Myna sound recording/editing vs. Audacity

Sound recording/editing has become a common practice in many classrooms. This is especially true with Foreign Languages and even SPEd Classrooms. Up until recently I always used Audacity. But I recently found Myna from aviary.com. Myna is a web based solution for sound editing and recording.

Here are a few of my pros & cons for each:

Myna

Pros: Free, Web based, Fairly easy to use, no software to dowload. Has lots of sounds and music preloaded. No extra file extensions to add on.

Cons: I had problems with downloading as a .wave file, Requires a registration, (but could be resolved by allowing your students to use (your gmail username)+(student's lastname)@gmail.com) or you could create a generic username and password for all your students to use, as long as you change the password when the project is over.

Audacity

Pros: Free software, lots of functions/abilities, exports files as .wav. ability to export as .mp3(see cons)

Cons: User interface can be intimidating for some users. Must download file extension for each computer to enable .mp3 (this can be a real pain, depending on your network/image configuration)

So as of today, I'm switching to Myna. (Click here, Instructions for Myna)

Digital Photo Frames in the classroom

Last year, I had a science teacher approach me with an idea for using digital photo frames in his science class. At first I was skeptical. However, he had some very good ideas and lesson plans ready to back up his idea. So we went for it.

Here are some lesson ideas:

Science - Find pictures online of examples, specimens, etc... Create a lab where students can go from station to station and view images for that lesson. With multiple frames and stations this could be differentiated learning. One station could be images of microscope slides and the next station could feature a video about that particular specimen.

English/Foreign Language - A teacher found images for each of her vocabulary words for that chapter. Then she played the slideshows on the frames during a creative writing session. The students used the images for brainstorming new words to use in their writings.

Art - Teacher finds examples of the type of art they are studying, places them on the frames and has the pictures show randomly arround the classroom. The students use the images as inspiration and guidance for their own art.

PE - Load images and videos of correct technique for each excercise station and have students watch before they do.

General Ed - Create/find tutorial videos and place them on the frames. Students could watch these videos when they have extra time, when you are busy helping other students, or when they missed class.

Librarians - have a featured book of the week, month, etc... and create a book trailer for that book and have it playing on a frame in a reading corner of your libaray.

We bought a set of 6 frames. They were about $50/ea. We also purchased a 6 sd cards and a

multi-card reader. The entire set up cost around $350.

Here are the pros:

• Plays pictures, audio, and video
• PPT converts slides to jpegs (so it plays ppts as well)
• Pocket camcorder = plug-n-play
• Fraction of the cost of a laptop
• Teacher controls 100% of the content
• syncs with PC via USB cable/flash drive/sd card

Here are the cons:

• Most frames require power cord (no internal battery)
• Screen quality not always great (depending on the make & model)
• Must place content for each frame individually (cannot sync multiple at once [unless you have a usb duplicator $800])

If you have other ideas please share them in the comment section below.

My questions for Apple...

Last week Apple announce the release of their newest creation, the iPad.

I actually sat and watched/listened to the entire announcement live thanks to Leo Laporte and his TWIT network. Being caught up in the moment, my mind raced through all the possibilities for education. Now that the adrenaline and hype have worn off, I have a few questions for apple:

#1 - Will iBooks be available on ipod touch?

#2 - Will there be a 3g or 4g versions of ipod touch coming out? (I know it is called an iPhone, but an ipod touch with wireless network always on would be quite valuable for me, plus the data plan would be a heck of a lot cheaper than an iphone)

#3 - When will the iPad be updated with a camera and multi-tasking?

Don't get me wrong, I love my apple devices and I want this one. But this will be a device that I will have to wait for the 2nd Generation model to see if it includes everything I want.