Table of Contents - Vol. 23 No. 2 - December 2006
Have a very relaxing holiday surrounded by family and friends. from the Educational Technology team
http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/tech/lict/index.html
Cheryl Prokopanko, Assistant Coordinator, of the Distance Learning and Information Technologies Unit (DLITU) of Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth shared this on-line resource which I encourage educators to visit and bookmark. This web site provides a wealth of information and resources to help educators learn about ICT. This on-line support is organized as follows:
Overview - Presents information about the theory
and practice on which Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum is based, as
well as information about the development process, action research,
implementation timelines, and guidelines for school leaders.
Highlighting Literacy with ICTby Brian Metcalfe - Educational Technology
Some educators are exploring the procedure of highlighting the "Student-Friendly" continuum descriptors that each student has met and sharing this progress with parents at parent-teaching conferences. With this year's focus on ICT, I, too, realized that I needed a convention, when publishing articles in "Bits and Bytes", to help readers focus on the ICT descriptors that could be met if one was to adopt or use the shared resources. Certainly one indicator would be the following letter abbreviations which correspond to the nine "big ideas":
However, I wanted a mechanism that would draw a reader's eye to the particular ICT descriptors. I finally thought that if some of our educators were going to physically highlight various descriptors on the Student-Friendly" continuum, I could do my best alert readers in a similar fashion by using a digital highlighter. To help readers focus on ICT descriptors throughout this and subsequent issues, I will highlight, in yellow, all relevant ICT descriptors. Be advised, however, that if you are unable to distinguish the yellow highlighting of the precious sentence, you will need to view "Bits and Bytes" articles on-line to take advantage of this prominent yellow indicator. Internet Safety Week at Sargent Park Schoolby Donna Dawson and Kathy Routhier - Sargent Park School
During the week all students in Grades 4-6 completed an anonymous survey concerning Internet Safety. With the help of Brian Metcalfe, an anonymous Internet Safety survey was setup in the elementary lab for our grade 4-6 students to fill out. The survey was conducted throughout the week in the Elementary computer lab. The survey was modified from a survey Keith Benson developed last year for a North district school. An innovative group of grade 6 students wrote, made hand puppets and performed two puppet plays for the grade 4-6 school population: "The False Identity" and "The Predator". With the help of the sewing teacher, these students designed puppet characters for one of the plays. Some S1 (grade 9) Video Production Studies students did the video taping and the librarian worked with the grade 6 students to make these plays into movies using a program called “Pinnacle”. These movies are shared with the Internet community on our website at: http://www.wsd1.org/sargentpark/projects2005_2006/internet_safety.htm Teacher-led discussions, with audience participation, followed all the group viewed activities. In the computer labs the Grades 1-3 children viewed The Media Awareness Network “The First Adventure of the Three Little Cyberpigs” and Internet Safety Group Inc. “Hector’s World - NetSafe”. The Grade 4-6 students participated in Internet Safety games, The Media Awareness Network “Jo Cool or Jo Fool” where they evaluated websites and completed questionnaires, and “Personal Information” worksheets with CyberSmart Curriculum online activities. Other teacher-led classroom activities included: cover pages for work folders, pig masks, top secret personal information envelopes, a poem, personal safety rules, posters, scenarios, worksheets, discussions and journals. As a closing activity the Grade 1-3 students watched an audience participation Internet Safety reader’s theatre, written by a grade 6 student and Mrs. Routhier, and performed by grade 6 students. A variety of videos/CDs were viewed in the classrooms and the library. The Grade 4-6's completed an Internet Safety word search and learned various computer-related vocabulary in French class. The grade 1 teachers used the theme “The Three Little Pigs” to impart what is private information and how to keep this information private. After viewing “The Three Cyberpigs”, the teachers compared the traditional story with the Internet version. To help the younger students understand what is private information, the grade one students made top secret envelopes with information that you don’t share with anyone online. The grade 2 teachers taught their students the “Cyber Sense” poem from the Media Awareness Network. They also made nickname bookmarks. Various teachers used Word in the computer labs to make safety posters to share with their fellow classmates and family members. A grade 5 teacher spent the week discussing “What is private information” with the intention of making posters in the computer lab. The students took these home and shared them with their parents. Students created a mini-portfolio of all the work they had completed during the week and took this home to share with their parents, who were to sign a sheet indicating they had looked at the material. Parents were also encouraged to include comments on the Internet Safety week. [Editor: Readers are encouraged to visit Sargent Park's Internet Safety web page resource as identified earlier. Make certain to investigate each slide of the on-line PowerPoint presentation which showcases the many facets and creativity demonstrated during their "Internet Safety Week". Internet Safety Week Bibliography
[Editor: After requesting that Donna and Kathy share this experience through an article in "Bits and Bytes", I asked them to highlight the various "Student-Friendly" descriptors that were met during the week-long Internet Safety endeavour. They graciously did so as indicated below.]
