Today's class was totally packed with information and moved super fast! We learned how to use so many interesting and useful tools, but I really wish we could slow down and have more time to spend with each one!
To start with, we learned how to download videos and save them as MP4s that could be edited and how to insert them into Power Point. I didn't know that this was something so easy to do, and I'll definitely be using this feature when I want to show a short clip of a video that I've pre-selected from a longer piece.
Another program that we were shown is Debut, which allows you to record everything that happens on your screen. This could be a very good tool to use in order to create tutorials that students could view from home in order to do an assignment.
We worked with DotSub, a subtitling tool, that would be a good way for students to demonstrate their listening skills. One nice feature of this program is that we were able to simultaneously work on one video as a group, each taking a 30 second chunk to subtitle. This would be a very good activity to do with a class that has access to a computer room, so that everyone can work at the same time and a short video could be subtitled in one session, and shown so that students could get immediate feedback on their work.
Camino showed us how to customize some things on our blogs, that I've already applied, such as setting a date by hand that allows you to control the posting order. We also learned about creating links and labels.
The main lesson in class today that I felt most interested in was about creating podcasts. I'm really excited about the possibility of working with audio recordings as a way for students to practice their pronunciation and self expression in English, and podcasts are a really fun and accessible way to create and share audio. We worked with podomatic which seems like a simple program, and have an assignment to create a podcast for our class portfolio.
Finally, Camino showed us Quandary, a program for creating web-based action mazes, and we looked at an example- the Malta Experience- that demonstrated how you can create an interactive experience that will change depending on the choices you make (for example, to go to the beach, or to go shopping.) I liked the activity, but must admit that as a teacher it seems like it could be really time-consuming to create mazes using this program. Again, it moved so fast, so I will need to revisit it one day to see if I would use it or not. In any case, it could be a great tool for students to create something like a guided tour of a city that they need to research.
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