Month: March 2006

iLife Podcasting

I like the new iLife ’06 suite. My latest experiment made use of Garageband to generate a podcast (focused on social bookmarking if you care to give a listen).

Garageband has a special podcasting “track”, allows images to be brought in from iPhoto as chapter art (see image below or the sample above), and publishes to iWeb or iTunes.
Library of Congress Workshop

Now, I need to work on my “fm” voice. There were some options for manipulating voice characteristics so I will have to experiment with sound quality next. It appears there are options for sounding mellow, but nothing available should I want to sound exciting.

EduBlog post on a similar topic.

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Tech slows productivity?

C|NET News has an interesting piece on the ways technology REDUCES our work efficiency – too many demands, too many options, too many distractions, and way too much time writing blog entries.
Maybe the issue should really be the blurring of that line dividing work and life. The line “I have a life …” has become my favorate annoyance. The utterance is often used to explain why a task has yet to be completed or why an interesting opportunity is being ignored. It is almost as if work is something that is a nuisance and the required activities should be dispatched as quickly as possible. So, while I do listen to Internet radio or an audiobook while I work and that probably reduces my productivity a bit, I also answer email while at home because I assume the person who sent the note would prefer a rapid reply. The total time involved is greater and the productivity per minute might be lower but that is fine with me.

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SimSchool

SimSchool, a simulation activity intended for use by preservice teachers, is now online. This project results from the PT3 grant program (for those of you who were involved in this funding opportunity a few years ago).

The most basic version of the activity is available at no cost, the more advanced version costs $12 (I have not paid for the full version). I have no opinion at this point regarding the value of this sim to students at this cost. I guess that depends on the depth of the experience.

Library of Congress Workshop

Project leaders are continuing to improve the resource and welcome those with ideas for collaboration.

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