archive link | Perma linkDecision time
I've got a couple of ideas for the blogs here that are nearly ready but both need me to commit to a particular technology, so this is a cry for advice.1. Now we have access to a suite of pcs I want to trial individual blogs for my class. I want to host the blog here rather than on external sites for 'control freak' reasons. The Sandaig blogs run with pivot, but I've been thinking about wordpress mu or lyceum which is a multi-blog derivative of WordPress. (test install) I've also tested Nucleus CMS v3.23 and tried out a few more systems over at OpenSourceCMS (which allows you to try live installs of a pile of cms, blogging systems etc).
So far I cannot get wordpress mu to work here, it doesn't seem to like www. urls.
Lyceum seems to work ok, but you cannot have multiple blogs without multiple emails. I suppose I could use 20 of those gmail invites to set up 20 emails on a temporary basis but it seems a lot of hassle. I also have not used wordpress/lyceum enough to know enough about which templates will work with lyceum so that the children can have their own look and feel.
So I am thinking of setting up another install of Pivot with 20 subweblogs showing one category associated with one user. Which means setting up 20 categories, users, style sheets and templates.
I thought that I might be able to edit the settings directly, I seem to be able to do so for users and categories but sub-weblogs look way to complex for me, I've a fair idea of how the templates/ css works in pivot but it will take quite a while to set everything up. I don't want to give the children access to the admin side as the template and css editing are not wysiwyg.
This would mean limiting them to designing a header graphic and telling me if they want some colour changes.
Using Pivot would also mean that the children would be able to use the main blogs and their own without much thought.
So the dilemma is which blog software to go for, given the limitations of my knowledge and our setup.
2. The second thing is presenting movies in blogs. We have dipped our toes in on the The Dream Dragon and here and here, the second 2 are just very Q&D made with a digital cameras, I think this has a lot of promise.
So far I've just uploaded Quicktime movies and displayed them with scripts from embed the video!. I see a lot of blogs displaying video in flash, but all my attempts to convert QT to flash using Flash 8 Video Encoder have given poorer quality and bigger file size than Quicktime. I want to keep the files on our site rather than use a video hosting service, as I suspect we may run into problems with filters. So any handy tips about encoding video for flash would be appreciated. Or opinions about sticking with quicktime.
archive link | Perma linkSuite blogging
Our ICT Suite now called the Media Room was open for business this week. So we have stepped up the blogging. In our 2 primary seven and 2 primary sixes classes we have set up a rota where 2 children in each class are the blog team for the day. during he day they are supposed to decide what is interesting and blog-worthy, take photos and note. At the end of the day I pull the photos off the cameras and put them on the computers. The next morning from 9:00 -9:30 they come to the Media Room crop and resize the photos and blog. This way we should get every child in 4 classes blogging every 2 or 3 weeks and fill up Sandaig Otters. It might be time for a little blog reorganisation. Children are chosen pretty much at random with the idea that the less able writes will have peer support. The idea is that missing the first half and hour of normal curriculum will not be too detremental. At the moment 30 minutes is a bit tight, but should improve as the children's typing speed improves. Hopefully after a few weeks they might be blogging from their classroom computers too.
archive link | Perma linkFlash Training
Ian's Space: Flash Training has a good set of links to Flash learning. Ian is asking for more. Coincidently yesterday I was watching some flash tutorial movies at gotoAndLearn.com which Ian recommends and was thinking about flash for the first time in a while.I've a hodgepodge or related flash link in my Flash del.icio.us links. and a wee while I go I found: IFBIN Moock: IFBIN 2.0, hundreds of free, open examples.
archive link | Perma linkFlash pivot snippet test
Testing: Click to open in a new windowThis is an old flash file I made a few years ago. It seems to work fine in Safari, hopefully it will be ok in IE and we can use it for the children's creations. If you try the link and have problems, please let me know.
archive link | Perma linkk12 Online conference
k12 Online conference has started. BASIC/ADVANCED TRAINING KEYNOTE ?I Did Not Know You Could do THAT with Free Web Tools? by Alan Levine demos a pile of web 2.0 tools using those tools, for example his What Can We Do With flickr used flickr.
There will be a lot of content going online at the k12 conference over the next 3 weeks including a couple of Scots contributors: Ewan and John Connell, see the agenda of all events for the 2006 K-12 Online Conference.
archive link | Perma linkflickr access workaround idea
There has been a fair bit of discussion in the scot-edu-blogs world of the use of Flickr in the classroom. David especially has produced a pile of great ideas and examples. Also under discussion has been the access to flickr in schools, many local authorities block flickr and similar file sharing/storage sites.I've been thinking about getting more blogging, maybe on an individual basis, done in class and in using flickr images as a source of illustrations or starting points; so I have been working on a crude workaround for the blocking.
