Students Are Saying...
    About the online course Digital Media and Visual Literacy:

    "This course is for the educator with an interest in digital video editing. If you want to make quality video productions, this is the class for you. Make some time in your busy schedule to take this important and necessary step to better videos. Books and references are nice, but this class makes your get your hands dirty. If you get involved, the learning improves."
    ~ Educational Technologist from Ohio

    "... the flexibility that working online offers. The readings helped tremendously to clear up some misconceptions I had about copyright, video editing, etc. The resources provided helped tremendously with my classes."
    ~ Computer Teacher/Tech Coordinator - Reading, Massachusetts

    "I have realized that using digital media in the class is a magnificent motivational tool. It allows students to perform and perfect essential life skills such as problem solving, responsibility, cooperation, planning ahead, following a timeline, and perseverance just to name a few."
    ~     Elementary Teacher - Taichung, Taiwan

    Call University of Wisconsin-Stout Online Professional Development (715) 642-0209 if you have questions. UW-Stout is an "international-student- friendly" program.






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posted by Karen Franker, Editor @ 1/21/2007 07:27:00 PM