Learning in Hand: iPods

iPods #12: Podcasting Booklet

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:26:00 GMT

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #12 gives an overview of the free 34-page booklet I recently made available. The PDF is titled Podcasting for Teachers & Students and in it, I focus on free and cross-platform software so that both Windows and Macintosh users feel included. First, learn what a podcast is and then learn to find, subscribe, and listen to them. You probably already know how to do that, so most of the booklet tells about creating a podcast using Audacity, Levelator, and iTunes. Also, three methods of posting the podcast online are included in Podcasting for Teachers & Students. I tried to make the directions clear and simple so teachers and students can focus on communicating their messages.

iPods #11: Artwork & Lyrics

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:24:00 GMT

Episode #10: Artwork & Lyrics by Tony Vincent This is Learning in Hand: iPods. My name is Tony Vincent and this is the podcast where I share tips, how-tos, and ideas for iPods in teaching and learning. Episode 11, "Artwork & Lyrics," recorded March 2008, happens now! I'm going to tell you about two things you can add to audio files that make them more useful on an iPod. While almost all references youâll find to artwork and lyrics deal with music, the audio files do not have to be songs. They can be recordings from a voice recorder, ripped from a CD, podcasts, files from Audacity or GarageBand, or downloaded from the Internet. Wherever you got the audio, let's explore adding customized artwork and accompanying text to these files! Artwork First, if you are listening on an iPod, you can see that this episode has artwork. Look at your iPod's screen and you can see that this podcast has a square graphic I made that says Learning in Hand: iPods with blue and orange lettering. That's the artwork, also called cover art or album art. You might notice that most podcasts and all music downloaded from iTunes has artwork. Newer iPods even have Cover Flow where you can browse an iPod's contents by the artwork. If a file has no artwork, then a gray generic graphic with a musical note on it is used. You can use iTunes to easily add or change an audio file's artwork. Artwork appears in iTunes in the artwork viewer in the lower left corner of the iTunes window. If the viewer isn't showing you can click View > Show Artwork. You can drag an image into the artwork viewer to add cover art. But, letâs do it using the File menu. Choose File > Get Info. Then click the Artwork tab. You can click in the box and paste a copied image. Or, click add and browse for a saved image file. Click OK. Sync or copy the file to an iPod. Then play the file on the iPod. The artwork will appear on the screen. It is possible to add multiple images as artwork in iTunes. However, only the first one will be displayed on an iPod. You can click through multiple pieces of artwork in iTunesâ artwork viewer using the arrows that appear when more than one image is available for artwork. But since iPods only display the first one, I just give my files one image as artwork. Images that are square look best on an iPod and in iTunes. The images can be JPEGs, PNGs, GIFs, or TIFFs. The images could be scanned, digital photos, or created with a graphics program. Or, the image could be copied from a web page. I've found that images with a resolution of 300 x 300 pixels or larger look best. If you'd like to add the same image as artwork for multiple files, just select multiple files in iTunes and click File > Get Info. iTunes will warn you, "Are you sure you want to edit information for multiple items?" Click yes and youâll see the Artwork box. Just drag an image into that box or paste an image and click OK. Now each of those files you selected has that image as it's artwork. Ok, so why would you want to add artwork? Well, first it gives a visual cue about what you are listening to. Also, newer iPods and iTunes use Cover Flow where you can browse for a file by its artwork. iPod touch displays artwork as the entire background when playing audio--so having the generic gray artwork looks boring and isn't memorable. If you have iPods loaded with files for students, the artwork can help organize or add to the content. The artwork could have large text on it that gives students a reason for listening. For example, while listening to audio from NASA about Mars, the artwork could say, "How is Mars like Earth?" Text-oriented artwork could be made in PowerPoint and exported as a JPEG and then added in iTunes. But text works best on an iPod touch because of its large screen. Too much text on a little graphic can be difficult or impossible to read. Another educational use of artwork is for illustration. Students could make short recordings about an endangered animal. A photo of the animal used in the recording would make useful cover art. Teachers could use artwork as a way to manage differentiated content. Perhaps recording are color-coded depending on vocabulary level or content. Then the teacher could glance at an iPod's screen to see what is being listened to by glancing at the artwork on the screen. There are lots of ways artwork can be useful in classrooms. But, don't confuse artwork with an