Here’s a link to a Guest Blog I made earlier today, some thoughts on "perfect" eLearning. If such a thing exists.

TeacherCast creates screencasts and instructional videos for the educational community.  Through student inspiration and educator feedback, I have had the privilege of creating online courses and video tutorials on subjects such as Evernote, Video Editing, student communication and mobile classrooms.  Quite often people ask about the tools that I use and my methods for creating these screencasts. There are several great tools both freemium and premium that I use for creating digital content.  Quite often, I just don’t have the time to use a free application such as Apple Quicktime and then transporting it into a video editor such as Final Cut Pro X to make the edits for exporting and uploading.  My favorite tool for creating screencasts is called ScreenFlow from a great company called Telestream.  It has a simple interface and has powerful tools to allow you to create amazing classroom resources. Telestream ScreenFlow recently pushed an update that introduces some amazing features.  Are you looking to create a video that not only shows your screen, but your pretty smile?  ScreenFlow can do that.  Are you interested in teaching your students about a new iPad app by doing a screencast??  ScreenFlow can do that too!  How about having a great app with the ability to publish to platforms such as YouTube, Dropbox, AND your Google Drive???  Yup…. ScreenFlow is the choice for you. For more information, please visit: http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm Setting up ScreenFlow Once installed from either the Telestream Website, or the Mac App Store, ScreenFlow gives you a robust dialogue box where you can set up your recordings.  You can select from your various camera, and choose which microphone you wish to use.  Screenflow gives you the ability to record not only from one camera, but from multiple sources.  Need support for your iPad or iPhone?  ScreenFlow can even record these screens too. Recording your Screencast Once you have established your recording parameters, it’s time to start your recording.  Learning simple keyboard commands will help you create your screencasts quickly.  I have my commands set up as Command-2.  This allows me to toggle on and off the recordings.  One of the neatest features of ScreenFlow is the ability to hide your desktop icons.  I often find my desktop screens very cluttered and this option allows my audience to see a clean screen and not a cluttered mess. Recording Advice While recording, it’s inevitable that you will flub or mess up something.  If this happens, my advice is to keep recording.  Record everything… even if you have multiple takes… keep recording.  This way, your final product will be one single video clip.  If you stop and start your recording several times, your computer will now be dealing with multiple files and that becomes messy.  No matter what happens, I find it’s always best to have one single source file at the end from which to edit. There are times where, during the recording, you need to wait for apps to load, or websites to come up on screen…  just remember that the editing station is where the power lies in your screencasts.  You can always cut this time away by editing rather than starting and stopping the video recording. Editing your Screencast Once your video is recorded, ScreenFlow automatically enters you into a VERY powerful video editor.  Most of my screencasts are very basic and don’t nearly take advantage of the tools that are offered in ScreenFlow.  My advice here is to keep everything simple and only bring out the bells and whistles where needed. There are many tools that you can use in your recordings.  You can choose to make a video of just your desktop screen, or if interested,d you can layer in your second video camera to include yourself in the final edit. The editing screen allows direct access to your Photo and Audio/Video libraries in case you wish to bring in extra screen shots or B-Roll video. ScreenFlow is packed with powerful editing tools that can help make your users have a very enjoyable learning experience. Video: Scale your video larger or smaller.  Include a reflection or border around your video. Create a Picture in Picture type of experience. Audio: Overlap audio on top of other audio using "Ducking". Add audio effects and filters to your project. Screen Recording: Are you interested in showing your mouse on the screen?  Would you like your project to show every place you clicked your mouse? Call Out: Highlighting various places on your screen including a zoomed in follow on your mouse pointer. Annotations: Draw boxes or shapes on the screen to highlight various locations.  Create text effects on the screen for simple instructions. Exporting your projects There are dozens of options that are available when exporting.  From ScreenFlow, you can directly export to YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive, and Facebook.  You can also choose to export a master file at various sizes.  My advice when exporting is to export directly to your desktop and then upload into these various locations. I also find my decisions for the export are all based on the size of the project I’m working on.  If i’m working on a smaller screencast, perhaps 5 minutes or less, I don’t have a problem exporting to YouTube directly.  If the project is closer to an hour of length, it’s best to export to the desktop, and then upload from there. My reasoning behind this is that unless you are simply posting for fun, you will want to log into these services and play with the settings of your final project any way… so, to export to the desktop and publish at that point is actually saving you a bit of time. Archival Options When you are finished, I always backup my projects onto a secondary hard drive.  I have often found that year to year, things change and it’s very simple to go back into a project and update for the new school year to adjust for updating websites or technologies. Overall impressions I have been a ScreenFlow user for several years now.  I also have been a fan of the other popular screen casting applications popular in the educational market.  ScreenFlow provides users with a very simple interface from which to create projects in.  Where I absolutely love using Final Cut Pro X to do my video editing, I find that more often than not, I am opening ScreenFlow to do simple video edits and projects.  There are features of FCPX that I wish were in ScreenFlow, and of course, there are features in ScreenFlow that I wish were in FCPX (Example: The screencasting) There are several advantages to all of these.  The important question is… what tool allows you to create your classroom resources quickly and effectively for your students to learn the best.  What provides a great experience for the user not only now, but in the future. ScreenFlow version 5 from Telestream is a great screencasting application that I would highly recommend to teachers and I think you will enjoy it too.   For more information, please visit: http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm        Description:Record your screen. Edit your video. Share with the world. Telestream ScreenFlow® is an award-winning, powerful screencasting and video editing software for Mac that enables high-quality software or iPhone demos, professional video tutorials, in-depth video training, and dynamic presentations. With ScreenFlow you can record the contents of your entire monitor while also capturing your video camera, iOS device, microphone and your computer audio. The easy-to-use editing interface, updated with a fresh new look for Yosemite, lets you creatively edit your video, and add additional images, text, music and transitions for a professional-looking screencast. The result is an MP4 or QuickTime movie, ready for publishing to the Web or directly to YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Facebook, Google Drive or Dropbox. Highest quality screen recording Retina display? No problem. Our efficient algorithm enables full-screen, 2880 x 1800-resolution screen capture with brilliant detail, while keeping file sizes low. Powerful video editing Easily add images, text, audio, video transitions and more to create professional-looking videos. Nested clips, closed captioning, chroma key, mouse callouts, annotations, rolling edits, video and audio filters, video actions such as iOS Touch callouts and freehand callouts are just a few of the touches that make ScreenFlow editing easy and powerful. Intuitive User Interface Every so often design and function combine to form an elegant piece of software that’s easy and fun to use. ScreenFlow makes editing video easy, so users can focus on creatively telling their story. Superior Export Quality & Speed ScreenFlow uses the popular x264 codec for significantly faster and higher quality H.264 exports. ScreenFlow runs as a fully 64-bit application, which improves overall performance, memory usage, export speed, and scalability. Expanded publishing options let you easily publish your video to YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Google Drive, Dropbox or Facebook in just a few clicks. WHAT’S NEW IN SCREENFLOW 5 More options for recording • Record direct from your iOS device (Note: Requires a USB lightning connection, iOS 8 and Mac OS X 10.10) • Recording monitor • Add markers while recording • Customize your recording frame rate • Native support for MPEG Transport Stream/AVCHD file format Timesaving, powerful editing features • Streamlined new actions • Snapback actions • Action templates • "Touch" callouts • Direct access iPhoto and iTunes Library from the Media library • Improved media handling • Smoother playback of files using the Telestream Media Framework • Rolling edits • SRT import • Color labels on clips…Show Full Description & Screenshots    App Details:  Mac Screenshots:  $99.99 - View in App Store   by 14 users    $99.99    The post Video: Screencasting Tips and Tricks using the NEW @Telestream Screenflow 5.0 from appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. Record your screen. Edit your video. Share with the world. Telestream ScreenFlow® is an award-winning, powerful screencasting and video editing software for Mac that enables high-quality software or iPhone demos, professional video tutorials, in-depth video training, and dynamic presentations. With ScreenFlow you can record the contents of your entire monitor while also capturing your video camera, iOS device, microphone and your computer audio. The easy-to-use editing interface, updated with a fresh new look for Yosemite, lets you creatively edit your video, and add additional images, text, music and transitions for a professional-looking screencast. The result is an MP4 or QuickTime movie, ready for publishing to the Web or directly to YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Facebook, Google Drive or Dropbox. Highest quality screen recording Retina display? No problem. Our efficient algorithm enables full-screen, 2880 x 1800-resolution screen capture with brilliant detail, while keeping file sizes low. Powerful video editing Easily add images, text, audio, video transitions and more to create professional-looking videos. Nested clips, closed captioning, chroma key, mouse callouts, annotations, rolling edits, video and audio filters, video actions such as iOS Touch callouts and freehand callouts are just a few of the touches that make ScreenFlow editing easy and powerful. Intuitive User Interface Every so often design and function combine to form an elegant piece of software that’s easy and fun to use. ScreenFlow makes editing video easy, so users can focus on creatively telling their story. Superior Export Quality & Speed ScreenFlow uses the popular x264 codec for significantly faster and higher quality H.264 exports. ScreenFlow runs as a fully 64-bit application, which improves overall performance, memory usage, export speed, and scalability. Expanded publishing options let you easily publish your video to YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Google Drive, Dropbox or Facebook in just a few clicks. WHAT’S NEW IN SCREENFLOW 5 More options for recording • Record direct from your iOS device (Note: Requires a USB lightning connection, iOS 8 and Mac OS X 10.10) • Recording monitor • Add markers while recording • Customize your recording frame rate • Native support for MPEG Transport Stream/AVCHD file format Timesaving, powerful editing features • Streamlined new actions • Snapback actions • Action templates • "Touch" callouts • Direct access iPhoto and iTunes Library from the Media library • Improved media handling • Smoother playback of files using the Telestream Media Framework • Rolling edits • SRT import • Color labels on clips…… Read more

