Easy How-To Instructions for Embedding Video, Sound, and Presentations

To really use all of these tools for your own school counseling website, we have included a guide to embedding video, sound, and presentations into your website.  If you are using a Google based site (such as sites.google.com or blogger.com), you will already have access to embed You Tube videos as well as Picasa photos and pictures.

If you are using Moodle, Blackboard, or another school-based website, follow these instructions to embed You Tube videos, music, and iSprings into your school counseling website.

Embedding You Tube

**Before starting, you will need to download the Download Helper to your computer at http://www.downloadhelper.net/ **

• Go to You Tube, play the video and click on the Download Helper symbol (seen at right)
• Scroll to the name of the video you want and download it to your desktop
• Drag it from your desktop to your personal FTP site (if you do not have an FTP stie, talk to your IT Department.  This is a web-based storage site that will convert your files into a web-based address, which is also called a URL)
• Highlight a word or picture in in your lesson.  Click the Link icon.  Put in the URL in the link space.
• After saving the lesson, scroll down and make sure you can see the movie box. 
• Press play on screen to see if it works.

 Embedding Sound and Music

• Have your music or voice recording available on your desktop to drag to your FTP site.
• In the editing mode of your lesson, click to toggle to HTML code
• At the very top of the lesson put in the HTML code: 
• <embed height="60" width="144" hidden="TRUE" src="###Your URL from your FTP site"/>

• Click out of HTML editing back to the normal view
• When you save the lesson and open it to view it, the sound should automatically start playing

Embedding iSpring

• After publishing your iSpring, find the file on your desktop and drag it into your FTP site
• In your lesson where you want to add the iSpring put #### after the text prior to where you want to add the iSpring, so you can distinguish it when you are looking at the HTML view
• Click to toggle into HTML view
• Find the ####
• Add the code: <center><iframe src="FTP URL" width="728" height="584" frameborder="0"</iframe></center>
• Where is says FTP URL above, copy and paste the iSpring URL from your FTP

Using Jing

Jing is a video sharing program.  It allows you to capture screenshots and record video of your computer screen.  The program makes it easy for you to share your creations and is a great way to engage students virtually.

Jing is available for free at www.techsmith.com/jing.html.  The free version allows you to record up to 5-minutes per video and gives you various tools to edit screenshots.  The video will come in a Shockwave Flash format that will be ready to embed in your school counseling website or blog.

To view a demo of a Jing, click here.

iSpring Example

 iSpring is presentation software that converts your Power Point presentations into web-ready Shockwave Flash files.  Posting an iSpring on your school counseling website will make lessons and information available to a much wider audience than traditional counseling curriculum.

Before you begin, download iSpring Free at http://www.ispringsolutions.com

• To create an iSpring, first, create your PowerPoint the way you normally would
• To insert audio, go to the Slide Show menu and select "Record Narration"
• When your Power Point is finished, you can make it into an iSpring
• At the top of Power Point, you will see the iSpring menu, click on the icon that says "Publish"
• Name your presentation under Presentation Title
• Under Destination and Local Folder set it to your desktop
• Under Options, you should not have anything checked
• At the bottom, click Publish
• After it publishes, it should automatically open up so that you can flip through each slide to make sure they are correct
• Find the file on your desktop and drag it to your FTP

For more information on embedding your iSpring into your school counseling website, please visit the post called Easy How  to Instructions for Embedding

GlogsterEDU Glog Sample - Getting to Know Me

Below is a link to a Glog I created through a free single membership I opened at GlogsterEDU (edu.glogster.com).

http://bkrcs79.edu.glogster.com/getting-to-know-me/</u>


GlogsterEDU vs. Glogster.com

GlogsterEDU differs from the original Glogster.com in some significant ways: privacy, security, cost, manageability, and education-focused tools/features.  Both sites enable users to express themselves in creative ways through the use of multimedia tools that enable users to customize interactive posters.  For educators, using GlogsterEDU is a great way to get to know your students as well as to provide fresh, exciting, and engaging lessons.

To create a glog like the one above, you can open a free single account as a teacher or a student with Glogster EDU, but you will not be able to add students to your account unless you or your school purchases a paid membership. There are several options to choose from. By not adding students to your account, you do not manage their activities on the site, which is usually desirable if you are using the site as a teaching tool for a class, a school project, or group of students. GlogsterEDU is private and secure however, and students are protected from inappropriate material, something that is not available on Glogster.com, a public site where anyone can post glogs for all to see.  


