Webinar recording: Even MORE uses of PowerPoint (19/06/2013)

Last week our webinar was entitled ‘Did you know PowerPoint could do all this?’ where we looked at 10 uses of PowerPoint apart from the normal use of making a presentation. This week we look at Part 2 of the series entitled ‘Even MORE amazing uses of PowerPoint’. Do we realise the potential that lies within this Microsoft product? You’ll be astounded to see how many more uses there are for PowerPoint and that it could be one of the most powerful and diverse applications you use.
Name:Even MORE amazing uses of PowerPoint
Summary: This is part two in the series about Microsoft's PowerPoint showing even more uses than we looked at last week. You will discover that PowerPoint is both powerful and diverse in the ways that it can be used.
Presenter: Fiona Beal from SchoolNet
Recording URL:  http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/p49j0dtg4lg/

Here is a SlideShare of the presentation used in the webinar for a quick summary
Even more uses of PowerPoint

Have you explored using Kerpoof for digital storytelling?

Kerpoof as a writing tool was brought to my attention by one of our SchoolNet members, Warren Sparrow from Rondebosch Boys Prep. He has a post about Kerpoof on his blog (http://wsparrow.blogspot.com/2013/06/kerpoof.html) and he has even created the first part of his own fairytale.

What is Kerpoof?
This is what it says on the Kerpoof website http://www.kerpoof.com/
“Kerpoof's multimedia software is used by kids worldwide to create original artwork, animated movies, stories, greeting cards and more. The site is meant to be fun, but we're serious about its educational value. Elementary and middle school teachers can use Kerpoof in many ways to enhance classroom activities while meeting a range of educational standards.”

What does a Kerfoof video look like?
This is what Warren Sparrow writes on his blog. “Make your own animations. This is SUPER COOL and easy to use.Ideal for younger learners! Click below to see my start of a fairytale”
http://wsparrow.blogspot.com/2013/06/kerpoof.html

Thanks for this Warren. I have put this into a Screencastomatic video for easier viewing on the blog.

Webinar recording from 12 June 2013 'Did you know that PowerPoint can do all this?'

Yesterday Our SchoolNet webinar was entitled 'Did you know that PowerPoint can do all this?'  (presenter Fiona Beal)  Our webinar quota was reached and consequently Adobe Connect excluded several people from participating in the webinar. We apologise for this and we are adding the presentation plus the recording to this post. 

The webinar summary
This webinar was the first in a two part series about Microsoft's PowerPoint. Often one hears the words 'Death by PowerPoint' but in fact this programme has a HUGE variety of wonderful uses that you may not know about. There are many exciting ways to conduct presentations - Keynote and Prezi just to name two.  In this first webinar we introduced some of the amazing things that can be done with PowerPoint other than just being used for presentations.  A subtitle for this webinar could be 'Ten things that you can do using PowerPoint apart from the normal use of making a presentation'. But these amazing uses won't be all - next week we'll continue with more PowerPoint features that you might not know about. Join us!

Webinar recording (20 mins)
Thank you to those who attended or wanted to attend. Here is the link to the recording.
http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/p5ae57e6jn7/

The presentation used for the webinar

Did you know PowerPoint could do all this? from Fiona Beal

Create video notes when watching YouTube videos

http://www.videonot.es/
Video notes is a great new tool that enables you to watch a video online and take notes at the same time. This could work really well with information that you want students to explore. This free application works with a number of applications:

How VideoNotes works

Step 1. Open VideoNotes
For the purpose of this post we will explore how it works with  YouTube in particular. The way it work with YouTube is that you open VideoNotes (http://www.videonot.es/) and synchronize it with Google Drive.

Step 2. Notice the dual screen
You’ll notice that VideoNotes opens up a dual screen. The left side is for the video and the right side is a notepad for taking notes. This sychronizes with Google Drive where the notes will be saved. This would enable you to collaborate on your notes just as you would if you were collaborating on a Google Document.

The video leaves a place marker at each new note, which is a very helpful feature.


