Integrating the perfect voice into an online course, video or slide show enhances the audience’s perception and enjoyment of the program. On the other hand, choosing a voice that doesn’t fit can sometimes feel like fingernails scraping across a blackboard. It takes lots of talent and skill to be a professional narrator. Voice actors must sound knowledgeable even when they don’t understand the subject. They must emote a variety of moods to fit the script. They also need disciplined voice control and excellent enunciation. Sifting through talented narrators to assess all these skills and selecting the right person can be an overwhelming task. Here are some things I’ve learned that might make the process easier for you. Determine where the session will be located. Before you can select a narrator, you need to consider where the recording will take place. You’ll need regional talent if it’s in a local studio and national talent if you’re willing to use a narrator with a home recording setup. The recording expertise found in a studio with an audio engineer will typically produce a higher-quality result. It will also be more expensive. Look for high quality demos. Professional narrators will have high quality demos that show off their range and styles. Listen carefully, imagine this person reading your script and pick out the top two or three people to analyze in more detail. If the narrator does not have a good demo, I would recommend looking elsewhere. He or she may not be well-trained nor serious about this as a career. Use a voice that fits the audience. Select a voice that will work with your audience. Consider whether a male or female would be most appropriate (though often, it doesn’t seem to matter). Consider whether a regional accent is required. Also, think about the type of voice that will draw your audience closer. A sophisticated audience might prefer an elegant voice; children might prefer a bright and enthusiastic voice. Use a voice that fits the subject. Some narrators are best for motivational and upbeat treatments and can’t seem to sound serious. Yet some topics require a solemn voice. Other narrators just can’t sound light and playful when it’s needed. Make sure your narrator can perform well in the mood and style your content requires. The best professionals are versatile and can adapt to a broad range of styles. Appreciate the subtle qualities of the voice. Tune in to the subtle qualities of the narrator’s voice. Make sure the pitch and tone are easy on the ear. Notice if the voice sounds unique, with a special quality that distinguishes it from others. Pay attention to the narrator’s rhythm. Does the reading flow or is it stilted? Also, listen for clarity in pronunciation. A professional and distinctive voice with excellent diction will carry your message effectively. Make sure the talent is credible. As you listen to the demos, determine whether the talent is capable of sounding believable. Can this person sound sufficiently caring to narrate a course about cancer treatments? Does this talent have what it takes to sound like a technical expert? If your narrator isn’t credible, your program will lose some of its authority. Look for character voices. Some narrators can portray several distinct voices. If you need multiple voices for scenarios and other treatments, finding one person to cover several characters provides a huge time and cost savings. One narrator I worked with wore his baseball cap in a different position for each unique voice! Check  previous experience. If your project is instructional in nature, make sure the talent you select has experience with long narration sessions. These take an excellent reading ability and lots of stamina. Some voice over artists specialize in short commercials. I once mistakenly hired a commercial talent to read four hours of technical content. We had to retake almost every paragraph and the experience was grueling for all of us. Get recommendations. In addition to searching for voice over talent online and through talent agencies, don’t forget to seek out recommendations from recording studios, producers and other multimedia types. This way, you can ask whether the individual is flexible and takes direction well. Although a recording session involves give and take between the director, the talent, and the audio engineer, the script owner steers the show. A flexible narrator will be happy to take direction to change intonation or emphasis. It’s just part of the job. Get approval from stakeholders If you work with outside clients, it’s often a good idea to get their approval of the talent you’ve selected. Clients usually appreciate this gesture and this way you know they’ll be happy with the results. What criteria do you use for choosing talent? Have you found specific audiences prefer one type of voice over another? Comment below. Related Articles: Audio Recording: Preparing Your Script Audio Recording: Going In-house Post from: The eLearning CoachBouncy, bubbly or British? How To Choose Voice Over Talent Tweet This! Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Buzz up! Share this on del.icio.us Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon

This post is part of my continuing series of weekly lesson summaries. My goal is to give parents & caregivers in our school community the resources needed to extend student learning at home, and to share my professional practice with teacher colleagues around the world in the interest of improving my craft. Week ending 09/21/12 Kindergarten What we learned / did / explored together: In Kindergarten this week I wanted to be sure everyone was comfortable with (and excited about) the new learning space. I started the lesson by giving everyone a classroom tour (best recapped here). We then moved on to a classroom Scavenger Hunt, based on an idea I saw in this Sid the Science Kid (PBS) episode. Basically, we sent the kids scurrying around the classroom with magnifying glasses in search of things to explore. We had already strategically placed a variety of small items (sea shells, pipe cleaners, golf balls, clothespins, etc.) around the room. Students literally shrieked as they found the various treasures and then raced over to our work tables to draw a picture. I took digital pictures of the students with their artwork, which we displayed on the SMART Board so students could share their discoveries, show-and-tell style (the shy ones were able to pass on the sharing part). Early finishers gathered at the SMART Board where the Kindergarten teachers led them through a counting game using the free and fabulous Sebran’s ABCs software. They did this until all students were done drawing and we could begin sharing as a class. I handed out my Vivitar 710HD camcorder (eBay, $25) and my Vivitar 7022 digital camera (eBay, $15) and let the kids record and photograph whatever they wanted. It is my intention that ALL students have an opportunity to be videographers and photographers in my class. (The center picture above was taken with the Vivitar 7022 - not the best quality, but, acceptable!) What I observed / inferred / connected: Kindergarten was literally the first class to use my new room. The learning space is everything I’d hoped it would be. Large enough to move around in easily, natural work spaces around the technology, bright, comfortable. It was very satisfying to see kids skittering all over the room, exploring and collaborating rather than just sitting at a keyboard. Having an "early finisher" activity at the SMART Board is a natural while we wait for those kids who need extra time. I am going to need extra time to set up between classes, or, enlist the help of students/parent helpers for the process! What students can do at home: Magnifying glasses are inexpensive, especially the plastic ones. Pretty much anything looks more interesting up close, so, be sure to have a magnifying glass handy for explorations anytime, anywhere! Have them record their discoveries in a journal or some other place for safe keeping. Digital cameras can easily be used to photograph and send images to relatives and friends. You can even easily make free slideshows with a number of great websites like http://photopeach.com/. First Grade What we learned / did / explored together: All of my classes included a quick tour (best recapped here) but the main lesson for first graders was to think about ways to stay safe and be productive in our new learning space.  We brainstormed together while in front of the SMART Board. Students then went to the work tables and drew a picture representing their idea, which I photographed and displayed on the SMART Board. To keep kids active and moving during class, we used the Wheel of Fitness Powerpoint (above) to get everyone up and moving around. Having the space to do so is crucial and we do. This was pretty hilarious and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. I’ll be using it a lot this year in different ways. What I observed / inferred / connected: The level of detail in their drawing was inspirational. They totally "got" the assignment and most were easily able to convey some pretty sophisticated ideas. They worked quickly and with intention, seemingly knowing what to do before I asked. What students can do at home: I actually started the lesson by explaining to students that I guessed many of them had lots of technology at home and that would help them determine good procedures for Computer Lab. Challenge them to come up with similar posters representing safe technology use in your house. Second, Third and Fourth Grade What we learned / did / explored together: All three classes got a quick tour (best recapped here) and then broke into groups to compile a list of ways to stay safe and be productive in our new learning space. We also used the Wheel of Fitness Powerpoint to get everyone up and moving around in the middle of class. What I observed / inferred / connected: Despite my request for "Do" rather than "Don’t" statements (see #1 above), the latter dominated most ideas submitted. It’s certainly easier to write as a "Don’t" but I suspect our kids have lived too much of their lives with "Don’t" as the start of a sentence. I DO want my students to feel empowered What students can do at home: We began this lesson by leveraging students’ prior knowledge of safe technology use in the home. Discuss your household technology "Do" list and emphasize giving your child MORE responsibility. That’s going to be the goal in MY class, and I hope it translates into observable behavior at home, too.