Student Friendly Version of the Literacy with ICT Continuum Cognitive Domain - First Column
P-1.1 I recall what I already know about something, and think about
what I want to learn.
Affective Domain - First Column
E-1.1 I show respect as I work with others and with ICT. Cognitive Domain - Second Column
P-2.1 I ask "how" and "why" questions, and I know when I need more
information Affective Domain - Second Column
E-2.1 I follow my
school division rules for using ICT. FAQs on podcasting with "Sound Recorder" and "Audacity"by Brian Metcalfe - Educational Technology
This article will provide an easy entry into the simple process for creating a podcast using freeware. Wikipedia, which is a collaboratively written on-line encyclopedia, defines a podcast as a "multimedia file that is distributed by subscription (paid or unpaid) over the Internet". In other words, the purpose of the article is to provide the reader with a series of steps that students can use to create an audio file using freeware, which can be shared in the classroom, or over the Internet.
Background - emergence
of digital audio in the recording and distribution of music; Teachers who have had a chance to explore either the physical "Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum" poster or the online versions found at: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/tech/lict/show_me/continuum.html will note that there are the following nine "big ideas"
vertically arranged down the left side: - Plan and Question These "big ideas" help define a framework and model which empowers students to gradually take on more responsibility for their own learning through both assessment for learning as well as the more traditional assessment of learning. Whereas educators, in past, have relied heavily on the traditional essay as an assessment of learning tool. However the Literacy with ICT initiative is engaging students and challenging them to become life long learners. Educators are encouraged to provide a variety of ways in which students might choose to "Produce to Show Understanding" and "Communicate". For example, a student might choose to create an audio file to meet the following Literacy with ICT descriptors:
For example, in Grade 5, some students could create the "Port Royal Times" newspaper and describe the harshness of living in the oldest French settlement in North America. On the other hand, the Grade 6 class, following the steps outlined later in this article, might choose to create a "radio play" about life surrounding a fur trading post. Students ,may be engaged creating scripts featuring such items as: "Interviews with Voyageurs", "Show Me the Furs", "Commercials" (for the latest woolen blankets, firearms and fishing gear), and "Fur Trade Facts - A Woman's Perspective". In Grade 8, students could create an audio file as part of their "Produce to Show Understanding" component in which various students take on the roles of Roman senators plotting to overthrow the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. When students are empowered to express their creativity and create projects as part of an assessment for learning model, they will eagerly look forward to venues other than the traditional essay. Helping such students demonstrate their creativity, through the creation of audio files, costs between $15.00 - $20.00 for a microphone and a small investment of time.
Undoubtedly ... Audacity is a "sound investment".
[Table of Contents]
by Brian Metcalfe - Technology Education The basic steps require finding a freeware background music track which
is loaded into Audacity. One can then play this background loop while using
a microphone to record the lyrics to your song. Although one can spend more
time experimenting with the various effects in Audacity, one can simply save
the lyrics and background musical loop as a blended MP3 file and celebrate
your learning.
2. I searched for "free loops" and scrolled down the
resulting pages to listen to the various samples by pressing the "play"
button in the Flashtrak Console. 3. Once I found a free loop, that I thought would provide my
song with an appropriate background, I downloaded it in an MP3 format. For
example, on-line readers can click on "What_You_Gonna_do"
to hear the free loop created by PlayaJayCee. I downloaded this MP3
background loop as the start of my ICT rap. 4. Next I started Audacity. I clicked on Audacity's File >
Open menu items and navigated to the folder where I had previously stored my
"What_You_Gonna_do" MP3 loop. When this 8 beat loop is displayed in
Audacity, it appears on the top track. Next one has to repeat the background
loop to accommodate the number of verses in the "review song". To do so
click the Edit > Select > All menu items to highlight the entire loop and
the click Edit > Copy to store the loop in memory. Next one must place the
cursor at the end of the selection and press the Edit > Paste menu items to
extend the background audio track. The instructions in this previous
sentence must be repeated as necessary to accommodate the lyrics
or verses that were to be included.
5. Now press the File > Save Project As menu terms and store this "work
in progress" in an appropriate folder as an Audacity's AUP file. 6. At this point you will want to create lyrics or a series of verses
which summarize the project or concept that you are reviewing. I find that
because my background audio track is an 8 beat loop, I type my lyrics into
Word making certain that the words adhere to this 8 beat timing structure.
