Today I was working with a teacher who wanted to embed audio recordings into his blog. He runs a sports blog where students report on their sporting activities. He thought it would be a good idea for his younger sports people to record their sports reports and embed them on the blog as they had much more to say than they could write about. I thought this sounded like a fantastic idea and we started out on a problem solving trail.
Firstly we worked out that you could embed a player from Podomatic, but that embedded all of the episodes and we only wanted to embed one.
Next we tried to convert the mp3 to an .mov using switch.app (a free app for macs which converts files to different formats). Unfortunately this wouldn't upload in blogger.
So I put out a tweet to my twitter network for some advice. Miguel Guhlin came back with this solution. We uploaded our mp3 audio to Edublogs.tv, grabbed the embed code and pasted it into blogger. And voila...
Update: The audio from Edublogs.tv seems to play automatically when you load the page, would love to hear from anyone who knows how to change this.
Update 2: Thanks Miguel for this tip. When you have embedded the code from Edublogs.tv click on the 'edit html' button at the top of your posting page and then look at the code for the audio. You will see something that says "autostart=yes" change the "yes" to "no" and this turns the autostart function off. Thanks again Miguel.
We also received some advice from Lenva:
She suggested using the online site http://vocaroo.com/. At this site you can record your audio online then grab the embed code and paste it into the post as well.
Lenva also shared this site http://boomp3.com/ where you can upload your audio and then grab the embed code.
Update: Here is a link to Lenva's new blog on tips and tricks with blogging that outlines how to embed in much more detail: http://cogsforblogs.blogspot.com/2008/05/audio.html
What would I do without my twitter network?
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Getting back on the horse
I haven't been blogging as much as I used to. I seem to have hit a wall. The problem is I have changed focus. I have stepped out of the classroom and I am wondering what to focus on. I still work with teachers as an ICT Facilitator however, in this new cohort, I don't think any of them are blog readers (yet!). So they are not the focus for my writing (yet). In my other new job I spend most of my time in front of the computer being the online editor for the NZ Curriculum Online website. This means that I feel less like being on the computer during my down time.
But I miss blogging.
I still read all the feeds in my feedreader. I still listen to the podcasts in my itunes. But I seem to find it difficult to be a producer. As a classroom teacher I could eagerly write about the exciting things happening in my room. However as the editor of a website it seems like promotion to write about the cool things I have put up online. For example there are some fantastic arts resources developed around the curriculum which I was so excited about I sent them to my colleagues in an email but I didn't blog about them. I spent some time interviewing educators in Canterbury for an article I wrote which I was very pleased about and thought contained some inspirational content, but I didn't blog about that either.
I have now :)
I suppose I have to still see that this blog is about what I find interesting and hopefully will be useful to others. It is about my thoughts and opinions and not those of my employers. It is the virtual record of me.
So I suppose that means I'm back. I am going to continue writing in this new phase of my career and see where it takes me.
PS... check out these cool things I've been playing with:
Glogster - a 'sooooo' cool (according to my daughter) site to make posters with web interactivity
Miro - after playing with it, it seems to be an app that lets you store all your videos plus search and download from different places (including Youtube etc) to build up your own channels. One click and you are in good quality full screen.
Capzles - This excellent site lets you build a timeline and embed audio and video etc. Would be fantastic to build a timeline of a student's reading over a year with a picture of them holding the book and the audio of them reading. Imagine this going home as a Christmas present for mum after you have used it for assessment :)
Moourl - this site is a tiny url creator which can live on your browser toolbar. But it is cute :)
But I miss blogging.
I still read all the feeds in my feedreader. I still listen to the podcasts in my itunes. But I seem to find it difficult to be a producer. As a classroom teacher I could eagerly write about the exciting things happening in my room. However as the editor of a website it seems like promotion to write about the cool things I have put up online. For example there are some fantastic arts resources developed around the curriculum which I was so excited about I sent them to my colleagues in an email but I didn't blog about them. I spent some time interviewing educators in Canterbury for an article I wrote which I was very pleased about and thought contained some inspirational content, but I didn't blog about that either.
I have now :)
I suppose I have to still see that this blog is about what I find interesting and hopefully will be useful to others. It is about my thoughts and opinions and not those of my employers. It is the virtual record of me.
So I suppose that means I'm back. I am going to continue writing in this new phase of my career and see where it takes me.
PS... check out these cool things I've been playing with:
Glogster - a 'sooooo' cool (according to my daughter) site to make posters with web interactivity
Miro - after playing with it, it seems to be an app that lets you store all your videos plus search and download from different places (including Youtube etc) to build up your own channels. One click and you are in good quality full screen.
Capzles - This excellent site lets you build a timeline and embed audio and video etc. Would be fantastic to build a timeline of a student's reading over a year with a picture of them holding the book and the audio of them reading. Imagine this going home as a Christmas present for mum after you have used it for assessment :)
Moourl - this site is a tiny url creator which can live on your browser toolbar. But it is cute :)
Friday, July 11, 2008
Iphone frenzy in Dunedin
Don't get me wrong... I love my Mac. I have been criticised for my preference for mac over PCs. But I had to weigh in on the hype over the iPhone.
Today, at 9am, the iPhone was released in Dunedin. I had read about the frenzy in Apple stores in the US. I had to take a look at what Dunedin had to offer in the way of Frenzy...
I apologise I took a photo but it was a bit blurry. So imagine this. A line of people outside Magnum Mac in Dunedin ... 10 people.
That's right 10 people. That's what constitutes a frenzy here in downtown Dunedin.
Either that or they are the only people who can afford the outrageous plans for the phone ! $80 per month for the cheap plan up to $250 per month for the expensive plan. Needless to say, I wasn't one of the 10 people lining up. :)
Today, at 9am, the iPhone was released in Dunedin. I had read about the frenzy in Apple stores in the US. I had to take a look at what Dunedin had to offer in the way of Frenzy...
I apologise I took a photo but it was a bit blurry. So imagine this. A line of people outside Magnum Mac in Dunedin ... 10 people.
That's right 10 people. That's what constitutes a frenzy here in downtown Dunedin.
Either that or they are the only people who can afford the outrageous plans for the phone ! $80 per month for the cheap plan up to $250 per month for the expensive plan. Needless to say, I wasn't one of the 10 people lining up. :)
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