In The News

I was recently contacted by Shanthi Venkataraman, a student from Columbia University, Graudate School of Journalism, as my friend Silvia Tolisano (Around the World with 80 Schools skype project mastermind) had passed on my name as a teacher who had been using skype in the classroom for a number of years and had taken part in the Around the World with 80 Schools skype project.

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Shanti was interested in hearing how Skype was used in Schools. We connected when our timezones were decent for the both of us via , yes, you guessed it via Skype. She just informed me by email that her article Skype Gives Students Window on the World was published.  Of course, Silvia was interviewed and Wes Fryer, was too.

Columbia News Service » Blog Archive » Skype Gives Students Window On The World

The Power of Skype and your PLN

My fabulous colleagues back home in New Zealand have been enjoying the Learning@Schools09 Conference held in Rotorua.  When my good friend AllanahK tweeted that she was organising a “Matt-style” dance at the start of Wes Fryer‘s Keynote presentation, I couldn’t resist the urge to tweet back “Can I skype in?”

Sure enough – at 7.15am Bangkok, Thailand time, and 1.15pm, New Zealand time, she did just that- skyped me in so that I could join in the dance too.  It was brilliant – almost like being there.  I was able listen to Wes’s Keynote until Allanah’s battery finally died.  I wish I could have been there in personal to reconnect with old friends, make new friends, and learn new things from incredibly talented people.  Watch the video!

I originally used jing to capture the screen on my laptop (‘cos that’s all I had), then discovered that it saves as .swf. Drat – not editable (without the Pro version – funny that?).  So here’s the master genius work around I used:

Step 1:  Grab Jeff Utecht on his way out the door – (‘cos he has ScreenFlow)
Step 2:  Replay .swf on his laptop and re-capture using ScreenFlow – saves as a .mov, edit as you go
Step 3:  Import into iMovie – add titles and credits
Step 4:  Play real “Dancing with Matt” video on YouTube to capture the soundtrack using Audio Hijack Pro
Step 5:  Import audio into iMovie – adjust sound levels
Step 6:  Upload to teachingsagittarian’s YouTube channel

Did I mention that I love my mac laptop?