Last week I was invited by a Marketing department to review their proposed eLearning. They were concerned at the constant re-education needed for sales people - "…they just don’t remember what we teach them". Their use of Articulate Storyline was excellent, branching, layers, states, and so on - so why wasn’t the training being successful? Over the first couple of hours, they mentioned, several times, that "…what we do is very complex", and their aim was to try and get salespeople to "expert" level. In this case, this was a valid requirement, salespeople do need expert-level knowledge to perform a consulting role for clients. Using a flipchart, I showed them that what they DO is actually very simple, using about 3 squares, 3 symbols, and two arrows. What was complex was HOW they did that - they had never put all the complex facts into a simple overall framework. Their teaching had no framework, and I suspect that this is why sales never remembered anything. Their role, as Marketing was to be "sales support", and I think they had just become the "sales confusion department". I received an email the next day, and I quote "… I can see now the importance of thinking from the end-user perspective and also to try to keep the content to a minimum and use illustrations, videos etc. to keep things interesting rather than bombarding the viewer with words." That is partly true, as it also needs to be relevant and meet sales’ ends, but they made a huge leap forward. When faced by the "classic SME" situation, be prepared to challenge, and talk in business-related language. Get out of your comfort zone. They wanted to know how to use Articulate Storyline more effectively. I explained how to run their business more effectively, using Storyline as one of the tools to get there, and they will now create courses, (and job aids…) so much for effectively because of that.

