(and it’s only half over)
I figured out a really cool way to get notes and lectures to students who are absent, (or not paying attention in class); I have recorded and uploaded lectures in the past with my portable digital Dictaphone, taken and uploaded photos of my whiteboards, and linked them to a blog, but this new way uses the iMac’s built-in features to record the sound, so I don’t have to download the mp3 from the digital voice recorder.
There’s a cool program called, “Garage Band™,” that comes with iLife, a Macintosh media productivity tool, which also includes, iTunes™, iWeb™, iMovie™ and iDVD™. With the built-in microphone I recorded my lecture from within Garage Band and exported the lesson (using the “Share” menu) directly to iTunes.
I coped the iTunes mp3 file to the desktop for easy location and uploaded it to my ftp site, then connected the link to the class blog.
Now students can not only listen to the lecture when they miss class, but can also be reminded or review the lesson later. This is also helpful for students who missed class, ELL students and even Special Education, as, if they were present for the lecture and copied the notes into their notebooks, they will be able to review all the material for that day, getting input in Audio, Visual and Tactile sensations.
The even bigger consideration for doing the process this way is that I had the lecture and photos uploaded before class ended.
After sharing this with Derek Morris, my Principal at Kearny High Educational Complex, School of Science, Connections & Technology (or SCT for short), he suggested I create a series of these lecture/whiteboard notes as modules that can be purchased and downloaded via an eCommerce site.
Hmmmm… that Masters in Educational Technology might not be necessary after all…
j
