Alan Tamayose’s Edublog

When embedding a flash movie, use the flash tool in the dashboard. First get the source code:

<object type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” data=”http://static.reuters.com/resources/flash/include_video.swf?edition=US&videoId=92649″ width=”422″ height=”346″><param name=”wmode” value=”transparent” /><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.reuters.com/resources/flash/include_video.swf?edition=US&videoId=92649″ /><embed src=”http://www.reuters.com/resources/flash/include_video.swf?edition=US&videoId=92649″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”transparent” width=”422″ height=”346″></embed></object>

Then extract and enter the url (http://www.reuters.com/resources/flash/include_video.swf?edition=US&videoId=92649.) Enter the width, height, and submit.

ETS-i took part in today’s teacher training day by sponsoring a technology smackdown. Each team member had three minutes to share a favorite tip, website, or web app. Please click here for a full listing on our ETS blog.

Here are Nate and Tim dressed up and ready to lay down the “smack” at Smackdown 2008. Great fun was had by all….

….is one of my favorite web 2.0 apps. It allows you to create a free 100MB drop box in a few seconds. No registration is required. In fact, make as many as you want.

A drop is a chunk of space you can use to store and share anything privately (pictures, videos, audio, documents, etc.), without accounts, registration, or an email address. Drops are not “searchable” and not “networked;” they just exist online as private points for exchange between individuals or groups.  Create as many drops as you want in as little as two clicks and set things like a password, whether others can add to the drop, and how long you want it to exist (you can renew later).

Drops can be flexibly used in a range of ways from sharing family photos and videos to collaborating on group projects. Each drop has five primary input methods – the web, email, voice, fax and a FireFox 3 add on – in addition to a few secondary ones like “widgets.” Anything you input into a drop can then be retrieved on the web at that drop location.

PodBean is a great site for teachers to host all of their podcasts in one place. It is free, and you are alotted 100MB. Most importantly, students are allowed to subscribe to your podcasts via their iTunes. Using iTunes, they are able to download and view podcasts asynchronously on their iPods. This is what distinguishes podcasts from online videos. Click on the following link to view a sample site:

http://ksedtech.podbean.com/

The ETS-i Group attended a two-day planning retreat at the Hawai’i Prince Hotel. Activities included individual and team goal-planning, team building, and professional development on Web 2.0 applications. We were also able to spend time at Magic Island and Beachwalk in Waikiki. Everyone had a wonderful experience….

The “Personal Learning Network” or PLN is a new catchphrase in the world of education technology. What exactly is a PLN? A PLN is simply a collection of resources that supports your learning. Resources may include people (experts,) books, coursework, professional develpment, and more recently, blogs, websites, & podcasts. There are new web 2.0 tools that may help you in developing your personal learning network. A powerful tool is the aggregator (a.k.a. a start page or an RSS feed aggregator.) The one that I use (and highly recommend) is Netvibes. Netvibes allows me to “pipe in” all of my RSS feeds (subscriptions) to one place. This saves me a lot of time. Click here to view my Netvibes. Please let me know if you need any assistance in setting one up. Mahalo.

Ustream was one of the web tools that I had the opportunity to share at yesterday’s smackdown at Punahou School. Ustream allows users to broadcast live via the web (provided that you have internet connectivity.) It also allows you to record and archive video broadcasts for asynchronous viewing. In the short time (three minutes minus the prep-time,) I was not quick enough to share my thoughts during the smackdown.

If you stop to think about this technology, it is absolutely incredible. Anyone (you, me, a five-year-old, etc.) has the ability to broadcast live, to a potential audience of millions. This is mind-boggling! Growing up, there were only four TV channels, ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS. These channels could only broadcast to viewers on Oahu, (depending on the location of mountains and mom’s supply of tin foil for the TV antenna….)

Today, I have my very own TV channel, with the potential audience of six billion.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ukucheck

Woh……….

Spending the week at Punahou School as an observer/participant in their summer laboratory school. Volunteer teachers are opening their classrooms for visitations. They have also created a Ning network for participants in this program. Apple has also sponsored three Apple Distinguished Educators to speak to us as well. This is (and has been) a wonderful learning opportunity.

The Kamehameha Schools Hawaiian Astronomy summer school class visited the Big Island last Tuesday-Thursday. We stayed at the Kamehameha Schools-Hawai’i Campus. Activities included the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai’i, telescope building, presentations by astronomers, and a night visit to the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station (a.k.a. the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy, and a.k.a. Pohakuloa.) It was cloudy and misty until it was time to leave. Then the skies cleared. The stars were spectacular! The students and teachers had a wonderful experience.

You may view, bookmark, comment on, or download this presentation at http://www.slideshare.net/ukucheck/.

You may download the handout at http://altamayo.wikispaces.com/.

Went to Borders in Waikele to pick up some really great books. Now I’m ready for my summer reading. And….I finally got to use my Christmas gift cards. Here are the titles….

“Here Comes Everybody” by Clay Shirky
“Blink” by Malcom Gladwell
“The Back of the Napkin” by Dan Roam
“Wikinomics” by Don Tapscott
“A Whole New Mind” by Daniel Pink

My bookshelf….

Create you own cloud at wordle.net/

It was an unbelievable learning experience at Kukulu Kaiaulu this year! Many educators were thrilled with the information, contacts, and overall conference experience. (Photo by hiasun.)

David Warlick and Will Richardson were two of our featured presenters. Mahalo to all of the speakers, attendees, and volunteers.

Our conference is coming up next week. Please visit our website for more information and updates.

http://blogs.ksbe.edu/edtechconference/

Kamehameha High School held its annual biathlon on May 2nd at Ala Moana Beach. Sophomores were required to swim half-a-mile and run 4 miles. Yikes! Freshmen had a choice of either a mile-and-a-half swim or a 6-mile run.

My volunteer duty was to videotape footage of the event for the PE department. My legs were sore from just bending down….

KES held its annual Ho’olokahi program this morning. This year’s theme was “Let’s Come Together in Unity and Harmony.” Mahalo to the students and teachers for a wonderful program!

Did this in about 30 seconds on picasion.com. It’s the simplest animated-gif online generator that I could find.

Here is the Mills video for Kapalama, minus the DVD menu slide show.

KES 6th grade families hosted JEM exchange students from Australia for two weeks. They were able to attend the Huaka’i to the Big Island. Many new friendships were made….

A colleague of mine, Chandell, was kind enough to share this video with me.

Our 6th Grade was fortunate to have hosted teachers and students from Buckingham Friends School in Pennsylvania for two weeks. They were able to attend our Big Island Huaka’i and participate in school activities the following week. We made great friends and wonderful memories. They will surely be missed….

Kamehameha Schools 6th graders visited the Big Island of Hawai’i for their annual Huaka’i. We stayed at the camp site at the Volcanoes National Park. Here we are in the Kilauea Caldera. We hiked three miles across the crater. The students and teachers had a wonderful and memorable experience.

Confused? Here’s the buzz….
LCD over Plasma or DLP, and Progressive Scan over Interlaced Scan. Another recommendation is “Digital Ready” (w/ external HDTV receiver) rather than an Integrated HDTV (built-in receiver) which could be made obsolete if the technology is tweaked. More….

Either way, I’m free for a Super Bowl party invite….

Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero Classroom 2008 is coming soon. Click here for more information.

A VoiceThread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and share them with anyone they wish. A VoiceThread allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place, from anywhere in the world.

Here’s a handout…. voicethread handout.