ds106 remembering the past

One of the ways we remember is through song.  Today I have been remembering my grandmother, Marian Parr, who used to sing me songs and recite poetry to me in lieu of reading bedtime stories ... a wonderful legacy...

ds106 there is wisdom

Suddenly, my life is so rich with information, knowledge and wisdom.  My son and his friends are pointing me (and I you) to this:

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/37102-what-david-icke-said-in-1996-recognise-the-world-he-was-describing-then

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzOPEKuHPPo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

ds106 video learning Facebook sharing

First, I shared with my internet friends.
[01/26/11] Susan Grigor: Well, an update. Jim sent me good instructions. And Glen walked me through the steps. So I am on youtube ....waay way down on the list. I have them on my blog. BUT the video would not embed on my facebook entry, just the URL and the html embed data. More to learn...
[01/26/11] Susan Grigor: I am uploading it into FB from my computer..but it is not the same as pulling it in from youtube.

And so, I went to Facebook, to share with my community and family.

Here is my FB stream of consciousness;
[01/26/11] Susan Grigor: Susan Grigor
This fall, I have been taking courses on how to use the internet for teaching purposes. Bit by bit, I have been learning lots. One of the things we were encouraged to try was to use FB. Well, I had FB, but I didn't attend to it.
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike · Comment

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Susan Grigor So, I came to see what was happening. I was astonished. Here you all were, talking and sharing. I got most of the information I needed about the flood from you. Someone suggested that I get in touch with Kathy Moore, and now she sends me regular updates about the flood work that is still going on and about food specials in her store. I love it.
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike · 1 personLoading...
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Susan Grigor Yesterday, after many false starts, I learned from my new internet teacher friends how to upload a video. In honour of them and in thank you to you, I am sharing it with you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycMlp9e1lAs
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike
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Susan Grigor
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike
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Susan Grigor Nope, it is not happening...more to learn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycMlp9e1lAs
52 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Susan Grigor I am waay down on the lists of performers. Hope it's not too painful to listen to.
51 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Susan Grigor And..the power went off...trying again
19 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Jennifer Feinberg Your persistence is inspiring. Keep up the good work and welcome to the 21st C. where techno tools are king!
17 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Susan Grigor Processing...wait for it. This is what you get for praying for Patience: lots of practice. Certain students have thought I was impatient, but I try to be patient with learning and teaching, not with blatant rudeness to me or to fellow students.
4 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Susan Grigor It's in My Videos.
2 minutes ago · LikeUnlike
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Susan Grigor But I am such a Newbie that I don't know where that is. More to learn...
2 seconds ago · Like
[01/26/11] Susan Grigor: Jennifer Feinberg Well I just hit the link in one of your above posts. But your videos should be on your profile tucked away in some corner.
[01/26/11] Susan Grigor: Thanks, Jenny.  It just popped up.

It took only 5 tries to get it to work and a short wait to get it processed by FB.

ds106 learning about making videos 2

Jim liked these two songs the best.  I was able to post these with help from Jim and from another friend who walked me through every step, to find the embedding html text and to put it here.  Thank you.



The greatest power of these MOOCs is to meet others who help us to learn more.  Among the PLENK2010 horde, I found a small group and they found me.  They have taught me so much.  I hope they have learned from me. too.  This blog is a tribute to them because they pointed me in the right direction and encouraged me.  At times they have given me excellent tech assistance.  As one of our little Second Life group says, "I get by with a lot of help from my tech friends :-)."

I return, I pass the Love along, Paying It Forward to others.

ds106 digital progress uploading videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycMlp9e1lAs

Ha!  I figured it out.  This is not very exciting.  But it is a "video".  My first recording were not very good.  For one thing, I can't properly hear myself with the headset on.  The built-in mic works though.
Anyway, blogger seems to want to get the video from my computer.
But I did something wrong with the first one because it would not upload.  I tried with Youtube, but again, it had some error in uploading. Not that I expect anyone will want to listen.  They are pretty rough and perhaps not me at my best.  Yet.  My goodness it takes a long time to upload one from my computer — from 5:27 to 8:25.   It appears to be capturing bits by the second, every second a pulse of data at the bottom of the screen and at the tab.  With all the stops and starts and correction of mistakes, I have been at this since early afternoon.  Still it is something I can use in other projects.
Aha!  Found the error.  I have to export it into a compression format using QuickTime.  Oh, oh.  Do it again...You're not logged in.  Start again.


