Creating Rubrics with Rubistar

TechEdReview120808.mp3

This is Technology in Education Review with Dave Potter. This is show number seven of season one on December 8th, 2008.

Show notes and transcript.

Creating Rubrics with Rubistar



In all my years of teaching I have never found it easy to create a rubric for my projects. That is until I found Rubistar provided by 4teachers.org. Rubrics take the guessing out of what the students need to do to complete a proficient project. It is almost like giving away all of the answers to your students by providing a rubric for the class to use as their guide in completing the project. By the way this is not a bad idea to give your students the answers or hints to what you want them to complete in the project. For example, I have my students do a video project, the rubric guides them by describing what the storyboarding should include or what the scripts should include to receive mastery on the project. Rubistar is a website that the user becomes a member for free that allows them to save and edit rubrics online.

How does Rubistar help me as a teacher? There are two features in Rubistar that make it easier to develop the rubric for your projects. The first feature is the fact that Rubistar has many different rubrics already developed on their website to choose from. If there is an idea for a project out there that is common to most classrooms then it will probably be on the website. For science teachers, Rubistar includes a rubric for science fair projects as well as lab report writing requirements.







Feature number two allows the educator to edit the existing rubric or even start over and create a new rubric with the template online. A lot of times I will take the time to change maybe two or three of the main concepts of the rubric and tailor it to my own liking and make it more unique to a project.

Rubistar has a heading for templates and rubrics that are editable in the following areas: oral projects, multimedia; mathematics; writing; reading; art; work skills; science and music. Under each of the headings are more descriptors that allow the user to develop their own unique rubric. As a user of the Rubistar website you can give the rubric a title and even rename the fields or edit within the fields. The creating of a rubric is done by determining the number of fields and points to use in the project. The fields can then have comments added for each level of points. The number of categories or fields is up to the author of the rubric.

Once you have finished editing the rubric, the rubric can be saved online or downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet, or even printed. One can view the rubric in printer-friendly mode before actually sending the job to the printer. Saving the rubric online entitles the user to retrieve the rubric at any time on the Rubistar website. It is also possible for other members of the Rubistar website to use and edit the same rubric if it is made public. It is quite possible that your rubric will not only reach your students in projects but students in other classrooms with similar projects.

This has been a podcast from Technology in Education Review by Dave Potter show number six of season one on December 8th, 2008.

Video Projects in the Classroom

TechEdReview112508.mp3

This is Technology in Education Review with Dave Potter. This is show number six of season one on November 25th, 2008.

Show notes and transcript for "Video in the Classroom"

I love creating videos in the classroom. The concept of creating a product from start to finish for many to view energizes me. Years ago when IMovie and Firewire were just becoming popular and I was fortunate to be involved in the Middle School when the computer lab had acquired 24 IMacs. Our technician also had access to a $1200 mini DV camcorder with firewire capability. In that first year I had the middle school students writing storyboards and scripts for a video for the entire school to view. All that was needed was a concept and time in the lab with the students doing most of the work. Back when it seemed as though I was ahead of the curve in that I was the only teacher creating movies in the building, I felt I had accomplished what no other educator dared to venture toward. Now it seems that most teachers have the ideas for a video project they just need a little nurturing from that technology savvy colleague that can aid in getting the class started in the right direction.

Years have passed and I use video and recordings as learning tools about motion in high school physics. The platform of the district has also changed to the more economical Windows PC. The software for editing is similar in that Windows comes with Windows Moviemaker. The hardware has changed somewhat in that I can purchase that camcorder for under $300 rather than over $1200. If I need to I can also use my digital still camera at a whopping 8 megapixels to take movies with a SD card that can hold up to 1 gigabyte of data or about 90 minutes of digital video. Be careful that if you are using a digital camera to record that you have a way to convert the video over to a format for Moviemaker to edit otherwise the software will not recognize the video. My camera from Kodak takes great pictures however I am limited to editing due to the fact that the videos are saved in a Quicktime format. We know how Mac which supports and runs Quicktime will never work with its rival Microsoft and vice versa.

