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Matt’s Media Tips 9-4
Don’t forget about the Back-to-School Webinar Series! That’s right - we’ve got a whole bunch of webinars lined up for you when you return to school. Case in point, we’ve created a Back-to-School webinar series just for you! Click on this link to register for one or all of the sessions http://bit.ly/bts12-13. The series runs from August 8, 2012 to September 27, 2012.
The Monjan Index
Every once and a while our VP of product Development checks in with me to get a sense of how educators from around the country are reacting to the features and functionality within Discovery Education. He calls this the survey “The Monjan Index.” I feel like I have a pretty good pulse on our community but I’d love to have some real data to provide Bob the next time he asks. And for that I need your help. Here’s a link to a quick and easy five question survey to see how you really feel about the new enhancements to the site. I’ll share the “index” with you all as the data comes in.
The series will explore the exciting enhancements to Discovery Education, showcase how to engage your students with Discovery Education, and provide tools for Discovery Education administrators. We’ve made sure to give you lots of opportunities to join and each topic will be repeated multiple times so if you miss one webinar you can catch it again later. And, once you register for your session(s), we’ll send you reminder emails before your session starts because we know how hectic the beginning of the school year can be! And Speaking of Webianars...Please join me for a special Matt’s Tips and Tricks Webinar on Monday, September 10, 2012 Come and hang out with me as I deliver a special webinar that revisits some of the favorite tips and tricks from last year and unveils new tips and tricks for this year. Bring yourself and bring a friend and let’s learn from each other!www Registration links are listed in the Webinar section on page four.
Capture your students attention with the new Discovery Education Closed Captioning features! Using closed captioned content has many fantastic applications above and beyond assisting students who are hearing impaired.
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It can help struggling readers connect the spoken word, imagery and text together. By that same token, closed captioned content is a great tool to use with ELL students. And since the content from Discovery Education is digital you can pause the video at any time and have students identify key vocabulary words, work on predicting, and more. But I am probably preaching to the choir - can I get an amen? If so I’m about to show you some things that will make you sing hallelujah! As you have already seen, we’ve greatly enhanced the look and feel of Discovery Education. One of the really neat outcomes of this media player upgrade is the closed captioned improvements.
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Finding closed closed captioned content is easy. All you have to do is click on the Advanced Search (see #1) underneath your white search bar and then check the “Include only Closed Captioning Titles” box (see #2). Once you’ve found your CC video its time to play with the new features. Click on CC box (see #3) to change your CC settings.
Type to enter text
You can increase the size of your CC text, color and even text background from the CC settings menu (see #4). Then all you have to do is click on the blue save button (see #5) play to see the text appear on your screen (see #6).
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Note: Yellow text on a black background has been statistically proven to be easier to read!
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Ok if that doesn’t have you testifying this next little enhancement should! Not only can you manipulate and see the closed captioned text appear on the screen but you can interact with transcript of the video - as it plays! Check this out. Click on the blue “Transcript” box to open up the interactive text (see #1). You can then search keywords within the transcript and then jump to that part of the video. You can also click on the different words anywhere in the transcript to jump that part of the video or segment. In addition to the screenshots and description that I have provided in this weeks’ Tips and Tricks, I have also created a short video that describes everything that I have outlined. You can stream the video by clicking on this STREAM link. You can also download this video and share it with others by clicking on the DOWNLOAD link.
Everything that I have shown you applies to all digital devices. That means that the closed-captioning features described above will play on mobile devices like iPads, iPhones, iTouch, and Android devices. They will also play on both PCs and Macs. Way, way cool. But here’s the thing. These closed captioning features only work when you stream the H.264 files so you must be sure to toggle them on. To turn on and stream the H.264 files click on the little gear wheel in the lower right-hand corner of your Discovery Education Media Player (see #1). Then choose one of the H. 264 file formats on the left (see #2). Remember that the larger the number in front of the “k,” the larger the media file will be. Therefore streaming a H.264 2000k file will look pretty awesome but, depending on your school’s internet speeds, it may also be a bit of a bandwidth hog.
