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Free Sound Effects! 
I was browsing some of my old Bookmarks and found this site that has free sound effects. The company appears to be a professional production company that has been around for a while.
There is quite a range of effects, categories, and formats. You are no longer stuck with whatever the tool you are using has to offer, or spending a lot of time surfing for the sound of a magic wand, or someone clearing their throat, or an inkjet printer, or falling coins...

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Hear ye!

How to make audio that is more than noise
I must admit that I prefer to learn to use a few tools really well, rather than a little bit about a wide range. I also feel that good tech skills should be transferable - from one tool to a next.
Both these perspectives are reflected here in this blog post.
Jennifer is an instructional designer whose blog reflects her passion and practical approach to elearning. This particular post describes down-to-earth tips for creating audio files that are a cut above.

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SoundGator

It is becoming so easy to create a video online and post to your blog or course. But, no video project is complete without the addition of sound effects. Sounds add a whole new dimension to your videos. SoundGator is great site to locate and download the perfect sound effect - and, as most of the resources we share here - it is completely free. You do have to register but that is quick and painless. Give it a try.

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33 Digital Skills for 21st century Teachers

What are you going to learn (or relearn) this new year?
Meg sent this link from this marvelous website Educational Technology & Mobile Learning
She thought it would be a keeper and I hope you agree.
Not only does the author provide a list of the skills, he provides links to empower teachers to develop those skills.
Besides being a terrific resource, I believe it further emphasizes the notion that technology is not just for computer 'experts' or an option you can choose to ignore, but a set of skills that is not optional, and worthy of learning to use well in very specific ways. Furthermore, our attitude towards these skills is as important as the competent use of them when it comes to our students.

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Yodio!

Yodio is a free tool that records words and visuals for future playback. As instructors, we can use it to explain a difficult concept or one with unusual pronunciations so the students can play it as many times as they’d like until they are ready to move on. For the students, we could have them explain what they read or discuss their opinions on a topic, then send us the link so we could assess them in a way outside traditional evaluation methods. What a great way to connect using something outside of the normal procedures! Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Below is an example of a student Yodio submission. Press the play button to hear what she has to say!

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Online Convert.com

(This was originally posted by Linda Wapelhorst on 12/3 in Butler Online's Advent Calendar)

Online Convert is a site that does just what its title indicates - converts files to another file type.

We have previously suggested using zamzar.com to convert files but Online Convert is much more user friendly and faster. The file is converted and immediately downloaded to your computer. You can convert documents, audio, video, graphics, etc. When you convert a grapic you have the option to change the size, make it monochrome, negative, etc. An added feature is the site blog that includes topics such as "Extract Still Image from Video" and "Rip Audio from a Video Clip".

This is definitely a site to bookmark (or add to your Symbaloo).

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Fair use

This blog post of NPR's Hearing Voices highlights several articles and workshops on Fair Use including one by Google/Youtube.
If you have worked with music, design or any kind of media professionally, you probably know that the master protector of their own work is Disney Studios. It is risky to use the simplest use of black circles to represent mouse ears without triggering the Disney watchdogs. With that in mind, you should take a few minutes to watch the tongue-in-cheek video compiled of microclips of Disney movies describing Fair Use.

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SpeakIt by Google

I like to follow Google's latest developments, and recently I found out about Google's new speech-to-text feature.

This newest feature is so easy to use and I think it would be extra helpful to foreign students who need to better understand the English language. All you have to do is highlight the text that you need read to you, click on the icon for the feature, and it will start reading the text to you. It works great on most Websites, and the text is read to you by a computerized voice.

SpeakIt is the name of this feature, and can be downloaded for free from the Google Chrome web store.

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Add Captions to Video in PowerPoint

STAMP is a free add-in for PowerPoint 2010 that lets you easily add captions to videos in your PowerPoint presentation. With this simple add-in you can also add captions to audio files included in your presentation. This tool is clearly useful when one considers ADA compliance as we move toward Quality Matters course certification. One might wish to put the video or audio file in PowerPoint to simplify the process of including a text version of these types of files.

The STAMP site states, "The Subtitling Add-on for Microsoft PowerPoint (STAMP) helps Microsoft PowerPoint users add closed captions to the video and audio files included in their presentations, which boosts their impact for those with hearing disabilities."

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Voki for Education

I introduced Voki to my students this semester and they really like using it. You can have students simply supply a link or embed the Voki in a drop-box. To share, set the drop-box to Peer Review. Another option is to set up team file sharing and ask students to post their Voki there. There is a Voki lesson plan data base that anyone can access. One of the lessons' description reads: "Brief Description: College students learn how to organize a persuasive speech. By studying how to define persuasive communication, students will get a better understanding how persuasive speech can sway an audience, and even effect policy".

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Poetry Podcasts

Now it is easy to embed podcasts of beloved classical poems in your online classes.

Classic Poetry Aloud is a "a podcast series for some of the greatest poetry in English." Many works from famous authors are listed, includings works by Emily Dickinson, Lord Byron, and Edgar Allan Poe. The best part is that the podcasts can also be easily embedded in your class.

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Speeches for all Classes!

Have you ever wanted your students to watch a powerful movie clip or have them watch or just listen to a historically significant speech? Is there such a repository?


The answer is YES!! The American Rhetoric repository houses literally hundreds of speeches from politics, movies, etc. The site even has a link for the top 100 speeches of all time. In my Public Speaking classes I like to have my students listen to speeches from this site and then discuss the speech in a discussion forum. BUT, you don't have to teach Public Speaking to use this site. This repository is so vast that surely there is a speech that relates to your field of study.

Go ahead! Give it a try! You might even want to get wild and use voicethread for the discussion forum.

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Project Rome

I have been reading about Project Rome for the last week or two but did not pay much attention because I thought it was not free - and we all know free is good! Well, I have since found out that Project Rome is free, at least for now, so I decided to check it out.
Project Rome claims that research papers will never be the same and I think they might just be able to substantiate that claim. Rome documents can include graphics, animations, video, audio and interactivity. Much of Rome is easy to use - very intuitive. Some tasks are a bit more tricky but the tutorials will guide you. Rome can be used online or downloaded as a desktop application.
Take a look at this YouTube video, then go to the Project Rome site. I think you will be impressed.
(Project Rome has been discontinued)

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Listen to William Faulkner

The University of Virginia houses a collection of manuscripts and writings by William Faulkner. The library collection also includes audio recordings of Faulkner's speaking engagements during his time as writer-in-residence at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in the late 1950's. The audio recordings contain 28 hours of speeches, his readings of some of his works and questions posed by students.

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Fotobabble

Have you ever wanted to verbally explain what is going on it a photo but did't want to write it down? Check out this link (credit goes to Eddie Andreo for finding this)called Fotobabble

So upload a photo, put on your headset and give it a try!

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AudioPal for Recordings in ANGEL

The AudioPal site allows you to create audio and then sends you the html code to add the recording to your site. This could be an ANGEL page, your blog, etc. On AudioPal you can:

1. type the text for your message and convert it to speech by selecting one of the 10 or so voices,


2. call the toll free number and record your message by phone,


3. use a microphone to record the message directly in AudioPal,


4. upload a saved mp3 recording.

Watch this AudioPal video to see how it works. This is an easy and quick way to make recordings for your classes in ANGEL. Just remember to click the Source link in ANGEL before pasting the code.

Experiment and have some fun with AudioPal.

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Don't Call the School!

This is a funny recording that I added through Audio Pal (see post). Enjoy.

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