Category Archives: #edchat

Embedding a Video in Blogger (without YouTube)

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UPDATE: Currently (10/31/2014) this does not work in the new Google Drive. The new Drive won’t allow you to open a video in the Google Drive viewer. You’ll need to revert back to the old Google Drive to get the embed code (Step 2 below). To get back the old Drive, click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the Drive screen and select “Leave the new Drive.”

More and more teachers these days are blogging as a way to communicate with parents and the community about what they are up to. And more and more teachers are using handheld devices (smartphones and tablets) to record what happens in their classroom. Embedding from YouTube is a great way to share videos, but what if you don’t want to (or can’t) use YouTube? There’s another way:

You’ll need to:

  1. Store the video in Google Drive
  2. Get the embed code
  3. Embed the video in Blogger

Step 1: Storing a Video in Google Drive

Storing videos to share in your Google Drive is all well and good, but you have to make sure you don’t (ever, ever) delete them or they’ll disappear from your blog. Because of this, I suggest creating a folder for blog files. Be sure to set the Sharing settings so others can see the contents of that folder.

How? Once you’ve created your blog folder, select it and click the sharing button.

Select your blog folder, and change the sharing settings.

Change the privacy settings for the folder.

Change the privacy settings for the folder.

Select “Anyone with the link” and save.

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Now anythings that goes in this folder will be available for anyone on the web to see (if they have a direct link; they won’t be able to search for it). And since everything for you blog is going to be stored in a folder together you don’t have to worry about accidentally deleting something.

Step 2: Getting the Embed Code

Once your video is in Drive, open it up. It will default to a preview window. Click the Open button at the bottom. Screen_Shot_2014-01-30_at_2_14_21_PM-3

When the video truly opens, open the File menu and select “Embed this video..”

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Then copy the code it displays to the clipboard.

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Step 3: Embedding Your Video in Blogger

Now, over to blogger.

When you are creating/editing a post you have the option of the Compose view and the HTML view. You’re probably used to the Compose view.

Switch over to the HTML view.

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Paste the Embed Code. You can ignore the rest of the code; we’re just here to drop off the embed code.

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And switch back to the Compose view. A video window will appear in your post.

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Your blog post has a video and you’re ready to publish!

Note 1: Yes, Blogger does have an option to upload a video directly to them, but I have yet to have consistent luck with that. It either doesn’t work, or the processing takes a prohibitive amount of time.

Note 2: This same embedding process also allows you to embed Google Drive documents, spreadsheets, PDFs etc in Blogger. However, instead of File -> Embed this video, you’re looking for File -> Publish to the web. From there you can grab the Embed Code.

Smartphones, Photos, and Metadata

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We all know some vague, detail-less version of this story:

amber alert logoSomewhere, a loving parent takes a picture of their child with a smartphone and posts the picture online. Some nefarious individual gets a hold of the picture and hacks into it to figure out exactly where the picture was taken. The region finds itself in the grips of an Amber Alert.

Technology is supposed to help us? Can this really happen? And how can I share photos of my kids (they’re so cute after all) and fell safe doing it?

Understanding Digital Photos

If you’re old enough to remember film, you know that a film picture doesn’t carry a whole lot of data with it. It’s basically just a picture. On the back (depending on where you got it developed) may be a printed date, but that was the developing date not the date the photo was taken. The obsessive-compulsive among us found ways to keep track of dates and locations, but that information was not inherently a part of the picture.

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Enter digital photographs. A digital photo file is much more than a physical photograph, so much more. Each file contains a picture, but it also contains something called “metadata,” or data about data. If I dust of my old digital Canon Rebel XSi and take a picture, this is the metadata it records (in addition to the picture itself):

  • Date/time the photo was taken
  • Photo dimensions
  • Color mode
  • Focal length
  • Which lens was on the camera
  • Whether the flash fired
  • Metering mode
  • White balance
  • Aperture and shutter speed
  • Film speed (ISO)
  • My camera’s serial number

And you thought it was just a mere picture. Also, there’s space in the metadata for me to add things like:

  • My name/address/website
  • Copyright information
  • Description
  • Keywords for searching
  • and lots more…

Now there are lots of reasons why this is great data to have access to. As the owner of the photo I have lots of very useful information about each photo (such as all the camera settings). As an end user I can easily find the owner and copyright information of each digital photograph (if that information is filled in). Having all this information on a film-based picture would be highly impracticable, if not impossible.

