Michelle Halvorsen, Texas School for the Deaf Austin, TX

1. Vlogs, Blogs and Pod-Casts: Providing Vocabulary and Content Support at Home to Increase Student Retention Michelle Halvorsen, Texas School for the Deaf Austin, TX

2. What are Vlogs and Pod-Casts? • Vlog (Vod-Cast) • Video that can be uploaded to a website or downloaded to a student’s iPod for students to use a resource when reviewing vocabulary • Example videos on my blog (this year’s blog): http://halvorsenbiology.wordpress.com/ • Pod-Cast • An audio recording that can be uploaded to a website or downloaded to a student’s iPod for students to use as a resource when reviewing vocabulary

3. Why Use Teacher-Created Vlogs or Pod-Casts? • Provides specific vocabulary and/or content support at home that directly relates to what has happened or is happening in your classroom • Increases student retention • Increases student participation and engagement • Increases parent awareness of topics covered in class • EASY to create and upload!

4. How I First Used Vlogs: My Action Research Project • Students were given a Pre-Test to assess key vocabulary • During the unit, I created and posted a video review each day that new material was presented • Students were required to view and respond to the review videos (graded component to encourage participation) • Students were given a Post-Test to re-asses key vocabulary and to determine progress

5. Impact on Student Performance (Pre-Test vs Post-Test Scores) • During my action research: • All students (except one) who viewed four or more videos showed at least a 7 point (25%) increase from their pre-test to their post-test • All students (except one) who viewed four or more videos received a passing score on the post-test • In contrast, the student who viewed only three out of seven videos showed a 15% point decrease from the pre-test to the post-test • Overall, this post-test had some of the highest scores of the year • Students who consistently viewed videos were also more engaged and participated more easily and freely during class discussions

6. Other Uses of Vod-Casts • Students create their own! • Use for review or final projects • Use to document labs or do a video lab report • Use for discussions of current events

7. Vlog/Pod-Cast Materials:What Do You Need? • Computer • Vlogs: • Web-cam, digital camera or video camera • iMovie (Mac), Movie-maker (PC) software for vlogs or AVS Video Editor (free software) • Pod-Casts • Audacity (free software for recording and editing) Garage Band, or iTunes for pod-casts • Microphone (available at most electronic stores for $20-30)

8. The A-B-Cs of Vlogs and Pod-Casts • Decide how often you will create your videos or pod-casts • Each day, once each week, towards the end of a unit, etc • Write a short script to follow while making your video or pod-cast • Record your video or pod-cast • Edit (if necessary) your video or pod-cast • Post your video or pod-cast to your class blog, email to students and parents, and/or upload directly to student’s iPods

9. Step by Step Video Creation Using iMovie • Open iMovie • Click “Create a New Project” • Name your project • Click on Camera (“Built-in-iSight”) • When ready, click on “Record with iSight” • Film your movie, click again on “Record with iSight” to stop filming • Save

10. Step by Step Video Creation Using iMovie • Drag Clip to bottom area “Drag Clips here to Build Your Project” • Edit (view Tutorials online for more advanced editing) • Save • Get ready for uploading: • To Website: Click “Share-Quick Time” and choose web-streaming and name your project • To student’s iPods: Click “Share-iPod” and then click share • Your movie is now ready for uploading or transferring to a student’s iPod

11. Step by Step Audio Pod-Cast Using Audacity Software • Open Audacity Software • Plug in microphone/headset if you are using it • When ready, press Red button to record (you can press the blue pause button during recording to pause) • When finished, press the Yellow Square to stop when completely finished • Edit (view Audacity tutorials for advanced information) • Exporting: • Click “File-Export As WAV” and name the file (this is a Windows program) • Click “File-Export As MP3) and name the file (to do this, you must also download the free LAME software)

12. Blogs • Very easy to set up • A place to upload your videos or Pod-Casts • Also great for announcements such as homework or test dates • Suggested FREE sites: • wordpress.com(cannot directly upload videos, must link to a site such as TeacherTube or YouTube) • blogspot.com(can directly upload video files)

13. Helpful Links • iMovie Tutorials: http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie • GarageBand Tutorials: http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#garageband • Movie Maker Tutorials: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx • Audacity Audio Recorder and Editor: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ • AVS Video Editor: http://www.avs4you.com/AVS-Video-Editor.aspx?sct=aff&ct=regnow&cid=175028 • Sites to upload your videos: http://teachertube.com/ or http://teachertube.com/

14. That’s a Wrap… • To download this PPT, visit http://halvorsenclasses.wordpress.com/ • Feel free to contact me: michelle.halvorsen@tsd.state.tx.us • Questions??? • If you would like to stay and play more with the software to make your own Vlog or Pod-Cast, please feel free to stick around!