On the Web: Multimedia

On the Web Multimedia features popular sites that offer Information about assistive technology multimedia programs, digital stories, interactive learning, integration ideas, software options, tutorials and video editing. The sections are listed alphabetically. If you know of a site that is missing from this collection but is would provide helpful information to teachers, please contact us.

Assistive Technology || Digital Stories || Interactive Learning || Integration Ideas || Software Options: Slideshows || Software Players ||Tutorials || Software Options: Video Editing

Assistive Technology

Center for Applied Special Technology
CAST, a non-profit educational research and development organization, works to make education more flexible and accessible through the use of technology. CAST provides an on-line book on Universal Design for Learning, Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age. CAST developed Wiggle Works and Thinking Reader, two multimedia reading programs reviewed in this chapter.

Intellitools
Intellitools provides an array of products that can be used by students with disabilities and their peers in a general education classroom. The Classroom Suite combines a text-to-speech word processor (Intellitalk III), multimedia authoring (Intellipics Studio), and electronic math manipulatives (Intellimathics). Balanced Literacy is a multimedia reading program for grades K-2. The web site offers information about their products, partners, and support. In addition, there are links to Intellishare, a teacher-authored activity exchange, and to research and case studies about the use of their tools. The site includes an on-line store.

Sign Smith Studio
Sign Smith Studio has been purchased by Vcom3D where you can find information about this product. This software translates English text into American Sign Language or Signed English files that can be incorporated into many different multimedia programs. Sign Smith Studio has been recently upgraded to 3.0. Read about the new features that have been added at the company blog.

Thinking Reader
Thinking Reader is multimedia program that includes a series of core literature titles used in grades 5-8. It is designed in conjunction with reading experts using principles of universal design for learning. Titles may be purchased separately or as part of a set.

Wiggle Works
This web site gives information regarding Wiggle Works; a beginning literacy multimedia program developed using principles of universal design for learning.

Digital Stories

Digital Storytelling by Dr. Helen Barrett
Dr. H. Barrett offers a page of links to more information about digital storytelling. Here you will find many examples and much information about storytelling as well as tips for digital storytelling, where to publish your digital stories, online tools for digital storytelling, online tools for podcasting and much more.
Digital Stories
This site is designed to showcase the digital stories of teachers and students in Niles Township. You will find resources, student videos, teacher videos and senior citizen videos. Settle back and enjoy the stories of these story tellers.
Teach Digital: Curriculum by Wes Fryer: Digital Storytelling
Information presented in a PBwiki presents information about digital stories, music, copyright, podcasting, VoiceThread, and sources for free images.

The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling
The University of Houston presents this informative site that discussed the educational uses of digital storytelling. You will find examples, software, the seven elements for storytelling, directions for how to design and develop your story and more. This is a great help to the new storyteller!

Interactive Learning Sites

Provided here are some neat interactive sites that demonstrate unique and helpful ways that animation can be used to promote teaching and learning. While professional designers create these types of sites, they certainly demonstrate the unique and helpful ways that animation can add to teaching and learning.

Biology in Motion
This interactive site has animations and simulations for students in the sciences.

Chemistry.org
Access the interactive periodic table at this site. The Shockwave plug-in is needed and a link provided to download.

Interactive Curriculum Resources
This site provides many interactive math, language arts and science, social studies, and other sites that the teacher can browse and select for their study pages for their students. The Global Classroom provides this page. Flash Player is needed to see the animation and they will provide the link to download if you do not have access to it.

Powers of Ten: Molecular Expressions: Science Optics and You
This site allows you to move through space towards Earth in successive powers of ten. Developed by Florida State University, this offers a photo gallery and a movie gallery with tutorials and other teacher resources as well as student activities.

Shodor Education Foundation
Project Interactivate is the foundation’s best-known initiative of the Shodor Education Foundation, whose goals are the creation, collection, evaluation and dissemination of interactive Java-based courseware. Neat ways to learn in math and science.

