DV for Teachers

Is this a great sentence or what?

Good narrative is the essential tool in a world drowning in data points and content.

It’s the most succinct way of thinking about everything web that I’ve come across. I am stymied by the implied responsibility of having a blog (two, actually), a Twitter account, a Facebook account, a Flickr account, a Posterous account, and on and on. But I should know, and remember, that almost all of life is about how humans try to understand by imposing a story on what happens to us, and making stories out of our lives.

Tell your story.

Updated below.

Lots of questions remain, but things are gonna change. Among the biggest news: Mac App Store only, at $299. I wonder what the education pricing will be.

Eric Reagan of Photography Bay blogged it live, and has some follow up in the comments, so scan them all.

Macworld has an initial report.

A first response from Scott Simmons at Pro Video Coalition.

Even more reflections, which I believe to be informed opinion, from highly regarded FCP trainer Larry Jordan and from Philip Hodgetts, another trainer and industry observer.

Both Jordan and Hodgetts were among the group that saw the preliminary demo in February, with comments embargoed by NDAs. They’ve both built their businesses and reputations on deep knowledge of the industry and Apple and FCP’s place in it. They’re not wild-eyed boosters, in other words. Interesting, interesting.

UPDATE: More from Larry Jordan here, in his post The Sound of 1,700 Jaws Dropping. He also includes a massive screenshot of this screen from FCPX. Click on this thumbnail to see the large view:

[Image courtesy Apple Inc. Click for enlarged view.]

Well isn’t this interesting? A presenter can mirror the iPad screen wirelessly – what could teachers do with this? Very impressive, and apparently they spent only about $150.

Teachers and corporate presenters alike begged Apple for video mirroring capabilities for the iPad, and the company delivered the feature in the iPad 2. Apple’s solution still leaves users tied to a cord, however, so two employees at networking service provider Straight Up Technologies developed a simple hack to give their client wireless HDMI output and freedom of movement while sharing the iPad’s screen.

via iPad wireless HD mirroring hack makes for better presentations.

This is nice.

Print With Any Printer From iPad, iPhone – Wired How-To Wiki.

We’re talking about video editing, trying to get students to work on storyboards and other pre-production, what teachers are already doing with their students (zombie movies!), and more. We have high school teachers and elementary ed teachers here. Flip cameras are popular; cheap and good enough.

One suggestion: use Legos instead of storyboarding, or do stop action with them.

Photostory is good: for making stories, and for assessment purposes. Example: folder of butterfly images on shared drive. Student puts them in the right order, and they write the narration, record it, export as WMV, and it can be posted for parents to see.

A library media specialist explained how no project is ever finished; ask them, as the final part of the project, what they would have done to make it better. If they’re a 4th grader, they conceivably come back the next year to improve it.

Use professional film/video for comparison in class, and then evaluate their own work.

Book trailers: make movie-style trailers for books. Works from high school all the way down to kindergarten; little kids can draw their own version of a picture book, knowing what part of the story to withhold to build interest; scan them in or use a digital camera, and then iMovie or Photostory, even PPT, record narration, and create the movie. The best ones can be posted online.

What about releases, for school and system liability? An issue with no certain resolution in the near term. Too many policy makers, administrators, and parents have too little trust in the schools, teachers, and their students. The kids are more visually, technologically, and culturally literate in this regard than these adults. We may have to wait for them to age themselves out of the situation.

A public awards ceremony can be a great motivator and reward – and one educator also explained how the program for his school’s award ceremony includes the educational standards met by the students’ films. The students have to explain how their work meets the standards. Great idea.

Final points about tools and sites: iSkySoft iMedia converter; Handbrake.fr; GPB.org’s Digital Education site, with access to thousands of hours of educational video, a lot of which is available not just for streaming, but download and even editing for projects.

If you need an account there, send email to education@GPB.org

What the Hashtag allows direct following of a given hashtag, along with statistics, graphs, and more. The group is now discussing bits of the history of Twitter, the value of asking questions of your network of followers, and how hashtags allow you to get direct answers.

Other ways to do this: in third party apps like TweetDeck, or on the Twitter site itself. What the Hashtag makes it easy to show others what a Twitter conversation is like.
Now a high school teacher is asking about how to use it – yes, students will need a Twitter account, and they’ll need to know about the hashtag.

This is useful for students to tweet links to each other and to the class, for reporters/editors to follow stories, for parents and teachers to communicate. Students are going to use this technology – it’s damaging to make them outlaws just by banning their phones.

Bring the technology into the classroom and show them how to use it for positive ends! It requires trust and high expectations and patience, and a thick skin sometimes.

[This is all exciting!]

I just got to give a blurb for buying your name as a domain, and for WordPress, too.

[Moved to this session in the middle.]

They’re talking about a Social Media strategy for public stations. Should a producer do it? What about an audience member? – Yes, if it’s “curated” but not controlled.

What about sponsorship, product placement? It can work.

A church leader describes how Facebook and Google searches brought more new visitors than anything else. (Wow.)

Lots of anecdotes about how a good web presence, and announcements on Facebook, really make a difference now.

“What are you selling?” vs. “What are you saying?” is an important distinction, and another indication of the importance of a well-thought out web/social media strategy. That requires attention a careful response to what others say about you on the social network. If you don’t respond carefully, and model good “service” to your audience/listeners/customers, then it can be a net loss for you.

Schools – if students know they’re going to be in media – television, on the web – they’re interest picks up. And many of them use social media as well, so put it there.

Came in a bit late – session members are discussing broadcasting weather forecasts, and how to make sure they provide accurate information that the audience understands.

Michael – he proposed this session – explains what he means by digital core values. He referred us to the Local News Initiative for some details.

Query: have ethics changed because of the technology? Is there more pressure to follow sensational stories, to be reactive? It’s an old pressure, but is there more pressure now?

Thinking in terms of what audience wants, the GPB.org web guy told us they put the NPR feed on the GPB home page, and got an unprecedented number of hits when Gary Coleman died….

[I left that session to join another on the future of social media.]

Search for #PubCampGA on flickr to find’em. I’ve already met several people in public broadcasting from Georgia and Alabama, educators from around Georgia, and some students. I look forward to meeting more people from different backgrounds.

Crossposted at TimMerritt.net

That’s where I’ll be all day tomorrow! Much more to come, including much more regular stuff here on this very blog. No, really.