I was walking to a client earlier this week, and I passed an old-fashioned high street butchers shop. On the window was an advert which read "Pork…it’s tasty…try some now!" I laughed to myself, thinking about the simplicity and almost child-like communication. How "quaint". 7 hours later, after a heavy day of Articulate Storyline examples and semantic juggling, I walked back to the station, once again passing the same advert. It was a GREAT example of learning technique State the case for something to your learners - "Pork…" Explain the potential benefits to the user - "…it’s tasty" State the solution to an assumed problem (lack of pork), with a specific behavioural action - "…try some now" I had just spent a day largely doing just this - taking words and messages, and simplifying them with/for a client into learner actions. Perhaps we should all, occasionally, look back to the past to see where we are going. In the interests of keeping the "pork" theme going - I remembered a simple flowchart I once produced using Articulate Storyline - so I’ll leave you with the "Should I Eat Bacon" flowchart".

Jeff sits down with Andyshea Saberioon from PledgeCents to share how teachers can help raise financial support for amazing classroom projects. About PledgeCents PledgeCents is Bake Sale 2.0. We are democratizing K-12 educational fundraising by allowing schools to raise funds faster, easier, and reach a larger audience. The secure platform has helped put over $115,000 back into classrooms in 27 states and impacting more than 26,000 students. The PledgeCents team has one focus - to help provide every student with more educational resources. Links of interest www.facebook.com/pledgecents www.twitter.com/pledgecents www.instagram.com/pledgecents www.pinterest.com/pledgecents www.youtube.com/pledgecents   About our Guest Andyshea is a social entrepreneur from Houston, Texas. He attended Rhodes College for his undergraduate studies and later attended the Conrad Hilton College (at University of Houston) for his graduate degree. Andyshea worked over 8 years in the hospitality industry both international and domestic. He comes from a family that has always emphasized the importance of a great education and philanthropy. Andy’s mission in life to is to make a difference and leave the world a better place than he entered. The post Learn why @PledgeCents is the best way to raise money for your classroom and schools | TeacherCast Podcast 111 appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

Quick post - my entry for this weeks Articulate Elearning Challenge - audio tips and tricks. A really GREAT thread appearing on the Challenges page, superb hints and tips for anyone wanting to try voiceover on an eLearning course.

I am constantly amazed by instructional designers that think that "training" is what they do, rather than "help businesses", and ignore some of the norms of business behaviour and thinking. So - here’s 5 things you can do to get closer to business.

