Why Don't You...?
Why Don't You... Capture?
Help learners to capture, reflect on, and share their learning processes in new ways
A space for tools that can provide new ways for learners to show their developing understanding, and ways of reflecting upon learning processes.
Tools are listed below; approaches are listed on the right-hand side.
Tools:
Mapanno
BubblePLY
Zoho
Tabblo
Slideshare
StoryBox
Eyespot
Video and media hosting
Flipbook!
MyToons
Ficlets
Flickr
RockYou
Zamzar
Splashr
Tumblr
Google.docs
Clipmarks
Podcasting mini-guide
VideoEgg
Quickeo
Mapanno
Keywords
Free Web 2.0 tool, presentation, image annotation, picture
Aim of tool
A free online tool to allow users to annotate an image with ‘visual tags’ – of text or other images. Once annotated, the images can be shared on a website or saved to your desktop for e-mailing or other sharing options.
Education scenario/possibility
This tool enables you to present an image (for example an image of a Victorian street) and to add text explaining particular features of that image – of the toys that can be seen, the transport being used, the style of clothes etc. By annotating this image with further images, it is also possible to present (for example) examples of the inside of buildings or ‘hidden stories’ from the image. Mapanno can link to web-based image services such as Flickr or 23 and allow students the chance to further explain meaning behind an image, discuss the use of colour in a picture, the different elements of a complex image or more…
Where ever images are used to present a picture of something or a rich description, Mapanno can be used for learners and teachers to display their understanding of key points or descriptions.
BubblePLY
Keywords
Free Web 2.0 tool, video, video annotation, YouTube, Googlevideo
Aim of tool
BubblePLY is a tool designed to complement online streaming videos as available through websites sites such as YouTube and video.google.com. 'Bubbles', which are at the basic level are simply transparent text boxes, can be placed on top of the streaming video in a location and for an amount of time as specified by the user. In addition to this, images, and active hyperlinks can also be annotated over the video, all of which can be subjected to a simple movement animation.
Education scenario/possibility
User-created video content is already beginning to be used in learning environments, including the classroom. BubblePLY is a resource that provides an means of quickly annotating over the videos, and because of its web-based nature it is easily shared. This resource could be used by teachers to indicate points of interest, or for further investigation, in an online video. Alternatively, it could be used by groups of students to identify aspects of a video that they feel is important or significant, and why this is. Being brought together as a kind of visual collage, BubblePLY offers a quick and free resource for doing visual elicitation and research in a different and exciting way.
Further links
Also see: www.youtube.com, video.google.com, or www.bubbleply.com/more.aspx for a list of 24 recommended video hosting websites.
Zoho
Keywords
Suite of tools, presentation, spreadsheet, notebook, wiki, document, chat, management, free Web 2.0 tools
Aim of tool
A web-based suite of tools that provides a space for individual or shared writing, management, note-taking, chatting or developing. A free version of this tool has limited storage facility, with the option to pay a monthly subscription for greater amounts of use.
Education scenario/possibility
Zoho is a suite of office tools: from planning, managing and organising, to creative writing, use of spreadsheets, noting and developing a shared wiki, Zoho has a tool to help. Due to the online nature of these tools it means documents can be accessed and developed anywhere that has web access – and the work can be shared and collaboratively developed between multiple users.
Tabblo
Keywords
Photo, image storage, image editing, publishing, book creating
Aim of tool
Tabblo is a free image hosting service that also provides a variety of tools to edit and publish images. Some of the editing images (just enough tools) enable cropping, resizing of images, adding text etc; sharing is possible with many levels of permissions from private, to groups to friends (including those not using Tabblo) who you can share your pictures with. Then there is the publishing – Tabblo provides a (cheap) service to transform your collections of images and texts into books – real, printed paper-based books, as well as the online photo albums, creating posters, postcards, or buying prints.
Education scenario/possibility
Images can be used to demonstrate progress, activities and understanding of a topic – especially when the learner has the ability to annotate the images captured. Capturing project development processes or images of the content being created can provide a useful collection of resources in telling the process of learning, as well as presenting the product of the activities. Tabblo also provides various ways to share this process with others outside of the classroom and the option to create real books that have a professional production, provides the opportunity to create a lasting and shareable record that learners can use to show their work to a wide variety of audiences.
Further links
www.picnik.com also offers online photo editing
Slideshare
Keywords
Free Web 2.0 tool, presentation, sharing, social software
Aim of tool
Slideshare is an online space that enables users to upload presentations (including PowerPoint presentations, PDFs and OpenOffice documents) to share with others. Immediate benefits are for sharing large files that cannot easily be e-mailed or accessed through slower network connections, but the social marking of presentations brings with it greater benefits. As all presentations are public, users can search for expert (and novice) presentations on topics as varied as humour through to molecular biology. One way in which to navigate the vast number of presentations available is through searching through the presentations most views, most ‘zinged’ or most ‘favorited’. Comments are also added to presentations and new links created to other resources.