What About Smartphones

iphone5sSmartphones have one key feature that my Canon digital camera doesn’t have: access to GPS. There’s a space in the metadata for that information too (even the direction you’re facing too). And your GPS is pretty reliable – it can probably tell you what room of your house you are in. Try it now: open the maps app on your phone, switch to satellite view, and zoom in as far as you can. Your phone has a pretty good sense of where on the planet it is (which is pretty amazing if you think about it).

Also, wireless routers know where they are too. So if you connect a non-GPS tablet to the internet via a wireless network (which we all do all the time) you can get some pretty good location data. So just because you don’t have GPS on your device, the capability to get location data is still there.

Now this location data is not inherently bad. As a photographer, being able to tag the location of where I took a photograph is great. How many times have you asked yourself, “Where did I take this picture?” Of course if you’re making the photo public you might not want that information attached to the photo.

The good thing is that as a user, you have the ability to decide which apps have access to your GPS/location data. For things like weather and maps, having those apps know my exact location is a good thing; I want them to know where I am. But maybe not for photos.

Smartphone Settings

photo

For iOS users (iPhones, iPod Touches, iPads), go into your Settings App. Select the Privacy section and then select Location Services. Here, you can select which apps you want to have access to your location, or you can turn all location data off.

For Android users, go to Settings and select the Location option. Here you’ll be able to manage your Location Services.

How Do I Know What Data is There?

Photo metadata is often referred to as “exif data.” For iOS users, there’s a simple free app called ExifWizard that allows you to view all the metadata for the photos on your camera roll. It also will show positions on a map if that data is provided.

What About Uploading to Social Media?

These days, for better or for worse, most social media sites strip all the metadata out of pictures you upload. Pictures going to places like Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr take all the metadata out. Google+ on the other hand, leaves it intact. WordPress blogs seem to leave the metadata intact as well. There’s a quick article about this here; information about specific social media sites it here. Be aware, these were written from a photographer’s standpoint, so the author wants his metadata kept on his photos so people knows he owns them.

It Doesn’t Have to be Scary

Smartphones are really powerful devices. They do some pretty amazing things. But if we’re going to use them responsibly and safely we need to understand what they’re capable of and how to control them.

We Are All Teachers of Technology

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desksIt was about 10 years ago that I first started hearing workshop leaders pushing the idea that “we are all teachers of reading.” I was teaching kindergarten at the time, so teaching reading was already a big pat of what I was doing anyway so suggesting that we all needed to teach reading wasn’t a big deal to me. Though some of my content-specific colleagues (math, science, and social studies teachers) were less than thrilled. “We didn’t sign up to be reading teachers,” they argued. The profession pushed on, indeed the profession had changed, and (like it or not) we all became teachers of reading.

Since then, the world has continued to change. Technology now plays an increasingly large and important role in the world and the classroom (hopefully); it doesn’t matter whether it’s desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, or something in between. Because of that, we all need to be teachers of technology. I know that many of us did not sign up to be technology teachers, but we don’t have a choice; we are (in addition to all the other things we do). Of course with this it is imperative that teachers receive the support and professional development they need to become effective teachers of technology.

The world is changing.

Our roles as teachers are changing.

Today, we are all teachers of technology.

photo credit: dcJohn via photopin cc

iMovie Trailer Storyboards (UPDATED)

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imovieappThe new iOS iMovie app that premiered with OS X Mavericks and the iPad Air came with a few new features including two new trailer templates. A couple of months ago I posted about using the trailers, and posted links to PDF templates.

I’ve created single-page storyboards for the new trailers, and separated the old ones into individual files. They’re PDFs, so they’re easy to use in apps like Notability if you really want to go paperless.

Some of these I created, some are from the TeachingParadox blog (which has been taken down).

Enjoy!

I’ve Stopped Using Automatic Update for Apps in iOS 7

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20131016-204835.jpgIt sounded so great when I first heard about it: having apps automatically update. Fantastic! No more having to go into the App Store to “update all.” No more having those  red numbers on the App Store icon, nagging me to take care of them.

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Blue dot indicating update.

So as soon as I could I turned on automatic updates, and for a couple weeks it was great. All my apps updated on their own. The red numbers on the app icon never appeared. All seemed good.

But then I realized I was missing something. When apps updated, I found I wasn’t always noticing the little blue dot indicating they had updated. And more so, I had no idea what had been updated.

Okay; at this point I need to admit something. When I update apps, I am one of the few people who actually reads the update notes. I want to know if the update is just “bug fixes” or if a new feature actually been added. With automatic updates I found I never knew. With automatic updates I was missing out on things.

