Links to my Best of Matt’s Tips and Tricks Presentation

Matt’s Media Tips 9-17Take Teaching to the Next Level Where Microscope and Mouse Meet

Connecting to a Global Community of Educators

PowerPoint version of my presentation: http://bit.ly/MTNTPPT

Keynote version of my presentation http://bit.ly/MTNTKey

PDF version of my presentation: http://bit.ly/MTNTPDF

In case you missed last Monday’s Matt’s Tips and Tricks Webinar, I’ve included three different links to the presentation so that you can have it in three different formats: PowerPoint, PDF, and Keynote.

Within each of these presentations I link to past editions where I covered things like streaming closed captioning on macs and pcs, embedding an eReader into your Writing Prompts, converting PowerPoint and Keynote slides into images, and great web 2.0 sites for easy photo editing and digital storytelling.

There are also a few new sites that I think might interest you thrown in for good measure!

So pick a presentation, any presentation, make it yours, and share the good stuff!

And speaking of sharing - we would love to know your thoughts! Can you let us know what you think of the new Discovery Education by filling out this quick five-question survey? And, if you’re feeling extra generous, I’d love to know your thoughts on Matt’s Tips and Tricks as well!

Matt’s Tips and Tricks FeedbackNew DE Thoughts?

Downloading Closed Captions

On September 4, 2012, I wrote about the new enhanced closed captioning features when streaming Discovery Education content. This week I want to show you how to download the videos and their closed captions within our enhanced site.

Downloading a video has lots of advantages. One advantage is that, once the video is downloaded, it will play locally from your machine and not over the internet. This will help you avoid that annoying starting and stopping chunky play-back which is also known as “buffering.” If you have downloaded a video you’ll also be able to embed it in things like PowerPoint or Keynote presentations or use it to tell a digital story with video editors like MovieMaker, iMovie or Animoto.com.

Step one - find a video. This a pretty obvious step. Remember that you can click on the advanced search link (located right underneath the search bar to turn on the CC filter (See pictures A and B).

Step two - pull up the download menu. Ok so you’ve found your video now what? Click on the download tab within your media player to pull up your download options (see #2)

Step three - double check your download settings. Look over to the right-hand part of your screen and you should see a little drop down menu with lots of file types to choose from. The good news is that once you choose a file type the site remembers your choice until you decide to change it. Remember to choose Windows Media Player for PCs and Quicktime for Macs.

Step four - download two files. Choose your video segment and then right-click on the orange download symbol of both the video segment and its corresponding CC file to save both of the files on your computer. Note: You need to download both files or you won’t be able to see the captions play on your computer.

Step five - make a CC folder. I recommend making a Closed Captioned folder on your computer and saving your closed caption videos and and text files (.smi) within it. This way your computer will be easily be able to associate the files - kind of what you do when creating a PowerPoint presentation.

Step six - adjust your media player settings. On a PC you’ll need to adjust your Windows Media Player settings and on a Mac you’ll need to use a VLC player to play the captions. Here’s a link to adjusting your settings as well as editing the CC text once you’ve downloaded it!

A

B2

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Discovery Education Webinar ScheduleDiscovery Education Webinar ScheduleDiscovery Education Webinar Schedule

Dates Time (EST) Link

9/17 7pm - 8pm

DE Science Middle School 101: Follow your webinar guide through the sub-categories to discover inquiry problems, conceptual explorations, and assessments and more

9/17 7pm - 8pm

Using Notebooks and Journals with Discovery Education Science Techbook: What are the best methods for students to gather "notes" from videos, reading passages, explorations and virtual labs? Join us to find out the answer!

9/18 1pm - 2pm

The Science and Technology behind Green Architecture. Special Host - Danny Forster of the show Build it Bigger - Open to all students!

9/18 7pm - 8pm

Creating Lessons with the New Discovery Education Science Techbook. Join us for a comprehensive overview of the new features and updates available for Techbook 2.0

9/19 5pm - 6pm

Preparing for Back to School with the Techbook for Tech Departments: We’ll show you how to import new teacher and student accounts, update existing user accounts, and more.

9/19 7pm - 8pm

Engaging Students with Discovery Education! In this webinar we will demonstrate new ways teachers can deliver resources to motivate students, engage higher order thinking, and achieve curriculum learning goals with the support of the Classroom Manager.

9/19 7pm - 8pm

Build your Lesson with Discovery Education Science Techbook: Join the Discovery Education Science Techbook team as we build a media-infused science lesson presentation that you can use in your classroom.

9/20 4pm - 5pm

Engaging Students with Discovery Education! See description above.

9/20 5pm - 6pm

Techbook 2.0 Preview: Join us for a comprehensive overview of the new features and updates available for Techbook 2.0.

Last week I linked to TechChef4U’s fantastic blog because she was demonstrating how to use Sock Puppets (last week’s highlighted app) in an innovative way.

This week I figured I would highlight her free app because it is that cool.

From her iTunes App Page:“The TechChef4u app offers multiple resources to support teachers and parents in their search for FREE quality apps for their children and students. While the TechChef4u app is an educational app store that provides searchable and categorized lists of FREE apps for PK-12, the app doesn't stop there.”

She links to her blog, slideshare and other social media sites that she authors.

In short TechChef4U offers a wealth of information and resources and well worth your time to check out!

Here is a link to their iTunes free download

TechChef4UBy TechChef4U L.L.C.

The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) is a global community of educators passionate about teaching with digital media, sharing

resources, collaborating, and networking. With over 100,000 members providing professional development to over 600,000

educators worldwide, the DEN connects teachers both on-line and in-person. Discovery Educators have exclusive access to a wide range

of resources, professional development activities, networking opportunities, exclusive Discovery Educator events and more. Find out how you can be part of this dynamic and supportive community.

