Audio+Visual

Screencast: Windows Live MovieMaker (I do apologize for the volume. I think I had my microphone unplugged when I was recording the screencast using Audacity) Hopefully, you all have good speakers on your computers and can turn it up loudly. []

Other Tools: //**Voki**// - [|www.voki.com] This tool uses an avatar for students to choose or create for themselves. Students then can audio record themselves and when saved, the avatar does the talking for them. Instead of recording their own voice, they can type the dialogue and the avatar will read it aloud. You are able to choose different accents or gender for the audio. The avatar recording can be embedded into websites, blogs, wikis, etc. One of the downfalls is that elementary students are not old enough to have an account. However, the teacher can set up an account, allowing all students to access, using the same username and password. There are also teacher accounts that can be purchased for student account privileges for $29.95/year. These accounts are able to have 90 second recordings, while the free version has a limit of 60 seconds. Students could use this tool to record their own poetry, explain vocabulary words, share information about a specific topic. Post messages on the class blog about our activities throughout the day. Because the recording is audio only, privacy issues in posting online, don't come up.

//**Audacity**// - [|www.audacity.com] Used to record audio, you are able to edit, copy and paste within a recording, record over a screencast, or record a podcast. It looks complicated at first, but once you learn the basics, it's not so hard. There are also many tutorials on using Audacity and this software is free. Students would be able to create a podcast to read some personal poetry, Read aloud for a fluency grade, teach someone else about how to do something, Read aloud a personal piece of writing and send it home to parents, complete an individual oral test. There are many other uses as well.

//**Photostory -**// [] This program is used for creating a movie with photos. Audio can be recorded, music added, and photo transitions can be animated. The great part is that you can create a slide show, telling the story as the slides are shown. Instead of making a movie with so much more memory, the photo "movie" doesn't use very much. Students would be able to create a report, take pictures of examples of a topic and then explain them, introduce themselves by using digital pictures from home, Write an original story using pictures, either found on the Internet (Creative Commons) or drawn themselves. The possibilities are endless.