Classroom video projects are numerous to ponder. High school students seem to be at home when putting together a video. I make them brainstorm an idea, and then they storyboard the idea and later write a script. Its light camera and action to execute and create the final product. A little editing and transitioning for effects and there it is a video project. It sounds easier than it is… In reality the project may takes weeks from beginning to screening.

Here are some the keys to running a good video project:

1. Concept: Go over what you want the students to do in the video. Suggestions may include persuasion, interviews, drama, or even a news format. Be careful with comedy sometimes it is best to keep the video in a serious genre or the students may stray away from the message. This may be a good time to jigsaw the project. This means that each team may choose or be given different projects that are interrelated to each other. Many different topics are covered at once within the project.

2. Rubric: Give the students a rubric that will focus their team on a finished product. The rubric gives the answers to what you want in a finished product. My rubric usually includes all of the details of brainstorming, storyboarding, scripting, finished video, and how well the theme was portrayed in the video. The team must submit paperwork or written evidence of brainstorming, storyboarding and a script.

3. Demonstration of Hardware & Software: There has to be a point in which the educator demonstrates a finished video along with how to use the camera or how to edit using the school’s software. By doing this it gives the educator a chance to practice what you want them to go through. Keep the demonstration simple do not use all of the bells and whistles of the software and hardware. Be prepared to show them how to use the software and hardware in the future. They will eventually need instruction on how to use the editing software. If you are lucky a lot of your students may have already made a movie before.

4. Time: Giving time away for a project can be a struggle when you have more topics to cover throughout the course. As an educator it is not necessary for every class period to be used for the project until it is due. Successful projects need some nurturing during class but they also need the students to become autonomous so that they master the concept. 10 to 15 minutes every other period depending on the complexity of the topic should be enough to start. As the deadline gets closer it may be necessary for the educator to be more flexible with class time for more guidance. The due date should be something close like two weekends worth of work to complete the video. Any more time and you are setting them up for failure in the form procrastination.

Storyboarding is kept simple by giving the student templates that include a space to draw and draft a simple picture about who is in the scene and description of action. The storyboard leads to script-writing. By writing a storyboard and then creating a script the team stays focused on the project. Without the storyboard or a script the team will have blueprint of procrastination and the final product will be of a poor quality.

Video creation makes a lasting impression on our students. The video creation process allows the students to create with their knowledge a product that is viewed by all for learning purposes as well as for entertainment. As an educator coming up with an idea for videos is sometimes difficult and a challenge however once you give out the assignment with instructions, a demonstration, a rubric, and the time with a proper deadline your students will amaze you with their motivation. Keep your students videos so that you have examples for future classes to view as a model. With video creation your students will remember the concepts and skills for years to come. They will have applied the knowledge they have of concepts to a product that will leave a lasting impression on their fellow students. Video creation will make the most mundane topics full of life and pizzazz. The bottom line: have fun with the project and your students will be excited about learning in your classroom.



This has been a podcast from Technology in Education Review by Dave Potter show number six of season one on November 25th, 2008.

Using Dapper.net to Create RSS Feeds

TechEdReview111708.mp3

Show notes from November 17th, 2008.

This is Technology in Education Review with Dave Potter. This is show number five of season one on November 17th, 2008.

I recently have had a desire to find out what is new with New York State government by visiting the New York governor's website. As I went to the governor's website I noticed that there were press releases and links to speeches without any RSS feeds to subscribe to. What to do? I decided to use my new and favorite web application Dapper.net. Dapper.net allows the user to create Google Gadgets, xml code, or RSS feeds from an existing website that does not have RSS capability. The creation of these feeds or gadgets are called Dapps. As user you create your own Dapps that can be shared or used privately.







