Schools uploading videos to KET by April 30 were entered in a prize drawing held on May 1 for an iPad and video production accessories including a tripod, and a tripod adapter and microphone for iPad. Wayne County High School’s Tim Withers won the prize drawing for his school after uploading,
Our Environment: Eco Friendly Furniture, a project produced by his daughters, Monica and Erica Withers, featuring Monica’s furniture made from recycled cardboard! In the video, Monica also shows how she uses the free Sketchup software program to design her eco-friendly structures and homes. Great work by Monica and Erica!

Kentucky public, private, and home schools are always welcome to upload example project productions to our KET School Video Project website. Watch for new, special-focus video projects that we’ll add from time to time. Next up, a special video project focusing on kids’ health. We hope you’ll participate!

Session titles include:

Basic Video Production (a great introduction to any video recording plans) Larry Moore, KET

Microsoft Office 365 and Lync Web Conferencing for Kentucky Schools (NEW) Patti Oakley, KATE/Murray State University; Marty Park, Kentucky Department of Education

Digital Reenactments: Student Greenscreen Video Projects (exciting and correlated) Stephen Swan, University of Louisville

All-In-One Video Studio Boxes (NEW) Tim Withers, Wayne County High; Michelle Rauch, Eastside Technical School, Fayette County Schools

iBooks Author: Amazing Apple PC Project Software (NEW) Jennifer Gordon, Corbin Middle School

Project Resources for Technology Standards by Grade Level (NEW) Cami Knapp, KATE/Murray State University

Media Arts: Creating a Classroom that Fosters Creativity (NEW) Todd Norton, Elknorn Crossing School, Scott County Schools

Google Tips and Tricks (NEW) Donnie Piercey, Woodford County Schools

iPad Video Production: Take One (NEW) Jessica Murrell, Northern Elementary, Pendleton County Schools

Tour of KET’s Multimedia Production Facility (see our staff working) Deborah Harris and staff of KET

Using PBWorks’ PB Wikis to Teach Arts and More (NEW) Paula Mullins, Jeffersontown High, Jefferson County Schools

Introduction to Using Twitter in Education (an excellent overview) Amy Grant, KET

Digital Driver’s License Project: Prepare Students to Be Responsible Netizens (NEW) Marty Park, Kentucky Department of Education

Free Tools for Blended Learning: Edmodo and More (NEW) Helen Morrison, KET

Using iPads, iPhone, iPods, and Apps for Video Production (NEW content, gear) Jeff Gray, KET

Re-Tool Your School: Useful Online Resources (NEW) Susan White, Corbin Primary School

Folks at the KATE (Kentucky Academy of Technology Education), located at Murray State University, made education technology history yesterday from an idea by Director Ron Milliner by producing a special day-long online professional development “TeachMeet” event for Kentucky educators.

Using the Lync web conferencing feature of the Microsoft Office 365 software and online service suite, recently rolled-out for use by all Kentucky schools, educators from KATE, the KDE (KY Dept. of Ed., who helped schools implement the new resources), and several Kentucky school districts shared valuable tips and methods for using a variety of software and online instructional resource tools.

Presenters from several remote locations were given temporary control of the web conferencing output from their pcs in turn, all coordinated during the day by KATE staff at Murray State. Participation reached almost 100 and averaged around 80 during the event, which ran from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm ET. Some of the session materials have been posted online. Recorded sessions from the event should be posted soon to the KATEMSU YouTube channel.

Here’s a list of the scheduled 10-minute sessions, which, as seen by participant viewers, included live PowerPoint presentations, video displays of the presenters, shared desktop program and web page demonstrations, and a chat sidebar for messaging by all with live web links inserted during the event…

• Skydrive Fetch – Patti Oakley
• PD 360 – Cami Knapp
• Using Office 365 and Lync Online in Your Flipped Classroom – Marty Park
• Flipping the Classroom Using Edmodo – Tina Barrett
• Socrative – Felicia White
• Using a Digital Corkboard to Promote Student Collaboration – Amy Johns
• Literacy in a Digital World – Amanda Klare
• The Digital Driver’s License (DDL) for Citizenship Skills – Marty Park
• Kentucky iTunesU – Marty Park
• Technology Tools for Project Based Learning – Allen Martin
• iOS Beyond the Basics: Tips and Hidden Features for iPad and iPod – Nathan Seaton
• The KYSTE Mission – Jeff Jones
• Technology Standards by Grade Level – Cami Knapp
• Formal Assessments Using iPads – Whitney York
• Introduction to Evernote – Patti Oakley
• Community Clips – Cami Knapp
• Excel Survey – Patti Oakley

KDE’s Marty Park, presenting remotely from KET during the Lync-streamed TeachMeet of 2/28/13.

Ms. Oakley also posted a helpful overview of how to use the Lync system, which is part of the new Microsoft Office 365 suite of software and resources Kentucky public school educators should soon have access to from their school pcs. Lync can be used to web conference with one to many colleagues, and setting up a group conference is easily done through a website scheduler. Kentucky teachers should contact their school or district instructional technology folks for more information on how to use Lync and the new Office 365 tools.