Enhanced Podcast. GarageBand can make Enhanced Podcasts, where it's like a narrated slide show where the image on the screen changes to match the audio. The artwork I've been talking about does not change--you can only have one image displayed on the iPodâs screen. Lyrics I wish lyrics was named something else because the text doesn't have to be the words to a song. Lyrics in iTunes and on iPods can be a transcript of a speech, podcast, or other recording. The lyrics could be guiding questions, objectives, or a glossary of terms. In fact, the audio file you are listening to now has lyrics with it. If you're listening on a click wheel iPod, press the Center button four times (older iPod models may only take 3 presses). Now you can read the script for this episode while you listen. If youâre an iPhone or iPod touch user, while on the Now Playing screen, just tap the middle of the screen and the Lyrics will appear. Swipe the screen to scroll through the text. How did I add this text to my audio file? Well, it was quite easy using iTunes and the process is very similar to adding artwork. In iTunes, select the audio file. From the File menu, choose Get Info. Click the Lyrics tab and enter the words in the text box. You are more than welcome to copy and paste the text into the box instead of typing it all out. Sorry, lyrics can only be text--that means no formatting like centering, bold, fonts, or colors. Click OK and then sync or copy the file to iPod. On the iPod, start playing the audio file you added the lyrics to. On an iPod with a click wheel press the Center button to cycle through the playback scrubber, ratings, shuffle, and lyrics. My iPod seems to pause a few moments before displaying lyrics. So be patient. If youâre like me, youâll press that Center button too many times and end up having to cycle through again to display the lyrics. Newer iPods with click wheels have a nice touch of showing the artwork in the upper-left corner of the screen when displaying lyrics. And of course, you use the click wheel to scroll through the text on the lyrics screen. Like I've said, there are lots of uses for lyrics. Here's how Iâve used the lyrics feature. I found an MP3 of Dr. Martin Luther Kingâs "I Have a Dream Speech." I then find the transcript of the speech online. I copy the text and paste it as the lyrics in iTunes. Then students can listen and read at the same time. Lyrics could also be objectives for listening. Or, I like the idea of a glossary. Perhaps the recording from NASA has some hefty vocabulary words. They could be defined and available in lyrics so students can pause the recording and easily look up the meaning of a confusing word. For younger students, they could listen to a recording of their favorite story as they read the words on the iPod's screen. Anyhow, there are plenty of great uses when you can have accompanying text just a couple button presses away. You should note that iPods will only display the first 10,000 or so characters of lyrics. Anything longer will be cut off. So, if you have added the complete text of the U.S. Constitution to a recording of it, an iPod wonât display the entire text, just the first 10,000 characters, which turns out to be about one-third of the Constitution. I'd suggest breaking down a longer audio file into smaller chunks. So with the Constitution, divide the audio by Articles and then youâll have enough room for the transcript of each section in the lyrics. Also note that WAV and QuickTime files do not support artwork or lyrics. But, MP3, AAC, m4a, and m4b do. You can use iTunes to convert a WAV or QuickTime file to MP3 or AAC and then you can add that beautiful artwork and text to the lyrics. Everything you edit in the File > Get Info are called ID3 tags--for Identify MP3. Other software and players besides iTunes and iPods can can use this information. Artwork and lyrics are actually stored in the audio file itself. So if you transfer or email the audio file and use it on another computer, guess what? The artwork and lyrics will show up on the new computer! You can add lyrics and cover art to your podcasts. Just bring the audio file into iTunes, add lyrics and cover art. Then drag and drop the file onto your desktop and upload to your podcast server. Thatâs all for Episode 11. Thanks for listening. If you like this podcast, please give it a good review on iTunes. Donât forget you can go to learninginghand.com where you can read more about educational iPod uses. Stay special everyone!

iPods #10: Photos Part 2

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:20:00 GMT

Episode 10 focuses on various kinds of educational image sets that can be viewed in the Photos section of iPods. First, learn about commercial sources of image sets, like iPREPpress and Raybook. Explore many different kind of image sets, including visual books, study aids, flash cards, matching games, math manipulatives, converters, response cards, and more. In fact, you can visit learninginhand's Gallery of Educational Image Sets and download lots of great learning tools and resources for the Photos section of an iPod. Although teachers and students can download pre made image sets, the real value is using software like PowerPoint or Keynote to make your own image sets. Creating your own study aids really aids your study of a topic!

