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Using Schoology Conferences for Distance Learning

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Free sound clips.

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SoundBible.com offers free sound clips for download in either wav or mp3 format. We have free and royalty free sound effects and clips for video editors, movie scores, game designers, and weekend sound warriors. Downloads are totally free, and upfront with large download buttons to prevent confusion.

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SoundBible.com offers free sound clips for download in either wav or mp3 format. We offer free and royalty free sound effects and clips for video editors, movie scores, .......

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"Mote" and "Talk and Comment" are shown in this video.
"Mote" works with Google Classroom, Slides, Docs, and Sheets.

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Chrome Extensions for Voice Feedback #MakeItReal

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After months of waiting, Google has finally announced that the insert audio feature will begin to appear in all G Suite EDU Domains over the coming weeks. I have had access to the feature for a few months and already shared a post about transforming Google Slides into a make-shift podcasting environment. In a workshop I was facilitating today in Barrington, NH, we explored the idea of leveraging Google Slides with inserted audio as an environment to created audio narrated storybooks.

The process is fairly straight forward and can be modified as needed by any classroom teacher, depending on the needs and abilities of the students creating.

STEP 1: Plan and Create the story

It might make sense to do this on paper, in a Google Document or on index cards. Follow the strategies and best practices for student writing that are already working for your students! It is important to be comfortable keeping the technology out of this process if it is a best fit for your students. Alternatively, students might benefit from using the voice to text feature available in Google Docs & Google Slides (in the speaker notes section) to brainstorm ideas.

STEP 2: Create or Find Visuals

The group of teachers I was with were primarily in elementary and middle school and our discussion revolved around students creating their visuals offline first, and then importing them into Google Slides. This can be done by taking a picture of the images with a phone or mobile device, scanning or even by using the facing camera from the insert menu

Here is an example of an offline image imported into Google Slides via the Insert - Image - Camera feature:

STEP 3: Create Narration as Audio Files

My favorite tool to quickly capture audio when working on a Chromebook is 123apps.com. Without a login, students can record audio files that are downloaded as Mp3 files to their downloads folder. From there, the files need to be uploaded to Google Drive so they can be inserted later into a Google Slide.

STEP 4: Find Background Audio / Music

The YouTube Audio Library is a helpful free resource to find background music that will automatically begin playing in the final product. There are helpful filters in the library that include audio with "no attribution required" as well as: Genre, Mood, Instrument and Duration.

STEP 5: Add & Layer Content in Google Slides

With all of the images imported into Google Slides, narration audio captured and uploaded to Google Drive & background music downloaded from the YouTube Audio Library and uploaded to Google Drive, it is time to construct the final product.

Insert the background music audio into the slide

Click on the audio file and then select "Format Options". This setting allows the background audio play automatically when the slide is opened in Presentation Mode and the audio file can be hidden when in Present Mode. Also, the playback volume can be adjusted for the background audio as to have it not overwhelm the student's narration.

Next, insert the student narration into the slide. The narration audio can be modified to play back immediately, or it can be manually played back by the viewer of the final product. It might help to add a small icon to indicated the audio can be clicked to listen.

STEP 6: Publish!

When the entire book is compiled, the final product can be published to the web for anyone to listen & enjoy the story.

Extension Ideas

An interesting modification to the approach outlined above would be to transform comic strips into a narrated experience. Google Slides allows multiple audio files to be imported into one slide. Students could create their comic strip offline or digitally (directly in slide or any reasonable web tool) and can then record narration for each individual panel of the comic. The final product would look something like this:

Good luck creating & let me know what you think of this idea on Twitter or Instagram: @gregkulowiec

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After months of waiting, Google has finally announced that the insert audio feature will begin to appear in all G Suite EDU Domains over the coming weeks. I have had access to the feature for a few months and already shared a post about transforming Google Slides into a make-shift podcasting environment.

