Slideshows with Sound

There are a ton of slideshow programs out there online. Some are better than others. Most are free, but be aware of those that claim they are free and then ask you to pay a fee once you've registered to use their site. Below, you can view a chart that lists a number of applications that are either software or hosted online. You can see if they incorporate sound and text, and whether they are free or there is a fee. (click on the table to see a larger version)

Today's workshop focuses on JayCut, an online video editing system that is great for audio slideshows. It's much like Windows Movie Maker and iMovie, but since it's online, it's great to teach. There is only one version and it doesn't matter if you use a Mac or a PC.

The only quirk is that you have to upload all of your media content (there actually is an option to use your computer's microphone to record audio and another option to record video from your computer's camera...but we won't talk about that now).  To do this, you will first have to collect all of your images and audio first. If you are taking images online through a Google image search, then you will have to first download the images, save them in a folder on your computer, then upload the images to your JayCut account. Here's a quick workflow for the process of creating an audio slideshow once you have recorded your audio in Audacity and have exported it as a WAV or AIFF file.

1. Go to www.jaycut.com
2. Register on the site.
3. Create a movie
4. Select a language
5. Click "add media" on the upper right corner.
6. Click on "my computer" and click "next."
7. Click "browse"
8. Find the media files from your computer, select them and click "open."
9. Click "upload." (Note: sometimes there is a green check and other times there is a red x after uploading. Ignore it.)
10. Click the little gray x on the upper right corner of that window.
11. You should now be able to view your media in its proper tab -- (ex. -- if it's an image, it should be located in the image tab.)

Podcasts for Science Exploration

Today, we are looking at the affordances of recording and editing sound for science exploration. Sound can be a great way to engage young learners to identify the aural characteristics of an environment to advance their knowledge.

For this workshop, you are asked to design an "audio postcard" of a place of nature that is meaningful to you. The purpose of this assignment is to share a place you love with your students and to descriptively inform them of why this place is so special. These podcasts should include recorded narration of your voice that describes the place along with two to three effect sounds that can enhance the sense of place and time, perhaps. The structure of this piece can be interpretive. It can be poetic, expository, or even in the form of a letter -- "Dear students, I am writing to you from...."

This project will combine audio that you will record into Audacity along with audio that you will find on the internet. A great way to find audio is through YouTube. There is a special way to download the audio version of the YouTube video. Here's how...

Downloading sounds (MP3 files) from YouTube

To download sound files from YouTube, you must use Firefox and you will need to download the add-on from Mozilla. Do the following steps:

1.     Go to www.mozilla.com

2.     Click on  ADD-ONS at the top.

3.     Type  YouTube MP3 in the search bar.

4.     Click on the green button next to YouTube MP3 (second one at the top)

5.     A new window will open, select INSTALL NOW

6.     Another window will open, select RESTART NOW

7.     Go to YouTube and find the video that you want to take audio from.

8.     Click on the tab Download MP3 on the top of the video.

9.     A new window will appear. It may take awhile for the video to convert, then click Download.

HOW TO USE AUDACITY
And here's an educast video that explains how to download Audacity from the Internet as well overviews how to record audio, import audio files, create new tracks, and do basic editing and manipulation of the audio.

The flow chart for this process is as follows:

1. Brainstorm and come up with a topic.
2. Write the script - narration & think of two sound effects and music (optional)
3. Record the narration in Audacity.
4. Search for sounds online via Google Search or YouTube MP3.
5. Download each sound file.
6. Import sound files into Audacity.
7. Sequence the sounds in order.
8. Change audio levels as needed to make the sound mix good quality.
9. Export as WAV or AIFF.
10. Serve cold.

Before you begin your script, please take a few minutes to decide on the topic of your audio postcard. What place will you describe? And, what 2-3 effects will you include?

Good luck!

Welcome!

Hello, educators. Welcome to the KQED Education K-3 Teacher Tech Trainings. After today's workshop, you should be familiar with the concept of slideshows in the elementary science classroom. You should also know the basics of PowerPoint, some design ideas for creating a slideshow, and how to navigate the web for good quality images.

The goal of this workshop is to get you to think about slideshows in your classroom and to develop a PowerPoint that covers a unit of science study that you can present to your students. Below, please take a moment to write down your ideas for this project. Please be brief... 2 to 5 sentences that explains your project -- the topic, the kinds of images that you may use, and some design choices that will integrate into your slideshow.

Tomorrow, we will visit the blog and see some of your responses.

Thanks!


Model PowerPoint Project
Here is Nancy's beautifully engaging PowerPoint about birds.




How To Use Google PowerPoint

Below, is an educast video that explains how to use Google's PowerPoint application. It is very simple to use, but it much more limited than Microsoft PowerPoint. If you feel a bit apprehensive with the latter, then give a try with Google. You can easily create slideshows and present them to your students. This video covers the program's basic interface, and how to create backgrounds, text, and images. It allows explains how to present the slideshow. 

Remember, when you want to bring an image into your Google PowerPoint project, there are two ways to do this. 1) Copy the image URL and paste it 2) Save the image to your computer and upload it. I feel that it is easiest to do #1 because you can also paste the URL in your citation slide at the end of the PowerPoint project. 

To copy the URL of an image, you right-click and select "Copy Image Location"

Below, is the comments section. Please remember to post a comment that overviews your slideshow idea.