Week+4

Click here to go to the During and After class section. @http://www.foxtrot.com/2010/01/01242010/

Left over from last week (Jan 25th) ...
**a** **.** Do you see yourself using **podcasting**? Why or why not? AUDIO - yes; VIDEO - MAYBE. I'm not sure how reasonable it is to ask students to generate the visuals without providing the equipment. I realize that this is a case of me being biased by past experience. Students dream big and, as a parent, I have had to watch as my husband has searched for free software or struggled to get files to transfer or whatever, to make the project happen. I don't know how to get images off a cell phone and onto a computer for editing, for example. I liked it when the Grade 9 French teacher last year gave the students a choice: act your scene out in front of the class or show the video/film which you have made of the scene. In the end my daughter and her friend dubbed part of the film with post-filming voice recording (blame the wind affecting the volume controls), but other than that they made it work. What an improvement over the previous year when the film files from our point and shoot camera were nearly lost/deleted and my husband spent several hours retrieving them, and placing them in a software program which he had never seen before, and neither had the youth! I would want to have a sense of how tech savvy the class is before I suggest a project that requires its use. I am quite content to have options for the tech savvy crowd, but I am sympathetic to those who wish to demonstrate their learning in other ways.

**b.** Theoretically, where could you use podcasting? Any time that there is material to be submitted that would 'usually' be in text form. If using videos, graphs, disgrams and other visuals can be shared ... so for **differentiation**. For students who are too nervous to present in front of the class. For times when time is as factor ... the teacher can view the podcasts anytime :-)

Challenges with technology. Availability of technology. Copyright issues.
 * c.** What are some of the perils of podcasting?

**d.** What are some of the advantages of podcasting? It's another way of presenting and sharing knowledge. It is engaging. It can be fun!

media type="file" key="Finnish Hockey small.WMV" width="540" height="540" align="center"
 * Here's my podcast**. I had more fun doing it than I had expected. (BTW: The man on the screen when you hear 'husband' is Jerry's dad!)

Is using translator software cheating?
An interesting question ... which follows "But my mother helps me to edit/correct my French!" I think that when translator software is **used as a tool it is not cheating**. It is not cheating to use a dictionary or to consult a verb book. It is not cheating to have somebody else proofread your text or even to have somebody else type it into the computer from a handwritten draft. It is cheating when you do not understand what you are handing in because you did not participate in the process. It is cheating when you were told explicitly not to use a dictionary and you do. Many of us pay attention to the red and green lines in our Word documents and use spellcheck when we are done. These are tools.  =During and After today's class (Feb 1st):= Here is a **video** based on the footage which we filmed in class today. Using Audacity the audio level for my and Dane's segments could be boosted, but it has not been done ... yet. Enjoy :-) media type="file" key="Moviev2 Feb012010.WMV" width="300" height="300"

Interesting class. I enjoyed using the software and the movie cameras. I am becoming comfortable with the idea that the final product does not need to be perfect :-) I need to have familiarity not complete mastery. I am finding that my pre-class thoughts help me to participate in the day's class. I was a bit anxious about sharing my podcast but was pleased that I did. Somebody even complimented me on it on Thursday.