For more information about the February 28, 2013 Kentucky Lync TeachMeet, contact KATE Director, Ron Milliner; Eric Rich, KATE Data Systems Administrator; or Instructional Development Specialist, Patti Oakley.

We look forward to more Lync-streamed educational resources and events from KATE, the KDE, schools, and other sources. We at KET also hope to offer some useful Lync-streamed events, so stay tuned! It’s an impressive new resource that should really boost sharing and creativity in the Kentucky educator community. Thanks to the Kentucky Department of Education and to everyone in our Kentucky school districts who helped set it up for educators to use and enjoy, and thanks to the folks who organized and presented the first Lync-delivered TeachMeet on February 28, 2013, produced by KATE at Murray State University!

Based on the Filmriot crew’s DIY Camera Slider design, our unit was inexpensive (around $20.00, including some used parts) and it helped to produce some nice test video right off the bat. Mods I added were: substitution of a raised metal electrical switch plate; addition of an inexpensive quick-release camera mount I found online; and felt strips to line the tubes for smoother sliding. If I can build this (think Homer Simpson BBQ project) I know you can.

Here’s the first quick video test. Could do better with practice and care, but the dogs, Precious and Bunny, were perfect with no direction at all.

Camera Slider Test Video

Shot with iPhone 5; edited in Lumify app (to try); WiFi transfered to iPad w/PhotoSync app (on both); edited in iMovie app to add titles, stills, and music; exported to YouTube over WiFi; inserted into WordPress blog w/Royal Slider plugin.

See the earlier camera stabilizer project.

Coming soon: a camera crane/jib project for more super-silky-fun moves!

If you’ve made something useful for video production and would like to share it please leave a response, below!

Here’s a great use of the iPad and the iMovie app by Camille Davis’ students from Lexington’s Christ the King School for the KET School Video Project: Election 2012.” Camille also started her students off with a KET Media Lab workshop on Using iPads for Video Production. Check out the excellent video quality and sound of the video these very well-prepared and charming young students made — all with just an iPad ($499) and the iMovie video editing app ($5.00), which includes graphic templates and free-to-use music backgrounds — and for much less than the cost of a camera, a pc with editing software, and other gear. Improvements could be made by adding a tripod adapter and tripod, and an external microphone, which could together add about $150 or so — still well below pc-based video production costs. That brings easy, effective, and fun video production much closer to more schools.

If your school is within driving distance of KET and you’d like a free workshop (and a tour, time permitting), contact Jeff Gray, KET Education Division at jgray@ket.org; 800-432-0951 ext. 7263, 859-258-7263.

And, if you and your Kentucky students are already using iPads, iPhones, or other portable devices to make student-produced video projects, please upload examples of your work to the KET School Video Project website to share (please list what you used to make your videos in the “Notes” field of the upload form). Call or email Jeff if you have questions or need help.

Jeff will also be presenting on Using iPads for Video Production at the next  KYSTE 2013 (Kentucky Society for Technology in Education) spring conference (Willis room, 3:45 pm, Thursday, March 14). If you’re headed for the very useful and entertaining spring KYSTE conference, stop in to see and hear about video project recording, editing, and sharing using iPads (and some new information on using iPhones), along with a demonstration of various useful add-on accessories and workarounds that Jeff has found that make it all even better.

Ms. Felice Salmon, of Common Good (a local Lexington community service organization begun by John and Laura Gallaher), along with artist-assistant Jennae Legg, the assistance of KET Media Lab staff, and other volunteers, recently completed a LexArts grant-funded project to help under-served North-Lexington youth tell digital stories about themselves using still cameras and video editing software.

Called the Storicraft project, it served elementary through high school-level students in a free after-school program that put multimedia production equipment in their hands for a multimedia artistic activity combining pictures, spoken narratives, and video. Based on artist-educator Wendy Ewald’s book, The Best Part of Me: Children Talk About Their Bodies in Pictures and Words, the project resulted in a collection of self-affirming and esteem-building self-portraits that can be seen online at the KET School Video Project website grouped by 3rd-5th grader and middle-high school student video collections.

KET’s Cynthia Warner and Sara O’Keefe visited the Common Good location and used KET Media Lab digital cameras to give workshops in basic photography and to help the students shoot some of their self-portrait imagery. Ms. Salmon and others then helped the students take more pictures, storyboard their projects by arranging images, and prepare a self-descriptive narrative to record later over their pictures. Finally, the groups were brought to KET’s Media Lab for afternoon workshops in video editing for digital storytelling projects by Jeff Gray, assisted by Sara O’Keefe, Ms. Salmon, Ms. Legg, and Common Good volunteer adults. At KET, the students learned about timeline editing using pc software: importing and assembling content pictures, arranging them in the editor timeline, adding transitions, adding narration, adding music, saving and exporting files, and sharing their videos.