As I have been immersing myself in the issues, politics and nuances of post-secondary educational online learning this past year, I have come to appreciate the role that a cooperative community of interest can play. Can I just say, It's...

Two technology tools are being introduced in my building this year: Google for Education and Twitter.  I have been working with the instructional coach in our building on ways to integrate these technologies and others into the classrooms.  I’ve started with a little fun:  I found a BINGO card another technology specialist created and edited […]

Stock photos and illustrations won’t solve all your graphic needs but there are a lot of uses for them in online learning. Unless you always shoot your own photos, the question is whether you should pay for stock photos and illustrations or use one of the free services. You can find a long list of both types on this Resource page—Stock Photo and Illustration Sites. Although free stock photo websites create a lot of buzz, in the real world of creating online courses they can be frustrating. Free stock photos are great when you need images of scenic mountains or scanned photos of someones great grandmother. Personally, I end up wasting a lot of time going through these sites looking for the right image. For busy designers with a reasonable budget and intense deadlines, I’ve found that purchasing stock photos and illustrations makes more sense. Here are 10 reasons why. 1. Time Savings Good stock photo services will save you time, as you are much more likely to find what you need quickly. A savings in time translates into saving money. 2. Way More Choices For-pay stock photo services are a business, which means they need to have a wide selection of categories and image choices to stay afloat. Many of the higher end subscription services provide customers with access to multiple collections so you can search among millions of photos, making it more likely to find what you need. 3. Compelling Images Although paid stock photo services always include some laughable images of people smiling broadly at work, they also have lots of compelling images. You can find photos based on a concept, emotion or theme. You can find people doing interesting things and simple single objects that are ready to use. 4. Availability of Vector Art and Illustrations Many of the subscription and credit-based sites offer vector art and illustrations. Illustrated graphics can give a course a completely unique look and feel. Vector art refers to graphics that are hand drawn in a tool like Adobe Illustrator. Because they exist as mathematical renderings, they can be expanded to any size and manipulated in a vector graphics program. 5. Clear Licensing Agreement One hazard of being a designer is learning about copyright laws, restrictions and licenses. On the free photo sites, you have to read the fine print for each and every photo you use. Some photographs come with no restrictions, some are only for non-commercial use and some require the name of the photographer. You don’t have to deal with this headache on a reputable stock photo site. The licensing agreement will be the same for all photos in the license category you select, which is typically a standard royalty-free license. Yes you should read the fine print, but you only have to do it once. 6. Guaranteed Model Releases You need the signed release of a model to use his or her photo. Model releases are guaranteed with a paid service. This is not true on a free site. That’s why I never use photographs of a person from a free service. 7. More Efficient Search There’s nothing like typing in the search term ‘money’ and getting back photos of the Eiffel tower. This kind of poor search functionality is common on some free photo sites. On the other hand, efficient search functionality is one of the foundations of a paid service. Paid photo services have staff to tag their photos with keywords, so the results are usually more accurate. Some services even provide corresponding search terms with each photo, which can give you ideas for alternate keywords. 8. Lightbox Functionality The additional functionality you can find on a for-pay photo site can help you stay organized and efficient. These sites will have a ‘Lightbox’ feature where you can store images you might like to download at a later date. You can typically create multiple lightboxes with unique names for different projects. 9. Supports The Arts The world would only be shades of gray without the Arts. By paying for images, you’re helping photographers and illustrators earn a living. We need them. 10. Reduces Stress When you can quickly find the graphics you like and need, it reduces your level of stress. And we all need that. Which type of photo service do you prefer and why? Do you shoot your own? Comment below. Related Resources: Stock Photo and Illustration Sites Icon Collections Post from: The eLearning Coach10 Reasons Why You Should Pay For Stock Photos Tweet This! Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Buzz up! Share this on del.icio.us Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon

It’s official … the re-imagining of  our computer lab is finally, actually, really happening! Students in four of my five classes had their first contact with the Chromebooks on Tuesday. Despite a major malfunction on *MY* part, everyone went home happy. As good as it looks, the setup above isn’t even our final, intended configuration. We will ultimately have five smaller tables and slightly bigger chairs. Nonetheless, we’re thankful to have scraped together enough furniture to start the new school year (our order is supposedly still "on its way.") We got underway with Kindergarten (Mrs. Vicente’s class) and as usual it was the highlight of my day. We began the lesson on the cubes near the SMART Board as I introduced the basics of ChromeOS screen navigation. Their prior knowledge was very solid; they already knew all the basics and even what vertical scroll bars do. A short demonstration later and they scampered off to the Chromebooks to get busy. It was the first time we had 20+ Chromebooks hitting the router (another temporary configuration - we are also still waiting for our Meraki enterprise wireless solution to arrive.) But - everything worked! Students gleefully clicked throgh the very basic Symbaloo site I built just for them and had no real problems other than accidentally closing a browser tab now and then. There was also some of the usual fine motor issues with mice use (most kids use tablets of some kind at home). Second grade was another story. First, the dreaded CAPTCHAs needed for the Google Accounts made the poor little second graders’ heads explode. Worse, I’d managed to bork the default password setup and NO ONE COULD LOG IN. I reset several students individually before declaring the lesson a total loss and having them log in with the Kindergarten credentials just so they could get on the Chromebooks. That worked fine and allowed me to go over ChromeOS screen navigation and a few other things like proper shutdown procedure. By the end of class, they were buzzing, and they hadn’t even logged in correctly. After wolfing down my PB&J lunch I decided I had to reset student passwords in Google Apps. A quick extract from our student information system and some Excel wizadry and that process was done in minutes. Third and Fourth grade went much more smoothly. My screencast (above) was a big hit. Kids loved watching it. (Since it is officially my first, I saw many ways to improve the next ones.) After dealing with the dreaded CAPTCHAs, students gleefully set about making their login profile pics, though many just chose an icon. They quickly finished and raced up to my desk to press the "Easy Button". (Honestly, I think they liked that part the best!) Once they logged in, we pointed them to our keyboarding practice site, Typing Pal. (It’s drudgery and I hate it, but the kids LOVE the thing, and we’re getting results. In a perfect world, we’d be using the Herzog system…) The only students to NOT see the Chromebooks on Tuesday were first graders. Turns out that was a stroke of brilliance because there’s NO WAY IN HIGH HEAVEN your average first grader will be able to get through the Google Account setup process. NO WAY. So, I’m going to complete the process for them and log into each individual machine. It’ll be a LOT of work but it will be WORTH it when all they have to do is open the lid, click their icon, enter a password and be online. There were many victories on Tuesday, some small, some large, and quite a few missteps, but we persevered and ended up way, way, WAY in the plus column for the day. Other than my screwing up the passwords, the day was essentially perfect. Much better than I’d hoped and far better than I feared!

originally posted at Technology in Education: Notes from the Closet Its that most wonderful time of the year: getting all the staff on Twitter so you can CONNECT!  Here’s a little help for the beginners and some tips for the "seasoned" ones… Enjoy!    

The World Series gets started in San Francisco this evening. As a Bay area resident, I am showing my Giants pride by wearing my black and orange Buster Posey jersey today. Turns out that the Giants are playing against the...