The Tech Educator Podcast is a weekly round table discussion about current topics in educational technology.  For more information, please visit www.techeducatorpodcast.com. Many great ways to participate in the TechEducator Podcast. TechEducatorPodcast.com Follow us Live on Video: http://www.TeacherCast.tv Leave a Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail Email: feedback@Teachercast.net Twitter: @TechEdShow (http://www.twitter.com/techedshow) Hashtag: #TechEducator Hosts: Jeff Bradbury - TeacherCast.net - @TeacherCast Jeff Herb - InstructionalTechTalk.com - @InstTechTalk Sam Patterson - MyPaperlessClassroom.com - @SamPatue Chris Nesi - Education the Nesi Way - @MrNesi David Saunders @DesignSaunders -designsaunders.com Josh Gauthier @mrgfactoftheday -Mr Gauthier’s Tech Chat Show Information About our Guest Alefiya believes that involved communities result in higher academic and social outcomes, stronger values, and increased future success for students. Her degree in psychology and education from Emory University, along with her training and experience as a Montessori teacher, power her passion for wide-scale education improvement. It is this passion that led her to start her company Crescerance (cris-seer-unce) in 2011. In Crescerance’s short lifespan of just over 3 years, Alefiya has enabled over 150 educational institutions in America and throughout the world to better communicate with and engage their communities through the growing power of mobile. Alefiya is passionate about making mobile an easily available and powerful channel to thousands of schools worldwide. She is now focussing on brining the concepts and tools of app development to students as young as the 3rd grade by enabling them to build mobile apps with the newly launched MAD-learn program. In her spare time, she enjoys touring the world, meeting new people, learning new languages, and experiencing new cultures. She is also a closet adrenaline junkie who loves the occasional sky or sea dive expedition. About Crescerance Crescerance began its journey in 2011 with the simple idea of wanting to make it easier for schools to connect and truly engage with their parents, staff, students, alumni, and community at large. Through working with schools in creating their school apps (so that everyone could be connected through Mobile and have quick, easy access to the information they needed), we met students that had a keen interest in not just using the app that we created for their school, but in wanting to learn about the creation process of that app. "How did you make our app?" was a question that we got asked through numerous in person or Skype calls from teachers wanting to bring an App Developer perspective to their students. This is where MAD-learn was born. It was born from the curiosity of our students. From their quest to know more and absorb more. From our passion to feed that curiosity. MAD stands for Mobile App Development and MAD-learn is a program that is teaching students how to be Creators of Technology, instead of just Consumers of it. To learn more about MAD-learn, watch this video: MAD-learn.com Hour of code  Interested in getting your kids coding? Http://Code.org/learn has resources to get any teacher, even one with no available tech, rolling for the hour of code. You can even use the Hour of Code as an opprotunity to build community at your school by hosting and Hour of Code family coding event. Here is a great place to get started. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/family-coding-day-hour-of-code-sam-patterson   Please join the TechEducator Podcast LIVE every Sunday night at 7:00 P.M. EST on http://www.TeacherCast.tv Please contact TeacherCast with any Questions or to become a guest on the show Host: Jeff Bradbury @TeacherCast Email: info@teachercast.net Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail YouTube: http://www.TeacherCast.net/YouTube iTunes: http://www.TeacherCast.net/iTunes Watch LIVE: http://www.TeacherCast.tv | Broadcasting Schedule (http://www.teachercast.net/showcal)TeacherCast Broadcasting Community: http://www.TeacherCast.net/broadcastingcommunity Interested in starting your own podcast? Check out our Educators Guide to Podcasting today! | Video | Slideshare Presentation Hire TeacherCast to Speak or Broadcast at your conference Jeff Bradbury (@TeacherCast) is available as a Keynote Speaker, Presenter, or to Broadcast your conference LIVE!  Contact Jeff Today! Check out more TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network Shows TeacherCast Podcast (http://www.teachercast.net/education/teachercast-broadcasting/) TeacherCast App Spotlight (http://www.teachercast.net/education/teachercast-broadcasting/the-teachercast-app-spotlight/) The TechEducator Podcast (http://www.techeducatorpodcast.com) The post Learn how your students can design amazing apps for your school district (@Crescerance)| #TechEducator 75 appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

Hi again! Once again a few more thoughts from your friendly Articulate freelance Instructional Designer on how to make your business a little more successful. Before you ask - yes…they are all from personal/(bitter?) experience.

Those lovely people at Sparkol asked a few people, (including me…), to explain what we meant by the word "engaging". We all seem to mean the same thing (a good thing I suppose!), but some interesting perspectives from different parts of the "scribing" community. Have a look.

Jeff sits down with BAM! Radio Network’s Rae Pica to discuss 30 years of Education and Educational Podcasting. About BAM! Radio Network BAM! is an acronym for "body and mind" and BAM! Radio was conceived in 2007 on the premise that the key to success in life for children and youth is nuturing a healthy mind in a healthy body.  Developed by early childhood professionals, BAM! Radio started out as a single online radio program called Body Mind and Child. It was created to bring parents the latest insights and wisdom from the leading experts in the fields of early childhood education, physical education/motor development, play research, child development, and the neurosciences.  The Birth of the BAM Radio Network We soon found that educators and school administrators were also tuning into the program and telling us that they found many of the segments relevant to them and very helpful. We listened and at the end of 2008 we began expanding the programming to serve a broader slice of the education community. Today BAM Radio is the largest education radio network in the world offering programming from the nation’s top education organizations and thought leaders and reaching a wide audience of people passionately commited to quality education. But what most distinguishes BAM Radio Network are the people involved. Our "on air" hosts are the executive directors of the most respected educational associations in the country, our guests are the leading experts, advocates and journalists in education and our programming is produced by an Emmy winning team. Simply said we have assembled the best talent we could secure in an effort to be your most valued and reliable source of information and insight. About our guest Rae Pica (www.raepica.com) has been an education consultant, specializing in the education of the whole child, since 1980. A former adjunct instructor with the University of New Hampshire, she is the author of 18 books, including the text Experiences in Movement and Music, and the award-winning Great Games for Young Children and Jump into Literacy. Rae is known for her lively and informative workshop and keynote presentations and has shared her expertise with such groups as the Sesame Street Research Department, the Head Start Bureau, Centers for Disease Control, the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues, Gymboree, and state health departments throughout the country. Rae also served on the task force of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) that created national guidelines for early childhood physical activity, is a member of several advisory boards, and blogs for Huffington Post. In addition, Rae is cofounder of BAM Radio Network (www.bamradionetwork.com), the world’s largest online education radio network, where she hosts Teacher’s Aid, for which she interviews experts in education, child development, play research, the neurosciences, and more. About the TeacherCast Podcast Please join the TechEducator Podcast LIVE every Sunday night at 7:00 P.M. EST on http://www.TeacherCast.tv Please contact TeacherCast with any Questions or to become a guest on the show Host: Jeff Bradbury @TeacherCast Email: info@teachercast.net Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail YouTube: http://www.TeacherCast.net/YouTube iTunes: http://www.TeacherCast.net/iTunes Watch LIVE: http://www.TeacherCast.tv | Broadcasting Schedule (http://www.teachercast.net/showcal)TeacherCast Broadcasting Community: http://www.TeacherCast.net/broadcastingcommunity Interested in starting your own podcast? Check out our Educators Guide to Podcasting today! | Video | Slideshare Presentation Hire TeacherCast to Speak or Broadcast at your conference Jeff Bradbury (@TeacherCast) is available as a Keynote Speaker, Presenter, or to Broadcast your conference LIVE!  Contact Jeff Today! Check out more TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network Shows TeacherCast Podcast (http://www.teachercast.net/education/teachercast-broadcasting/) TeacherCast App Spotlight (http://www.teachercast.net/education/teachercast-broadcasting/the-teachercast-app-spotlight/) The TechEducator Podcast (http://www.techeducatorpodcast.com) The post Learn about the @BammyAwards and @BamRadio Network with Rae Pica | @TeacherCast Podcast 112 appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

