Animoto Vidoes...Who Knew!?

Today in class, we learned how to create Animoto videos. After signing up for a teacher account, I was able to create two videos on educational topics. The first topic was "Utah," where the video informed students about different Utah state symbols and different outdoor places in Utah. I could use this quick video to either introduce Utah or use it as a review of Utah. The second topic was "World War II," where the students learned about the concentration camp victims and then saw the joy that came from liberation. It concluded with the question, "Ready to learn more?" I'd use this video to introduce this topic. To create these, I used pictures found on Flickr, Culture Grams (from Pioneer), and Google Images, limited by labeling for reuse and noncommercial reuse. This assignment was very fun to complete and I hope to be able to use this in my future classroom, especially as a hook or engaging factor among all sorts of different subjects.

Creating a Podcast!

This week in this media course, we got to create a podcast. It was very entertaining to complete. I worked in a group with McKenzie Clement and Stephanie Easton. We decided to keep the theme that we used for our WebQuest and do a "news broadcast" of sorts about what was happening in Pompeii when Mt. Vesuvius was erupting. From this podcast, students can get a feel for the chaos that was likely happening when Mt. Vesuvius was erupting. This podcast would make the WebQuest "come alive" or seem more real for students. I'm excited to use Audacity and create some podcasts in my future classrooms. I really liked how the professor created a podcast of a book with "dings" inbetween where the pages needed to be turned. I'd like to use that idea and others when creating podcasts in my future teaching career. "Well ladies and gentleman, that's a wrap on Roman Numeral Chanel 2 news! Everybody run!"