A funny thing happened while we were learning informally. A few astute people noticed it, wrote about it and brought it to the forefront of the learning arena. In fact, the buzz about informal learning seems to grow every day. You’ll find it discussed in training forums, featured in conferences and the subject of many presentations. Social learning technologies, which often facilitate informal learning, seem to have paved the way for greater interest in this approach. So I think readers of The eLearning Coach would appreciate an interview with a person who wrote the book on the subject … literally. Meet Jay Cross, author of Informal Learning, speaker and consultant. Coach: What is your definition of informal learning? Jay: Learning is that which enables you to participate successfully in life, at work, and in the groups that matter to you. Informal learning is the unofficial, unscheduled, impromptu way people learn to do their jobs. Formal learning is like riding a bus: the driver decides where the bus is going; the passengers are along for the ride. Informal learning is like riding a bike: the rider chooses the destination, the speed, and the route. The rider can take a detour at a moment’s notice to admire the scenery or go to the bathroom. Learning is adaptation. Taking advantage of the double meaning of the word network, to learn is to optimize the quality of one’s networks. That said, all learning is part formal and part informal; neither exist in pure, unadulterated form. The issue we’re really addressing is whether the learning is mainly formal (imposed) or informal (sought). Three hallmarks of formal learning are: a curriculum, a schedule and recognition upon completion (even if only a checkmark in an LMS). Coach: What are examples of offline informal learning? Jay: Learning to walk, talk, eat, kiss, smooch, run or ride a bicycle. Coach: And examples of online informal learning? Jay: Getting an answer from the Help Desk, asking Twitter friends for an answer, looking at a FAQ on a wiki. Coach: What motivational factors underlie informal learning? Jay: The primary motivation is needing to learn something in order to do something. There are so many forms of learning, it’s tough to generalize. I might want to learn Italian to foster my relationship with Sophia. I might learn to program Cisco routers in order to get a raise. I might seek an answer to a customer’s question. Coach: How do you think cognitive processes differ when someone is learning informally as opposed to formally? Jay: Generally informal learning is demand-driven. I’m more interested because I’ve chosen the subject matter and extent of the learning. It’s likely I’ll reinforce my learning almost immediately and that will make it stick. (Can anybody really remember the content of their high school coursework?) Coach: Formal and structured learning can potentially promote efficient organization in long-term memory. Would this be an advantage of formal learning over informal? Jay: Organization in a curriculum isn’t efficient unless it’s the right stuff. Generally, informal learning will take less time and effort to learn an equivalent amount of material. Coach: Is there more potential for picking up incorrect information or developing inaccurate mental models when learning informally? Jay: There’s potential for picking up incorrect information from informal learning or formal learning or newspapers or television or one’s brother. Learners need to be able to apply tests of reasonableness. Can the information be substantiated? Do others agree? Has it been vetted by thousands of others? Does it make sense to me? Coach: Are there advantages to informal collaborative learning as compared to informal individualized learning? Jay: Learning is social. Most learning is collaborative. Other people are providing the context and the need, even if they’re not in the room. Relative advantages would depend on the nature of what’s being learned. I don’t sense that there are absolutes. Coach: How can organizations optimize the workplace for informal learning? Jay: I’ve written books on this, but in short, organizations need to trust their people. People confronted by high expectations tend to live up to them. (And when confronted with low expectations, they tend to sink down to a low level.) There are hundreds of smaller interventions that nurture informal learning. Examples might be setting up facilities to encourage conversation, providing time and encouragement of reflection, displaying graphics that explain company processes, building a social network infrastructure, setting up ways to share information, and viewing learning as part of every job. There’s a lengthy summary of this at Internet Time Wiki. That’s the "informal learning page" I set up just for people who are curious about informal learning. You can download book chapters, watch a video, find white papers, etc. Thanks for a great interview, Jay! Related Articles and Resources: Social Media And Learning 10 Ways To Learn In 2010 10 Social Media Tools For Learning Buy Informal Learning on Amazon Download free chapters on Internet Time Wiki Post from: The eLearning CoachInformal Learning: An Interview With Jay Cross Tweet This! Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Buzz up! Share this on del.icio.us Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon

So, I’m trying to flip my classroom this year.  I piloted it a couple of years ago and because I had a 6th grade class that year, and they didn’t have internet access at home or phones, it kinda flopped.  I had a mixed group or 7th and 8th graders last year, most of whom […]