The ability to record and insert audio files in electronic graphic organizers is highly useful for ELL students and beginning readers. Teachers can easily record and insert directions as audio files within diagrams.
To record and insert an audio file in Kidspiration™:
Enable the sound recording feature by going to the Teacher menu, selecting Enable Teacher Menu [...]
Students of all ages make connections with prior knowledge and build literacy skills with visual scaffolding/organizing tools such as Inspiration® and Kidspiration software. Here are some of the best teacher-created examples to serve as starting points for developing visually-based literacy lessons:
Make Children’s Books Come Alive With Technology
Mindy Ramon and Debbie Blake of the Cobb County [...]
The eLearning Guild provides an excellent free downloadable e-book of favorite tips for using eLearning software. Tips were compiled by surveying 122 eLearning Guild members in the area of:
Rapid e-Learning tools
Simulation tools
Media tools
Combining and deploying authoring tools
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Setting Up a Microphone for VoiceThread (Windows and Mac)
To use VoiceThread’s audio recording capabilities, you need a computer with either an external or internal (built-in) microphone. Here are two multimedia tutorials showing how to set up your microphone.
Windows tutorial: http://voicethread.com/share/415/
Mac tutorial: http://voicethread.com/share/416/
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VoiceThread is a highly-praised Web-based tool which enables students and teachers to add text and audio commentary to digital images and create unique interactive presentations. Educators can apply for a free VoiceThread Pro account by signing in, clicking the Create tab – ‘Go Pro’ – ‘K-12 classroom educators’.
What’s a VoiceThread, Anyway?
VoiceThread founders Ben Papell [...]
A host of free “mini-apps” are available to personalize your computer workspace for fun and productivity, and to gather your frequently-used information resources in one spot. In Macintosh OS X, these are called “dashboard widgets”, in Yahoo they are “widgets”, in Windows Vista they are “sidebar gadgets” and in iGoogle they are simply “gadgets”. [...]
Tip #115 – Three Must-Know Podcasting Microphone Tips (Adapted from Andy Williams Affleck, author of Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac)
Many podcasts suffer from poor quality in the audio. The proper use of a microphone can greatly enhance your podcasts. Here are three top tips for maximizing the effectiveness of any microphone:
1. Don’t put [...]
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 [...]
A lesser-known but highly useful feature of Google is its built-in calculator function.
Need to find out how many miles are in 5 kilometers? Simply type in “miles in 5 kilometers” in Google’s search box, and the answer is calculated for you.
Google will also do quick currency and recipe conversions. Type “50 Euros in dollars” to [...]
PDF (Portable Document Files) are a popular way to share Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and other files because PDF’s can be read by many different operating systems and can easily be posted on a Web site without losing special formatting. Users of the Macintosh OS X operating system have built-in PDF conversion through the Print window.
However, [...]
