I’ve reported here earlier about an easy way to convert Flip camera movies to WMV files so that you can import them into Windows Movie Maker.

Imagine my surprise last week when several folks in a workshop I was facilitating agreed to a Flip upgrade, only to find that after the upgrade to Flipshare v5, converting to WMV no longer worked.

While I am still waiting for an answer about whether this is a “feature” or a “bug,”* I did find a way to un-upgrade and return the conversion functionality. Here it is:

(I suggest you back up any video files on the camera before proceeding.)

Connect to your computer and open the Flip icon. Delete all files except for the DCIM folder.

Empty your recycle bin.

Disconnect the camcorder.

A. Uninstall FlipShare
1. Go to Control Panel>Programs and Features and remove Flip Share.

B. Reinstall FlipShare 4.5
1. Reboot your computer
2. Ensure that your camcorder is not connected to the computer
3. Click on this link and follow the on-screen instructions: http://download.theflip.com/update.theflip.com/app/fvsw/451/update/Setup_FlipShare.exe
4. Reboot again and launch FlipShare

(And obviously, if you want to keep this functionality, say no to future Flip upgrades.)

* Note to anyone from Cisco who might be reading this, eliminating this functionality would be tragic to many who use Windows Movie Maker as an editing platform. Using third-party conversion tools for this (as your tech support responses suggest) is not an option to many. Please bring back the conversion utility!

(cross-posted from K12 Open Ed)

Moodle glossaries are great, and there are so many ways to use them. Content can include everything from vocabulary to FAQs to fact-of-the-day to picture story starters. You can build them yourself as a teacher or have students build them. Glossaries can be displayed as a regular glossary type list, or you can auto-link words to glossary entries or display a random glossary block.

Here’s a new tool to make your use of Moodle glossaries even easier. The Kids Open Dictionary glossary builder now has an auto-export to Moodle! (And this resource is completely public domain.)

Here are the quick instructions.

1. In the dictionary, click Glossary builder.
2. Enter your list of glossary words separated by commas. Click build.
3. Check the resulting definitions. If there is more than one definition for a word, put a check mark next to the definition you want to include. If a word has no definition, you will need to add it. When you are done, click the Moodle button.
   
4. Right-click the “Click here to download your glossary button” link, and save the file somewhere (e.g. your desktop).
5. Go to your Moodle course. If you haven’t already, turn editing on and create a glossary by selecting Glossary from the “Add an activity” drop-down menu. (More on Moodle glossaries here.)
6. Select the glossary and select “Import entries.”
   
7. Browse to select the file saved in step #4.

That’s it! If you have suggestions on how to make this tool more useful or if you have a list of words that you’d like to have prioritized for definitions, shoot us an email.

“Engaging the Voices of Students: A Report on the 2007 & 2008 High School Survey of Student Engagement” from the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University is an important piece of research that I think everyone in education should read.

High school drop-out rates are a national crisis caused in large part by a lack of student engagement. This report looks at what students say about school and engagement. Among the findings are the following.

• Despite high drop-out rates, the aspirations of students are high with 91.4% reporting that they expect to graduate.
• Students report attending school not only because they have to (58%; the third most common response), but because they want to graduate and go on to higher education (74%).
• 67% of respondents report being bored in school every day. Their top reasons:
  • Material isn’t interesting (82%).
  • Material lacks relevance (41%).
  • Work isn’t challenging enough (33%).
  • Work is too difficult (27%).
• Rigor, relevance, and relationships are critical to engagement. Students need to feel some connection to an adult in the school.

There is so much more powerful information in this report, including a collection of student responses to an open-ended prompt. Read it. It might change how you feel about education.

Credit: Matthew Stinson, CC BY NC

Many of you know that I have gotten very involved in the area of open educational resources (OER) as a tool for differentiating instruction.

If you aren’t familiar, OER are materials used for teaching and learning that are free from copyright restrictions or are publicly licensed for anyone to use, adapt, and redistribute. One example of an open license is Creative Commons.

I got interested in this area because of the need to be able to modify and “remix” materials in order to differentiate instruction, using tools like netbooks….and also out of a disillusionment with how much money is spent on textbooks that often aren’t even used.

I am working on a new project now to look at the feasibility of producing a core curriculum offering that is open-licensed. It could be distributed in a variety of formats, including print and electronic. Initially, we are looking at middle school math as a content area.

As a part of this, we are gathering ideas from teachers and administrators on what they’d like to see in a product like this. We want to talk with administrators and teachers to get their ideas to make sure that this new OER product meets their needs.

If you are interested, email me at Karen AT k12opened DOT com. Thank you.

A while back, I wrote about a way to convert the MP4s that the new Flip cameras create into WMV files, so that they are able to be imported into Windows Movie Maker.

If you have an HD camera, though, this process reduces the resolution of the movies to 640 x 480. If you are using Windows Movie Maker, this isn’t a problem, since that’s the largest size that program will output. For other purposes, though, you may want a higher resolution.

