Instagram and Vine

I have looked at several social media apps and sites over the last three months - Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, and even YouTube.  This week I have been playing with two more - Instagram and Vine.  I am familiar with the apps but have never really considered their use in the classroom or in the School Library until now.

Here are a few ways to use these apps in education:

• Share classroom and field trip memories
• Take photos of students' artwork and projects to share with families
• Allow students to moderate the classroom account to share what's important to them.
• Post photos from the viewpoint of a famous or historical figure or a book character
• Record science experiments, steps, or directions for later reference
• Document student progress
• Use photos as a writing prompt
• Make announcements to students and parents
• Post reminders of upcoming events or due dates
• Design book trailers or promote books
• Model steps in a problem
• Think-Pair-Share virtually
• Advertise upcoming events

Instagram is a photo sharing app that is available for iOS and Android. After you download the app, you can register with an email address or Facebook.  The app allows you to use pictures that you have previously taken and load them from your photo library or you can take pictures from within Instagram.  Editing abilities include being able to move and scale the image, add filters, and then share your photo.  If you would like to be able to further edit your image, you should take the image with your device's camera and use a photo editing program like PhotoCollage to add text, backgrounds, stickers, and yes - even create collages that will post as 1 photo when you upload them via the Instagram app.  Instagram also allows you to record and share videos. They can be three to fifteen seconds long and can be recorded at one time or in short bursts. These short bursts can be deleted to be able to quickly fix a section without re-filming the whole video.  Filtering options are available as well.  Like most social media sites, you can follow other users and they can follow you. You have the ability to like, comment, and send Instagram photos to your followers or to share to Facebook and Twitter.   One unique option is that you can link several social media sites together to make it easy to cross post your photos. These include Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. Instagram also has a website - www.instagram.com where you can view posts and edit your profile, but you can not post photos from the website.  You can also retrieve an embed code to place in blogs and websites - a feature that is not available in the app.  A word of caution on the embedding - you will have to go into the code to change the size of the post in your blog.  Here are a couple of Instagram posts that I created for my school library.  The first one I re-sized and the second I did not.

Learn coding! Join us December 7-11, 2015 on www.hourofcode.com. Fun, fun, fun! #hourofcode #learncoding #thefutureisnow

A photo posted by @drrodelemilc on Nov 19, 2015 at 5:56pm PST

Keep reading those Bluebonnet Award Nominees! Voting January 29th! #bluebonnetbook2015 #read5thendecide #grades3to6 #txla #vote

A photo posted by @drrodelemilc on Nov 19, 2015 at 4:24pm PST

Vine is a video capturing app that allows users to record up to six seconds of video digitally.  Vine is a product of Twitter  and when you create your account, you have the option of logging in with your e-mail or by using your Twitter account.  Vine offers many of the same features as Twitter - revining (retweeting), following, commenting, liking, and sharing.  You can film videos using the app or you can load videos from your device's video library. Videos can be recorded continuously or in short bursts like Instagram.  You simply click on the camera button and your device will record as long as you hold your finger down up to six seconds or you may also choose to tap the screen and film short bursts.  You can edit the clip, add music, and share via Twitter, Facebook, and Tumbler.  Like Instagram, there is also a website - www.vine.co where you can view vines, edit your profile, and retrieve embed codes but you can not upload vines.  Here are two vines I created for my school library.

After using the two apps, I feel that Instagram is the more useful of the two apps because it has more options for editing, can make longer videos, and can post photos and videos. I also like that it can streamline my social media accounts by posting to them as well. I really don't see the need to use both apps for the same purpose. In talking to the teenagers in my life, it seems like Vine isn't being used as much as Instagram these days.   On another note - I was unable to use either app using the WiFi at school due to the child safety filter so you may have to turn off the WiFi on your device to use these apps which could make it difficult to use with students.

-Lisa

Hall, M. & Russac, P. (2013). 20 Ways To Use Twitter's Vine In Education. The aside blog:innovation design in education. Retrieved from http://theasideblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/20-ways-to-use-twitters-vine-in.html.

Hudson, H. (2015). 10 Surprising Ways to Use Instagram in the Classroom. We are teachers. Retrieved from http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2014/08/07/10-ways-to-use-instagram-in-the-classroom.

Screencasts

Screencasts provide students, teachers, and community members with learning experiences in the classroom as well as via the Internet. They allow teachers to digitally record any activity that is performed on a computer, narrate the activity or directions, and use them as learning resources, tasks, and to support anyone who needs to see a visual presentation on how something is done on the computer.  While I had viewed screencasts before and found them very helpful, I had not created one myself.  I looked at four different web tools to determine which one would work best for me.

The first site that I visited was Screencast-o-matic.  This was the only web-based tool that I could use at my school because our Internet filter blocks other sites due to file hosting or adult content. Screencast-o-matic offers a free version or a Pro account for $15 per year.  The Pro account offers longer videos, the ability to edit your recordings, records from screen and webcam at the same time, and helps your to manage your videos.  The free account works fine for most people and you can sign up easily by using your e-mail address.  The first thing that I noticed was that because it is java based, it does not play well with Chrome which is my browser of choice. Chrome will actually launch the site using a downloaded recorder which worked well.  There is a video tutorial to teach how to use the recording interface.  It also offers a resizeable recording window, one click recording of audio and video, and the ability to upload to YouTube.  Overall, it was very easy to use.  It would be nice to be able to edit the video, but I prefer not to pay for the video tool if I don't need to.  I easily loaded my video to my YouTube channel so I can embed it in blogs and webpages without any issues.  One thing I did notice was that after I loaded it to YouTube, it looked rather grainy and I had to change the setting to make it a higher resolution video.