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Discovery Education Webinar Schedule
I tell you what. Kids these days really do have it easy. And this free little app makes citing references that much easier! This app is available for iPhones, iTouches and iPads and Android devices!
EasyBib By Imagine Easy Solutions
From their site: “Just like our iPhone app, you can create accurate MLA, APA, and Chicago style citations in seconds by scanning a book bar code or by typing the name of a book. Build and manage your works cited list on the larger screen of the iPad. Once done, email your citations and then export your citations to EasyBib.com's popular bibliography management service.” And while we’re talking about citations, don’t forget that everything within Discovery Education (videos, images, songs and more) come with their own citations in MLA, APA and Chicago Style. Here is a link to their iTunes download.
Help Me Make Matt’s Tips and Tricks Even Better I am always looking for ways to improve Matt’s Tips and Tricks and your feed back is invaluable to me. With that in mind I’ve created a short 15 question survey. I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts. If you can take a moment to fill out this super fast survey it will go a long way to making each edition better than the next!
Dates
Time (EST)
Link
9/4
4pm 5:00pm
Preparing for Back to School with the Techbook for Tech Departments: Are you ready for back to school with the Discovery Education Science Techbook? We are offering a webinar series throughout the months of August and September that will show you how to import new teacher and student accounts, update existing user accounts, explain user management options, provide plans for platform support, as well as updates on the new system requirements.
9/5
6pm 7pm
Techbook 2.0 Preview: Join us for a comprehensive overview of the new features and updates available for Techbook 2.0.
9/5
7pm 8pm
Exciting Enhancements to Discovery Education: Join us and find out how Discovery Education is going mobile, social, and adding even more functionality for you and your students. In this webinar, we will also model strategies for exploring your favorite content, as well as the newest features and resources available through Discovery Education.
9/6
4pm 5pm
Exciting Enhancements to Discovery Education See description above.
9/6
4pm 5pm
Techbook 2.0 Preview See description above.
9/10
3:30 4:30
A Special Matt’s Tips and Tricks Webinar! Please join me as I deliver a special webinar that revisits some of the favorite tips and tricks from last year and unveils new tips and tricks for this year. Bring yourself and bring a friend and let’s hang out and learn from each other.
9/10
7pm 8pm
A Special Matt’s Tips and Tricks Webinar! An encore session - repeat of the 3:30 - 4:30pm session.
Here is a link to EasyBib inside Google play: download.
What is a DEN Star Member? The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) is a global community of educators passionate about teaching with digital media, sharing resources, collaborating, and networking. With over 100,000 members providing professional development to over 600,000 educators worldwide, the DEN connects teachers both on-line and inperson. Discovery Educators have exclusive access to a wide range of resources, professional development activities, networking opportunities, exclusive Discovery Educator events and more. Find out how you can be part of this dynamic and supportive community. Become a DEN Star today!
Miss a week? Catch back up here! 2012-2013 School Year Archives 8/27/2012 Back to School Review. Check out some of the major enhancements made to Discovery Education over the summer. We'll give you a chance to weigh in, showcase a new back to school webinar series and highlight a very cool classroom mobile app.
Scratch.mit.edu, Popplet.com and EduTechr mobile app explored.
Miss a week? Catch back up here! 2011-2012 Archives 7/19/2012
Sneak peek at the back to school enhancements. Roadshow app.
6/11/2012
Fun things to do over the summer with technology and media. Mustacheme app is featured.
5/21/2012
The ins and outs of Digital Storytelling. Digital Storytelling Web 2.0 presentation and apps
5/14/2012
Who Knew We Had News? Find an additional set of free Discovery News videos, the Video Yearbook, video almanac, and great webinar information. Roadshow App for playing back videos on-demand is reviewed.