One solution to this is to use the FlipShare movie editing software (included on your camera) to create a movie. Doing this will preserve the 1280 x 720 HD size, while still producing a WMV file. To do this:

• Plug in your camera and run FlipShare.
• Select the movie(s) you want to convert.
• Click Create -> Movie at the bottom of the screen (or from the menus).
• Click Next.
• Add Titles and Credits if you like.
• Click Next.
• Add music if you like.
• Click Next.
• Give your movie a title and select a location for saving. (Note: The movie will be put in a folder in My Videos -> FlipShare Data -> Videos).
• Click Create Movie.

Make sure to wait until the movie is finished rendering before closing FlipShare. The status is shown in the bottom left corner of the screen.

On Twitter tonight, Dean Shareski reported “Push back from one participant. ‘Social learning is only good [for] some students. Many prefer to learn in isolation’ How would you respond?”

My quick response was “You don’t have to be ’social’ to benefit from social learning.” (And I should know.:)

This spawned several comments from folks and a whole lot of thought on my part.

Much of my thought involved the idea of “learning through lurking.” (I may be dating myself, but for those who aren’t familiar with “lurking,” I think it originated on BBS’s; the idea is just hanging out and watching conversation but not participating.) In my own participation in PLNs, I think I learn more from listening than from talking. However, this listening wouldn’t be possible without social networks and social learning. Watching a discussion among intelligent folks makes you think in a way that doesn’t happen as readily from listening to a lecture (or podcast) or reading a book chapter (or a static Moodle module). There is a unique energy that comes from dialogue.

Learning is enhanced by formulating one’s own thoughts about a topic, and this is done in large part through dialogue, whether it is written or spoken, even sometimes in isolation. This kind of active learning is a part of social learning and isn’t inspired  as readily by static content.

Do all students respond positively to “social learning”? Of course not. “All” students don’t respond universally to any one thing. That’s why good teachers/facilitators have lots of tools in their tool bags. But I would venture that more students respond positively to being a part of  social learning networks than to listening to lectures or reading textbooks.

ISTE 2010 (formerly NECC) is using a collaborative process to choose the keynote topic for next year’s conference.

Imagine my delight at seeing Open Educational Resources (OER) near the top of the list!

For those of you who don’t know much about OER, they are materials used for teaching and learning that are free from copyright restrictions or are publicly licensed for anyone to use, adapt, and redistribute. OERs are distinguished from other digital and/or free materials by the fact that they are open, meaning that they can be modified and redistributed freely by anyone.

Here’s a short backgrounder with more information.

OER is where I’m spending a lot of my time these days, because I believe this is a key component to helping teachers and students to have more control over differentiating their learning experiences with mobile technology and other tools. And it is certainly a nice side benefit that this movement could redirect a lot of funding that currently goes to textbooks (unused in many classrooms) to other more fruitful uses, like professional development, coaching/mentoring, etc.

For users of Wireless Generation’s series of handheld assessment tools (mCLASS^®, DIBELS^®, TPRI^®, et al), the company has announced that it will be selling a new private-label Palm OS device available at some future date, only through Wireless Generation. They will also support Windows-based tablets, the Nokia tablet, and handheld USB tablets.

Project RED is a national research and advocacy initiative to revolutionize the way the U.S. looks at technology as part of teaching and learning. This non-profit aims to: identify successful ed tech implementations; build a model of costs, cost savings, and revenue enhancements, and apply it to selected states; show the effects of properly-implemented technology on student achievement; and publish research findings to provide data to support the funding and implementation of technology in schools.

As a part of that, they are asking school and district leaders at “technology rich” schools to share their stories.

If you are a leader at a one-to-one or otherwise technology rich school, please take part in this. Sharing information will help all of us.

Here are 10 classroom management tips for schools with one-to-one laptop programs. What other tips do you have? Add your comments!

1. Use your laptops instructionally on a regular basis.If you use the laptops as a part of your regular instruction, students are much less likely to engage in off-task behavior with them.
2. Set up a classroom site (wiki, Moodle, etc.)  that students know to go to every day.Use this as your “home base” and link all other resources there. Include things like sponge or bell ringer activities.
3. Keep laptops on students’ desks during class (but remember that you can ask to have laptops closed when you don’t want students to use them).
4. Use the laptops for differentiating instruction and individual or small group activities.This is one of the most appropriate uses for laptops. It will also make your life easier if you don’t try to have the whole class doing an activity simultaneously on the laptops.
5. Give students a set of classroom rules to follow and include appropriate consequences for not following the rules.Remember to reinforce acceptable and responsible use issues. Make sure to include a rule about bringing the laptop charged and ready to use every day.
6. Use folders to organize students’ work.
7. Set up rules for file naming.Here is a suggestion:

   
   This will let you easily identify the assignment and student without opening the document and sort accordingly to put in folders. I like to make this a part of the grade for each assignment.

8. Have students keep a grid of their user names and passwords for Web 2.0 sites.Keeping track of these is one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced. Anyone have any great strategies for this?
9. Make students responsible for charging their laptops when they need it.
10. Empower your students to help solve each other’s tech problems.This is good for them and will also make your life easier. Designate selected students to be “tech squad” helpers. These students can be given special training and incentives for their participation.