Thinking about the Learning Continuum with disrupters like H1N1

rgode@microsoft.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:41:01 GMT

Snow days, carpool conflicts, broken bones, learning disabilities, the flu, excessive heat, hurricanes, weapon threats, cyber-bullying, failed levies, family vacation… Any of these factors, and many others, could mean unintended missed school days and a disruption in the learning continuum, at a minimum. More importantly, it could mean stunted flow of federal dollars for attendance and instruction.

With the on-going threat of the pandemic-like H1N1 virus, schools are regularly grappling with attempting to keep some semblance of order and learning while minimizing learning downtime caused by recommendations to isolate potentially sick students.

Meanwhile, Web 2.0 advances have allowed schools to explore the potential of anywhere, anytime learning tools to enhance the learning environment well beyond the physical bounds of the school property and beyond the time bounds of school sessions. Communication, collaboration, alerts and content is becoming increasingly digital and ubiquitously accessible as 1-1 computing and home computer access spreads.

Microsoft is right there in the mix with solutions for schools. Most customers probably traditionally associate us with on-premise, central-IT sponsored projects involving SharePoint, Office Communications Server and Office – clearly our legacy and area of expertise. What many customers don’t realize is that we’re also in the business of Web 2.0-style immediacy – with free web tools directly relevant to educational needs.

Office Live Workspace fits the LEARNING CONTINUUM bill

Forget the branding, for a second and just think of this as a Classroom workspace – an accessible from any browser tool to store, share and collaborate on homework, handouts, presentations and projects. No – they don’t have to be Office documents – they can be of ANY file time; and no – you don’t have to be a Live@edu customer. Any teacher, student or administrator can setup and invite other peers, students or parents to participate and – POW – instant learning continuum tool! Check out the details here: http://www.microsoft.com/education/classworkspace/default.aspx

Don’t overlook our myriad other tools

More free web tools abound – all with high relevance for your classrooms.

1. Need to record a lecture or lesson for students who miss it? Check out Community Clips.

2. Need great multi-media software for assembling projects? Check out the new Windows Live Movie Maker.

3. Want to share documents and screen views with peers or students? Check out Shared View.

Who knew Microsoft is your quick and simple source for relevant classroom tools? Enjoy!

Expanding your LiveMeeting Investment

rgode@microsoft.com — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:37:27 GMT

Whether your school has made an investment in the Live Meeting service hosted by Microsoft, or if you utilize the Web Conferencing capabilities of Live Meeting on premise, you are probably realizing great cost-savings and efficiency benefits from the business and classroom application of this product.

As you start to explore extended applications of conferencing media, you know that having access to on-demand recordings is useful for those who can’t attend meetings live. Recordings, however, require a wired connection and also require a relatively linear viewing experience. If you want to parse, mash up or splice these recordings for any number of reasons, including posting for podcasts to mobile phones or portable media players, then you need to check out the following tools to add to your media toolkit:

Recording Converter for Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007
Download: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/livemeeting/HA103550661033.aspx
Info: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101215971033.aspx

Expression Encoder 2
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Overview.aspx?key=encoder

The first tool, which is a free download (which includes a command line and a GUI option) effectively give you a way to extract the HFP (High Fidelity Presentation) format of Live Meeting recordings and dump them to a more traditional video file format. Once in this mode, you can utilize any media encoder or manipulation tool, including Expression Encoder, to further whittle down, combine or tweak you media for additional productions venues.

Although Encoder is not a free tool, it has a number of useful features for the aspiring video-to-web publisher, including Silverlight compatibility as well as scripting and batch processing for high volume shops.

Check out these Live Meeting “add-ons” to see if you can get more value out of your web-conferencing investment today.

It's all about edU : Distance Learning

Thinking about the Learning Continuum with disrupters like H1N1

Expanding your LiveMeeting Investment