I've made a wee SuperCard project that takes a word, downloads the first couple of hundred thumbnails of photos tagged with the word and lets me select them. After I've reviewed and selected them the app downloads the small and medium sized photos, makes a webpage displaying them along with a snippet of credit showing the license.
example: red, example: glasgow.
The idea is I would then take the folder into school on a pen drive and put it onto the local network so that my class could select pictures to use on the blog or other places.
It also will give me a chance to talk about creative commons and attribution.
As far as I can see, this should be legal from the copyright point of view (I am only using photos with creative commons Attribution or Attribution-NonCommercial Licenses) and as I have reviewed all the photos it should be fine with the authority. I'd welcome any opinions on this before I start using it.
The children miss out on using flickr and all the associated tools but we do get access to a pile of inspiring photos.
archive link | Perma linkGiving up blogging and getting things done
A while back I read Andrew's' post Fighting Addiction about spending too much time reading his feeds and working outside school hours and it has been nagging at my brain for a long time.I don't blog or read other blogs in school time I mostly do it from home. Same goes for most of the development of the school website; writing the html setting up blogs etc. I spend a lot of my free time in front of my mac, no one asked me to, but that is how my life has developed.
Some of it is spent on non educational things, I do a bit of web-development and even used to write simple shareware and freeware (ok that was educational).
For a while I though blogging might develop my career but that has not happened. (more)
archive link | Perma linkhttp://www.miniature-earth.com/
http://www.miniature-earth.com/ via Stephen Downes who got it from presentation zen which leads to this this YouTube link and this inspirational story.This came out from following some discussion about the K-12 Online Conference by Stephen including Selling an Idea which I found in my feeds here.
So I started with some squabbling and ended with some hugs. I didn't even know there this note of discord in among edu bloggers.
If you have a moment the http://www.miniature-earth.com/ is well worth a look, old information i know but beautifully presented.
archive link | Perma linkGreat comment
over on Will Richardson 's blog is this great comment:I am not sure if I welcome every child having an e-portfolio (I guess that would be a lot more work), or even if it refers to Scotland but jasmine, zaahid and khateaja sound cool.jasmine, khateaja and zaahid Says:
October 19th, 2006 at 5:09 am
Hello,were listening to you!wow,amazing your seven year old son has a blog we have only just got one a
we are ten.We also like the idea of fan ficton we think its a great idea .
jasmine moore,zaahid akhtar and khateaja ahmed
archive link | Perma linkLinks: 16 - Oct- 06
Various Holiday amusements.Reuters/Second Life Reuters opens a virtual branch.
Perfect via Walsall Schools and ewan.mcintosh. Is it just me or is it ironic that this debunking of advertising images is an advert of sorts.
Rabbit via The J-Walk Blog nice movie using figures of old reading books.
Pencils - New Technology from the One Laptop Per Child wiki:
archive link | Perma linkSuite Progress again.
Our ict suite/media room is making progress again.New tables arrived yesterday we moved the PCs in just after this photo was taken.
All we need now is for the machines to be wired up and we should be off.
The furniture is in a pretty nice arrangement which will hopefully allow cooperative working in small groups as well as individual work. I'll be using the three before me strategy and some traffic lights to get children to help each other before asking me.
My fingers are crossed that everything will be sorted out this week so we can get off to a good start next term.
archive link | Perma linkNew Blog: Snakes and Ladders
We have just set up a new short term blog for our Snakes and Ladders project.This is a whole school project focusing on values. The children are making a series of Snakes and Ladders boards working in mixed age groups, these boards will go together to make one huge whole school board.
A team of 6 Primary Sevens are blogging the projects progress over the next week.
archive link | Perma linkBe Very Afraid Podcast
On Monday 2 October 2006 Two of last years primary seven pupils, using the names of Thelma and Louise (not their real names) took part in the Be Very Afraid event at Bafta in London.
The pupils were there to represent Radio Sandaig. At very short notice (they only knew about the task the previous Thursday) the girls created a great fictional idea for a podcast to create in London.
The plan was to kidnap Sandy the Sandaig otter and Radio Sandaig and take 'them' to london. This was in revenge for being sent to secondary school.
The girls had a great trip to london and worked really hard all day to produce a brilliant podcast: Be Very Afraid Podcast
They also talked to reporters from newspapers and radio, politicians, teachers pupils and educators from all around the United kingdom.
In case you are worried you can hear what happen to Sandy and Radio Sandiag on the Be Very Afraid Podcast.Update: Radio Sandaig @ Be Very Afraid picture gallery.