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Audio/Video/PDF Tools

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Web Apps by 123apps - Edit, Convert, Create

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I've always enjoyed just sitting and talking to my students. Conversation is such a neat way to get to know and understand a student's mind and heart. I love hearing their perspective on life, on our classroom, and on the concepts that we are exploring. Having worked with students from Kindergarten through college, I have discovered that taking the time to just listen to students TALK is one of a teacher's greatest opportunities to help them learn.

Recording audio is a wonderful way to take these conversations or student reflections and save them to be heard at a later time! From reflections on learning to podcasts or audio journals, there are so many ways that audio can be used in the classroom. In this post, I'll explore how audio recordings and Google Sites can combine in a powerful way to house and organize audio recordings.

Before technology advanced to the point where an audio recorder was an easy to find web tool, I used to record conversations with students using a handheld cassette recorder. Later, I used tools within my Windows computer environment. I didn't even consider embedding those audio files into a website. The large file size prohibited that idea in the early days of the web, but I did still enjoy listening to them to gain new perspectives, and I also found them to be great additions to parent teacher conferences. When I was teaching lower grades such as Kindergarten, it was a great way to see/hear growth over time in terms of speaking and listening standards.

Over the years, I have also encouraged my students to verbally reflect on their writing, their understanding of new concepts, and their learning in general. When students have the opportunity to pause after a learning activity and really reflect on what they felt was successful or unsuccessful, I found it was a powerful way to help them grow. The more students reflect, the more they discover who they are as learners, what makes them successful, what challenges they face, and what they need to do to be more successful.

Again, before the web tools of today, I would have students either reflect with a partner in a "turn and talk" type of conversation, or I would encourage them to write short reflection statements in a learning journal. Often, if students were reflecting about writing IN WRITING, I discovered that they would share less. Their journal entries were much shorter than a verbal response would be. The process of writing - the planning, conventions, and even the physical act - was sometimes a deterrent to sharing their ideas and thoughts.

Now, many programs allow the seamless integration of audio. Book Creator and Seesaw have audio capabilities built right in. For teachers and students utilizing G Suite for EDU, Google Slides and Google Sites are also a great way to organize audio recordings. With Google Sites and Google Slides, a third-party audio recorder is required to create the recording. There are many free audio recording tools. One that I use frequently is Online Voice Recorder.com. With no login required and two simple buttons, Online Voice Recorder is a fairly straightforward tool for quickly recording simple audio. Watch this short video for a demonstration.

After recording video, teachers and students should simply download the audio file to their device (MacBook, PC, or Chromebook) and then upload it to a folder in Google Drive. My students found that uploading one file at a time made more sense because they were able to rename the files one at a time. If you are unsure of what this process looks like, watch this short video demonstration.

An important piece to remember is that depending on the audience for the audio, the Google Drive folder should have the appropriate permissions set. For example, if students are creating an audio journal that is private to them and their teacher, then the folder housing the audio files should be shared with that teacher only. On the other hand, if students are creating simple podcasts with a larger audience, the "Anyone with the link can view" setting might be more appropriate.

Once the audio files are stored in Drive, students can simply right-click on them to get their "shareable link." It is that shareable link that can be pasted into the Embed "By URL" box in Google Sites. For a demonstration of that process and to see what some end results might look like, click here to watch a short video.

The ability to add audio files (that are stored in Google Drive) to Google Sites offers a wide variety of possibilities. Students can create audio journals, simple podcasts, and even reflect on artifacts of learning in digital portfolios. When we encourage our students to explain their thinking verbally, we have a unique opportunity as educators. We can better understand what they understand or don't understand, and how they are feeling as a learner. Ultimately, that can help us assess, reteach if necessary, and better our instructional practices as we work to make sure that all students are learning and growing.

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The Power of Google Sites & Audio - EdTechTeacher

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I've always enjoyed just sitting and talking to my students. Conversation is such a neat way to get to know and understand a student's mind and heart. I love hearing their perspective on life, on our classroom, and on the concepts that we are exploring.

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Google Classroom Best Practices Remote Learning

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Google Classroom Best Practices Remote Learning

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Google Classroom tweaks you could try when assigning tasks in a remote environment.

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Google Classroom Best Practices in Remote Learning