As a teacher I constantly subscribe to RSS feeds to keep up with current education, technology and news. I use Google's Reader and subscribe to the news of the world, education or even weather. I share the information from my subscriptions with my students. Once in a while I use the feeds as a teachable moment in class. The feed pops up in the morning and it becomes inspiration for part of a lesson. Unfortunately some prominent websites like the governor's do not use RSS. Here is where Dapper.net comes into play. Dapper is an application that lets you create an RSS feed using the information from the existing website in questions as database fields for Dapper.net to process into a feed. Once you have selected the fields using Dapper's online interface, which allows you to see the website in question and highlight text, the Dapper.net processes the fields and creates the RSS feed. What is so intuitive about Dapper.net is the fact that the application actually plays a flash demo or tutorial while the newbie or first-time user tries the application.

I can see myself including RSS feeds as Google Gadgets on my class's website for information my students can use. These Dapps in the form of Google Gadgets can be copied as code and uploaded to websites, blogger blogs or even Google Desktop. Dapper.net can be and is very addicting to use.

Open Office for Educators

TechEdReview111108.mp3

Show notes from November 11th, 2008.

This is Technology in Education Review with Dave Potter. This is show number four of season one on November 11th, 2008.

The newbie computer buyer purchases the budget computer from department store for under $500 without the fancy software. When they get the computer home they find out that it will cost another $500 to purchase that office suite of programs they use at work. There is an alternative to spending a large some of money for a suite of application and that is to download the open source free suite of programs known as OpenOffice from OpenOffice.org. Open Office has a suite of programs that are very similar to Microsoft Office. Writer is the Open Office version of the word processing program. Calc is the spreadsheet of the suite. For presentations there is the program known as Impress. For drawing and creating graphics there is Draw. And finally Open Office has included a database program known as Base. All of these programs come bundled together in one download that takes 5 to 10 minutes to download and 10 to 20 minutes to install. OpenOffice claims to be the “home of the world’s leading open-source office suite”. The Open Office suite is robust and supported not only through a core group of programmers but it is enhanced by a wider community of collaborators that are interested in making Open Office the best suite of office programs.


As a teacher this suite of programs comes in handy when I need to work on files at home and I need an inexpensive suite of programs. I can work on a presentation with Open Office’s Impress and save the file as a Powerpoint presentation and lug it into school and show it to my class. It is also possible to open Powerpoint files in Impress and work on the file and save it as either a Powerpoint file or an Impress file. Once in awhile there are some bugs that occur in the save. Remember to keep an original or backup of the file that you want to alter. Not only is it possible to edit Powerpoint files, but it is also possible to work on Word documents in Open Office’s Writer. So here lies the question … Why use Microsoft Office when Open Office can do all of the same documents or presentations? Well I guess that question is answered with the fact that industry uses Microsoft Office more than any other office suite.



Not all educators have the money or the ability to acquire and load Microsoft Office on their home computer. There are school districts that are loading Open Office on their desktop machines as a free alternative to Microsoft Office. It is my belief that Open Office many not look and feel like Microsoft Office, however it gets students using applications that create word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Our students are more adaptable than teachers in that they can use a piece of software with ease and not feel threatened by a different way to interface and create a file. They realize that the Open Office software will create all of the same files that Microsoft Office will create with some of the same features as well as some new features. It’s not the program that is important it is the end results in the creation of the file or the document. As a teacher I want my students to learn how to produce or create a project that communicates their intended message without concern with what software they use.

Give Open Office a try you may find your self using it as your sole office suite for creating presentations or documents. Open Office has a plethora of support and howtos or tutorials that give a newbie of the product a fighting chance. If you bought a budget system for your home chances are that you probably do not want to spend a lot of money on software applications. I know that some of you out there are a little nervous about trying something new, but think of it this way… it will probably take half the time to learn this software than it did the expensive office suite at your workplace. Why? This is because you already know what each of the programs are supposed to do. All that is left is for you to explore each program by using them to create files for your students. Go for it! You have nothing to lose!