I have a 17-year old teenage daughter. She is currently making sure that our family is aware of her new found sense of "independence" :) In fact, as we get older, in some ways we become independent, but more so we need to become INTER-DEPENDANT. As adults, we need to fit into more and more social groups. We have to work within those groups, and only then will the group give us respect and a real sense of "belonging". Just at the time we think we are breaking the bonds, in fact we need to make some of those bonds stronger. It’s very similar to corporate life. So many departments get entrenched in silos, and forget how they affect other groups, and how other groups rely on them. Articulate Storyline makes branching easy, so how about this… If you are creating a process course, or even compliance, create buttons that trigger loops/breakout sections where you explain how changes and requirements affect, or are linked to the OTHER departments in a company. Thee might be departments that the learner seldom, if EVER comes into contact with, but it can place their life in a bigger framework. Try and get the content from the perspective of the SMEs in the other departments. As Instructional Designers, we are always "make content real", and "make it matter" to the learner, and this can help bring the smaller tactical picture into the larger strategic one. Why not suggest it to your clients? You might just find that it benefits them too, and they see your added strategic value - always a good way to get repeat business.

The Tech Educator Podcast is a weekly round table discussion about current topics in educational technology.  For more information, please visit www.techeducatorpodcast.com. Many great ways to participate in the TechEducator Podcast. TechEducatorPodcast.com Follow us Live on Video: http://www.TeacherCast.tv Leave a Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail Email: feedback@Teachercast.net Twitter: @TechEdShow (http://www.twitter.com/techedshow) Hashtag: #TechEducator Hosts: Jeff Bradbury - TeacherCast.net - @TeacherCast Jeff Herb - InstructionalTechTalk.com - @InstTechTalk Sam Patterson - MyPaperlessClassroom.com - @SamPatue Chris Nesi - Education the Nesi Way - @MrNesi David Saunders @DesignSaunders -designsaunders.com Josh Gauthier @mrgfactoftheday -Mr Gauthier’s Tech Chat     Please join the TechEducator Podcast LIVE every Sunday night at 7:00 P.M. EST on http://www.TeacherCast.tv Please contact TeacherCast with any Questions or to become a guest on the show Host: Jeff Bradbury @TeacherCast Email: info@teachercast.net Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail YouTube: http://www.TeacherCast.net/YouTube iTunes: http://www.TeacherCast.net/iTunes Watch LIVE: http://www.TeacherCast.tv | Broadcasting Schedule (http://www.teachercast.net/showcal)TeacherCast Broadcasting Community: http://www.TeacherCast.net/broadcastingcommunity Interested in starting your own podcast? Check out our Educators Guide to Podcasting today! | Video | Slideshare Presentation Hire TeacherCast to Speak or Broadcast at your conference Jeff Bradbury (@TeacherCast) is available as a Keynote Speaker, Presenter, or to Broadcast your conference LIVE!  Contact Jeff Today! Check out more TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network Shows TeacherCast Podcast (http://www.teachercast.net/education/teachercast-broadcasting/) TeacherCast App Spotlight (http://www.teachercast.net/education/teachercast-broadcasting/the-teachercast-app-spotlight/) The TechEducator Podcast (http://www.techeducatorpodcast.com) The post Podcast: Why is the Hour of Code so important? | #TechEducator 76 #HourOfCode appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

With the release of Articulate Storyline version 2, (with it’s "No compression" video feature…), there’s never been a better time to consider using HD video or animations in your eLearning. But when? Click on the blue text to see 3 examples… 1. Use Sparkol Videoscribe to show process and project flows. So much easier to understand than the stuffy old project management visuals you see in many courses. 2. When you want to illustrate an place or a role - why not inject some humour or characters. LIFE has humour, so why are so many people scared to use it in training? 3. Instead of a dull textual question - why not illustrate the question using a short animation? You can also do the same with the answers, and with any further explanations/supplementary learning you want to provide. You can even create a video by using PowerPoint and saving as a Windows Media Video (.wmv) file type. So GO ON! Have some fun with Storyline Version 2, (and v1..), PowToon and Sparkol Videoscribe.

