Podcasting

Click the play button above to begin the podcast.

I used Audacity to create my MP3 file for the podcasting project.  I have a Mac laptop, so I installed the Mac version of Audacity to do the recording, and the LAME encoder to export my recording as an MP3 file.  I had used my Mac to record my voice in the past, and knew it did a decent job of recording audio with the built-in mic.  So, I found a quiet place, launched Audacity, and began recording.  That makes it sound like a simple project, but in reality it was a rather lengthy process.

My first issue was that I had to restart my recording multiple times.  During my reading, I remembered an article discussing the pros and cons of following an outline, versus recording it on the fly.  Using an outline can make a podcast sound too scripted, but recording on the fly brings in more mistakes and awkward pauses.  On my first few attempts, I tried to record on the fly.  All I can say is that I have a greater respect for radio DJs than I had before.   I found it too difficult to monitor pronunciations of words and think about what I was going to say.  Following an outline didn't help much either, so I resorted to writing a script.  The script worked much better for me, but even with this I found myself making pronunciation mistakes and losing my train of thought.  After seven or eight attempts I was able to complete the recording with what I felt were acceptable mistakes.

With the recording complete, the next issue to tackle was editing the recording.  One side-effect I don't like when using the built-in mic on my laptop is the sounds that it picks up from my keyboard.  When I had to click my mouse button to start or stop recording, it was recorded by Audacity and was very annoying.  I also wanted to add into, ending, and continuous music to my recording.  So, I had to use editing tools to trim clip lengths and lower the volume on the music tracks so it didn't interfere with my podcast audio.  I have had a lot of experience with Final Cut Pro video editing software in years past.  Maybe this is somewhat of a handicap, because I often find free software unnecessarily confusing.  For example, while editing my podcast I inserted a background music audio file.  I needed to highlight the file and drag it into a different position on the track, but I couldn't figure out how to select and move it.  I finally gave up figuring it out on my own and resorted to a Google search.  It said to highlight the file and click on the Time Shift Tool icon.  This icon is a rather nondescript line with arrows on either end.  To me, this makes no sense at all, but I do admit that these things would become insignificant after using the program on a few projects.

The last hurdle in completing this project was the most difficult for me.  I had issues uploading my podcast to the U of A Comp server.  Technically, uploading the file to the server wasn't a big issue.  Locating the correct URL for the file and trying to get correct permissions on the "audio" folder I created was painful.  I have used FTP clients for years, so I understood the concepts of transferring a file.  However, I never could get the rights correct on the audio folder to access the files.  On the 3D GameLab site, the instructions mentioned modifying the rights like we did in the Dreamweaver project. The problem was that I hadn't completed the Dreamweaver project before doing this assignment.  First I tried using my Mac FTP client, Cyberduck, to modify the folder permissions.  But every time I changed them it would default back to the original settings on the folder.  Next, I did some Google searches because I assumed other students would have had similar problems in the past.  I found an article describing how to change the rights using this website: https://webdocs.uark.edu.  I logged into the site, click on my "audio" folder and selected the option entitled "Change Permissions" just as the page instructed.  I entered the same permissions as my "public_html" folder had, but when I would click the "Save" button, a blank white screen would appear.  I tried three different web browsers with the same result.  Finally, I conceded and put everything inside the root of the public_html folder and it worked perfectly.

What I've learned during this project is that while creating an audio file isn't necessarily that difficult, it is still much too technical for the average K-12 teacher to use.  I don't mean to say that our teachers couldn't figure out how to use it from a technical perspective, but rather from a time perspective.  Because of the technical nature of everything involved, it is too time consuming to be used in most K-12 classrooms.  Teachers don't want spend time working out technical issues; they want to focus on instruction.  For my personal purposes, I will likely use Audacity to create audio files for our intercom and bell system.  I am more likely to use Apple's Garageband to record a podcast.  The types of podcasts I will create will be informative in nature, describing technical procedures or discussing upcoming technology projects.

Accessible Word Documents

For my Word Accessibility Project, I created a tutorial that shows users how to install the Chrome web browser onto a Windows 7 computer.  The reason I chose this as my project is because it was relevant to my workplace.  Our school district uses Google Apps for Education, and the Google Chrome web browser is the best browser we have found when using Google Apps.  Recently, for example, we have noticed issues when our computers updated to Internet Explorer version 10.  After the upgrade, they would receive a blank white screen after logging into email.  After troubleshooting, we found that using Google Chrome resolved the issues.

One obstacle I encountered during this project was how to add an alt text to images.  I took some screen captures of the install process to show users how to install Chrome.  I was using Microsoft Word 2007 and couldn't see where to actually enter the alt text.  Another issue I faced was with a long URL.  I needed to insert a hyperlink into the tutorial, but the URL was rather long.  I wanted to make it more easily readable so I had to figure out a way to shorten the URL.  My last issue was adding labels to images for my references page.