Save and print up the lyrics for the up-coming "voice over" narration
portion. 7. Next we need to set a preference in Audacity. Click on the Edit >
Preferences menu items. On the Audacity Preferences display, click the
"Audio I/O" tab, and click to place a checkmark to the left of "Play other
tracks while recording new one". Click the "OK" button to proceed. 8. Insert the microphone into the computer and position your lyrics
printed page so that you can begin the "voice over" narration.
Press the "Skip to Start" button to make certain that the cursor is
positioned at the start of the background loop. Press the
"Record" button and begin listening to the background loop. Let the loop play though once
before adding you own lyrics to the mix. You will note that your "voice
over" narration automatically is displayed as an additional audio track
below the loop background music. Adjust the speaker and microphone sliders,
immediately located below Audacity's buttons, as appropriate. 9. Press the File > Save Project As menu terms and store this "work in
progress" in an appropriate folder with filenames ending in V1.AUP, V2.AUP,
V3.AUP to keep track of various attempts.
11. If you have time, you can explore the various effects that can be
applied to your "review song". Audacity has a extensive "Help" file
resource. 12. When satisfied that the creation is finished, save the project one
last time. Before exiting, make certain that one selects the File > Export
as MP3 menu items and save the "review song" in a compressed MP3 format
which will automatically blend all the tracks together. 12. Lastly, I encourage students and teachers to send me your "review
songs" so that we can demonstrate and share your creativity with others.
Send such creations as attachments with your school as a filename to:
bitsandbytes@wsd1.org Food for Thought: "The Night Before Christmas"forwarded by Linda Granfield - Children's Author and Ellen Donogh - Queenston School
As the world's soldiers are in Afghanistan and Iraq ...
This poem was written by a peace keeping soldier stationed overseas.
The following is his request. I think it is.
PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favour of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to
our Canadian service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe.
Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed
themselves for us.
Please, do your small part to plant this small seed. [Editor: Check out this next article to see how students might extend this activity.] The Teachable Moment - Validate Sourcesby Brian Metcalfe - Technology Education
Let me begin by stating that I do not mean to diminish, in any way, the powerful message of the previous poem "The Night Before Christmas". However, when Ellen Donogh shared it with me, a "teachable moment" was created when I began to research the background to determine who was the original author. The Student Friendly Version of the Literacy with ICT Continuum found at: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/tech/lict/show_me/student_friendly.html has the following descriptor under the "Big Idea" of "Ethics and Responsibility": E-1.3 I know I must give credit to authors when I use their work. With this focus in mind, I began by selecting what I thought to be a unique string of characters from the poem and accompanying e-mail. I searched Google using the following two search entries: "Just boots filled with sand" Afghanistan Imagine my surprise when the first entry retrieved was: Urban Legends Reference Pages: The Soldier's Night Before Christmas at: http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/soldier.asp The Snopes site, for me, has been a valuable resource in past for checking out the validity of the various "urban legends", "glurges" and "phishing expeditions" that tend to circulate by e-mail on a regular basis. For example: - Chewing gum takes seven years to pass through the human
digestive system. I recommend that readers visit "The Soldier's Night Before Christmas" link above to gain a background perspective on the various modifications of this poem, written in 1986 by Lance Corporal James M. Schmidt who was stationed in Washington, D.C. Furthermore, I encourage teachers and students, who utilize technology, to always take time to validate sources. [Table of Contents] |
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This
software can usually be found by clicking the Programs > Accessories >
Multimedia > and Sound Recorder menu items. Plug in the microphone,
click the red record button in the lower right corner, speak into the
microphone and click the rectangular "Stop" button when completed. One
can then press the "Seek to Start" button to "rewind" the recording and
then the "Play" button to hear your audio message. Once satisfied with
your message, you can click the File > Save As menu items and save the
audio file in its default WAV format. For example, I saved my "Sound
Recorder" audio file as "SRaudio.wav". This file can be shared
and played on any Windows computer by simply double-clicking on the file
or by opening and playing the audio file in Windows Media Player. To
share this audio file over the Internet, one imports or copies the file
into one's web page design. All that is left is to create a hyperlink
which transfers to this audio WAV file. For example, I highlighted the
text "
1.
I went to the "loops" section of the Flash Kit web site at: 
The
newer version of Audacity (1.2.6) has a special "Play" feature as shown. One can hold down the
<Shift> key while pressing the "Play" button to have the loop
or song automatically
repeat. However one cannot record any additional narration while this "Play"
button is depressed or in "loop play" mode. 
10. Undoubtedly you will not be able to record your entire "review song"
at one sitting. Make certain that you save any "work in progress" as an
Audacity project as noted above. Later, when you return to work, start
Audacity. Select the File > Open menu items, navigate to the appropriate
folder where you last stored your Audacity AUP project file, select it
and click the "Open" button. 