Are you an educator? Are you interested in learning how to podcast?  There are several great reasons to start a podcast.  Perhaps you are looking to get into audio podcasting to share some of your skills or hobbies.  Perhaps you are looking to create some dynamic video projects with your students and post them for the world to learn from. Over the last year, I have been testing and trying out some great podcasting equipment and over the next few posts, I will be sharing some of the best apps, hardware and equipment that should be in your Podcasting setup. Why Podcast? There are several reasons to create a podcast. First of all, you get to share your passions with the world.  Weather you are creating an audio show alone in your studio, or going out in the field and recording your schools sports team the possibilities for media creation are endless. What does it take to create a podcast? The simple answer is: PASSION, Planning, and Persistence. Passion: There are two big reasons to podcast.  To share your passions, and to create an entertaining media for others to watch.  If you aren’t passionate about what you are doing, your viewers will see right through what you are trying to accomplish. What are you passionate about? Do you like iPads? How about Google? What about animals or board games? If you have a passion you can create a podcast.  Many people ask podcasters how they come up with the topics for a long series of shows… the number one answer given is … "I’m passionate about this topic, so the ideas are endless. If you have Passion… you have a podcast! Planning: When you first start to gather your thoughts about podcasting, you think of show topics, perhaps guests, and maybe what type of microphone is needed for the best sound quality.  When you dive a bit deeper into the physiology of what it takes to start a podcast, you will spend more time planning the ways to get the show to your audience and how to best set yourself and your show up for success on the various types of platforms available for content distribution.  The best podcasts out there have successful planning on both the pre and post recording stages.  Do you have some way of organizing your thoughts? I use Evernote to keep all of my thoughts and ideas for my podcasts organized. Persistence: Many podcasters and people who start to listen to podcasts ask the question "What are my numbers?" Podcasters need persistence.  The ability to look beyond the first few episodes and understand that podcasting numbers are not nearly as important as the content being put inside each of the episodes.  If you have great content, the audience will find you.  If you have great content, the word of mouth advertising will help your show find it’s way to the greater audience.  Sadly, many podcasters and podcasts start off strong and then by 10-15 episodes they "pod-fade." They simply stop producing podcasts. Perhaps this is because they can’t find the time, or they can’t find guests.  If you have passion for sharing great ideas, have the ability to plan and implement a great show and know that the learning curve for any podcast is longterm rather than short term, you will have a successful show and a great podcast. Ok… I understand the "Three P’s to Podcasting"… now what? Still interested in starting a podcast? Over the next few blog posts on TeacherCast, we will discover various techniques that I use when creating TeacherCast Podcasts. I will be sharing with you the tips and secrets from almost 5 years of recording both audio and video shows as well as how to do them prerecorded and live.  We will examine how to podcast in the classroom and will describe the difference between "classroom podcasting" and "professional podcasting." Note: Professional does not mean that you will be setting yourself up for making a living off of podcasting. I simply use that term to differentiate between classroom and home studio styles of recording.  They are quite different, but very similar. There are several great resources that you can use for inspiration when planning to be an edupdcaster.  Here are several of the great educationally based podcasts that are out there. TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network -  Join host Jeff Bradbury (@TeacherCast) and the worlds finest educators and educational technology creators as we discuss the latest in educational tech and pedagogy. Our goal is to help you find and use the right educational technology for your classroom. The TechEducator Podcast - The TechEducator Podcast is a weekly show dedicated to all things Technology in Education hosted by Jeff Bradbury from TeacherCast.net, Jeff Herb from ITT, and Sam Patterson from Patue. Join us LIVE every Sunday at 7pm EST / 4pm PST at www.TeacherCast.tv Instructional Tech Talk - A podcast designed to help you integrate technology into your classroom, building, or district. It doesn’t matter if you are a classroom teacher, building administrator, district tech, or superintendent, my goal is to introduce new technologies that could be implemented in a variety of ways to help promote student learning. The House of EdTech - House of #EdTech is the podcast that explores how technology is changing the way teachers teach and the impact that technology is having in education. Whether you use it or not, technology is changing the way we teach and how our students learn. EdTech You Should Know - Jeff Herb shares the latest and greatest Educational Technology tools on EdTech You Should Know - a weekly show for educators at all levels and in all positions. PrincipallySpeaking - Host and Assistant Principal Jason Bodnar interviews administrators and professional educators that inspire creativity and excellence in students and teachers. Principally Speaking is a podcast also devoted to helping new administrators with the transition from the classroom to the principalship. Check out principallyspeaking.com for more information and educational resources. Follow the hashtag #PodcastPLN To catch all of our posts in this series.  I will also be posting video reviews of my equipment on the TeacherCast YouTube Channel. Are you a podcaster or looking to get into podcasting? Leave us some questions in the comment area and I will be happy to help you out! Happy EduPodcasting! The post Do you want to build a podcast? Part 1 #PodcastPLN | An Educators Guide to Educational Audio and Video Pt 1 appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