This has been a podcast from Technology in Education Review by Dave Potter show number four of season one on November 11th, 2008.

Podcasting with GCast.com

Show # 3 originally aired October 26th, 2008 by Dave Potter. This show describes how GCast.com can be used to store and create podcasts.

TechEdReview102608.mp3

Transcript and Show Notes

This is show number 3 of season one of Technology in Education Review with Dave Potter. This show is being recorded on October 26, 2008.



Where can one publish a podcast or store it for all to hear it. GCast.com is a website that allows the novice podcaster to create, publish or store podcasts. The GCast.com website allows the user to link to the podcast from the user’s own website. There is no fee to use the GCast.com website. For the frugal educator this is wonderful. You can try podcasting without purchasing expensive equipment or software. In my belief GCast.com is the way to go when you want to assign a project to students that may not have a microphone or the necessary editing equipment in their home for producing podcasts.

All you need is a phone, internet access and an account with GCast.com and you can make a podcast and have it stored on the Internet. To create the podcast, GCast allows the user to develop the account with a pin number as a password for the phone recording of the podcast. GCast allows its members the use of their toll free line and automated system to create the podcast. After creating an account with your specific phone number in your account, call the automated system, listen to the options of the menu and start recording. If you decide to change phones, then all you have to do is go to the GCast website and under you account settings input the new phone number. Make sure that you have the right phone number or your pin number will not work with the service. The phone number you type in acts like your identification for GCast to recognize you as a member.



Once you have recorded the message the automated phone service has menu services that allow you to preview the podcast or even delete it. Since this is not the greatest way to do a podcast I would not be too picky about how it sounds. The quality of the podcast will only be as good as the equipment used to make it. It takes anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes for the podcast to show up on the GCast website. As a user it is up to you to make the podcast public or link to it from your own website. GCast allows its members to copy the html code for a player along with the podcast and paste it into a separate web site. This is not necessary if you are willing to have your audience go to the GCast website and listen to your podcasts using your name to search for the files.

If you decide that you do not like the quality of the podcasts and you want to use your own equipment other than a phone line, then GCast allows its members to upload podcasts as MP3 files. GCast allows you to place TAG information on its website for the podcast. GCast uses the tag information to aid in identifying title, album name, artist, year produced, and even genre. Your podcasts can become a part of Itunes using the GCast services.



What can you the educator do with GCast. As an educator it is possible to have a weekly podcast to inform your students and parents about events that are occurring in the classroom. Homework can be verbally posted to your account. By using the service and modeling a podcast, your students will see the benefits of communicating with a podcast. Later the class could be assigned a task in which they would have to use a podcast to interview someone or tell a story or give persuasive speech. With GCast you unlock the future DJs and podcasters of the future in your own classroom.

This has been show three of season one of Technology in Education Review with Dave Potter recorded on October 26th, 2008. techedreview.blogspot.com

Realplayer Videos in the Classroom

I do not condone circumnavigation of the school’s web filter. The web filter is there for the protection of the students and the organization. As a teacher it becomes frustrating to try and show a video from the Internet and the school’s web filter has blocked it. There is a way to use Realplayer software to download those videos that are embedded in Youtube or Google.com. Realpplayer is one of those tried and true free downloads that has plenty of extras to set-up your videos in a playlist. Realplayer comes in handy for all those videos that may come in parts or chunks. After downloading each part it is possible to group the parts under its own playlist.



One of the other interesting features of Realplayer is that it will actually let you know if a video can be downloaded by showing a Realplayer download symbol near the Google video or Youtube video screen while the video is playing from the website. After the download is finished the Realplayer software keeps track of its location and allows the user to view it later in Realplayer.





Another fun feature of Realplayer is that the software is backed by a web site in which movies and television shows can be purchased. Keep in mind that the only way to use the software is to download media away from the confines of the web filter. It’s pretty safe to say that most web filters will block multimedia websites such as Realplayer.com and I-Tunes. Don’t be careless, plan ahead, do all of your recording and downloading at home and bring the files into the classroom.

