The folks at Common Craft have done it again.  This time they explain what Google Reader is all about.

Find the video here. I’ve also embedded the video below - although it is from YouTube.

I was just recently asked by a journalist if I knew of any student produced podcasts done in Toronto schools. It was really difficult to answer that question. One problem is that a lot of these podcasts are really only being done for a particular audience and so they don’t “advertise” by registering with a podcast provider or a directory.

I keep my eye on the iTunes Education K-12 section. The new and notable area is a great source of information on what I could be subscribing to. I have found several school podcasts that way but not everyone posts to iTunes.

Another place to find podcasts is through podcast directories. An example of one of those is CanadaPodcasts.ca A quick google search will give you all kinds of these but again if people haven’t registered it is hard to find them.

Another problem is that often the podcast descriptions and even the blogs or websites associated with the podcasts don’t give information on where the school is or what grade the students are. Be sure when you post that you provide that information so that others can find you.

So here is my call. If you are producing a podcast with your students please let me know. Leave a comment with this post. We would love to give it a listen. Tell us what school you are at and where and what grades of students are involved.

And as a personal plug…. take some time to listen to our student produced podcast PortableRadio. Our show is produced by two grade 5/6 classes in Stittsville, Ontario just outside of Ottawa.

We recently received a question about how to embed Google calendars into your blog.  Here’s a screencast showing how to do just that, at least if you are using Edublogs.

Jeff Siderius, a Grade 4 Teacher at Dunlop Public School had the following question:

How did you set up your students as contributors on Edublogs?  Did you get email addresses for all of them?  Or, did you use the linked gmail addresses that I’ve been reading about, using one email address for your class?  I also noticed that all of you students have their names on the sidebar on your blog.  I’m guessing these are categories?

Click here to for a PDF, complete with snazzy screenshots, explaining how I set things up.  I hope this is useful.

P.S.  You’re right, I made a category for each student.  It makes it easier to see what they contribute.

The last day of school is very much on our minds right now.  What would make the perfect last day of school for you?

The students behind Portable Radio hope you have a great last day of school and an even better summer!

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A few teachers in our board discovered ads embedded in their Edublogs blogs a few weeks ago.  Here’s an exchange that took place over our board’s computer contact teacher forum:

Hiya,

We’ve got a class blog, and one parent has written to me a few times saying they’re seeing ads for diets, lesbian dating, etc. on the left side of our blog.  I’ve never seen any ads on edublogs on any of the computers I’ve used - home or work.    Our site is 45keeling.edublogs.org

Anyone else have this problem, or have any suggestions for me?  Don’t want this parent to continue to get these ads/complain, but not sure what to do!

Shannon

————————————————-

Hi,

I’m using Edublogs as well and personally witnessed what the parent was talking about (and lived to tell the tale…) on my class blog. It happened one day last week and, thankfully, has not happened since.

I found mention to this issue in their forums:

Hi Guys,

Apologies for this, it was a bug in our system and should be fixed now, we have been experimenting with (extremely occasional) advertising in order to support Edublogs and you can find more information here.

It should be fixed up now.

Cheers, James

However, I just discovered if I searched for my class blog on Google (i.e. search “56nt edublogs”) and follow the link, the advertising is back.  Going directly to my site by type its URL (http://grade5nt.edublogs.org/) results in no advertising.

We’ll have to watch closely how this plays out.

Nathan

———————–

I had noticed this too, but as mentioned it only seems to happen when finding the blog via a Google search. I just tested it by doing a google search for my class blog and when I clicked on the link, it was full of advertisements. When I hit F5 to refresh the screen, the advertisements went away.

Marc

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I tried it going through the URL, no ads, then through Google, ads this morning, no ads this afternoon. I am going to keep an eye on it, and also contact Edublogs if I get ads again. Has anyone else contacted Edublogs?

Thanks,

Barb

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I think that once you view the site without ads, it will automatically go back to that version unless you delete the cookies on your browser (which is why you didn’t get ads this afternoon). For example, I brought up the version with ads this morning through a google search, then I refreshed the screen to bring it up without ads. When I just did a google search again, and clicked on the link…it came up without ads. BUT, when I cleared the cookies in my browser and did a new search with google, it came up with ads again.

Marc

Tracey Nicholson from Jack Donahue Public School sent us some questions her students had about Audacity.  Jane and I have encountered these obstacles in the past and thought it would be worthwhile sharing:

Hi Nathan:

We are having trouble with exporting our “Audacity” file into a mp3 file.

We are also having trouble with coping and pasting Audacity files.

If you can help us that would be great.

I’ll take a crack at answering these questions.

“We are having trouble with exporting our ‘Audacity’ file into a mp3 file.”

When you export an Audacity file to MP3 you go to File/Export as MP3.  The purpose of doing this is to create a much smaller sized audio file that can easily be played on everyone’s computer over the Internet.

You will run into trouble if a file called the LAME MP3 encoder was not installed along with Audacity.  For copyright reasons this file has to be installed separately.  It’s simple enough to do if you are using a home computer or have permission to install software on your school computer.  Just follow this link and follow the instructions there.

“We are also having trouble with coping and pasting Audacity files.”

As far as copying and pasting files, I’m assuming the problem happens after you’ve saved your Audacity project and you decide to copy the Audacity files onto a flash drive or move it to another folder.  When you go to open up the copied Audacity file much of the sound is missing.  Aaaargh!

There’s a simple way to avoid this and, once you’ve done it, it stays in the software’s settings, meaning you probably won’t have to do it again.

Here’s what you do:

1.  In the menu select Edit the Preferences.

2.  Click on “File Formats”

3.  Select “Make a copy of the file before editing (Safer)”

This will make sure all of the bits and pieces of audio you need are included the folder you copy over.

I hope this is useful.

It is always great to promote one of our own.

Merivale High School, one of our OCDSB high schools, has begun podcasting.  MoRadio is on the air. This project is the brain child of teacher Scott Hughes. They promise “We’ve got Mo Music, Mo entertainment and Mo information than any other Podcast!” . With 3 podcasts out at the time of this writing, they are working hard to meet that promise.

Be sure to visit them at moradio.ca

written by Jane Smith

Portable Radio Live 2008

A concert of drumming, boomwhacker…ing and singing. Recorded Friday, June 13, 2008.

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Music used in this episode:

WW - Greenroom (Podsafe Music Network)

…and the following pieces by Kevin MacLeod:

Neolith - Kevin McLeod

Down Home Rockin’

Salsa2Long

discoA

Smash Sketch

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has decided not to renew their contract with composer Dolores Claman to use her song as their Hockey Night in Canada theme. While this music has been used as their theme for almost 40 years, CBC has decided it was too expensive. They to use a new piece of music to introduce their show next season.

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