Steve Jobs focused on the Apple "experience" rather than the product - you can see a GREAT YouTube video here that shows this. In the same vein - why do Instructional Designers seem to focus so much on the "course", and the "training" - rather than the REASON we spend all our hours producing all of this content? I had a discussion earlier this week on "An Ebola Course". But for me it was not "…an ebola course", it would be online content that saved lives. This is a mind-switch. I would LOVE to see a forum or group of IDs have "No Training Words Week", where - just for a week, just 7 days, we NEVER used words like "training", "course", "authoring", "quiz", "test" or ANY of the other "learning’y" words. Could we/they do it? Could we get through ONE working week with nothing but discussions on VALUE, or workflow, or profit/loss, or process re-engineering, or risk, or profit, or production or technique or re-financing, or loss, or problem-solving, or creativity. Is it really too hard? Those are the words our customers and clients use in THEIR daily lives. Try to talk the same language your customer/prospect/client uses - do you even know what language they DO speak? Freelancer Instructional Designers - take a risk, sometimes it guarantees success rather than putting the next invoice at risk! Take up that flag of professionalism, but become a "business pro", not just a "training pro(vider)". It makes sense doesn’t it? That mind-switch can be hard, and sometimes, your prospect, customer or client does not want it - but that is no reason not to TRY it. You owe it to yourself don’t you? If nothing else you certainly owe it to your profession.

Being a freelancer is hard at first - you take almost anything that comes along. When you are little more established - there’s a balancing act to perform. When do you take work, and when do you not take work? This morning I had to turn down an Articulate Storyline opportunity for next week as I am blessed with being 100% utilised for the net few weeks, however - should you leave space free for just such a contact or not? This was a GREAT client, and although it was below my usual budget would have made a great prospect going forward. So - nothing remarkable in this post, just pondering how do people handle this sort of situation?

Are you interested in learning more about podcasts? Perhaps you are looking to create a podcast for yourself or your classroom and don’t know where to start.  Perhaps you are seeking some great podcasts to listen to on your way home from work.  Here are 15 Great iPad Apps for the Educational Podcast Creator or Consumer that I use for the TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network. Some of these apps help me create my shows. Other apps help me listen and consume the content.  Throughout our podcasting series (#PodcastPLN) I will be diving into these apps and others to help provide a bit of insight on how my shows are produced created, edited, and produced.  Do you have a favorite app that didn’t make this list?  Please share it in the comments section below.  Thanks for following @TeacherCast on Twitter and checking out my show on iTunes and YouTube. Educational Podcasting Apps (2014) View more lists from Jeffrey Bradbury The post 15 Great iPad Apps for the Educational Podcast Creator or Consumer #PodcastPLN appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

So - people often say that eLearning is "too long", or "not the same as my real/social media life" - how many people are prepared to MATCH the social media world in the way they produce learning? There’s NOTHING to stop people creating GREAT courses in the style of Pecha Kucha, (20 images, 20 seconds each). I built a travel safety course in this style once, and it was HUGELY rewarding (if not hard work!) to pare the content down. So how far could this be taken? Could Vines, (6-second video snippets) be used within "traditional" corporate eLearning. Maybe people are doing this already? Any thoughts…?

