Teaching with Technology
Ideas and Tips to Use in the Classroom and beyond

Volume 1, Issue 3
October/November 2004

AUDACITY

Type audacity into your online dictionary and you're likely to get: bold or insolent, aggressive boldness, unmitigated effrontery; type audacity into a search engine and you'll most likely get the free audio recording and editing software by that name. Before you let yourself believe that you don't need to know about it because you'll never use it, think again. I'll bet there are many ways a digital recording of your voice would be useful, for example: sending an audio email message: "I miss you" or "Have you called your mother lately?" or you could even sing Happy Birthday and email that. If you are an instructor you might think of sending students a recording of your comments on their papers, or record your lectures and upload them to the Web where students can access them and listen again and again. Actually, there are lots of ways that audio can be used to add a human touch to your digital communications and increase the comprehension of them.

Audacity is extremely easy to use. When you are ready to begin recording, simply open Audacity. At the top you'll see the standard audio recording buttons. Click on the red "record" button and begin speaking. As you speak you will see a blue "wave" in the audacity window. This is a visual representation of the sound. When you are done, click the orange "stop" button.
Audacity not only provides a way for recording, but it also allows you to edit your recording, and "save" it in a number of file formats, including MP3. The advantage of the MP3 file format is that it makes for smaller file sizes and can be played on MP3 players (like the iPod) as well as most computers. In order to be able to save your recordings as MP3s, you'll want to download BOTH the Audacity program and the LAME file from the Audacity download page. When you've made a recording and wish to save it as an MP3, you'll simply select "export" on the file menu, rather than save. The first time you choose to export your recording as an MP3, it will ask you to locate the LAME file that you downloaded to your computer. Simply point the program to its location by browsing there. You will not need to do this again, unless you move the LAME file to a new location.

As I mentioned above, Audacity is also a sound editing program and can be a lot of fun. You can add special effects like echoes or change the pitch. By the way, you really don't need a special microphone to begin using Audacity; the one that came with your computer should be fine for most uses. If your computer did not come with a microphone, you can pick one up for less than $10.

You can email, upload, transfer and/or burn your audio files like you might a Word document. It's easy.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net

THE PROFESSIONAL WAY TO SAVE A SHOW

The icon for the show will look somewhat different than the icon for a the standard "presentation" format:

When you are ready to give your presentation, simply double-click the show icon, and your PowerPoint will open--ready to begin your presentation.

Should you need to edit your "show", simply open the PowerPoint program first. Then, on the File menu select Open and find your show. Remember to resave it as a show. Don't be surprised if you start noticing how many presenters don't know the secret.

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FREE ACCESS TO MIT'S COURSE MATERIALS

MIT's OpenCourseWare began in September of 2002, making the course materials for 50 of its courses available to the public, free and online. There are now more than 500 of their courses online and the goal is to make all of MIT's undergraduate and graduate courses available by 2008. OpenCourseWare does not provide access to the faculty, but does provide all of the course materials including lectures, handouts and quizes. And, while the program does not grant degrees or certificates, several learning communities have sprung up around these courses; and, MIT's initiative is gaining worldwide attention. A recent article in Toronto's Globe News says the initiative "could revolutionize public and corporate education around the world." In September 2003 Wired Magazine published a story on how some users have benefited from OCW."Lam Vi Quoc used what he learned from the lecture notes and programming tutorials in Course 6.170 to design a program that allows residents of Ho Chi Minh City to find bus routes in the city, by destination, while Evan Hoff, a 20-year-old software developer in Nashville, Tenn., tells of how 6.170 has made him more productive and efficient in the way he writes his programming code."

Some of the courses currently available include:

In Nuclear Physics: Statistical Thermodynamics of Complex Liquids, Spring 2004
Writing and Humanistic Studies: Documentary Photography and Photo Journalism: Still Images of A World In Motion, Spring 2002
Biology: Experimental Microbial Genetics, Fall 2003
Anthropology: Marketing, Microchips and McDonalds: Debating Globalization, Spring 2004
Music and Theatre Arts: Introduction to Stagecraft, Spring 2003

More information about MIT's OpenCourseWare can be found at: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm. In addition, you can sign up to receive regular updates on what's happening in OCW by subscribing to their newsletter.

MIT OCW's goals are to:
Provide free, searchable, access to MIT's course materials for educators, students, and self-learners around the world. Create an efficient, standards-based model that other institutions may emulate to openly share and publish their own course materials. (MIT)