In addition to the Storicraft student videos appearing online at the KET School Video Project webiste, the videos will also be presented by the students themselves at the Farrish Theater in the Lexington Public Library (downtown location, free admission), on 2/15/13 from 6 pm to 8 pm during the first LexArts-sponsored Lexington Gallery Hop of the season — an evening of open houses for area artists and galleries.

poster design by Felice Salmon

Ms. Linda Childress, a former music teacher at Cub Run Elementary in Hart County, emailed us the other day saying how saddened she and others were at hearing of Ed’s passing, recalling him as a very helpful and kind man. She added that her students had recently featured Ed in their most recent WCUB newscast.

Ms. Childress recalled that in 1994, Ed had helped her establish the Cub Run WCUB student news program. Ms. Stephanie Hensley, Ms. Childress’ niece and the current music teacher at Cub Run Elementary, was at that time in 7th grade at Cub Run and was a presenter in the first news broadcasts over their new school audio-visual system in 1995.

Today, the weekly student WCUB news program of school and community news continues, jointly directed by Ms. Childress, Ms. Hensley, and Ms. Alicia Estes, the school library media specialist. WCUB’s weekly newscasts are also shared over local cable-tv to community homes, and selected videos are available for viewing online at Cub Run Elementary’s school WCUB website.



Pictured above with seated 8th grade newscast anchors are l-r, Alicia Estes, Stephanie Hensley, and Linda Childress — WCUB joint-directors.

Here’s the full WCUB newscast, and here’s an earlier KET MediaWorks blog article on a visit to Cub Run Elementary and their video production program.

Along with other KET Education Consultant media pioneers, Ed McGuire was largely responsible for establishing why we at KET continue to be so warmly welcomed when visiting Kentucky schools. Many of us will always remember him as a gentle and caring man who gave generously of himself and his time in serving schools and making friends.

Here’s Larry Moore, KET Education Consultant for the North Central region of Kentucky, presenting on video production and greenscreen effects to a group of 8th graders in Ms. Margi Johnstone’s 8th grade media class at St. Agnes Parish School, Louisville. A former middle school science teacher, Larry’s a long-term provider of excellent video production and other workshops to schools, and has also produced several useful and exciting KET Electronic Field Trip programs. His engaging and encouraging presentations are always enjoyed by both students and staff. Larry’s assisted many Kentucky schools over the years as they develop or expand student video production, both for classroom projects and as classes. Contact Larry or the KET Education Consultant serving your area for a free consultation or workshop to help you integrate KET educational resources, or to get into or expand student video production.

We in KET Education have always been excited about the many ways video production can be used for student projects across the curriculum, and we enjoy developing workshops and multimedia resources for teachers and students to help them make and share their work, such as the KET School Video Project: a safe-hosting website for Kentucky student video projects. If you’re making video projects in your school, please upload and example or more soon!

Another KET multimedia education resource is the KET Media Lab at KET’s network center, Lexington. Kentucky schools are encouraged to bring their students and staff to KET for free workshops in multimedia production and related topics, and for tours of KET’s digital production facility. Call or email Jeff Gray. 800-432-0951 or 859-258-7263, for details or to make an appointment to visit us soon.

Visit KET’s Education Division website for even more useful and fun educational resources.

Students who attend Ms. Rauch’s classes are from Fayette and the surrounding Jessamine and Woodford school districts. Here are some students working on creating and editing music for multimedia projects.

Student projects include a periodic news magazine program that’s shown over the school network, PSAs (public service announcements), and various other special projects, such as this example on student gender issues, People are People, No Matter What, which was also uploaded for sharing to the KET School Video Project website.

Michelle Rauch will be at KET next July 9 and 10 to present at the next KET Multimedia Professional Development Days event on how she and her students are using their new portable a/v production switcher, the NewTek Tricaster pictured above). She’ll be joined by Tim Withers, Wayne County High School Art/Multimedia teacher, who will present on his class’ use of another useful and exciting portable a/v production switcher, the Edirol VR-5. We hope many Kentucky teachers and staff will again join us for the event. Details and registration information will be available at the project website later this spring.

Tim Withers’ video class also recorded Travis reciting his essay and shared the video online at the KET School Video Project website. We wanted to celebrate it again for viewing here. Congratulations to Travis on his encouraging essay, to his parents who forwarded the essay to The Progressive Farmer, and to Wayne County High teachers, Ms. Sloan and Mr. Withers, for arranging such a meaningful English/Video Production class project and sharing it online.

Tim Withers will be returning to KET this July 9 and 10 to present at the next KET Multimedia Professional Development Days event on how he and his students are using their new Edirol VR-5 portable a/v production switcher. He’ll be joined by Michelle Rauch, multimedia teacher at Eastside Technical School, Fayette County, who will present on her students’ use of another useful and exciting portable a/v production switcher, the NewTek Tricaster. We hope many Kentucky teachers and staff will again join us for the event. Details and registration information will be available at the project website later this spring.