A first today - a guest blog from John Laskaris, eLearning Specialist, Instructional Designer, TalentLMS and eFront Evangelist. Many thanks to John for his insightful look into the future in terms of linking Google Glass and eLearning. Technology, from the mighty computer to the lowly lever, has always been about expanding our powers and capabilities. As the famed sociologist Marshall McLuan observed "all technologies are extensions of our physical and nervous systems to increase power and speed". For the most part of history, though, this expansion had the form of tools that we made use of. It was only in the 20th century that the concept of technology as a hybrid between man and machine finally emerged as a shared dream of science fiction and science alike. We might still be some ways off from fully realizing that dream, but we’re getting quite close, with inventions covering the whole gamut of human abilities, from the humble hearing aid to intelligent prosthetic limbs and prototype brain-machine interfaces. And with advances in miniature mobile CPUs and wearables, those kinds of tools are slowly but steadily entering the consumer market. In this post we’re going to cover such a mass market offering in the area of augmented reality, Google’s much publicized Google Glasses, and its potential for e-learning. Google Glass Essentially a pair of glasses with a fast processor with wi-fi and GPS connectivity, a camera and a heads-up display (HUD) attached, the Google Glass made quite a few waves when it was first announced a couple of years ago. Some of the publicity the Glass got was about the negative reactions to its built-in point-of-view camera, but most focused on the possibilities such a device offers, as it’s essentially putting augmented reality in the hands of mass market consumers for the very first time. As this mass market also includes learners and educators, we, as most e-learning professionals, were understandingly intrigued. Google Glass, still in its early iterations, is nevertheless an ideal platform for augmented reality applications and experimentation. For some e-learning applications what’s included as standard (camera, HUD and wi-fi connectivity) will be enough, whereas more ambitious projects can take advantage of the Google Glass API (a set of programming specifications allowing developers to create custom applications leveraging the Glass’s hardware). In most promotional material, reviews and user experience posts, the POV camera seems to be the most used feature of the device. It’s something which is not unique to Glass, as it can also be found in cheaper products, but combined with the wi-fi connectivity and full blown OS and API the Glass provides, it allows for some quite innovative uses. Learning Potential While Google itself doesn’t promote the Glass as a learning tool per se, they do feature a couple of "user stories" in their Glass website that hint on its e-learning potential. The first shows how Andrew Heuvel, an e-learning educator specializing in physics, used the Glass in combination with Google’s Hangouts (video-conference service) to take his students on a virtual tour of CERN. His students back in the Michigan were able to see what he saw (through Glass’s point-of-view camera), ask questions, and guide him in exploring parts of CERN and the Large Cauldron Collider they wanted to learn more of. The second story is of See professional tennis player Bethanie, who used Glass to record, study and analyze her moves as she prepared for Wimbledon. Most e-learning uses of Google Glass up to date fall into these two general patterns, of analyzing recorded material and providing a kind of virtual "field trip". The University of Alaska, for example, uses Google Glass similarly to the way Heuvel used it, to "send the live feed [of professors on site in remote Alaska locations] to students located around the world". In an educational setting Google Glass would be great for having a team of students follow a teacher in real time, seeing what he sees and being able to listen to his lecture or have a live Q&A session - and it’s something that can be done on the cheap, as it only takes a pair of Google Glasses for the teacher and a wi-fi (or 4G) connection. In the absence of the latter, the Glass could also be used as a simple POV camera for recording e-learning video material (virtual tours, etc), though of course there are cheaper options for this, such as the GoPro camera. For a more evolved (and expensive at the moment) setting, the students could be equipped with Google Glasses themselves, and the virtual class could participate in some kind of distributed knowledge-gathering exercise or a large scale experiment involving several locations. It would also be useful in student-to-teacher video conferences,  for e-learning subject involving physical manipulation of objects (e.g anything from woodwork to piano playing and surgery), enabling the teacher to see and comment on the student’s actions. Of course those uses are only the tip of the iceberg concerning the potential that Google Glass has as an educational tool. More intelligent (and novel) uses would have to use the Google Glass development API. Google, it has to be said, provides a great set of resources to get started with this, from the Glass API itself, to detailed documentation, code samples, development tooling and even Google-blessed community resources (Stack Overflow, etc). And should you want to distribute or sell your e-learning Glass-based app (or Glassware, in Google’s terms), there’s the aptly named MyGlass app and marketplace,  allowing users to discover and install Glassware applications. Google Glass applications, or "Glassware", offer the possibility of extending Google Glass beyond the basic point-of-view tele-conference realm, into full blown augmented reality applications, providing contextual and supporting material to all kinds of e-learning content, on and off the field. As consumers embrace it, prices drop, and processing power increases, Google Glass has the potential to become an indispensable tool for e-learning. And with 20 million devices  expected to be in users’ hands by 2018, this future might come sooner rather than later. For now we suggest to any e-learning professional to get his hands on one and explore the ways it can help spice up his content and classes. Bio - John Laskaris,  eLearning Specialist, Instructional Designer, TalentLMS and eFront Evangelist.. Interested in new technologies and ideas that help education and improve training processes. Always looking for new ways to help engage learners and bring better results. Image credits Ted Eytan, Flickr Ted Eytan, Flickr

Jeff Bradbury and Chris Nesi sit down with Black Rocket at the 2014 NJEA Teachers Convention in Atlantic City to discuss video games and green screening. For more information on TeacherCast Broadcasting, or to have TeacherCast broadcast at your event, please contact us on our Feedback page. The post Are you interested in Green Screening your students INSIDE a video game? My conversation with @BlackRocketLLC @MrNesi appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more

Are you interested in the subject matter your clients give you, or just the "training" side of it? I absolutely LOVE the fact that I get to learn every day, however…how often do we challenge what we see…how often do you check up on "facts". Here’s something I learned the other day that I found wonderful. As Instructional Designers, we need to know a bit about colour, OK - I agree with that. What are the 3 Primary colours - the 3 colours which you cannot make, and which you mix to make all other colours? Easy - red, blue and yellow…the ones that look like "children’s" versions of the colours. Wrong. If that is the case - why are coloured printer cartridges cyan, magenta and yellow? Now, it’s true to say that I have no idea how to make those 3 colours, however, apparently this is something that’s been known for hundreds of years, but it’s just never made it into the school books yet. It’s all a bit of a pain as I have just written an entire book chapter about colour (!) that now needs to be amended. So when an "SME" gives you some material, do you accept it as fact, or find a way to tell them? Another common mis-fact that crops up again and again in the learning/HR industry is the common misconception that "93 of what we communicate is non-verbal". Search "The Mehrabian Myth" for more information. I have had to point it out as a myth on more than one occasion when it’s being quoted as "fact". So have a think about content. It’s what we do. Just try and ensure (to the best of your abilities) that you are not unintentionally nurturing poor factual content, I think it’s a valuable part of what we do as Instructional Designers.

I seldom re-use other people’s content here, but this article from Videoscribe is worth quoting. Brilliant. 8 Classic storytelling techniques for engaging presentations. http://t.co/ww6n5o69Qn #EngageYourAudience pic.twitter.com/8dbDsSv4Ok — VideoScribe (@VideoScribeApp) December 1, 2014

In honor of the brand new Star Wars Episode 7 trailers, I wanted to share some of the great fan videos created to help celebrate the Return of our favorite Jedi! (See what I did there?) Enjoy!   The post Watch these 4 amazing #StarWars Episode 7 Trailers appeared first on TeacherCast.net: Educational Blogs, Podcasts, App Reviews and more. … Read more