Tikatok-Student Online Book Publishing

I was introduced to Tikatok by my friend, Jackie Gerstein, when I visited her class in Sahuarita, AZ and was so impressed with the books her students were creating. Inspired after my visit, I have been waiting to try it out with a real story and my opportunity has come. My 4th grade grandson has written a pirate story for a class project and with his creativity and my Tikatok account we have created our first book. His assignment was to write a story about his adventures as a pirate that included the following details: pirate name, name of his ship, where his hideout was located (on the NC coast), use as many pirate vocabulary words as possible, include a drawing of himself as a pirate and a drawing of his Jolly Roger, plus any additional information he wanted us to know about his life as a pirate. While the assignment was to create a written project to turn in (pencil, ink, or typed) we thought it would be fun to also create a Tikatok book that could be shared online. We used his original writing and drawings, and added several images from Compfight which provides images that can be freely used with Creative Commons licensing with attribution. While we still have lots to learn and explore we are excited about our first creation. I especially like the feature that allows you to continue editing your book after it’s created and the URL remains the same so anyone you share the URL with will always see your latest version. If you have tried Tikatok with your students I would love to see examples and hear your tips/tricks for creating books.

Tags: family, onlinepublishing, pirates, tikatok

Mogulus is now LiveStream-Outstanding free video service!

If you’re considering some live streaming, I strongly encourage you to give Mogulus (now LiveStream) a try!! I have been exploring and using the Mogulus Channel for live streaming and have been extremely impressed with how easy it is to navigate and produce online videos (both live and recorded sessions). The service has changed it’s name to LiveStream but appears to offer the same fantastic, free services I have been enjoying. This announcement was posted in the LiveStream Blog on May 19, 2009 and included the following information.
“With Livestream, anybody on the Internet who can connect a video camera to a computer can instantly stream live video worldwide, 24×7, via their own Livestream.com channels or to video players embedded on their own websites or social networks. To date, more than 300,000 people have registered and launched live video channels using Mogulus/Livestream since its introduction in 2007. “Livestream is doing for live video streaming what YouTube did for on-demand video clips,” said Max Haot, Livestream CEO and co-founder. “While we didn’t invent live streaming, we’re removing the barriers – making live video production and streaming easy and affordable for anybody to use and experience.”

I was so pleased with my experience in the creation of a special AzTEA Channel (AZ Technology in Education Alliance) that today I decided to create a personal channel to be able to stream and upload videos for our very own family around the world to stay connected in one location. The AzTEA Channel is being used to record and stream live events such as meetings, conferences, and professional development sessions. I have also included several YouTube videos just so I could explore this feature and to be able to vary the content to inspire others to try this incredible tool. I decided to name my family channel “Family and Me“–a spin-off from the delightful movie “Marley and Me” because there are so many fun, family adventures in that movie. Feel free to drop in and view either channel to see what’s possible, recognizing you’re viewing the efforts of a real beginner! I love the fact that you can embed the player for your channel on your website or wiki. You can also embed just a single video (embed code is provided for you!) It doesn’t get any easier than that!!

Tags: aztea, family, livestream, mogulus