Omnivorous Surfer

I had occasion to extract video clips from an unprotected, copyright-free DVD a couple of weeks ago, and I found a simple, FREE program which fit my needs. Knowing teachers in particular might find it useful sometimes to pull clips for classroom use, I thought I'd share it here.

I looked at several options, but the one I ended up using because of its simplicity was bitRipper. As you can see from the screen shot at left, it has a minimalist interface. Most of us would never need to make any changes to the settings, but I did expand the Settings window for the image; otherwise, you work only with the smaller window. Those of you who, unlike me, know what you're doing, or who like to experiment, have the option of making some more advanced options about your output. I used bitRipper without making any changes to the default settings and had excellent results.

You choose your video clip by chapter from a drop-down list. Without titles, that can be a little tricky; however, I could choose mine from this DVD by its length. The video is converted to an AVI format and saved to your hard drive...and it's ready to play on your Windows computer. It really couldn't be any simpler!

I also found WinX Free DVD Ripper, which has additional functions. I didn't need any of these at the time, but I will keep it in mind for use if and when I do. This one will rip and convert to not only AVI, but also MP4, H.264, FLV, WMV, MPEG, MOV, or other popular video formats. It also gives the option of separating the audio from the DVD video, saving it as an MP3 file. It also supports capturing pictures from the video through screenshots.

If you want to insert the video in a PowerPoint presentation, the 2007 version will accept the following formats: ASF, AVI, MGP, MPET, or WMV.

JayCut is an online video editor that is easy to use and fairly full-featured. The software allows you to remix and trim videos and images; add music, transitions, and effects; and add captions and subtitles.

With a FREE account, for non-commercial use only, you have 20 movie exports per month, 2 GB of storage, and 10 GB of streaming per month.  Your video can be viewed from the site, or you can export to YouTube and Facebook with a single click and can export videos for iPhone, Windows, and Mac.

If you want more help than is on the site, just Google "JayCut tutorial."

If you don't have access to Windows MovieMaker or Mac iMovie, Jaycut is a comparable editor. This would be an option for joint or individual student projects so the students could work from both home and school.

I almost never post application tips, but I was so happy to find this one and it's so easy I had to share. I felt kind of foolish that I hadn't already noticed it. I must admit that I had included a drop cap in a document recently by using a text box with a single enlarged capital letter; the result was less than satisfactory, but I used it anyway.

In Word 2003, simply type the letter, select it, and choose Drop Cap from the Format menu. In Word 2007, use the Insert ribbon and choose Drop Cap from the Text group. In either one, you select from Dropped (see the example above) or In Margin, which keeps the entire paragraph indented.

This was a tip in a blog post from TechRepublic.

Image created using Spell With Flickr

TenMarks' Teacher Zone makes available FREE math video lessons for grades 3-10 based on state standards. All you have to do is to register for a free account.

cc licensed flickr photo shared by qthomasbower

I've posted before about Creative Commons copyright. MakeUseOf had a great post this week about How to Search and Credit Properly-Licensed Photos on Flickr. A great source with lots of information about CC and Flickr, it includes something I haven't seen before, which is a Grease Monkey script that will give you the code to display the image along with the proper attribution; see the image at left for an example.

Grease Monkey is a Firefox add-on which will allow you to use small bits of JavaScript to customize how certain web pages are displayed. All you have to do is to add the Grease Monkey add-on if you do not already have it and then click the Install button on the script web page.

I normally use Google Chrome, but I'll be using Firefox now to get the code to add Flickr image to a web page. It makes the attribution so much easier!

DROPitTOme is a FREE site which coordinates with Drop Box to allow you to accept files from other people. If you want assignments turned in electronically (or need to receive files from others), but have no way to do that, here's your solution. All you have to do is give them the upload link and password. For more information, see the Free Technology for Teachers post where I found this. Mr. Byrne has included a good description and video tutorials.

The Free Technology for Teachers blog is one of my favorites, so even if you aren't interested in DROPitTOme, check it out!

used by permission

Thanks to a former colleague, I was reminded of the FREE online quiz software I used to use. On investigation, I found that it is still available and still FREE. Perhaps some who read this may find it useful.

QuizStar is one of several online tools made available at 4teachers.org. Students can take quizzes or tests you have created and then see their results and review their individual answers immediately. As the instructor, you will have a report that looks much like a gradebook for that assignment and can also view their individual test "papers" as though they had been printed and scored.

One of the things I especially appreciated was the listing at the bottom of the test report page showing the number of students answering each question correctly and incorrectly. This allowed me to quickly identify a "bad" question and/or a concept that needed to be retaught. I could usually address the latter as soon as everyone had completed the test.

To prepare the students to take a quiz using QuizStar, I would create a simple 3-question quiz and make sure that they would miss one question. Then they could look at their test and see how to read the markings for the ones they missed. I would always give students the option of taking a paper test using QuizStar's printout.

I won't go through all the features; you can read those on the QuizStar website if you are interested. I used this program for at least 10 years when I was teaching in a lab and found it to be beneficial for teaching and learning and quite a timesaver, too.