Another major difference between GlogsterEDU and Glogster.com is that the latter is always free, whereas GlogsterEDU is not free unless individuals are each opening a single account.  In this way, they are not connected or manageable by the educator.  For schools who do not have funding in the budget for this versatile educational tool, however, the free single accounts would be a good alternative.  Each student must have an email account in order to register for a single account.  This is not necessary if students are connected to the teacher's account.  In that instance, the teacher takes care of registering students and distributing their user information.  The students could individually send the teacher or counselor the link to their glogs so the educator can view them.

RSS Feeds - What Are They and How Can I Subscribe?

What is an RSS Feed?

Get the information and updates you want without going after them!  RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.  A 'feed' contains the most recent articles or posts from a website in an abridged format, with links to the full content.  A feed is read by an 'RSS reader', 'feed reader', or 'news aggregator'.  These types of software read and display information from each feed, and present it to us in XML format, allowing for universal readability.

How can I access automatic updates from my favorite sites?

Sign up for a Reader: 


There are many different feed readers or aggregators you can sign up for, but here are some popular ones.

Google.com/reader (Google Reader)

FeedDemon.com

Bloglines.com

You can easily sign up for Google Reader through your GMail account.

As mentioned above, the software used to read feeds is referred to as either an 'RSS reader', 'feed reader', or 'aggregator', since it pulls updates and information from all over the Web and distributes it in readable format in one place. 

Subsribe to your favorite sites.

Once you have signed up for a Reader, you will be able to add feeds from just about any site you want to your Reader and it will pull from those sites as updates are registered, and display them all in one convenient place for you.  You can view multiple feeds at once with your RSS Reader.

A feed will usually contain a title, summary, and link to full article or content.  You would need to open a new browser in order to view the full version and can do so by simply clicking on the link provided.

Once you have signed up for a Reader, you can subscribe to your favorite websites, such as blogs or news sites.  Your reader will register automatic updates as they are available.  You can see many feeds in one place with your reader, eg., national news, local news, recipe blogs, entertainment news, educational updates, tech updates, and much more.

For many sites, you can simply click on the "feed" icon, which can vary from site to site, but often appears as the standard orange and white icon seen below:

For some websites, you may not find a feed icon and, in that case, you will need to copy and paste the URL from the site to your reader.  

Once you have subscribed to some feeds, you will begin to receive new posts in your Reader and can sit back and enjoy as the information comes right to you!

One thing to remember about RSS readers is that if you do not keep up with reviewing the feeds you have subscribed to on a regular basis, you may miss posts or articles from one or more of them, because the feeds always display the newest posts from the web sites they are pulling from.  The RSS readers do not keep track of the feed updates that you never had a chance to look at.

Added Bonus: Feed Readers or Aggregators allow you to skip the ads and pop-ups that typically appear when you visit your favorite sites by going to those web addresses.

Create Your Own RSS Feed

If you would like others to be able to subscribe to your blog, you can create your own RSS feed at no cost by using a blog site like Blogger or WordPress, which are free and already have the feed capability set up.  If you are not using a blog format and would like others to be able to subscribe to your website for updates, there are some extra steps to creating your feed, but you can find help with this and other great tips on RSS feeds at the following web site:

 http://www.2createawebsite.com/traffic/create-rss-feeds.html

Webcasts, Podcasts, and Media Streaming at a Glance

View Prezi here

Tips for navigating the Prezi

Choose the Prezi you wish to view by clicking on its title.  Then hover the cursor over the 'More' Option on the Prezi screen and choose the Full Screen option.  Next, hover over the 'More' option again, now in the lower right-hand corner and click on 'Autoplay'.  You could also begin by clicking on the arrow to play and manually click through the Prezi.

Pros and Cons of Technology in School Counseling

View Prezi here


Tips for navigating the Prezi

Choose the Prezi you wish to view by clicking on its title.  Then hover the cursor over the 'More' Option on the Prezi screen and choose the Full Screen option.  Next, hover over the 'More' option again, now in the lower right-hand corner and click on 'Autoplay'.  You could also begin by clicking on the arrow to play and manually click through the Prezi.

Did You Know?