For the project I created a VoiceThread presentation. I wanted to create a lesson that students could access outside of the classroom, but still interact with other students. I first created a presentation in PowerPoint. I saved the slides as .png files and uploaded them to my account in VoiceThread. I wrote a script to go with the slides and recorded comments to the slides in VoiceThread. I tried to create a movie using PowerPoint slides by saving the slide presentation as a .mov file. But I didn't like the way it looked. I then tried to create a movie in iMovie, but the slide frames were cropped. So I added created some other slides and then created audio and video comments. I invited everyone in the class to view the VoiceThread and add comments.
While I like the mini lesson I created I think that the best use of this application would be for shorter, student generated presentations like the presentation that my daughter created. It was very easy to do and she had a blast creating it!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Well, nobody's perfect
Well, OpenOffice crashed and I lost a day's work. Oh well. The lesson is save, save, save.
It's done!
I have finally finished my presentation in VoiceThread. Here is the link/location:
http://voicethread.com/share/551370/
Please feel free to add comments to the video. Experiment with the different types of comments!
You will need to create a free k-12 VoiceThread account in order to comment.
I had problems getting a creating a movie that I liked in PowerPoint. I tried to edit the PowerPoint movie in iMovie, but the frame size on the slides were too big. The slides kept being cut off. So I added a few more slides and created a video comment as an example. I still can't draw and talk at the same time!
http://voicethread.com/share/551370/
Please feel free to add comments to the video. Experiment with the different types of comments!
You will need to create a free k-12 VoiceThread account in order to comment.
I had problems getting a creating a movie that I liked in PowerPoint. I tried to edit the PowerPoint movie in iMovie, but the frame size on the slides were too big. The slides kept being cut off. So I added a few more slides and created a video comment as an example. I still can't draw and talk at the same time!
Templates created for thesis
I created templates for the thesis document in Word and OpenOffice. For word, I created both a .doc file and a .dotx file. The .dotx file can be used with the project manager/template feature in Word.
In order for Word to find the template, it needs to be placed in the following folder:
/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/My Templates/.
I created templates for OpenOffice as well. The .odt file is a document. The .ott is a template file. OpenOffice looks for the template files in:
/user/user_name/Library/Application_support/OpenOffice.org/3/user/template/
To use a template in OpenOffice, select the templates icon at startup and look in the my templates folder.
I think that these will be uploaded to a server at UCSD. Jim will let us know where we can access them.
In order for Word to find the template, it needs to be placed in the following folder:
/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/My Templates/.
I created templates for OpenOffice as well. The .odt file is a document. The .ott is a template file. OpenOffice looks for the template files in:
/user/user_name/Library/Application_support/OpenOffice.org/3/user/template/
To use a template in OpenOffice, select the templates icon at startup and look in the my templates folder.
I think that these will be uploaded to a server at UCSD. Jim will let us know where we can access them.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Open Office rocks!
I finally got tired of all of the bugs and oddities that I was running into with MSWord 2008 for Mac. The final straw was the "can't save file" bug that nearly lost me a good deal of work. I finally cut and paste the section that I could not save to a Google Doc and then had to reset my machine!
So I moved my document over to OpenOffice. What a difference! When I tried to create a .pdf file in Word, I ended up with 14 different .pdfs because I was using both portrait and landscape page layouts in my document. With OpenOffice I ended up with one .pdf, correctly formatted. If you want to know more about OpenOffice check out this site http://www.openoffice.org/. There are a few formatting differences between OpenOffice and Word, but nothing drastic. The help files are very complete and actually helpful! I will create a thesis template in OpenOffice for anyone who is interested.
So I moved my document over to OpenOffice. What a difference! When I tried to create a .pdf file in Word, I ended up with 14 different .pdfs because I was using both portrait and landscape page layouts in my document. With OpenOffice I ended up with one .pdf, correctly formatted. If you want to know more about OpenOffice check out this site http://www.openoffice.org/. There are a few formatting differences between OpenOffice and Word, but nothing drastic. The help files are very complete and actually helpful! I will create a thesis template in OpenOffice for anyone who is interested.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Can't talk and draw at the same time!
Well, the drawing tool is neat, but I found out that I can't talk and draw at the same time. My brain goes into overload! I have added a "movie" that I created in PowerPoint. I forgot to export the soundtrack with it, so the movie is silent. I think that I should still be able to add comments to it in VoiceThread. My husband said that he tried to send a phone comment, but I have not seen it yet. I am going to try to add a video comment tonight.
Can do audio and drawing at the same time
I found out that you can do audio and drawing comments at the same time. So I am going to re-record some of the comments and use these features. I am also going to try to create a video that I am going to insert as a comment or as another frame.
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