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Update notes.

So I’ve given up on automatic updates. I still make sure my apps are updated, and now I always know what features have been added and which bugs have been fixed.

Note: For students, I still strongly advocate for automatically updating apps.

No, Your Classroom Blog Should Not Be Private

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lockPublic or Private?

Teachers often ask me if their classroom blogs should be private of public. It’s a good question and one that always comes from a good place: if I am going to post information about my students, is it okay if its public? Absolutely (and you’re not really posting information about your students; you posting information about the learning in your class).

And I know, people are worried about posting pictures of students. That’s okay; it’s something you should be thinking about. And you definitely need to get parent permission before you do that. These days a photo permission form is usually included in the packet of forms that goes home at the beginning of school. If your school’s photo form doesn’t include something about posting pictures online, it needs to be changed.

But even if you can’t (or don’t want to) post pictures of students, you can still have a great blog. Matt Gomez, a kindergarten teacher in N. Dallas, TX recently wrote a great post about having a successful classroom blog without using students’ pictures. Even if you plan to post pictures of your students, it’s worth taking a look at his post.

Why Public?

As educators we have blogs to communicate. To communicate with parents. To communicate with the community. To communicate with other educators. To tell our story. If we make our classroom blogs private, we can’t tell our story very well. And if we’re not telling our story someone else (the media?) certainly will tell it for us. And I am sure you will do a better job telling your story than the media will.

And that story needs to be shared. A public blog can easily be shared with cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents.

Still a Little Uneasy About a Public Blog?

Making an unlisted blog in Blogger.

Blogger. (Settings -> Basic).

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WordPress. (Settings -> Reading)

If a public blog still seems uncomfortable, but you understand why a private blog isn’t ideal there’s good news: there is a middle ground. Make your blog unlisted. An unlisted blog is public; anyone can view it, but only if they have the direct URL. Your blog won’t show up in search engines, but if your students want to share a post with their grandparents across the country it’s easy for them to do that. You share the blog’s URL with parents, and they can easily access and share the posts.

As educators, we need to be using blogs (and other social media) to tell our story. If we don’t tell our story, someone else will. And there’s no guarantee they’ll do a good job telling it.

photo credit: Darwin Bell via photopin cc

Using Blogger Labels to Communicate with Different Groups

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Blogger iconThe questions usually begin like this:

  • I want a blog, but I have 6 classes (periods). Do I have to have six blogs?
  • I have a classroom blog, but I have a different group of students for reading; how do post just for my reading families?

Labels! Each blogger post comes equipped with the ability to give it one or more labels: such as “Period4” or “reading.” The options for adding labels are on the right  when you’re composing a new post (the red arrow below). When the post is published, the labels will appear at the bottom of the post. Labels are a great way to sort blog posts into categories.

Adding a label

Also notice that when you’re composing, the labels you’ve used before show up in blue and you can just click on them and they’ll be added to the post (the green arrow above).

Now posting with labels is all well and good, but what if you want a user to easily be able to find a bunch of posts with a particular label? How do those fourth period students easily access only their “Period4” posts?

Post with label

One way is to scroll through the posts looking for one that is labeled “Period4” (red arrow above). That label will be hyperlinked, and if you click on the label you’ll get a page with only posts containing that label. This will certainly work, but it means asking your users to scroll down your blog posts looking for a specific label. This could be time-consuming. Fortunately, there’s a better way.

Add gadget

From your Blogger Dashboard, navigate to the Layout screen. Along the right sidebar or the top (your choice) you can add a “gadget.” When the select gadget window pops up (pictured below), select the Labels gadget (you’ll have to scroll down to find it).

Labels gadget

Once you’ve selected the Labels gadget you’ll be given some options. Do you want to show all your labels, or just some of them? How do you want them sorted? Should they be formatted as a list or as a cloud? Should it show the number of posts per label? Once you’re set, Save it and you’re ready to go.

Labels gadget options

Now, head back to your live blog and your labels will be there for easy access. And remember, each post can have more that one label. So if you have information for more than one class, give that post multiple labels and it will show up in more than one label category.

Blog home with labels

 

Users can now easily click on a specific label and get access to just that content.

iMovie Trailers, About Kids

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imovieappThe end of the elementary school year brings with it the tradition of having students write letters to the teacher they’ll have the following year. Depending on the school, kids may know who their teacher is and they may not. As a teacher I’ve always enjoyed getting them, but not having a visual of each student made it difficult for me to match letters with kids.