iPods #09: Photos Part 1

Sat, 9 Feb 2008 19:23:00 GMT

You probably know that you can sync photos to an iPod. After all, itâs an option in iPodâs Main Menu. Photos of your children, pets, and vacations are fun to show off on iPodâs screen. Episode 9 covers the basics of putting photos on an iPod and then tells you about viewing PowerPoint and Keynote slide shows on an iPod.

iPods #08: Manage Manually

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

An iPod is easy to sync with one computer. In fact, itâs really easy to sync multiple iPods to one computer. But, when you want to sync the same iPod to two or more computers, things get tricky. You can enable "manually manage music and videos" so you can connect an iPod with more than one computer without having those computers erase the iPodâs content from the other computers. But, it also means that you'll have to hand-pick the audio and video when you want to update the iPod.

iPods #07: iQuiz

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 19:16:00 GMT

iQuiz is a game for iPods with fun game show sounds and slick graphics. iQuiz comes with sample quizzes, but the real power comes from teachers and students making their own quizzes for iQuiz. iQuizMaker is software for Mac and Windows computers that makes it easy to create quizes and sync them to iPods. iQuizShare.com is a site for downloading and sharing quizzes. Like iQuizShare, iQuizr.com is a place for downloading and sharing quizzes with the added feature of being able to create quizzes online. iQuiz comes pre-installed on all new iPod classics and iPod nanos. It's available for older full-sized iPods that can play video for 99 cents from the iTunes Store.

iPods #06: Notes

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:19:00 GMT

When you think of iPods, you think of those white earbuds. While iPods are designed for audio (and some for video, too), iPods with screens can also display text. In the Extras menu, you'll see the Notes option. That's were you can view text files that have been placed on the iPod. Learn how to copy notes to iPod along with the limitations and workarounds.

iPods #05: Troubleshooting

Thu, 5 Jul 2007 21:55:00 GMT

iPods are great little devices and almost all of the time, they work just fine. However, use an iPod long enough, and youâre bound to have a problem or two. After checking to make sure the Hold switch is in the off position and the battery has a charge, itâs time for the Five Rs of iPod troubleshooting: reset, retry, restart, reinstall, and restore.

iPods #04: iPod shuffle Tips

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 19:20:00 GMT

Despite its lack of display screen, the $79 iPod shuffle can be more useful than you might think The iPod shuffle's 1 GB of memory can store more than 12 hours of audio (240 songs), which means the battery will need to be recharged before the shuffle has played all of its audio. In classrooms where a computer for syncing new content is usually available, 12 hours of audio is not really all that limiting. Listen to all 11 minutes 37 seconds of Episode #4 to learn about using the power of Smart Playlists to automatically sync podcasts and music to iPod shuffles.

iPods #03: Main Menu

Wed, 6 Jun 2007 16:08:00 GMT

If you're an avid iPod user, you've scrolled through your share of layers of menus. Of course, the first menu you start with is the Main menu. From there you can access music, videos, photos, and settings. But did you know you can customize the items listed in the main menu? I always add Playlists and Podcasts to the menu for quick access.

Customizing the Main menu items can save you time scrolling to your most-used iPod items. Also, if you're managing a set of iPods for student use, it's nice to place the items students will use in the Main menu so they can easily find what they are supposed to be doing on the iPod.

iPods #02: Downloading Videos

Tue, 22 May 2007 17:51:00 GMT

Some iPods can play video. In this episode, learn about converting and downloading videos for iPods. Tony explains how to download and convert video from three popular video services: United Streaming, YouTube, and TeacherTube. For more information about video and iPods, visit http://learninginhand.com/ipod/video.html.

iPods #01: Hard Disk Mode

Wed, 9 May 2007 22:47:00 GMT

Full sized iPods have huge hard drives. Current iPods have hard drives that are between 30 and 80 gigabytes in size; that might be more capacity than the hard drive in your laptop! That's enough space to store over 50 days of audio or 100 hours (4 days) of video. Chances are your collection in iTunes that you sync to your iPod is not nearly that large, leaving you with gobs of unused disk space.

Using your iPod for portable data storage is perfect for accessing files between school and home computers. And it's always a good idea to backup those documents you've spent hours and hours on. Since its likely you have so much extra space on your iPod, don't let it go to waste!