FileLab – online video and audio editing
FileLab is an online Video and Audio editor. It’s a free, alternative to software such as Windows MovieMaker or Audacity. OK, both of those are already free, but especially in the case of MovieMaker any alternative is welcome.
FileLab provides a very user-friendly editor. I had a play with the video editor and found it quite simple to add some clips, add text over the top and create a transition. There are quite a few video effects and transitions available.
To use the site you do need to install a plugin – so you might need to speak to your ict technician to get it installed on your school computers. The same plugin is used for both the audio and the video editor.
Also – to download your finished movie you will need to sign in to the site with either your Facebook, Google or Yahoo accounts. This may be a problem in schools. There’s no option to sign up directly with the website. You could set up a class Google or Yahoo account I guess.
If you are looking for an alternative to MovieMaker (and who isn’t) – then it’s well worth taking a look at FileLab.
Try it out at : https://www.filelab.com/
Read MoreMake simple podcasts with the Cinch app
Cinch is a simple sound recorder which will let you record and upload simple audio files. You can record via the Cinch website or you can download an app which will do the same job on your iPhone / iPod touch / Android phone.
It looks pretty similar to software such as AudioBoo. The app on the iPhone consists of a simple record button. Simply start recording, and when finished the software automatically uploads the audio to your area on the Cinch website. If you wish it will also post a link on Twitter and Facebook for you to let others know that there’s a new recording.
The audio below was my first attempt at recording. I used my iPhone flat on a table top, and spoke from about a foot away. Audio quality is not too bad. From the Cinch website I can grab an embed code to put it into a blog post, or I can link to it directly.
Thanks to Chris Betcher for making me aware of Cinch, you can hear more from Chris at : http://cinch.fm/betchaboy
Cinch would make it easy to record short podcasts – interviews with people, homework guidance, revision advice, simple conversations in MFL etc. You can’t add audio effects and music – so it’s for no frills podcasting, but for many that might be all they want. I haven’t tried out the Cinch website in-school to see if the recording works through school networks (I have had problems doing this with sites like Aviary).
If you’ve tried it let me know how it goes.
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Blabberize – make talking pictures
Blabberize is a fun site that lets you create talking heads and record your own voice to go with it.
It’s pretty simple to use – and it’s free. Upload a photograph, define the bottom of the mouth and the chin (this is the bit that moves) and then upload or record a sound for it to say.
How could you use this in class?
- You could create a talking lesson starter image.To introduce a problem or a question to the students.
- Have a famous person from history talk to the class,or a character from a book.
- You could use it to introduce dialogue in a foreign language
- Or get the students to create their own – either in a different language, or putting the words into the mouth of a character.
Thanks to Simon Woodhouse (who I met back at TeachMeet Bedford) for the idea of using Lord Sugar from The Apprentice to introduce a task that the students would then solve. He used it in Business Studies but it could be used in other subjects too (Science investigation anyone?). A shortened version shown below as proof of concept. (Apologies for the dodgy impression, it was done in a rush – it’s a little more Michael Caine than I was hoping for!)
The finished products can be embedded into blogs and websites, or you can just link direct to the page. Like this.
If you have an iPad then also check out PhotoSpeak which is a great app which lets you do similar things (and even animates the eyes too, it looks great!)
Have you tried Blabberize? Let me know what you think in the comments
Read MoreWoices – location based audioguides
Woices is a FREE internet service that allows people to create, share and consume echoes, audio records that are linked to a very specific geographical location or real-world object. Woices ultimate goal is to extend reality by creating a new layer of audio information, what they call the echoesphere, that will make the world a more interesting place.
Echoes are words, left by one person at some precise place, that can be later listened to by anyone, as if their author was still there. Echoes can be about anything you want, from history, art or curiosities to personal memories or advices. An echo could even be a poem.
Audio can be recorded on portable sound recorders, on iPhones/iPod touches, or via a computer and microphone.
I got this link via a list of resources posted after a Technolanguages session :
http://technolanguages.wikispaces.com/technoLanguages+LIVE organised by Jess McCulloch
There are lots of ways this could be used in schools:
- You could produce audio trails on Field trips in Grography / Science.
- Pupils could record guides to museums or art galleries on school trips.
- Audio guides to the school or local area.
- Produce an audio trail of poems inspired by local landmarks.
- Historical information about different places and the events that happened there.
- Record guides in different languages.
- A science walk around your school/town.
And many more
Read More7 Sources of Creative Commons Audio For Podcasts
A podcast sounds better with a bit of music in it. Or some special audio effects. But the problem is that legally you can’t just use any mp3 file from your music library since you will be breaching the copyright of the original artist. So move away from using your favourite bands – and look into the wide range of “pod-safe” or creative commons audio that are out there on the web.
Here are several websites that are worth a look – some provide whole music tracks, others provide sound effects.
Music Sites
Jamendo
Jamendo is a community of free, legal and unlimited music published under Creative Commons licenses. You can search by genre and style. Over 280,000 tracks on the site at the time of writing.
Free Music Archive
The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads.
AudioFarm
Like the two sites above – AudioFarm is an interactive library of audio downloads. As well as music it also hosts radio shows/podcasts from around the world.
CCMixter
ccMixter is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want. If your students are into sampling, remixing and mash-ups they can use the files from the site to remix, then upload back into ccMixter, for others to enjoy and re-sample.