Education scenario/possibility
Sharing presentations used in classrooms, created by learners and teachers; searching for expert presentations on themes being investigated by learners, or providing unlimited access to school based presentations – all are possible through this site. Where creating, publishing and presenting slides has benefit, Slideshare can share the activities more widely with greater access to feedback and new links.
StoryBox
Keywords
Free Web 2.0 tool, sharing, social software, story making, video, text
Aim of tool
StoryBox is a site to publish stories – visual or video-based or textual stories, StoryBox provides a space for sharing imaginative stories or historical accounts, documentary recordings or rants about current events. Once published, all stories can be reviewed by anyone and commented upon by (free to join) members.
Education scenario/possibility
Providing a real audience who can give feedback and comments to stories and video compositions, students have a space where they can freely share their imaginative ideas or documentary reports. The site can also be used to search for different stories as inspiration, based upon themes, title or ranking.
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Eyespot
Keywords
Online video editing, tools, creativity, video, music video, editing, user-created content, sharing
Aim of tool
Eyespot provides a straightforward, and free, online media editing resource. The software is geared towards producing relatively simple music videos, with a timeline of the video clips and photographs overlayed by a music track, and provides all of the basic tools needed to create and share publicly across the internet. Users are encouraged to upload their own media content, however there is also a catalogue of stock video, photo and music available to users to 'mix'.
Education scenario/possibility
The strengths of Web 2.0 sites and applications are primarily their ease of use, their low cost, and their pervasive accessibility. In the case of Eyespot, these strengths mean that users are able to assemble media without the need for specific software installed locally, and then share their videos automatically. The nature of media editing means that there is a proportionally large amount of data being transferred and manipulated. Eyespot suffers this too to some extent, but it is still a usable tool.
It is feasible to use this kind of online media editing software in schools, as it provides 'just enough' control over the video manipulation to allow users to produce something worthwhile. One the one hand, the application suffers from its own simplicity. It cannot cater for any complex video editing, and the audio editing is the most limited. On the other hand, as a 'disposable' technology, Eyespot provides a good resource that could be used by a classroom of learners over a one or two hour period to produce and publish video media without the need for any additional resources.
Video and media hosting
Online video and media hosting websites (various - see links below).
Keywords
Video
Aim of tool
Rather than listing these sites independently, below are a collection of the most popular online streaming video websites currently accessible:
www.aniboom.com
www.blip.tv
www.bolt.com
www.break.com
www.collegehumor.com
www.comedycentral.com
www.dailymotion.com
www.ebaumsworld.com
www.gofish.com
video.google.co.uk
Education scenario/possibility
Video hosting websites allow people to upload their own video media so that they are accessible across the internet without incurring any costs. This in itself is a useful resource allowing people to share ideas with each other in a public and democratic domain. In addition to this, there are many web-based applications being written to allow people to manipulate existing videos, or borrow aspects of, using the existing resources available on websites such as those listed above.
Not all of the content of these video hosting websites is necessarily appropriate for children, and the educational merit of much of the content might also be questionable. Outside of the formal learning environment, however, young people are accessing these sites. Questions can be asked about the most constructive ways of using these sights and in what ways schools can help learners navigate them appropriately both in and out of schools.
Further links
VideoEgg is a video hosting site, but offers additional services including editing software and a community focused agenda - www.videoegg.com.
Flipbook!
www.fabrica.it/flipbook
www.benettonplay.com/toys/flipbook
(NB: the Flipbook! website is not currently online)
Keywords
Animation, tools, creativity, art
Aim of tool
Flipbook! is a simple animation tool hosted by Fabrica, a communications research outpost sponsored by United Colors of Benetton. To create an animation you simply draw out a series of frames using a 'line tool' on the website's bespoke interface, and the output is very much a digital flipbook. It is free to make a Flipbook! submission, and they are all open to both public viewing and rating.
Education scenario/possibility
Flipbook! is good example of a 'Just Enough' resource. It is not intended as a professional resource, but rather is seen by Fabrica as a toy that is open to interpretation. The animations are automatically shared, and this inherent property of the site creates a visibly constructive space.
This is a constructive short-term user tool, but the limitations of the animation tool are what make it fun and accessible. All learners, including students, teachers, parents etc, should be encouraged to use creative social tools like Flipbook! at least once.
MyToons
Keywords
Animation, share, community, video, creative
Aim of tool
Hosting an online community of creative individuals, MyToons is geared towards hosting and sharing user-created animated content. By providing reliable file hosting facilities akin to websites like YouTube, focusing on building a creative community in the same way as Deviantart.com, MyToons.com has built its own niche.
