wireWax is a new service (still in beta) that takes the concept of YouTube annotations and makes it much better. On wireWax you can build interactive tags into your videos. Each tag that you add to your video have another video from YouTube or Vimeo or an image from Facebook, Flickr, or Instagram. A tag can also include an audio track from SoundCloud or a reference article from Qwiki.
What makes using wireWax different from using the YouTube annotations tool is that clicking on your tags (what YouTube calls annotations) does not send you outside of the video you're currently watching. This means that you can watch a video within a video or view a picture or listen to a different audio track within the original video. When you click a tag in the original video the video pauses and the tagged item is displayed.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore iPad App Trailer from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.
LA Moon Bot Studios are pushing the envelope on interactive story-telling via beautiful and innovative iPad app design
Maybe this short trailer can trigger more e-learning ideas :>)
Well,
that was quick. Right after yesterday's surprising announcement,
Sony flew its yet-to-be-released NEX-VG10 camcorder into London just in time for
today's showcase event. Naturally, we had to get our hands on this shiny baby,
and boy we were impressed. In case you missed the news, this snazzy device is
the world's first consumer HandyCam with interchangeable lens, meaning you can
share E-mount lenses with your young NEX DSLRs, or take advantage of
the abundant A-mount lenses with the help of an adapter (which will cost you
extra, mind you). Likewise, there are also hot and cold shoe mounts on the mic
shaft to cater your current camera accessories. Read on for our thoughts on the
rest of the camcorder -- we've put together a little sample clip for you at the
end as well.
There
isn't much to complain about with this $2,000 (and, sadly, possibly £2,000 for
the Brits) piece of kit in terms of appearance and ergonomics. We like being
able to hold it by either the seemingly solid body (using the strap) or the mic
shaft, and both ways provided comfortable grip without much fatigue due to the
light weight (even with the bundled lens). We were also able to quickly master
the jog-dial control next to the 3-inch screen, but for this price, we expected
a touchscreen interface as well to make life easier. As for the bundled F3.5-6.3
18-200mm lens, we found that zooming required a bit more effort than we liked,
so thankfully there's auto focus mode -- just like any ordinary camcorder -- to
save us from further wrist work with the focus ring. We must also point out that
unlike the Olympus PEN,
this Sony camcorder didn't pick up any mechanical noise from its lens auto
focussing; otherwise, this kit totally wouldn't deserve such price tag.
Of
course, what we really care about is the picture and sound quality. All is
revealed in our sample reel below (remember to enable HD playback mode), but in
brief: stunningly accurate colors, sharp 1080/60i picture, and impressive audio
sensitivity (notice how the mic was able to pick up conversations from afar; you
can also enable just the front mics to minimise background noise). You may
notice some shakiness while we were adjusting the lens -- we'll blame it on our
lack of practice from the little hands-on time we had. Regardless, the NEX-VG10
certainly lived up to our expectation, and we look forward to hear what the
filming hobbyists think of this prosumer-level camcorder when it comes out in
September.
Update: commenter
aim120 dropped us a link to Sony's own sample clip. Enjoy!
Where can I host my vodcasts? : Where can I host my vodcasts? There are many sites you can host vodcasts on. There are many sites that are free if you don’t need a huge amount of storage space.
Some free sites to host include:
Podbean
Switchpod
Vimeo
Teacher Tube Can I upload vodcasts to iTunes? : Can I upload vodcasts to iTunes? It’s easy to upload your vodcasts to iTunes!
Download iTunes onto your computer by going to www.apple.com/iTunes.
Open the iTunes Store.
Click on Podcasts – Click on Submit a Podcast!
You will enter your Podcast URL (your host site will have this information) and other information about your podcast
Once you are approved you can search for your podcasts on iTunes!
Please make sure that you have parental consent if you are putting vodcasts online before you start this process!