Sound Effects
Soungle is a free site for finding all kind of sound FX and musical instruments samples from their online library. Search results of a keyword search are displayed ten to a page. Clicking on play icon allows you to preview a file. Download button instantly downloads the sound effect or musical instrument sample file.
FreeSound
The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Freesound focusses only on sound, not songs. You need to register to download, but it’s free.
Soundbible
SoundBible.com is the encyclopedia of free sound clips, offering free and royalty free sounds. They update regularly.
In addition
Don’t forget the Creative Commons Search Engine : http://search.creativecommons.org/ which you can use to search many different creative commons sources from one page.
Read MorePodium for Podcasting
I’ve had the chance recently to have a little play with Podium from Lightbox. Podium is a PC based podcasting software which enables users to create, edit and publish audio and video podcasts from a simple interface, meaning that pupils do not have to work with a number of different software packages in order to podcast in lessons.
Podcasting with Podium is very easy, pupils are able to create, edit and publish their audio or video podcasts all during one lesson! Podium has a handy scripting tool which allows for group working as pupils can create scripts together and assign dialogue to different members of the group. When they begin recording, they each know whose turn it is to speak.
The Podium interface should look pretty straightforward to anyone used to software such as MovieMaker or Audacity. There’s not too many buttons to confuse and provide too much choice.
Recording audio and video is a very simple process. Click the red record button, and if your webcam or microphone is set up, off you go!
There’s no way of changing the settings within the main piece of software. You need to run an additional application called Podium Options that installs at the same time. Make sure you keep the manual nearby as it has initial password to get into this area (You can change the password once in).
I found this a little confusing at first (as someone who rarely reads the manual first and just dives straight in), but I can see why it’s done as pupils should not need to ever go near these. If you make changes to the settings, you need to exit Podium and go back in to get them to take effect – as I found when trying to modify ftp information and select which folder to upload into.
I had a little difficulty getting my FTP settings correct, I wanted to put my podcasts into a podcast folder – which causes some confusion. But once it was sorted the software would automatically upload an audio and video podcast to the designated folder. I found that if you add a podcast folder into the settings, you also need to add it to the web address, I assumed it would do that automatically.
Once recorded, and edited – it only takes one click to upload the podcast to your ftp site. You can if you wish purchase hosting space from Lightbox, or use your own school space. You can set a password for uploading so that pupils can be restricted from uploading before the teacher has had a chance to approve the finished product. Podium will then produce the rss feeds that your visitors can subscribe to:
So…. by of way of testing the whole thing out, here is my quick video podcast feed produced by Podium automatically as an mp4 file:
Whiteboard Blog – Testing Video Podcast
and here’s the audio one if you want to hear but not see me
In all the process was very simple and once you’d got to grips with the interface for Podium the whole thing was very easy to do. Apologies for the quiet audio, I think that’s more down to my own audio settings on my system. I did this in a hurry!
Getting Podium:
If you like the sound of Podium, you can download a trial version from the Podium website.
Also, if you come to TeachMeet Essex, there will be a copy of the Podium Audio version in the charity raffle, so someone will go away with a copy!
Podcasting Links:
For more ideas, Podium have produced a free booklet ‘Top tips – 50 podcasting ideas for the classroom’ which is well worth downloading, even if you don’t use Podium.
My presentation on Podcasting can be found on SlideShare here.
Read MoreCreative Commons Images and Audio
I’ve had a few requests recently for links to good sources of images and sounds for the classroom. I’ve written about this on here a few times in the past, so in a shameless piece of rehashing – here are some links to a few old posts you might have missed which cover some excellent sources of digital resources:
Essential Digital Resources for your IWB
Creative Commons Image Sources for your IWB
Creative Commons Audio for your IWB
Creative Commons in the Classroom
Powerful Images to Give Lessons Punch
Enjoy!
Read MoreOnline Audio Stories
Online Audio Stories provide free downloadable audio books for children.
With a wonderful selection of short stories for kids and bedtime stories, their free storytelling audio books for children are a delight. You can download the audio as an mp3 file and play on a computer, or transfer to a portable mp3 player.
Stories include classic tales from Aeosop, Brothers Grimm, Edward Lear and Hans Christian Andersen. It’s well worth a visit. Take a look here.
And don’t forget if you like these, you’ll also like StoryNory: http://storynory.com/
Read MoreEssential Digital Resources for your IWB
One of the talks I gave at the Teacher2Teacher conference was on finding useful digital content to use on your Interactive Whiteboard. There’s more to the Internet than YouTube and Google Image search!
Although this presentation was delivered mainly to Smartboard users, and the original presentation produced in Smart Notebook format, the information is very useful to any IWB users. Or even teachers who have a projector and no board.
So I have uploaded the presentation to Slideshare if you would like to take a look.
All of the links from the session can be found here : http://delicious.com/dannynic/t2t. The links in the presentation don’t work I’m afraid…. long story.
One thing that is worth mentioning is that if you now do a Google Image search you can click on Advanced Search to bring up more options. You can then specify what Usage Rights you want – so basically searching for Creative Commons images.
I also like the fact that in the basic Google Image Search you can now also specify the colour of the image you want. So you can narrow down your search for a Flower to yellow flowers, or red flowers. Don’t just search for Elephant – look for Pink Elephants!
Try it out, it’s very cool. Click on the coloured boxes to the left of your image search to change colour.
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About Me
Danny Nicholson : Educator, Science teacher, ICT Consultant, PGCE lecturer, Author and Web2.0 / SMART Masters/ Interactive Whiteboard Trainer. Contact me for any training requests. 
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