A fantastic presentation on VideoNotes from Matt Newland in Hong Kong
Matt is a Google certified teacher who lives in Hong Kong, and he sent the group his presentation saying “Here is the presentation I did on Video Notes at the HK Google Summit. Please feel free use.” This gives a great overview of VideoNotes plus detailed steps for using the application.. The presentation also shows the video that went viral (also on the news) from Duncanville High when a student complained about the old-fashioned way the teacher was teaching. 

VideoNotes in the Classroom Presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10eis7InH6wWKMVT8ahD6Kj2Yk0w6uneplHtGeXGOK6o/edit?usp=sharing
Matt includes an example task you could set your students at the end of the presentation.

Classroom Use of VideoNotes
1. The teacher or the students could create very useful tutorials.
2. Students could create the videos as a way of presenting work with notes.
3. Students in groups could divide up a task and each find or create relevant videos with notes to empower the rest of the group.
4. Students could use VideoNotes for research and note-taking purposes
5. Students could view curriculum material, respond to it and share their responses.

You are invited to a ToolTeach in Cape Town on Thursday 13 June from 4pm–5:30pm

If you live in Cape Town and want to know more about creating movies in the classroom, or maybe you have ideas to share on how you have done this - please join our 1.5 hours networking & ToolTeach on Thursday afternoon from 4pm – 5:30pm at St Cyprians. This is something new that we would like to introduce to Cape Town teachers.


At a recent Innovation workshop Glenn Bunger from LEAP Schools,   Corrine Cornelius from St Cyprians and Fiona Beal from SchoolNet  felt they wanted to start a regular ToolTeach for teachers who would like to share creative ideas on how to bring more technology into their teaching. This ToolTeach will encourage networking among teachers and will concentrate on one particular tool that teachers will find useful in the classroom. The tool selected for the first ToolTeach is Windows Live Movie Maker which is a free tool from Microsoft's Partners in Learning Network. The reason this was chosen is because Microsoft’s Innovative Educator Expert competition is in progress and it requires a two minute video about the lesson you enter for the competition. This ToolTeach will show you some ideas for this.

The format of the ToolTeach on 13 June

16:00:
Networking. Tea and coffee will be served
16:15: 
An introduction to this tool and its effectiveness.
16:25: 
Teachers who have used Windows Live Movie maker in the classroom will share on how they have used this tool successfully. You are invited to share.
16:45:      
Practical session. How to make a video using Windows Movie Maker (bring a few digital photos and/or movie footage along for this session if you would like to)
16:25:
Plan the next ToolTeach

Join us via this Eventbrite link

If you would like to join us at this first meeting please click on this Eventbrite link to add your name to confirm your attendance: http://toolteach-moviemaker.eventbrite.com

Have you discovered Learnist boards? Try creating one...

Submitted by Fiona Beal

With the Internet being so HUGE educators have to become master curators of content. I like this definition  from Robin Good (http://goo.gl/j3yVL)

A Learnist Board is a really useful way to curate the information that you need. I love using Pinterest and I love using Scoopit, but what I like about Learnist is that it is only one column and you can set it out in steps of your own choosing.

Take a look around a Grade 1 teacher’s Learnist Boards

Take a look around Carrie Sorenson’s Learnist boards. This is a screencast (without voice) just showing how this teacher has used Learnist to curate information that she wants to keep.

How to create a Learnist Board

Here is a presentation on creating a Learnist Board that I made as a recent TeachMeet presentation.

Have you considered creating a Learnist Board? from Fiona Beal

Embed your Learnist board in your blog

One of the newer improvements in Learnist boards is that you can embed them in your blog. So, to date I have created two Learnist boards and I am going to try embedding them in this post.

1) iPad summit collection, Boston 2013

I didn't go to the iPad summit in Boston, last year but I followed it closely and created a Learnist board about it.

2) Great tips for creating PowerPoint presentations




Education uses of Learnist boards

• Keeps all resources together in a particular order
• It is accessible from wherever one is
• One can share a board with others
• One can follow others with similar interests.
• Students could also use Learnist for a project to show the sites they used
• Is available as an Ipad and an Android app

A great feature in Blogger – Schedule your blogpost

One of the really useful features that  blogging platforms, and definitely Blogger, includes is the ability to write a post and then schedule when you would like it to be published.  I haven't used this much in the past, but now, writing about it, I can see a lot of advantages to using this feature.  I thought I would give a quick outline here on how to do this.