My class is organized like a syllabus. I need a button for Unit 1, a button for Unit 2. Every time we do a workshop where one of our faculty demonstrates how we’ve adjusted an LMS to make it look like a syllabus, we see light bulbs go on all over the room. We have, over the years, called these workshops things like “Making Blackboard Work for You”, “Redesigning Blackboard”, and “The Interactive Syllabus”. Yesterday our presenters Andrea Petri and Laura Paciorek gave a workshop called “A New Wardrobe for Blackboard: Technical Basics of Instructional Design”. Andrea showed us his class, organized into units, with each unit a page full of links, all in one place for that unit.
We’ve got tutorials, like this one on creating an interactive syllabus in Blackboard by Pilar Hernández . We have a handout showing a logical chapter-based LMS menu. Laura Paciorek made a screencast on how to change the Blackboard menu .
Interesting article! I think one reason why many teachers keep on sticking to the defaults is because _precisely_ BB can be so flexible and do so many things, and there's a lot of templates available. This panoply of choices leads to decision fatigue on the teachers' part: "Which features should I use for presenting to my students? how can I package and so on... arrrrh I'll just stick with the defaults and customize another day."
(Can read more about decision fatigue at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-from-decision-fatigue.html)
So, I think our training strategies would have to recognize and take into account this human tendency to choose the easy defaults, especially when mentally tired.
Defaults are bad? hmmm... My son started using the kiddy skate scooter about 4 mths ago and he does it like a pro now. When I bought the scooter, it came with 'default settings', i.e. all fixed up and ready to use. He had a go at it and we adjusted the height and widen the handles along the way. He grew more confident and I removed the trainer wheels. I cannot imagine when the scooter came without any 'default settings', i.e. 4 wheels, 2 bars, rubber tubes, etc, I will be quite frustrated setting it up from scratch and my son will be climbing all over me.
Defaults cannot be seen as something bad in my opinion. It gives new users or busy people something to start with, I personally appreciate that. When we design instructions, we provide foundations to get our learners started, building blocks or scaffolding their learning as they progress. A range of basic, intermediate or advanced instructional plans can also be presented later on.
Essentially, what are the characteristics of our learners or the users of BB? What do you think they need?
Demographics of our acad staffs for example are quite 'senior adult learners' (correct me if I am wrong). Do we think we want to present a blank BB page and tell them, 'hey, guess what? its all about customisation now, whatever you want, put it in.' No prize for guessing what their reactions will be.
On the other hand, there maybe a group of people who do not want to conform to defaults but to change things or customise their experiences. Nothing wrong with that too.
My point is, let's provide a range of options for users, we inform that there are default settings to get them started but there are also room for customisation for the adventurous. We want to be learner centric, hence customisation of experiences but we also do not want to leave anyone behind.
That said, I am going to change all my default passwords and user ids of my mobile.... no wonder banks have been calling me to ask if I needed loans.
Informalizing formal learning content brings it closer to
the learner and provides for more learning that is “accidental,”
or unplanned.
ELearning
animated assets, for example quick product demonstrations, are ideal
for posting to a site such as YouTube or Vimeo. Not only do these
sorts of demonstrations provide concise, targeted training but they
can also be teasers to draw people to more formal learning, such as a
full training course, of which the demonstration is just a part.
Another
easy way to informalize formal learning content is to reposition it
closer to a product rather than have it stand alone. It is possible
to convert portions of a Web-based eLearning course to “digital
cheat sheets” and to incorporate these in product documentation, or
embed them into the product itself. These can also serve as teasers
to draw people back for additional or advanced formal training.
You
may be asking, "What then is the difference between informal and
formal learning content?" The main difference is that informalized
learning is simple, concise, rich, and easy to find and understand.
It starts many users down the path of learning. Once their learning
process has begun, users may choose to take advantage of more formal
learning media.
Engaging users simply, directly and quickly
via informal methods is key to recruiting them into more in-depth and
traditional learning formats.