This past year, with a cart full of iPads, I decided to change things up a little. Using the iMovie trailer function, I would have students create trailers about themselves and I would send those movies up to fourth grade.


imovietrailersWe started by talking about trailers and what they were for. All my students had seen them on TV and in the theaters. And a few even knew they were called trailers. From there we quickly previewed the trailer themes in iMovie. We then got the iPads out and kids got to spend more time looking at each trailer theme to choose the on that best fit them. I did have to spend some time explaining that the music and the text font were all they were going to keep; the content of the trailer would be completely rewritten by them.

The students made their trailer theme choices and were ready to go, but I wasn’t. I’m all about getting technology in the hands of kids, but something about giving a bunch of cameras (iPads) to kids without any concrete plans seemed like a recipe for disaster. Enter storyboards.

Each trailer has its own unique set up, its own order of text and camera shots mixed together, so this was a little tricky. I found that teachingparadox.edublogs.org had put together a bunch of iMovie trailer storyboards in 2012 (now it seems the entire blog has been deleted). Since then, new trailer themes have been introduced so I needed to put together a few more with a similar format (links to all the storyboards are at the end of the post).

imoviehallwayWith storyboards in hand, students decided on the text they’d use and the shots that would support that. Then, and only then, with a plan written down and in-hand (and approved by me), did they start filming.

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This was the fun part for me. I got to sit back and watch them create, watch them say “this is who I am.” We did shooting both inside and outside. I did minimal troubleshooting and I think only helped one or two kids shoot – they were happy to create ad hoc groups to help each other with particular scenes.

When the trailers were done, students sent them to the Camera Roll and then up to out classroom Dropbox account. From there I was able to put them on the network server for the fourth grade teachers and share them with parents. We also gave students the opportunity to share their video with the class (they loved that part, seeing them on the projector screen with audio coming through the classroom speakers).

The project was a huge success and proved to be a great way to engage kids during that final week and half of school when the students are all but checked out.

Storyboards:

“We,” “They,” and Schools

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we they picIn January I read a blog post by Bill Powers about Daniel Pink‘s “Pronoun Test” from his book Drive. Basically, the Pronoun Test is about listening to employees talk about their organization and focusing on whether they refer to the organization as “we” or “they.” Mr. Powers wrote excitedly that his school was a “we” (our) school.

Over the past few months I’ve been kicking this idea of the Pronoun Test around in my head. I’ve decided that in education, the question of whether you work in a “we” or “they” organization isn’t that clear cut; it really depends on how you define “organization.” We have grade level or department teams that function like small organizations. We have schools level “organizations.” We have districts. We have Departments of Education at the state and national level. As educators, we aren’t just part of one “organization,” we’re part of many tiered organizations.

At the grade or department level we are (or at least I certainly hope are) working with a “we” organization. And with the recent NCLB and RTTT legislation I know a lot of educators see the US Department of Education as a “they.”

Somewhere between the grade level and the USDOE, the “we” becomes a “they.” Is your school a “we” or a “they”? What about your district? Your state Department of Education?

Somewhere things go from being done with you to to you.

Where does that change happen for you?

Technology, Carrots, and What We’re Doing Wrong

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carrotMany classrooms these days are looking to make the technology in their classrooms seamless, a standard part of what they do. This is great. Our students live in an environment where they use technology outside school all the time and to keep it out of their hands at school would be doing them a huge disservice. However, it’s important to remember what it means to have technology be seamless, and truly a standard part of what we do.

Pencils are used seamlessly in schools. They are available to students when they want them. The students know how to use them safely. And the adults don’t take them away (unless, of course, the students are using the pencils in an unsafe manner). And of course, no matter how poorly a student may have behaved in one subject, it would be unheard of to then take away his/her pencil for another subject.

But in too many classrooms where we are trying to integrate technology, our mindset isn’t quite where it needs to be. If we truly believe that we want to seamlessly integrate technology, then we can never use it as a behavioral carrot. If the plans are to use iPads (or any other piece of technology) in math, then no matter how poor student decisions were earlier in the day the iPads have to come out in math.

ipad_paperWe can no longer say, “Well, you didn’t listen well in that last lesson, so we’re not going to use [insert shiny technology] this afternoon.” Would we ever catch ourselves saying “Well, you didn’t listen well in that last lesson, so we’re not going to use pencils this afternoon”? Or lined paper? Or pattern blocks? No, that would be absurd.

Technology cannot be a carrot. It can’t be a behavioral bribe. If we truly believe technology is a core part of what we do, then we can’t take it away (unless students are using it inappropriately).