Return of the SoCal HockeyCast

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So plenty of people have asked me about the state of the SoCal HockeyCast. It’s alive and well… it’s being resurrected. For now, I’ve got a few new blog entries over there. So if you want to hear about my adventures as I begin playing hockey, please visit the SoCal HockeyCast site!SoCal HockeyCast Logo

ReMixing Education: Music & Audio in the Classroom with GarageBand ‘08

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This was my final hands-on session at CUE 2008. I love GarageBand, and it’s fitting that I got a chance to end my conference presos with this 3-hour session. It was a lot of fun with a very active audience… many of whom I have had the pleasure of working with or instructing in the past. Notable among them were Elizabeth Drake of San Marino Unified and Brian Van Dyck, aka the PodPirate. Maybe I should instead link to his Twitter page. One of the more amusing things was having him “tweet” while I was presenting.

Here are the preso slides for the GarageBand workshop. As always, they won’t make as much sense without my talking, but they will jog the memory of those in attendance or provide some pretty artwork for somebody’s cubicle.

Additionally, I wanted to give links to some of the products I mentioned during the Podcasting workshop and this one.

  • Samson Q1U USB microphone for the approximately $50. It’s the most affordable studio-quality USB microphone.
  • Samson C03U USB microphone is about $130, and it’s a versatile studio-quality USB microphone with a switchable omni, cardioid, and figure eight pickup pattern.
  • Edirol FA-66 audio interface for connecting multiple XLR microphones to a computer. This audio interface works seamlessly with the Mac OS X CoreAudio, so it needs no drivers; it’s beautiful plug-and-play for about $280.
  • RODE Podcaster is about $230 and is simply among the highest quality USB microphones available.
  • M-Audio KeyRig 49 MIDI Controller allows you to control any of the software instruments in GarageBand and other MIDI programs. It’s about $99.
  • M-Audio Nova a very nice quality entry-level condenser microphone for about $99. It’s an XLR microphone that works well with any audio interface.
  • ReMix Audio Library site features several educational raps from different schools.
  • Farmer Rap was one of 15 raps created by my students in 2005.
  • Heil PR-40 is a phenomenal XLR microphone for about $325. It was designed by Bob Heil, the microphone specialist for The Grateful Dead and The Who.
  • Alesis MultiMix Firewire 8 combines a mixing board and audio interface so that users can record four XLR microphones and four 1/4″ instruments all at the same time. It can be purchased for about $299.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Podcasting But Were Afraid to Ask

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This was an interesting session I got to do at the 2008 CUE conference on Friday afternoon. That last statement isn’t meant to sound like bragging… what I mean is that it was interesting to do a theater presentation rather than a hands-on workshop. Although I’m not exclusively a hands-on presenter, that form of workshop is probably about 95% of my conference work. So it’s interesting in that it wasn’t hands-on. Whether or not I was interesting is an opinion best left up to the audience! That said, this was a lot of fun to do. Although I shy away from talking this much, it was kind of refreshing to be able to step up on the soapbox and give my thoughts on podcasting in education… backed up by amazing educational examples (of course).

This session was held in the Apple Theater and was equal parts podcasting history, how-to’s, educational examples, and best practices. It was a full house and good times were had by all. Here are the PDF slides of the podcasting presentation. Like I’ve been saying in the last few blogs, the PDF slides might not make as much sense without my words to go along with them, but they’re pretty and might jog people’s memories as well.

Here are some of the resources I talked about as well as stellar podcasts I showcased or mentioned:

These are by no means a complete list of the great educational podcasts out there, but just a few to get you started on your journey to enjoying, using, and creating podcasts!

Strengthening the Home-School Connection with iWeb

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In this CUE session, I got a chance to bring attendees through the new features of iWeb ‘08 and give examples of how it can be used for educational projects and communication with home… in essence, developing the home-school connection. I want to make it really really REALLY clear that this isn’t about home-schooling your children. This is about communication with home and classroom… Okay! Now that that’s out of the way… on with the show.

First of all, here are the PDF slides from my iWeb preso (done in Keynote, of course). As always, they probably won’t make a whole lot of sense without my talking, but if you were there, you’ll recognize the slides and can use them to jog your memory.

More importantly, here are some of the websites that I used as examples of iWeb in education to send out information on the classroom and school. Some very good stuff out there. Thanks to all the Fullerton School District teachers I got some of these from. Karen Green helped me compile them. I’d also like to thank ADEs Jeanne Halderson, Bruce Ahlborn, Michelle Bourgeois, and Gayle Berthiaume for generously letting me share some of their work… and student work for that matter!

Enjoy!

iMovie ‘08 Presentation

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On Friday at the 2008 CUE conference, I had the pleasure of presenting with John Gulick, a CUELA board member and  Apple Distinguished Educator from the amazing class of 2007 (that seems to be a popular combination… Mathew Needleman and Trang Lai are also CUELA board members and 2007 ADEs). He’s one of the many stars of this newer class of ADEs. In this one hour, hands-on session, we presented how to use iMovie ‘08. We showcased some of the great work that John is doing in San Marino Unified, and we led over 75 CUE attendees through the ins and outs of the totally re-designed iMovie.

One of the really cool things we did was also touch upon how to use the Leopard version of Photo Booth in the classroom. It’s new green screen effect is phenomenal for education.

Among the resources we suggested were:

The real key to the sesson was the actual hands-on experience and suggestions we made, but we also had a short preso in Keynote. Here are the PDF slides for download. However, they may not make a whole lot of sense without our actual presentation… but you never know. Enjoy!

iPods in Education

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Here are some of the resources I talked about for iPods in Education:

Yeah, I know this isn’t the most scintillating or lengthy post, but Twitter has trained me. 

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