IP
An Era on Air
1920-1933
Education
Technology
Frank Walsh
Turbo Tagger

Last week, on May 27, 2009, four groups at Salisbury High School in Allentown, PA presented their Integrated Project. IP is year-long endeavor for students who enroll in the courses of AP US History and Honors English 11. IP is a research-based project that incorporates a final multi-media presentation as well as a stage production that lasts for 45 minutes. We streamed our presentations using two backchannels, one focused on the stage and one on the projector screen. We had no problems streaming it, but the recorded videos were corrupt. You can still watch the two separate stream as they were the day we went live, but the downloaded video was buggy. Therefore, a compiled version of the presentation can not be made at this time, but we are working with ustream to resolve this issue. I have tried converting the presentation thus far with vixy.net, zamzar.com, ffmpeg, adobe media encoder, vlc, and other free media encoders. Ustream has been working on a way to convert their video directly through their website, but this feature is still unfinished and unavailable. Hopefully once this feature is implemented (or when we find a way to convert the video), we should be ready to release the compiled video for each of the four IP presentations. We used Discoverystreaming videos in creating our factual and counterfactual histories, so when we get this problem fixed, we can show you how factual Discoverystreaming videos can be used to make counterfactual scenariors look real.

Interesting and timely, Mogulus, which has often been a go-to choice, has changed its name and website. Mogulus, now Livestream, always supported multi-camera streaming but didn’t have have high quality resolution, but with the difficulties we have encountered, we might switch to Livestream. From their newsletter, here’s what’s new with Livestream:

Recently we changed our name from Mogulus to Livestream, and you can find us at our new home at www.livestream.com. As much as we loved our old name, it was time for a change that reflects our growth and more clearly communicates what we do. We hope you like “Livestream” as much as we do.

Along with the new brand and domain come a re-designed website, and most importantly for you, another simple way to broadcast from the Livestream website.

This new tool offers instant streaming from any page on our website. Just click the red ‘Broadcast Now’ button or go to your ‘My Account’ section.

Go live with one click from almost any webcam or camcorder, and chat or Twitter to promote your channel, all right within the application.

Of course you can still use Procaster (our downloadable desktop application) for the highest possible quality, but for instant no-fuss streaming, the new broadcaster is great.

Now that we’ve changed, what do you need to do?

In short, nothing!

Your channel pages and embedded players will continue to function just as they did before. You may want to update any links to your channel page (i.e. change from “www.mogulus.com/yourchannel” to “www.livestream.com/yourchannel”), but the old links will still work even if you don’t get around to it.

If you’re using the old logo, we’d appreciate it if you update it to the new Livestream logo. You can download it here.
» More Details

For more info on the change, below are a few links to the press release and related stories. Or, follow us on Twitter @livestreamcom.
Discoverystreaming
Ustream.tv
Livestream
IP (Integrated Project)
Education
Technology
Turbo Tagger

On May 27, 2009, when this year’s IP debuted, two students, Megan Heverly and Mark Attilio ran the backchannels, starting, ending, saving, and archiving each team’s two-channel streams for posterity. They were my link to the streams, since I was, as always, mutitasking. Brinson anchored the streaming the whole day, since she had formulated her defense questions for the teams in advance, and was our connection with our guest viewers, which included her family in NC and her Canadian colleagues in her online course with Discovery Education/Wilkes University, Salisbury Middle School history classes, and Mrs. Meholic’s math classes. At one point, Brinson said we had 21 site guests. Not bad at all for IPs maiden voyage into virtual productions.

The question that Brinson and I continue to be bombarded with is when will the presentation be posted. Here’s the timetable. William is giving the teams their stage footage to mix and edit with videos/slides tomorrow. Thursday is binder due date, and that includes a mixed final video. At that point, I will compress each video, render it, and upload it. Each video takes about a half a day from start to finish for embeddable code for online posting. At that point we will post to our blogs: Changing Connections, RJ Stangherlin SHS, Learning Curve, PA DEN, Education, Technology, and Fun blogs. I am guessing that a week from this Thursday you can start checking our blogs. If you are part of our social networks (Brinson’s and mine overlap to a point), you can follow our tweets. We’ll keep you posted for when the students amazing presentations can be virtually yours.
IP
Multimedia
Stage Presentation
Education
Technology
Integrated Project
Turbo Tagger

Every once in a while a project design and a great mix of students take a concept and put their indelible signature on it. In the 12 or 13 years that Brinson and I have been working on IP, we’ve seen those years when teams forever changed the way all of us work. Looking back from then to now, I’d say three different years, separated by a chunk of time in between, had students that took IP to the “next level.” On Facebook tonight, before I set out to write this blog, I was talking with the design engineer, Michael Wohlberg, whose team’s vision forever changed the process. And then there was this year.

In many respects, it was a amazing year with high energy but without high drama, and that’s a good thing. We went with a modified “What If” concept, and the students really delivered. What really impressed me about this year was the collaborative effort, the coordination among teams, the creativity, and the kindness of this year’s IPers. Which is not to take anything away from other years, other groups. There was just, for me, something special, almost undefinable working to make this year memorable. So, there you have it. My answer to the question I keep being asked, in and out of school: how were they? Simply great!

If you are new to the Integrated Project, this year’s venue, which explores factual and counterfactual history, asks and answers this essential question: What if there was no news? What’s news? So, why not join us as students rewrite the history of an era as it was, and as it might have been. All times are ET.

8:51-9:51 An Era on Air: 1920-1933–Brandon Aversano, Chloe Frick, Olga Karounos, Erin Lobach, Dennis Peterson, Meagan Walsh

9:55-11:00 Uncovering Coverups–Nadia Daher, Hayley Joseph, Laudi El-Kareh, Kelsey Molseed, Andrew Samy

12:23-1:30 Generation X–Peter Cialkowski, Skye McCarty, My Phan, Fatema Rajmohammed, Hannah Rucker, Courtney Weiss
1:34-2:40
9-11: Broadcasting Terror–Matt Eherts, Sarah Gracely, Joshua Gregory, William Kennington III, Brandon Lansing, Shannon Safi.

Enjoy watching Harry Potter surface in Erin and Meagan’s carousing winning video.

Meagan Walsh
Erin Lobach
SAT BrainyFlix Contest
Salisbury High School PA
Turbo Tagger

Salisbury High School might be a small school , but it is big on star power. Mark Attilio and Megan Heverly made us especially proud of them on April 17, 2009, when Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21 held their first annual CFF Showcase. Megan and Mark joined a large group of teachers from IU 21 to showcase two years of project-based learning in their English classroom. To Salisbury’s credit, many participants at the conference commented that since Megan and Mark were such knowledgeable presenters, they mistook them for teachers. Any who knows this team understands their professionalism in approaching a task. One of Mark and Megan’s favorite recollections of the day occurred when a teacher said to them, “You have no idea how much I learn from my students.” Their response: “We know what you mean.” That tells you how really good this team is: they are humble with their abilitity and knowledge, but so willing to share it. Once again, they proved that Salisbury Students Are Tech Savvy, and consummate professionals as well. Students like Attilio and Heverly lead the way in true 21st century learning, creating partnerships in education that are dynamic, ground-breaking, worthwhile, and overdue.

Presentation resources are available on Megan Heverly’s Edublog. The video they made uses SnagIt to screen capture their digital footprint.

IU Video(low quality) from megan heverly on Vimeo.

Megan Heverly
Mark Attilio
CLIU 21
CFF Showcase
Education
Technology
Turbo Tagger