The Patrick™
Because I'm self-centered and can't think of a better title
quiettube - Make YouTube shut up!
Poll Everywhere - Make Polls...Everywhere!
Answers to Some of Your Survey Concerns
quietube: YouTube Without the Distractions.
NOTE: At one point in the video I refer to quietube as a "browser extension;" it's not. It's a bookmarklet.
Poll Everywhere
Tech Needs Survey Answers
Awhile back I sent out a “Tech Needs” survey. If you answered the survey, thank you very much. It’s my goal to help you get things done, and to help you help kids learn using technology. I’ve been talking to teachers individually in response to some of the items on the survey, but there were several items that have sort of become “Frequently Asked Questions.” In the next couple of issues of my newsletter, I’m gonna try to answer some of them. This week’s question:
I'd really love to get my lessons recorded on a website. I know we are working on it - but I think it would be great for our entire department.
I also think our School Fusion page should have the calendars able to link up with
the students ical. Our kids are getting used to using their calendars on the mobile
devices and this would be a great tool for them!
Part One - Video: I completely agree. We have some different options for getting videos you make in class posted on the FusionPages; the first is to just use the Videos/Podcasts FusionTool that’s built into Fusion. The problem with that is that it’s slow and takes up a lot of space. You can upload to YouTube and embed the video on your page; the problem there is that YouTube is blocked at school - so kids could only see your videos at home. SchoolTube is an option, but I’ve found it to be kind of hard to use. TeacherTube is another option, but it has a lot of ads - which, though school appropriate, are annoying. We are working on some other options - but as of right now that’s all I have for you. If I had to recommend one of these options, I think I’d say go with TeacherTube.
If you want help learning how to to embed video (click here to go to the main PHS webpage for an example) I can teach you that very quickly. But you do have to have a place to put the video - one of the Tube sites.
Part B - iCal: I wish I could help you with the iCal thing. Fusion does export to iCal, but it doesn’t always, if ever, play nicely with it. I actually just came up with a work-around that might work for you. It is possible to embed a Google Calendar on your Fusion page. A kid could then create his/her own Google calendar, import stuff from yours, then sync that Google calendar with his/her own iCal (or Android calendar, or whatever.) It’s not the most elegant solution, but it works.
Embedding a Google calendar on your FusionPage takes a bit more effort than embedding a video - but if you’re interested, definitely let me know and I’ll come show you how to do it. Word of warning: I have no idea if kids can view a Google Calendar here at school if you embed it, or it will be blocked by the firewall like YouTube videos. But they will be able to view it at home.
The Patrick
Email: psoneil@prosper-isd.net
Phone: (469) 219-2180 80180