1. Write your post in the normal manner using the new post template and give the post its title.

2. When you have finished look for the word Schedule on the right side and click on it.

3. Click on Add date and time. Select the date and choose the time. (Note:You need to make sure that your blog is set to the time zone of your country before you start with it. That can be done by going to Settings on your dashboard and choosing Language and Formatting/Time Zone.) When you are done choose Done!

4. Now you need to click on Publish. Under normal circumstances this would publish your blogpost to the web immediately – but you’ll get a pleasant surprise when you see the post only publishes at the set time on the chosen day. Wonderful!

Try it sometime.

An African Storybook Project Report back from Stirling Primary in East London

Here is another class hard at work creating stories for the African Storybook Project.  I have written about the African Storybook Project in a number of posts. The website is hopefully going live in July with stories written by South Africa teachers. If you would like your class to write stories suitable for Grade 3 students across Africa to read, please submit them by 21 June and use the guidelines found in this post. There’s still time to submit a story suitable for a Grade 3 reader for the African Storybook project. Join us!

This is a picture of Liesel Kruger from Stirling Primary School in East London.

Liesel Kruger from East London

"We are finally finished writing all the stories and I am nearing the end of
the editing.  We will be using Story Jumper to illustrate our stories and
then we will snip the pictures to use them in our PowerPoint shows.  My children
are so  enjoying Story Jumper.  In fact, my class today asked if they could
stay in at break and carry on! That says it all don't you think?  Still
quite a way to go, but so far so good... Thank you."

These are photos of the Grade 3s at work with their stories.


Thank you so much Liesel for sending this lovely report back. 

New additions to Google Hangouts– including an icon to take snapshots of the group!

One of the Google features I absolutely love is Google Hangouts. They have incredible potential for the teacher in the classroom, for professional development purposes and for older students to use for collaboration. Google, of course, is always improving its projects and you never know when something is about to improve before your eyes, and this has proved true of Hangouts! Here are three new features that I have noticed.

1. 'Hangouts chat' now get an extension on the Chrome toolbar
Chrome is such a versatile browser to use. My browser bar is populated with extensions which enable a quick and seamless browser experience which puts everything at your fingertips. You just click on the required extension on your browser bar and “it happens”.  

Google has recently created an extension for Hangouts called ‘Hangout chats’ and I have just added it to my toolbar. With this app, you just click on it and it opens a screen in the bottom right hand corner of your browser page for chatting to whoever is a member of your Google+ community. This reminds me of the Skype chat feature which I often felt was sadly missing with hangouts.


2. A new video launcher app for Hangouts
Another new feature is a video launcher app for hangouts. This can be added to the Chrome
apps section of your browser on any device and it enables you to launch a hangout from there. What could be simpler! You can see mine on the second row from the bottom in the screenshot below.




3. Take snapshots while you are talkingOne can have a lot of fun while participating in a Hangout, and the newest addition for this is the addition of the camera icon with the word ‘Capture’ on the left side.  I experienced a reunion hangout with buddies from the New York Google Teacher Academy 2012 on Sunday evening and this was a good opportunity to try this out. (This regular reunion is a fun time of catching up with news and views, and various teachers slip in and out of the Hangout as their time permits.) On the side bar below you can see the word ‘Capture’. Whenever anyone clicks on it it takes a photo of whoever is in focus but the awesome is that it lets everyone know so that there is no secrecy about it.

Below you can see JR Ginex-Orinion, a Science High School teacher from New York, with his cute little daughter, Katie. He was preparing for her birthday party so we were singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her; and you can see that some of us captured snapshots. The camera icon at the side tells how many snapshots have been snapped and the little camera then settles on the thumbnail photo below the main picture showing who took the photo.

All the photos taken by anyone on the Hangout appear on one’s Google+ events stream afterwards and I particularly liked this one captured by Linda Yollis from Los Angeles.

If you haven’t tried Google Hangouts before you really are missing out!  They are free with your Google account. Try them!