What a long process this has been:  Audacity > export MP3 > iMovie > export QT
It takes so much patience.  AND still I get an error loading it this blog.
....To be continued

PLENK2010 ds106 understand addiction

Gabor Maté explains addiction for everyone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpHiFqXCYKc

ds106 digital progress uploading MP3s

I got into this course to learn more about using the internet.  In the PLENK course I had met a lot of people, learned a lot of stuff, and some of us still converse weekly. 

In fact, I am teaching grammar over Skype to the class of one my new-found friends.  It is a lot of fun and very exciting.  We are so enjoying team-teaching.  I emailed him the lessons, he printed them out, then he projected the lessons using his computer and projector and did the lessons with the students while I sat, as a talking head on another computer, and walked them through the exercises and the lessons.  The students learned grammar and my friend learned how to teach the grammar.  Now that I know how to use the system, I can offer my expertise anywhere in the world.

It was this new friend who suggested that I try Audacity for recording my voice.  That was good, because for some lessons on my grammar blog (http://susanteach.blogspot.com/), I wanted to be able to download the spoken word.  Blogger will allow you to download or connect to Youtube for that.  Got an account with Youtube.  I tried uploading to Youtube, but the Audacity files would not work.  But see, Audacity will make MP3s.  Ok.  Convert Audacity aup files to MP3s.  Upload them to Youtube.  Still, Youtube did not like them.  They uploaded all right, but could not be played.  OK, back to my friend.  He then suggested soundcloud.com.

OK. Signed up for soundcloud.com.  Up went the MP3s.  Back to Blogger.  Yes! I could insert the URL for my soundcloud posting, and it would work.

My friend listened to one of the songs that I posted on soundcloud, and he suggested that you might like to listen to them as examples of story-telling.  I sang them softly as I was wearing a headset.  To belt anything out, it is better to stand.  They are all pretty old songs.  Ya gotta start somewhere. I hope you enjoy them.

Autumn Leaves  http://soundcloud.com/skupik/autumn-leaves-susan

The River is Wide  http://soundcloud.com/skupik/the-river-is-wide

I Wish You Love   http://soundcloud.com/skupik/i-wish-you-love

Annie's Song  http://soundcloud.com/skupik/annies-song

Can't Help Lovin' That Man  http://soundcloud.com/skupik/cant-help-lovin-that-man

September Song  http://soundcloud.com/skupik/september-song

The Rose  http://soundcloud.com/skupik/the-rose

Unchained Melody   http://soundcloud.com/skupik/unchained-melody
Crazy  http://soundcloud.com/skupik/crazy-susan 
Killing Me Softly  http://soundcloud.com/skupik/killing-me-softly

Gamers Can Change the World

Here's the other lecture on gaming.

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world

Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

Why you should listen to her:

Jane McGonigal asks: Why doesn't the real world work more like an online game? In the best-designed games, our human experience is optimized: We have important work to do, we're surrounded by potential collaborators, and we learn quickly and in a low-risk environment. In her work as a game designer, she creates games that use mobile and digital technologies to turn everyday spaces into playing fields, and everyday people into teammates. Her game-world insights can explain -- and improve -- the way we learn, work, solve problems, and lead our real lives.

McGonigal directs game R&D at the Institute for the Future, a nonprofit forecasting firm where she developed Superstruct, a massively multiplayer game in which players organize society to solve for issues that will confront the world in 2019. She masterminded World Without Oil, which simulated the beginning of a global oil crisis and inspired players to change their daily energy habits. McGonigal also works with global companies to develop games that build on our collective-intelligence infrastructure -- like The Lost Ring, a mystery game for McDonald's that became the world’s biggest alternate reality game, played by more than 5 million people. (Not to mention the delightful Top Secret Dance-Off, which taps that space in our brains where embarrasment and joy mingle.) She's working on book called Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Change the World.

"Instead of providing gamers with better and more immersive alternatives to reality, I want all of us to be become responsible for providing the world with a better and more immersive reality."

What Are We Doing?

I have always approached teaching as enabling my student to achieve his potential.  Whatever I am teaching each day is only a tiny piece of the puzzle of the conventions of how we read and write or calculate that will enable him or her to acquire knowledge and affect the world.  And I know that I have achieved that because a few former students have told me so.

One of my students is my son who is carrying on a conversation with me and with the world on Facebook.    He is very concerned about the state of education and about democracy and about the state of the world.  Recently he shared these TED lectures that I want to share with you.

Ali Carr-Chellman: Gaming to re-engage boys in learning

At TEDxPSU, Ali Carr-Chellman pinpoints three reasons boys are tuning out of school in droves, and lays out her bold plan to re-engage them: bringing their culture into the classroom, with new rules that let boys be boys, and video games that teach as well as entertain.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ali_carr_chellman_gaming_to_re_engage_boys_in_learning.html