5/7/2012
4/30/2012
4/23/2012
My Five Favorite Summer Resources. We explore five free interactive sites that parents, students, and teachers can use over the summer. We’ll also explore a free translation app for mobile devices. Getting Your Game On. Finding great games, simulations and more within Discovery Education. Back-toSchool Sneak Peek Webinars announced. Futaba Classroom Games for Kids iPad app explored. Getting the Point with PowerPoint and Keynote. Learn how to trim audio & video in PPT and save both PPT & Keynote presentations as images to embed in Web 2.0 sites. 2 Screens and Joinme mobile presentation apps explored.
4/16/2012
It’s all about the Theme. We’ll explore several different ways to find unique thematic content. Three most voted upon stories revealed. Studyblue mobile flashcard app highlighted
4/9/2012
Scratch and Pop. Six-Word Story finalists revealed. Links between Discovery Education and
4/2/2012
3/26/2012
3/19/2012
3/12/2012
2/27/2012
Mi Content es Su Content. Bookmarking and sharing your Discovery Education content across your school and district, two great contests, and two text-to-sign mobile apps Can You Picture it? Learn how to create a six-word story using iPiccy.com and Discovery Education. Digital Story Challenge! MeeGenius Audiobook app for mobile devices. Audio Book ‘em Dano. Eight simple steps for creating an audiobook using iTunes and any computer (Mac/PC). Molecules mobile apps. It’s All About The Sharing. Uploading, sharing and accessing your own content within Discovery Discovery Education. Cel.Ly app polling device via any device. Teacher Center Treasure Trove of Resources. Interactive Calendar Atlas, STEM Connect explored. Socrative App (student response).
2/13/2012
Special Valentines Issue - Things I love about Discovery Education. Five Minute Preps, Images,Coaches Eye App
2/6/2012
What did you say? Closed Captioning on an iPad? Getting Closed Captions to play on your iPad, GreenScreens on iPhone/iPad with GreenScreen FX app
1/30/2012
1/23/2012
Let’s Give Them Something To Sing About Differentiated Instruction Using Songs, First Student Media Contest of the Year, ShowMe and Educreations whiteboard apps Meet the Faces of Discovery Education Get up close and personal with the Discovery Education on-air talent, special student webinar series, Story Kit app
1/18/2012
In a Class of Their Own Setting up Discovery Education Classrooms, Discovery Education Webinars, Quizlet App.
Live
1/9/2012
Building out the New Year Five of my favorite things you can do with the Discovery Education Builders, Rover App for DE Students
12/19/2011
Special Holiday Edition 13 Tips from Educators around the US and Canada, Videolicious App
12/12/2011
50 Ways to Use Discovery Education Tips and tricks galore iSwifter - Flash for iPads
11/28/2011
What I am Thankful for Building out your PLN Wordspree and Math Acorn Apps
11/14/2011
Things I Stole From the Community DEN Tips, Four really cool tips you can do with Google. TED and Animoto apps
11/7/2011
First Six Weeks Aggregated
11/4/2011
Creating an “iCenter" How to create an ePub using DE videos. Spirit of Innovation Challenge
10/24/2011
Spooky Edition Digital Storytelling, Web 2.0 Piqua City Community Night, Crazy Pumpkin and Halloween Card Creator Apps
10/17/2011
Stick it to IT Collaborative Note Taking Site Educator Spotlight - Jennifer Everett, ToonTastic and PuppetPals Apps
10/3/2011
Opening Up Closed-Captions Closed-Captions for Macs and PCs, 10 FAQs Customer Service Receives
9/26/2011
Common Core, Web 2.0 and DE Three cool sites that integrate nicely with Discovery Education. Administrator Spotlight - Molly Hay!
9/13/2011
Can you Hear what I’m Writing? Embedding an eReader into your Writing Prompts, Getting to know Discovery Education SCIENCE