Xtranormal

Xtranormal is a great tool to create a short movie. All you need is a script. That’s right just a script, no cameras, no lights and no actors, it’s all animated on screen before your eyes. The web-based version is quick and easy to use. I made this is about 5mins.

So go ahead and try it yourself at xtranormal.com.

Helping your Community of Users

Some great things are happening with the Edublogs pilot. We can now see great communities breaking out.

One particular Administrator of these communities has made a quick little video to help their users.

Adding comments and posts

What else are you doing to help develop your community of users?

digital voice recorder

olympus dvr CC Hickey 08obviously not a ‘new’ technology, but if I had to name the one techi thing that changed life in my corner  it was the nifty usb recorder I started using five years ago…. what it means in practice is that the linguistically vulnerable student seeking advice about their writing (those using English as an additional language, for example) can instantly get a copy of the consultation (no cables, just pull it apart, stick it in their laptop) which they can listen to repeatedly at their own pace, and thereby  learn so much more than from a single exposure which they may or may not well recall when back at their desk trying to put into practice the pearls of linguistic wisdom showered upon them… their feedback assures me this was the best investment for teaching I ever made…

Dropbox – a cloud with a difference

Synchronisation of files across multiple computers & mobile devices, web-based access to files, managed sharing of folders with other dropbox users, url creation for public documents for emailing links, web-album generation, event history tracking of your dropbox (file restoration) etc …

Well worth a look and a boon when travelling and you need access to storage or sharing items with international contacts.

Hosted externally, which brings along its own considerations, but this type of thing would have great potential for groups of students working collaboratively on a group assignment, sharing progress between themselves and tutor etc…

Currently free for up to 2GB of storage, plans beyond that.

https://www.dropbox.com/


Dropbox

MicroHD Camcorder Experience on the PC

Flipshare experience on a PC
A auto graphic comes up for flipShare, suggesting it be installed. I do so by using the exe to install. Then computer needs a reboot.

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Videos on the camera automatically pop up when application is launched and device is plugged in. Software seems easy to use with some very basic editing tools (movie creator).

Exports simply and easily to Movie Clip format (playable in most media players).

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The program (FlipShare) doesn’t appear to have any editing tools for editing the actual clips. However it does have a ‘Movie’ function, which allows the user to string clips together to make a movie then export, or burn to DVD (with some simple DVD authoring options).

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Creating my own channel.
Add my details… the email it was meant to send me with the details of my channel never arrived.

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But I do like the instant sharing options!

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Brainstorming eLearning tech innovations with John

I ducked over to the Innovation Campus for lunch with John Glynn, head of the Business School. We talked blogs and collaboration spaces for communities of students, mobile applications and competitive advantage, case and role-based learning and e-simulations, alumni blogs and videos, and busted a few subtly racist myths of international student habits.

I feel the spirit of innovation growing on campus, and it’s a great place to be.

Smart boards are coming soon to a lecture room near you

I like the fact that the board is so big you can use your whole arm to operate the huge scroll-bars and pulldown menus from the projected computer image. It gets you out from behind the lecturn more. You can stay out front and more in touch with your audience until you need to go back to keyboard on lecturn to type any text into a dialogue box or form.

Commerce eSimulation takes shape

Just came back from a meeting with Belinda and Ellie re the Forio.com terms of service. Also got some great feedback for a few additions to the Guidelines for working with Externally hosted websites that I’m working on.