As a disclaimer: I do not condone the circumnavigation of any web filter. As for copyright, I do not condone the ripping of DVDs or unfair downloading of movies that have not been purchased. Realplayer is not software that will allow you to download media that is copyrighted or protected. The artists and all the people involved in creating the media deserve to be paid for their work. I am sure that someone out there has figured out how to “borrow” (steal) movies using software that you have to purchase for $50. What does it hurt in paying $2 for tv episodes or $10 for feature movies?

Audacity for Podcasts

Notes and Transcript of Show two.

This is Technology in Education Review with Dave Potter. This is show number two of season one on October 20th, 2008.

So far I have found that the best way to create and edit an MP3 file for a podcast on a shoestring budget is to download and install a freeware program called Audacity. To export mp3 files be sure to download the LAME MP3 Encoder as an additional plug-in. There are several other plug-ins that can be added to enhance your sound recording projects. For now stick to the basics until you get comfortable with the overall format of Audacity. Audacity will work with Windows, Mac OS and even Linux operating systems. Audacity is a very robust freeware program that packs a wallop when it comes to sound editing.



Creating podcasts becomes easier and addicting with Audacity. Being a novice to the podcasting world, I use the software to edit my weekly podcasts for my classroom as well as my blog. I see podcasting as way to visit the outside world from the confines of my classroom. Audacity can also be used to edit class projects that tap into the imagination of the students such as storytelling or persuasive speeches.

I stumbled upon Audacity due to the fact that I wanted a voice capture software program that was inexpensive and easy to use. One of the features that impresses me with Audacity is the ability to filter out the background noise from the recording with very little distortion of the voice. It is easy to cut sections of recording with the use of the mouse through click and dragging and the edit menu.

During the last podcast I mentioned a teleprompting website known as Cueprompter.com With Cueprompter.com one can write out the podcast word for word and script out what they want to say to the audience without sounding like a novice. By writing out the script and using Cueprompter.com to read the text you can have a more confident voice in your podcasts without the uhs or ums.

With Audacity one can also cut the unwanted dead air or the parts of the recording that may not be understandable. All you have to do is playback the recording and note the sections with the use of the timeline that need editing. Later go back to each individual section and highlight it with the mouse and then use the edit menu to cut out the unwanted part of the recording. Be sure to playback the unwanted section before cutting to make sure that you do not remove parts you want to keep. When removing noise make sure that the entire file is highlighted with your mouse or it will not remove the noise from the recording.



Audacity saves the file as an Audacity project file. Once you have finished creating your audio project and you are done editing you final version you can export the file as an mp3 file. The mp3 file is widely used format by most podcasters. Audacity will allow you to input the tags that go along with the mp3 file. What is tag you ask? Tags are a series of descriptors or identifiers that stay embedded in the mp3 file that hold text information such as artist, album, track number, year recorded, comments and even the genre. With these tags embedded in the file, it allows mp3 players and websites such as I-Tunes to catalog your podcast files.

There are other more expensive sound editing software packages available for you to download on a trial basis. If you want to use an established program for capturing and editing recordings then go with Audacity. I found it easy to use, then again I am a very quick study. Audacity even does the more advanced features for those who want more of a challenge. The Audacity website has tremendous support and you can always find a wealth of knowledge and howtos from other podcasters and their web sites willing to share this wealth of knowledge.

As an educator, creating podcasts is a way of communicating to you students or parents of your students. I have used podcasts to review topics or inspire ideas for projects from my students. You can use Audacity in the classroom to create podcasts in which your students complete projects that utilize skills such as interviewing, storytelling, persuasive speeches, or any project that allows the student to verbally communicate to the world outside of the classroom. I hope that this podcast has inspired you to try Audacity and let the world wide web hear what your classroom has to say.

This has been a podcast from Technology in Education Review by Dave Potter show number two of season one on October 20th, 2008.