Education scenario/possibility
There are many websites currently available to freely share video footage. The reason that MyToons is different is in the way that it acts to encourage a specific community of animators, and provides forums and spaces of communication intended for the discussion of skills and talent specific to animation. MyToons provides a resource that could be used by learners informally to help develop and showcase their interests in animation, or it could be used in a similar way in a more formal learning scenario by, for example, media students, as a way of showcasing and discussing their works with both expert and amateur animation community members.
Ficlets
Keywords
Writing, creativity, community, collaboration, English (as a subject), 'literary lego'
Aim of tool
The Ficlet community is based around the collaborative writing of short stories. A Ficlet is a very short story, between 64 and 1,024 characters long, and all entries must be within these constraints. The collaborative part is that participants are encouraged to write 'prequels' and 'sequels' to existing Ficlets, as another Ficlet that you associate with an existing one, with the more popular story chains potentially being many Ficlets long. The users of the Ficlet website refer to Ficlets as a form of 'literary lego', where the short stories are neatly stacked on each other. All of the contributions are publicly accessible, and are covered under creative commons.
Education scenario/possibility
In the traditional subject classification, this activity would be most suitable for writing lessons with the prospect of publishing, or sharing, with a real audience. Therefore, in an educational context Ficlets are most suitable as a creativity activity - and this does not necessarily have to be attached strictly to a 'creative writing' lesson. Students could be encouraged to write short stories collaboratively with each other, and because of the online nature of the website this could be done out of the classroom.
As an alternative activity, the concept of the Ficlet could be borrowed from the website and used in a traditional classroom environment; except that the stories would still be collaborative, and each contribution intentionally short. However, this apporach would not take advantage of the website's global collaborative reach.
Flickr
Keywords
Image hosting, photographs, images, image editing
Aim of tool
Flickr is popular image hosting tool, and is primarily for the sharing of photographs. Users are encouraged to associate their images with keywords, called 'tags', which allows all of the publicly viewable images stored on Flickr to be searched. Flickr is a free resource to use, and is a great way of sharing your photographs online. In addition to this, because of Flickr's popularity there are many web-based applications written specifically to compliment Flickr.
An example of this is Preloadr, which is used as a web-based application for image editing. This tool allows anyone with a Flickr account to edit their images online without having to rely on having to download image editing software to their local machine. Although the image manipulation capacity of Preloadr is fairly limited, it is useful for the most common modifications to photographs; cropping and light/colour balance.
Education scenario/possibility
Flickr provides a very easy way to share photographs on the web, and the well written software means that it is intuitive and easy to use. In an educational context, Flickr could be used in any aspect where a showcase or portfolio of images is desirable. Images are especially useful for helping to tell stories, and allowing students the means to take and share their own photographs gives a valuable sense of ownership. Here are three examples of how Flickr might be used alongside normal classroom activities.
Firstly, students could document the progress of a project in design and technology classes. Secondly, they could create a portfolio of artistic photography. Or, finally, they could even pulling together photographs of their family and friends to help them build a narrative around what their social relationships mean to them.
When coupled with a digital camera, Flickr (and associated programs like Preloadr) provides a useful and very exciting resource.
RockYou
www.rockyou.com
www60.rockyou.com
Keywords
Images, display, presentation, slide show, sharing, social, visual
Aim of tool
Rockyou allows users a different way of presenting their photographs and images. With the capacity to log straight into many different image hosting websites through Rockyou, as well as offering image hosting services itself, it makes it very easy to pull together your collection of images.
Zamzar
Keywords
File conversion
Aim of tool
Zamzar provides a simple tool for converting files without the need to download or install software. Zamazar allows users to change image files, document files, video files and music files from an original state to the file-type needed for particular applications.
Education scenario/possibility
This application can be used when resources are to be user in different ways. A Word document could be changed into a PDF; a music file could be changed so that it can be played on a greater variety of systems or an image can be easily converted so that it can be put onto a school website. The applications within education are the same as those outside – when you need to change the format of a file to reuse it in a new way, Zamzar enables you to do it without the technical know-how or tools.
Splashr
Keywords
Presentation, image, Flickr
Aim of tool
Splashr is a tool for presenting images stored in Flickr. It provides a wide variety of frames to show images and prompts various different ways of navigating those images.
Education scenario/possibility
Rather than telling a linear story through a presentation (such as PowerPoint etc), Splashr allows you to show a wide number of images in different formats. For example, the ‘Desktop’ format places all of your selected Flickr images on one screen and when selected, the image grows to take up most of the screen. In discussing complex subjects, this tool allows a teacher to provide a wide range of visual stimuli to help learners understand a concept, whilst navigating the subject in the order determined by the learners’ needs and questions. Learners asking questions, teachers reacting and linking to particular resources to help explain.