I resolved the alt text issue by researching how to add alt text with Word 2007. What I found was that you first need to click on the image that was inserted, then click on the format tab.  Next I had to click on the expand icon inside the Size group to open the alt text field.  Later on I discovered a much quicker way of accessing the alt text field.  I found that I could simply right-click on the image, then click on FormatAutoShape. Using this method saved me a lot of time. To shorten the URL, I used Google's URL shortener, www.goo.gl.  This site allows you to paste a long URL into the text field and it will shorten it to a more memorable length.  In my tutorial, I was able to shorten https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95346?hl=en, to http://goo.gl/eizwe.  The last obstacle, adding labels to images, was solved by researching how to add labels in Word 2007.  I learned to right-click on an image, choose Insert Caption, click the New Label button and create the label.

During this course, my eyes were opened (no pun intended) to the fact that I had never heard any of my colleagues talk about creating accessible documents.  I admit, I hadn't given it any though myself.  Thinking more about it, I realized that we have at least one staff member with a sight disability in our district.  What I learned is that we need to be more conscientious of those around us with disabilities such as color blindness or poor vision.  One reason this is important is to provide fairness for everyone.  By creating documents that fall outside the guidelines of being accessible, we neglect others with needs.  It is unfair to make their jobs more difficult when a document can easily be created in a more accessible manner. One of the most incredible things I learned during this process was to create headers with separate colors.  In the past, I had always used the same font type, the same color, and made it bold with a larger font size. 

In the future, I will be creating several accessible documents.  Working in the IT field, we often find the need to create tutorials for staff members.  One upcoming project is to training a group of middle school teachers on the use of Google Chromebooks.  I plan on creating tutorial documents showing them basic features like volume controls, screen brightness adjustment, and ports such as card readers and headphone jacks.  These tutorials will require skills covered in this course, such as screen captures, tables, and references.  I will be mindful of the need for accessible documents in the future.  

PowerPoint Reflection

In my PowerPoint Instructional Project, I created a presentation to show students and staff how to create and share a document in Google Apps.  The reason I chose this as my topic is because our school district uses Google Apps for Education.  Google Apps is a suite of products that provides cloud-based email, calendar, websites, as well as office applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software.  The main advantages to Google Apps is that it is accessible from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection, and for the collaboration opportunities it allows by utilizing the built-in sharing options. 

Because I was creating a PowerPoint presentation to be used as a training document, I felt like I needed to do more than provide written instructions. This need, however, created some obstacles to overcome such as how to insert graphics into the presentation, as well as how to take screen captures of those graphics.  Other obstacles I encountered included creating hyperlinks to external websites as well as links to slides within the document.  

These issues were overcome by first learning how to create a screen capture on my Mac laptop.  I learned that by pressing "shift+command+4", I could select a section of my screen and save that as an image file.  Next, I learned to insert the saved image into my presentation by going to "Insert", "Picture" within PowerPoint.  Most of the images I inserted were too large by default, so I learned how to resize the images by dragging the sizing handles around the images.  One of the most interesting things I discovered was how to insert links into my presentation that referenced other slides.  I did this by selecting a word, and then going to "Insert", "Hyperlink", and then "Place in this Document".  This allowed me to select an existing slide so that when someone clicked on the word, it opened the linked slide. By learning these skills, I was able to create a more informative presentation that provided a visual reference to what I was referring to, rather than only being able to read about it.

Optimizing instruction is important for several different reasons. The discussion of diminishing attention spans was especially enlightening.  I intend to implement the concept of front loading the more important topics into my next presentation. I have always leaned toward saving the most important for last, but I see why that is not effective because of diminishing attention spans.  Understanding that presentations loaded down with lots of bells and whistles do nothing to improve comprehension, but rather distract the audience, was also informative.  By creating simpler-looking presentations, not only do you save time by cutting down on how long it takes to you to create presentations, but it also improves the viewing experience for the audience.  Aside from these examples, other informative points worth mentioning are your consideration when choosing font size, type, color, and background color. 

Because of my occupation, I will mainly be using PowerPoint to create instructional documents. However, I do informative presentations from time to time as well.  In the future, I will be sure to use the lessons learned in this segment to create simpler, clearer, and more concise presentations.

Blogger Experience - Intro to Educational Technology ETEC 5213

I've never really been big on social media.  I suppose I am a private person by nature, which is why I've always done my best to stay away from media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger.  I did create a Blogger site to use as my family website around 2008.  I probably haven't made a post on it in nearly three years.

I have had a Twitter account since around 2008 as well.  I never posted too many things on it either.  I did recently figure out my Twitter password and actually got logged into the site.  I deleted all of my old posts and decided to try and make myself use it for professional purposes this time.  But I haven't posted anything on it so far in what has been over a month now.

After attending the ISTE Conference in San Antonio earlier this summer, I made a decision to use Google+.  Right or wrong, I feel like Google+ is step above Facebook in terms of being able to communicate with other professionals, without all of the drama that seems to be attached to Facebook.

Introduction to Educational Technology

This is my first quest-based class and I think I'm really going to like it.  Why?  First, grading is clearly defined from the beginning.  You know how many experience points you need in order to make a good grade.  So, you complete projects to gain points which drives you toward your goal.  This seems to put assignments in better perspective as opposed to the traditional alternative of turning in assignments and waiting for a grade.  Second, it's fun.  The "quest" drives me to explore more.  I feel like I am in more control of my learning than in traditional classes.