Creative Writing #12: An African Storybook Project report back from Princess Primary School in Roodepoort

Thank you so much to those who are sending in their stories about how their writing is going for the African Storybook Project. This is a fantastic project for Grades 1-3 children in Africa where the plan is to create an awesome website of stories that teachers and their classes around Africa can use. The blog post that gives more information about this project is: There’s still time to submit a story suitable for a Grade 3 reader for the African Storybook project. Join us!

The story in this post comes from Princess Primary School in Roodepoort where Eden Daniels teachers Grade 7. Listen to what she has to say:

“I am Eden Daniels,the Grade 7 English teacher at Princess Primary School in Roodepoort.

Eden Daniels from Princess Primary School in Roodepoort

When I first read of this amazing project I thought of incorporating  it into my Creative Writing Assignment for Term 3.The learners first wrote their stories in their Classwork books then transferred it to the computers in the computer centre.I had never seen kids so excited about a project before.They actually begged to remain in the computer centre  during breaks and after school.

We don't have an ICT  teacher at our school any more so I don't have help at school. The 4 week course really helped.The free image websites really assisted the kids. I downloaded many pictures according to the children's requests as most of them are underprivileged and do not have computers at home.These pictures were then copied onto the computers for them to pick and choose from.Some of them brought their own pictures and others submitted drawings.”

Thank you so much for this wonderful report back Eden. I am thrilled to hear how the class enjoyed writing.

Creative Writing #11:An African Storybook project report back from Karin Horne

I am always so thrilled when teachers send in some information about their writing for the African Storybook Project. I would like to thank Karin Horne, the Deputy Principal from Crawford Preparatory in Pretoria for sending in this picture and information. Karin says, “This is a picture of me down loading photographs from my camera and phone, to use in my story.”

Karin Horne from Crawford Preparatory School in Pretoria

Karin has also sent in the delightful story she wrote called ‘The sheep who wanted to knit.”

Thank you so much for sending in all of this to us, Karin. Perhaps you'll write another lovely story as well?

An opportunity for you the reader

If you are reading this and you feel you would like to write a story for the African Storybook Project yourself or with your class before the 21st June, Please could I invite you to do so. The following blogpost has the details...There’s still time to submit a story suitable for a Grade 3 reader for the African Storybook project. Join us!

A few different ways of creating videos

Here are three ways that you can make a video quickly in the classroom

a) Record yourself speaking using your cell phone

This is by far the simplest way. Record yourself talking about a project on your cell phone and download the movie on to your computer.

b) Use Photostory 3 and save it as a movie

Photostory 3 is a free programme that comes with Windows. If you have just photos and you want to add narration to the photos this is the programme for you to use. You can also add text to the photos

Here is a tutorial for using Photostory 3 from the Partners in Learning UK YouTube channel



c) Use Windows Live Windows Movie Maker

If you have a PowerPoint you would like to use you can easily create this into a Windows Movie Maker video. In addition to the PowerPoint you can use extra photos, video clips, music and narration if you want to. 

This is a typical Windows Live Movie Maker interface. 

If you look at the image above you’ll see that there is a place that says ‘Add videos and photos’. After you do this the media clips appear on the timeline on the right hand side. Then after that you add as many effects as you like. You can even add titles and credits to your movie.  This video from Microsoft gives the overall perspective

Let's do this step by step

a) Create a PowerPoint about your project.

b) Save each slide on your PowerPoint as a separate JPEG or PNG file.
If you are not sure how to turn each slide into a picture here is a PDF that someone created showing you the steps to saving each slide as an image http://www.rcs.k12.va.us/glms/ppt2video.pdf

c) These slides are now separate images so save them to Windows Live Movie maker in the normal way.

d) If you have any movie clips you want to add do this now and place the clips exactly where you want them to be. 

e) Now add sound to your search bar on your computer. Just ask for Sound Recorder - it is part of Windows. It will appear immediately. as shown below.

This video from YouTube will show you the steps for adding Sound Recorder.

(Another way to do this would be to download a free programme called Audacity and save your words as MP3 files. Add them to Windows Live Movie maker where it says 'Add music'.)

f) Once you have added the sound to all the parts where you want a sound, save the completed file as a movie on your computer.