Become a DEN Star today!

What is a DEN Star Member?

Help Me Make Matt’s Tips and Tricks Even Better

I am always looking for ways to improve Matt’s

Tips and Tricks and your feed back is invaluable to me. With that in mind I’ve

created a short 15 question survey. I would love to hear your ideas

and thoughts. If you can take a moment to fill out this super fast survey it

will go a long way to making each edition better than the next!

8/27/2012

9/4/2012

9/10/2012

Miss a week? Catch back up here! 2012-2013 School Year Archives

Back to School Review. Check out some of the major enhancements made to Discovery Education over the summer. We'll give you a chance to weigh in, showcase a new back to school webinar series and highlight Nearpod, a very cool classroom mobile app.

Opening up Closed Captions. Check out all of the new and enhanced ways to stream captioned content. We’ll also continue to explore the back-to-school webinars and play with EasyBib, an Android and iPad app that makes citing reference material a breeze.

In-the-know about Infographics. This edition highlights the new 2012 election material within DE. It also dives into different ways that you and your students can evaluate and explain data by examining three different sites that create infographics. Sock Puppets, an iPad app that is animated by your voice, is also explored.

Scratch.mit.edu, Popplet.com and EduTechr mobile app explored.

4/2/2012 Mi Content es Su Content. Book- marking and sharing your Discovery Education content across your school and district, two great contests, and two text-to-sign mobile apps

3/26/2012 Can You Picture it? Learn how to create a six-word story using iPiccy.com and Discovery Education. Digital Story Challenge! MeeGenius Audiobook app for mobile devices.

3/19/2012 Audio Book ‘em Dano. Eight simple steps for creating an audiobook using iTunes and any computer (Mac/PC). Molecules mobile apps.

3/12/2012 It’s All About The Sharing. Uploading, sharing and accessing your own content within Discovery Discovery Education. Cel.Ly app polling device via any device.

2/27/2012 Teacher Center Treasure Trove of Resources. Interactive Calendar Atlas, STEM Connect explored. Socrative App (student response).

2/13/2012 Special Valentines Issue - Things I love about Discovery Education. Five Minute Preps, Images,Coaches Eye App

2/6/2012 What did you say? Closed Captioning on an iPad? Getting Closed Captions to play on your iPad, GreenScreens on iPhone/iPad with GreenScreen FX app

1/30/2012 Let’s Give Them Something To Sing About Differentiated Instruction Using Songs, First Student Media Contest of the Year, ShowMe and Educreations whiteboard apps

1/23/2012 Meet the Faces of Discovery Education Get up close and personal with the Discovery Education on-air talent, special student webinar series, Story Kit app

Miss a week? Catch back up here! 2011-2012 Archives

7/19/2012 Sneak peek at the back to school enhancements. Roadshow app.

6/11/2012 Fun things to do over the summer with technology and media. Mustacheme app is featured.

5/21/2012 The ins and outs of Digital Storytelling. Digital Storytelling Web 2.0 presentation and apps

5/14/2012 Who Knew We Had News? Find an additional set of free Discovery News videos, the Video Yearbook, video almanac, and great webinar information. Roadshow App for playing back videos on-demand is reviewed.

5/7/2012 My Five Favorite Summer Resources. We explore five free interactive sites that parents, students, and teachers can use over the summer. We’ll also explore a free translation app for mobile devices.

4/30/2012 Getting Your Game On. Finding great games, simulations and more within Discovery Education. Back-to- School Sneak Peek Webinars announced. Futaba Classroom Games for Kids iPad app explored.

4/23/2012 Getting the Point with PowerPoint and Keynote. Learn how to trim audio & video in PPT and save both PPT & Keynote presentations as images to embed in Web 2.0 sites. 2 Screens and Joinme mobile presentation apps explored.

4/16/2012 It’s all about the Theme. We’ll explore several different ways to find unique thematic content. Three most voted upon stories revealed. Studyblue mobile flashcard app highlighted

4/9/2012 Scratch and Pop. Six-Word Story finalists revealed. Links between Discovery Education and

1/18/2012 In a Class of Their Own Setting up Discovery Education Classrooms, Discovery Education Live Webinars, Quizlet App.

1/9/2012 Building out the New Year Five of my favorite things you can do with the Discovery Education Builders, Rover App for DE Students

12/19/2011 Special Holiday Edition 13 Tips from Educators around the US and Canada, Videolicious App

12/12/2011 50 Ways to Use Discovery Education Tips and tricks galore iSwifter - Flash for iPads

11/28/2011 What I am Thankful for Building out your PLN Wordspree and Math Acorn Apps

11/14/2011 Things I Stole From the Community DEN Tips, Four really cool tips you can do with Google. TED and Animoto apps

11/7/2011 First Six Weeks Aggregated

11/4/2011 Creating an “iCenter" How to create an ePub using DE videos. Spirit of Innovation Challenge

10/24/2011 Spooky Edition Digital Storytelling, Web 2.0 Piqua City Community Night, Crazy Pumpkin and Halloween Card Creator Apps

10/17/2011 Stick it to IT Collaborative Note Taking Site Educator Spotlight - Jennifer Everett, ToonTastic and PuppetPals Apps

10/3/2011 Opening Up Closed-Captions Closed-Captions for Macs and PCs, 10 FAQs Customer Service Receives

9/26/2011 Common Core, Web 2.0 and DE Three cool sites that integrate nicely with Discovery Education. Administrator Spotlight - Molly Hay!

9/13/2011 Can you Hear what I’m Writing? Embedding an eReader into your Writing Prompts, Getting to know Discovery Education SCIENCE