What did I get from BETT2010?

January 16, 2010 in teachmeet, thoughts

BETT2010

I went with an open mind to the BETT show yesterday. I knew that it would be big, bold and brash but I had not realised how big, bold and brash it would be until I walked in through the front door into the main hall. I can safely say it was very noisy and very busy. The whole place is pictured very well by Roger Neilson’s post ‘Swimming with sharks or a village market‘. There are many other blog’s posting about BETT (Jan Webb’s ‘A Big BETT2010 day out‘ for example) that brilliantly describe the day’s events. I want to concentrate on what I got from it.

  • BETT is a showcase filled to bursting – it needs to diet not gorge out next year
  • The Teachmeet Takeover was brilliant – a successful mix of inspirational teachers demonstrating the effective use of free tools in the classroom
  • Teachmeet BETT2010 was outstanding
  • Meeting teachers from my Twitter PLN was the single most important part of my day
  • I had great conversations, exchanged many ideas, learned about new tools and left refreshed and energised!

You walk around BETT, like many others, with a face of non-compliance. You window shop and occasionally chat to the sellers about products that have no place in the classroom; 3D tech wins the most pointless tool award.

What made BETT worthwhile for me? The sharing of ideas with genuinely inspirational teachers and educators.


Tweeting at TeachMeet (Photo by Mr Ush blur added by myself)

Green screen on Windows Movie Maker

December 7, 2009 in film making, learning, lesson ideas, teachmeet

Movie making ©big-film flickr

Last night I attended the very successful #TMETRU09 online flash meeting which was also been shown on JustinTV and followed on Twitter using the same hashtag. Read about it here

My presentation (blogged about by Kathy Schrock)was the use of Green screen in iMovie’09 which led to many people enquiring about a similar effect in Windows for Movie Maker. Doug Belshaw posted a link in the FlashMeeting and also explained to have a look through Google to find how; so I did.

Here’s the easiest to follow guide I have found and also a YouTube video demonstrating the principle. I’ll definitely give it a go and let you know how it works. By the way, from what I gather it’s best to use a well lit blue screen and not a green screen on MovieMaker.

Steps to take to get Chroma Key (Green screen effect) in Windows Movie Maker

Many, many thanks to Doug and Dai for making the whole event possible.

#TMETRU09 – Using a green screen effect in iMovie 09

December 4, 2009 in film making, lesson ideas, teachmeet

Teachmeet’s are a fantastic opportunity for those that know about using tech in education to demonstrate their uses to others. The EdTechRoundUp TeachMeet edition (#TMETRU09) is special in that it will be entirely online – through a flash meeting and video presentations that will be streamed on justintv.

My presentation is about using the green screen effect in iMovie09 for a Mac. Unfortunately this may mean that many other teachers may not be able to use this as they don’t have a Mac. But for those that do I’m sure you will find my presentation useful and perhaps give you ideas how to use it with your class.  It’s a mere 2 minutes. Let me know what you think.

TeachMeet Gran Canaria 09

June 12, 2009 in teachmeet

It was half past three; fifteen minutes before the first ever teachmeet to be held in the Canary islands and I was sitting in my classroom pondering whether or not to present the event or not.

Earlier that day I had been informed that due to a slight mixup in dates someone had inadvertently set up a Secondary Teachers meeting at the same time and day as tmgc’09 and would leave attendance for it decimated. Would I give in and shout expletives and trudge to my car swearing? Not a chance. Read the rest of this entry →

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