The second tool that I looked at was Screenr.  Unfortunately, I was unable to use Screenr because it was retired as of November 11th because it is Java-based.  Google Chrome can not run Screenr because it doesn't run Java.

Next, I tried Jing.  Jing is a program that must be downloaded to your computer.  It was not difficult to record video with Jing, but after that I ran into a couple of issues.  My biggest issue was that after I recorded the video, it was very slow to process and upload to the Screencast.com site where it is stored.  Your other option is to save it to your computer.  Neither one worked well. I received error messages after waiting 20 minutes for my video to upload.  Then when I saved it to my hard drive to upload to YouTube instead, it saved it as a .swf file which none of my video editors could read and YouTube couldn't find anything but audio in the file.  I never could get the video from the TechSmith Screencast.com website and was unable to convert it to a usable format. This tool was not convenient at all and I will not be using it again.

I looked at several reviews to find a screencasting tool that would work best for me.  I decided to give Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 a try.  What was appealing to me is that it is a free downloadable program from Microsoft that allows you to edit your video with Microsoft Movie Maker.  I do on occasion use Movie Maker and I really like the idea of being able to add transition slides to the beginning, banners, and background music to make a professional looking screencast.  Expression was just as easy to use as the other programs and was encoded into a Mp4 with the simple click of a button.   This is the tool that I plan on using in the future.  

Overall, the screencasting tools were simple to use - except for my issues with Jing.  I was really surprised out how easy screencasting can be.  You should check out these screencasting tools and see what you think.

Happy Screencasting!

-Lisa

Cartoons and Comics

When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to get the Sunday paper to read the comics.  This often meant getting to them before one of my siblings did.  They were better on Sunday that any other day because they were in color and they were longer.  Even as an adult, I enjoy reading the comics when I have a chance.  

What are the benefits of students reading comics?  Reading graphic novels and comics can be attractive to reluctant readers.  They engage students that are visual learners and encourage an appreciation for different genres and artistic styles.  Many comics encourage teamwork and teach positive character traits such as helping others - think about all the superheroes that are out to save the world.  Comics also help students to broaden their imagination and become better storytellers. Comprehension is also improved because they see a picture to help with their understanding of the text.  Reading graphic novels and comics is not the only way that students can benefit.  They can also create their own comics to work on storytelling, sequencing, emotions, spatial reasoning, language and vocabulary, as well as character development, logic, and strategy.  Assignments or activities in which students create their own graphic novel or comic strip can be an excellent culminating activity to show learning and it can also encourage teamwork.

I recently looked at several Web 2.0 tools and apps that help the user to create comics.

This cartoon was created using Toondoo.  It is a web-based program that uses a standard set of characters and background templates.  You can also create your own charactersuse your own photos in the comics.  Signing up was easy and free.  Toondoo is basically a drag and drop site.  You can choose how many boxes your comic will consist of as well as the design of the comic strip.  You are able to position the characters but the choices are limited.  The hardest part for me was trying to figure out how to change the speech bubbles and shrink the text to make it fit in the box.  After you have created your Toon, you can save it, reopen it for editing, print it, or share it.  While this is a great free source for your students, you will need to be careful because this is not a strictly educational site and there are cartoons that they can see that are not appropriate.

MakeBeliefsComix is a free comic strip creation tool that provides students with a variety of characters, templates and prompts for building their own comics. It is web 2.0 tool and is also available as an app. The biggest downfall of this tool is that you can't save your Comix, you must print or e-mail them to yourself. This also keeps you from being able to edit them if you make a mistake or just want to change something. If you are using the app, you can save them to your camera roll as well. Most of the pictures are black and white. There are a few that are color, but you can not change the color on any of the pictures. You can create Comix that are 2, 3, or 4 blocks long. You can also edit the size of the characters and speech bubbles and bring elements forward or back. I personally found that it was easier to use the app then the web version. I could save the Comix as a picture and load it directly into Blogger. A couple of things that are helpful in this tool - teachers resources and writing prompts for students that are having difficulty getting started.

Pixton is definitely the easiest of the three tools to use. It is available as an app and as a web based version. It is entirely drag and drop and has easy controls to be able to change the body positions of the characters, facial expressions, and more. I like that it has two modes - beginner and advanced. Beginner is easy enough for just about any student to be able to use. I can even see my kinder students being able to work this one together. Sharing your creations is easy - Facebook, Twitter, download, embed, or print. However, it is not free. I don't have it in my budget to be able to use it at this time.

 Tellagami is an app that is available for apple products. It is very easy to use and you can record your voice in a 30 second animated video. You can customize your avatar, but your options are very limited with the free version. This would be a great tool to have students create their own book talks or book reviews.

Comic book! is another app for apple products. I was lucky to get it free when it was advertised on Apps Gone Free last fall. You can take photos and use the app to create a comic book style picture or even create a comic book. It is very easy to use and everything I have used so far has been free. There are extra stickers that you can purchase separately, but I have not found a need to do so.

It can be very hard to decide which app to use. I would choose Toondoo as my favorite web-based tool because it was the easiest to use, had the best options for saving it, and it was free. I love both Tellagami and ComicBook! and I am looking forward to using them with my students on our iPads.

-Lisa