The Moonlit Road
This site is something that English teachers will find interesting as it holds a collection of Southern ghost stories and folktales which are presented in written and audio versions. Not for the very young, but gives a cultural lesson in the American South. Take a walk down the Moonlit Road. You will need Real Player to hear the audio and some microphones unless you are going to listen in large group.

Integration Ideas

The following sites provide basic information, lessons and tutorials about ways to use multimedia presentation tools in the classroom. Annotations provide more information.

Creating Multimedia Projects
Adobe has created a list of ways to use multimedia projects in the classroom that includes many content areas. You will need Adobe Acrobat Player to read this document.

Ideas for Podcasting in the Classroom
This site, created at the University of South Florida, presents nine ways to use podcasts in the curriculum. Great ideas for integration.

PowerPoint: Creating Classroom Presentations
This article, shared at Education World, gives a great overview of using PowerPoint in the classroom, in case you have doubts. One clever idea discusses how to incorporate student use inquiry based learning to recreate a day in history, an interesting way to integrate technology into learning. This article was last updated in 2007.

PowerPoint Games
This page offers many game ideas and templates that can be used to create educational games. Recommended to me by a teacher friend who uses this resource in her classroom. It is a great resource. Take a look!

Twelve Reasons to Use Multimedia Projects in the Classroom
Although this article was written in 2002, Susanne Cherry presents twelve reasons to use multimedia in your classroom that remain constant today. One reason that she maintains is that multimedia projects require higher order thinking and problem solving skills.

20 Ways to Use Multimedia in Your Classroom
Sony provides this document that presents 20 ways to use multimedia in your classroom. This list in PDF format suggests team video reports, slideshow presentations, multimedia portfolios, and podcasting among other great suggestions.

Multimedia in the Classroom
This site, presented by Florida Center for Educational Technology at the University of South Florida in partnership with Pinellas County School District, explain that multimedia activities allow students to build 21st Century skills: to work in teams, to express their knowledge in numerous ways, solve problems, revise their work and construct knowledge. Such activities build collaboration, allow students to work with real-world skills and communicate with different audiences. Go to the website to review the DDD-E or Decide, Design, Develop and Evaluate model.

Using PowerPoint in the Classroom
This site, located at the Online Technology Learning Center of Tuscaloosa City Schools, offers a tutorial for teachers that offers advice about ways to use presentations in the classroom. Specifically, they discuss ways to create presentations, parent events, instruction, and creative ways to integrate PowerPoint in the curriculum

Software Options: Slideshows

Multimedia can be created with slideshow tools. There are a number of software packages with slideshow features from which to choose, but as with most software they range in capabilities, learning curve and price. It is important for teachers, when choosing a tool, to consider the types of multimedia development will take place and the skill level , as well as the developmental level of the student.

Proprietary multimedia solutions

Keynote by Apple
This software allows teachers and students to create transitions, animated text and powerful builds. It rivals MS PowerPoint for Macintosh users. This software makes easy the imports from Excel or AppleWorks Spreadsheets as well as import other assets from the media browser feature that is built into this software.
Microsoft PowerPoint
Part of the Microsoft Office package, PowerPoint is available for both Mac and Windows users and has become quite sophisticated in recent years. Capable of non-linear sequencing.

Open source solutions

NeoOffice
NeoOffice is a full featured set of office applications for Mac OS X, based on OpenOffice. Take a look and see if this is a good choice for your classroom. Free downloads are available here.

OpenOffice: Impress
OpenOffice.org is a multi-platform and multilingual office suite that offers free downloads from this web site and has a presentation software program named Impress. Read about this option, talk with your technology coordinator and download to try this option.

Web-based solutions

Google Documents
Google Documents offers a presentation tool. Try it out. As with all web-based software, users have 24/7 access to presentations on the web as long as they have a computer that is connected the the internet and a browser. Try it out for a free solution for your classroom. Keep in mind that you must sign up for a Google account.

