Learning Digitally.org Blog » Multimedia

VUE (Visual Understanding Environment) Applet on DropBox

Jerry Johnson — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:41:25 +0000

The free software, VUE (Visual Understanding Environment), is used for creating concept maps. VUE can be installed on your computer but if you want a class of students to have access to VUE, you can install the VUE on a server. But if you don’t have access to a server, you can install the VUE applet in the Public folder of a DropBox account. Although the main use of DropBox is for synchronizing files across multiple computers, DropBox can also be used for sharing files (and accessing with others by placing them in the Public folder, by placing the VUE applet in the Public DropBox folder, anyone can create their own concept map with VUE.

Here’s what you need to do.

1. Go to http://vue.tufts.edu/download/index.cfm and set up a new account if you don’t already have one.

2. Once you have created an account, you will be taken to a page where you can download the Applet.

3. The applet will be downloaded as a zip file. Unzip the file which will create a folder called vueapplet. Place the folder in your DropBox Public folder. You can rename the folder if you like.

4. One of the files within the vueapplet folder is named “index.html.” In order for others to create a concept map using the VUE applet, you will need to get a URL that will access the index.html file. The instructions for getting the URL can be found on DropBox’s site on this page. Give this URL to others and they will be able to create a map using the VUE applet.

Hyperlinks in YouTube videos to external sites

Jerry Johnson — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 03:22:14 +0000

Although YouTube allows you to create hyperlinks to other YouTube videos using the Annotations feature, if you want to create a hyperlink that will go to an external site, you can use the LinkedTube. You won’t be able to create a hyperlink within a video that is playing at the YouTube site but if TubeLink will allow you to embed the video in a Web page, blog, wiki, or any site that will accept the HTML code for embedding a video.

Use iWork ’09′s Pages to create eBooks with audio or video

Jerry Johnson — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:57:04 +0000

Apple’s word-processing program, Pages, can now create ebooks. Files exported in the ePub format can be imported into iTunes which will cause them to show up in the Books section of iTunes. After you have synced your iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone with iTunes, the ebook will appear in iBooks.

In order to create ebooks with Pages, go to Apple’s support page found here. Interestingly, in the section “More details on using ePub,” it indicates that video can be embedded in the document. What it doesn’t state is that audio files can also be embedded into your ebook.

If you decide to create an ebook using Pages, which states that you need to download the file, “ePub Best Practices.” You can use the document as a template or import the paragraph styles from the ePub Best Practices document into a new or existing Pages document.

One of the nice features about videos embedded in an ebook in iBooks is that you can choose to make the video full-screen.

In the “old” days of educational technology, we asked students to create Powerpoint or Hyperstudio files. But now they can create multimedia ebooks that can be read on an iDevice.

The Pulse Smart Pen from LiveScribe

Jerry Johnson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:06:28 +0000

The Pulse SmartPen created by Livescribe may be *the* thing for students to consider, especially if they take a lot of notes or if they can’t write very fast (or at least can’t keep up with the teacher). I recently purchased one and will give students turns in using it during a course. With this pen, files which contain the corresponding audio can be uploaded and viewed by others at the Community site.

Some interesting scenarios in the form of videos, including the ability of the SmartPen to translate words to other languages can be seen on this page called Sneekpeek.

Creating hypervideo

Jerry Johnson — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:48:16 +0000

I’m becoming more interested in how video can be used in education and how to make it interactive. An interesting application that can be used is VideoPaper Builder, a free program produced by the Concord Consortium.

If there is video on the Web (i.e., You Tube, Google Videos, etc.) and you want to create some text or hyperlinks that relate to certain objects within the video, go to Asterpix to see how easily this can be done.

Web 2.0 videos

Jerry Johnson — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:27:13 +0000

If you want to learn more about Web 2.0, Atomic Learning has a series of videos on the topic, which can be found at http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/web20/

Hyperstudio 5.0

Jerry Johnson — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 04:07:18 +0000

Hyperstudio has been resurrected and is in version 5.0 now. There are some new features. Years ago, I used Hyperstudio instead of Powerpoint and before Keynote was out.

I wonder if you can still export the Hyperstudio files and put them on the Web? If I remember correctly, a plug-in had to be installed on the server but I don’t think the user (the person wanting to view the Hyperstudio file on the web) had to install anything on their computer. (I know they had to install a Hyperstudio viewer on their computer and I assume that is still the case.)

Unfortunately, the MacKiev website provides some information but I’d like to see a more extensive list of the features.

Web 2.0

Jerry Johnson — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:17:14 +0000

What is Web 2.0. Let this video (from You Tube) illustrate it.

TechCrunch – Comparing The Flickrs of Video

Jerry Johnson — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:47:10 +0000

This is a site that is looking at technologies that are part of Web 2.0.