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Tumblr
Keywords
Tumblelog, blog, sharing tool, free Web 2.0
Aim of tool
Tumblr is a variation of a blog that favours short-form, mixed-media posts rather than longer text-based posts. The tool aims to provide a way of capturing links, photos, quotes, dialogues, and video. Unlike blogs, this format is frequently used to share the author's creations, discoveries, or experiences without providing a commentary.
Education scenario/possibility
A resource for capturing information from other sites, tumblr allows users to gather together information and to share it with others who are working in the same area – without providing explanation or commentary. This could be useful when learners are working independently, but are encouraged to share processes of working – students can share resources that they find easily.
Further links
Further information: www.tumblr.com/faqs
Wiki description of a tumbellog: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblelog
Google.docs
Keywords
Online free suite of tools, presentation, word processing, spreadsheet etc
Aim of tool
Google.docs provides free online tools for word processing, spreadsheets use etc that, due to its web-based nature, allows multiple users to work on the same documents at one time. One of the strengths of Google.docs is that it attempts to compensate for a time when multiple users are editing the same place in a document.
Education scenario/possibility
Students working on a shared project, peers editing and assessing others’ work, allowing learners to work on documents in different sites are all made possible with Google.docs. As with other shared documents, such as wikis, users can also return to previous versions of a document to look at progress.
Clipmarks
Keywords
Tagging, blogging, sharing
Aim of tool
Clipmarks provides a simple way to capture information from anywhere on the web and to collate it in one place. Whether it is a sentence from a website, a whole webpage, an embedded video or an image, Clipmarks enables you to select it, label and tag it, and easily transfer it to a personal or a shared space.
A word of warning – the shared space is used by all members of the web community and some of their clippings may not be appropriate for your class. However, once installed on your toolbar, clipping does not require you to visit this site and this is a useful resource in gathering information.
Education scenario/possibility
As a tool for gathering together and beginning to organise lots of information, Clipmarks provides a way to capture the information viewed whe using the internet as a research tool. An investigation into (for example) local businesses could take route through many sites, and students could use this tool to capture elements that help capture their web-based experiences of the topic, whilst the tagging/labelling function allows learners to begin to piece together their arguments as they make links between different resources and information. The production of a well-evidenced presentation could easily develop from using such a tool.
Further links
Introduction: www.clipmarks.com/how-to-clip
Podcasting mini-guide
Archive of podcast recording and editing tools:
Keywords
Podcast, recording, editing, audio
Aim of tool
As podcasting has become more commonplace, communities and groups have developed resources that automate and simplify much of what used to require specific technical knowledge. Utilising these resources, any individual will find it relatively straightforward to produce and share their own webcast.
Education scenario/possibility
Podcasting refers to the distribution of media files across the internet. The unique thing about podcasting is that this transfer of media can be automated by certain software, such as iTunes. Many prolific and passionate teachers are already using podcasting as a means of helping to share and disseminate their own practices with other teachers in combination with other web-based tools such as blogs.
For those that are new to the process of creating a podcast, these free resources provide an easy to follow guide. Students and teachers alike can use this as a means of creating published content, something that could be used as a group around any number of activities or projects, or even just as a way to communicate their ideas to each other and more distant groups.
Further links
www.apple.com/itunes
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast
10 podcast recording and editing resources:
www.odeo.com
www.audioblog.com
www.gcast.com
www.podomatic.com
clickcaster.com
www.makepropaganda.com
www.lionhardt.ca/wps
www.wildvoice.com
www.podcaststation.com
www.voiceatom.com/audiobay
VideoEgg
Keywords
Video hosting, online communities
Aim of tool
VideoEgg is a video hosting site designed to support online communities with video content. It offers a comprehensive platform including the facilites for video creation and distribution. A unique property of VideoEgg is that it offers an ad network aimed towards online communities specifically, and this means that there is the potential for users to earn revenue from the creation and sharing of their own video content. VideoEgg is not intended to stand alone in the same way that, for example, YouTube or video.google.com, but is an effective video resource specificly for online communities such as Bebo, Hi5, Dogster etc (for a full list, see VideoEgg website).
Education scenario/possibility
The popularity of VideoEgg is down to the it having been well concieved and well written. Within the realm of the established online communities that VideoEgg is designed around, it is an unparalled video resource. In the context of education, if students or teachers were a part of these online communities then VideoEgg should be one of the first ports of call when using video content.
Quickeo
Aim of tool
"Quickeo is an application for people who want to share their private digital photos, videos, music and other files with their friends, family and community and not the whole world. Just select any files that you want to share from your PC, tag them, select the recipients you want to share the files with and click on the button 'send it'. Simple. Your contacts will receive a Quickeo email that will allow them to access your files. Also You can add all multimedia files received by Quickeo email to your TypePad or LiveJournal blogs simply by copying the associated link received and thumbnail image."