Zoho.com
Zoho offers a host of programs that are web-based and free if you have an account. Zoho Writer is an online word processor, Zoho Creator is an online database application and Zoho Sheet is an online spreadsheet. These are fully compatible with MS Office counterparts and promote digital literacy and collaboration. There is also a presentation tool as well as a wiki and more.

Thinkfree
Think Free Office offers web-based word processor, spreadsheets, and presentation programs that are are compatible with MS Office counterparts and are free. Getting an account here allows 1 gigabyte of free online storage.

Software Options: Video

Adobe Premiere Elements
Adobe Premiere Elements offers a much less complicated option for editing videos than Premiere, which is typically used by professional editors. Find out all about this software, see a video and try it yourself with a free download trial version. Be aware that, although easier that Premiere, it remains a higher learning curve that others listed here.

Apple iMovie for Mac
iMovie is an easy to learn entry level editing system for Mac users. The newest version iMovie HD is dramatically improved and is faster and easier. Go to this site and read all about it. iMovie is quite affordable and comes equipped with all new Macs! Great choice for digital stories.

Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows
This software is free and easy to use that allows you to create slideshows using the photos that you are collected from digital camera shots, the Web, or scans. The limitations of Photo Story is that is only available for Windows XP or Vista. Further, the stories that are created can only be played back using Windows Media Player AND it only supports the use of static (still) images rather than video clips.

Windows Movie Maker for XP and Vista
Capture video, edit movies and develop a finished product with the entry-level product on Windows XP and Vista. It is loaded with Windows machines. A limitation is that Movie Maker limits output to AVI and WMV formats.

Software Options: Players

iTunes
This player allows the organization and playing of digital music or video files on both Mac and PC platforms. A free download for Mac and PC users, iTunes offers music, movies, TV shows, games, podcasts , audiobooks and more. Some are free downloads while some must be rented or purchased. Browse what's at this site.

QuickTime
QuickTime player allows Mac and Windows users to play audio and video on the computers. Yet, QuickTime is a file format, a media-authoring tool and a suite of applications including QuickTime Player, QuickTime Pro (multimedia authoring), Browser Plug-in, and PictureViewer for Mac OSX, Open source streaming server to deliver media in “real time” and more. Go to this site to download QuickTime and to read more how to buy QuickTime Pro. …affordable for your classroom.

Windows Media Player
This player is available for Windows XP and Vista and is a versatile audio and video software that is bundled with the Windows operating system. It is a free download for those PC users that don't have it. Check system requirements!!

Tutorials

Apple Keynote Tutorials
Apple offers tutorials for iWork components at this page. Follow the directions to get to Keynote.

Creating Multimedia Projects-A Classroom Tutorial to Engage Students in Day-to-Day Learning
Adobe offers this tutorial at the Digital Kids club. The tutorial presents multimedia projects using Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. Each lesson is presented with objectives and step by step instructions and exercises.

Creating Video Podcasts on Mac OS X with Quick Time
Apple offers Quicktime tutorials that show how to create video podcasts and have them posted to iTunes Podcast Directory.

How to Podcast
This is a Audacity Tutorial for Podcasters. This site presents tutorial videos for each step using audacity, including recording setup, the editing tools, basic editing, adjusting levels, importing audio and adding music and saving your project and exporting to MP3.

How to Create Your Own Podcast: A Step-by-Step Tutorial
Presented by About.com, this site explains what a podcast (audio) is, why you want to create one, and step by step directions to acquire the skills to do it which include recording audio and saving to .mp3, creating an RSS file that contains directions, how to upload the RSS file and the .mp3 file and how to validate that the file is written and sent correctly.

Microsoft PowerPoint Tutorials
This page, located at i4c (Internet for Classrooms: Helping Teachers Use the Internet Effectively) shares online PointPoint tutorials for Windows XP, and Office 2007. There are also many tips as well as integration ideas located here.