TechCrunch Comparing The Flickrs of Video

S5: A Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System

Jerry Johnson — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 11:27:05 +0000

If you would like to create presentation slides similar to the appearance of Powerpoint, but are web-based (and a whole lot better looking than Powerpoint on the web), check out this free software.

S5: A Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System

HOW-TO: Put PowerPoint on your iPod Photo – Engadget – www.engadget.com

Jerry Johnson — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 18:27:03 +0000

Want to put your Powerpoint files on your iPod Photo? Here’s how.

HOW-TO: Put PowerPoint on your iPod Photo – Engadget – www.engadget.com

Toast 7 includes DivX, iLife browsing, much more

Jerry Johnson — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 09:40:05 +0000

Macworld: News: Toast 7 includes DivX, iLife browsing, much more: “With Toast 7 Titanium, Roxio has added an iLife Browser that makes it possible to browse and drag and drop content from your iLife applications directly into toast. iTunes music and playlists appear, for example, as do iPhoto photos and albums. iMovie projects show up in that list, as do iDVD lists and Video_TS folders from DVDs you’ve ripped to your hard disk. What’s more, Toast 7 Titanium integrates with Elgato’s EyeTV PVR software, so you can drag and drop television shows you’ve recorded to your hard disk.”

PAGEot – for adding Quicktime to your web pages

Jerry Johnson — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 09:37:37 +0000

Want to add Quicktime to your web pages? Check this out.

PAGEot

The Open Video Project

Jerry Johnson — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 20:17:36 +0000

Need a video for a class? Go here to see what is available? You’ll also want to check on the Internet Archive’s section on movies – http://www.archive.org/details/movies

The Open Video Project

Freevlog: Tutorial

Jerry Johnson — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 13:02:35 +0000

Want to create your own video blog. Check out these video tutorials.

Freevlog: Tutorial

blinkx video search

Jerry Johnson — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 11:40:48 +0000

Interested in doing a search to find out what topics will be covered on TV (google for TV)? Check this out.

blinkx video search

Streamload – Share Videos and Photos – Online MP3 Storage and Access

Jerry Johnson — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 09:23:45 +0000

If you need to store and transfer large files, check out this service. There are various pricing packages but the free package allows you store up to 10 GB of files, and download up to 100 Mb per month.
Streamload – Share Videos and Photos – Online MP3 Storage and Access

Easy Animations – Paul Blanchard

Jerry Johnson — Sun, 15 May 2005 20:34:02 +0000

This article might be worth reading regarding how to make animations for science courses.

Easy Animations – Paul Blanchard

Quicktime Thingie

Jerry Johnson — Sat, 23 Apr 2005 09:15:50 +0000

Need to create some texttrack in your Quicktime movie? Check out this online tool.

Quicktime Thingie

O’Reilly: Exporting QuickTime Movies with Simple Video Out X

Jerry Johnson — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 21:12:00 +0000

According to the site, “SimpleVideoOut X converts any QuickTime movie into a FireWire stream, regardless of whether it originated with your digital camcorder, your hand-held camera’s movie function…”O’Reilly: Exporting QuickTime Movies with Simple Video Out X

CamSpinner

Jerry Johnson — Sun, 02 Jan 2005 20:26:14 +0000

In addition to GCam (found at http://www.macmice.com/gcam.html, which is free), another piece of software that allows you to produce QuickTime movie from your webcam (e.g., iSight), is a product called CamSpinner, which costs $9.95. This product allows you to record both Quicktime and MPEG movies, and still images. This same company sells a Web authoring package called PageSpinner. If you purchase PageSpinner and CamSpinnner together, you save $9.95. The total cost of the two products is $29.95.
CamSpinner

Recording Skype Calls

Jerry Johnson — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 19:51:14 +0000

Do you use Skype, the free Internet service for making phone calls? If you are a Macintosh user with OS X, you can record your Skype conversations using the instructions given at this site:
Webcrumbs: Recording Skype Calls

This may be a nice tool to use in a distance education (or even a F2F teaching situation (as long as the students have a computer in front of them that has a microphone). After the discussion is finished, the file could be posted on a web page for later accessing, or posted in a Course Management System, such as Blackboard.

Flickr Animation of your Pics

Jerry Johnson — Fri, 24 Dec 2004 16:04:36 +0000

You should really check out Flickr. There are some neat things you can do there. One of the neat things you can do is to put a Flash animation of your pics on your web site. Learn how to do this by going to www.flickr.com/fun/zeitgeist.

SnapZ Pro

Jerry Johnson — Fri, 24 Dec 2004 15:15:52 +0000

SnapZ Pro is a nice product that allows you to capture an entire screen, a portion of the screen, or a window. If you pay more, you can get the version that allows you to create movies of the screen actions. You can get SnapZ Pro from Ambrosia.

[posted with ecto]