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CBS News joins the 21st century

Mark Winegar — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:01:41 +0000

CBS News now publishes their reports and editorials online.

I think its the most user-friendly news site on the net today. Videos are categorized and easy to access. The player well designed and facilitates sharing. There is currently an error in their embedding code which renders that functin useless but I’m sure they will have it resolved shortly. The video is crisp and can be resized to fill the screen with a single mouse click. The sound is clear and the volume is easily adjustable. I found the default volume setting plenty loud enough. The offerings are complete from the evening news to 60 Minutes. There are even reports made especially for the web!

CBS is paying its way on the web though advertising. Each report begins with an advertisement. I watched a 44 minute episode of a 48 Hours and saw 6 advertisements. That’s far fewer than you’d see on broadcast television and a small price to pay for quality information.

Video on the World Wide Web is approaching a critical mass where paying for cable broadcasting will become unpopular. Why view your programming on the networks schedule when you can pick and choose your programming at will and for free?

This is an important new tool for educators. We can show relevant reports in the classroom and embed them into our web courses. These reports can help learners ground new information presented in our classes because they are timely and reflect the world we live in.

CNN enrolls

Mark Winegar — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:03:27 +0000

CNN is now offering the news as a series of podcasts you can include in your virtual classroom or broadcast in class. The podcasts feature embed code to allow easy inclusion into your course management software or blog. See below.

These podcasts are the same news reports and features as reported on CNN’s television broadcast. These means you can include timely information in your course. How long each podcast will be available is yet to be determined. I’ll see what I can find out and update you on this.

Adding a podcast is straight-forward. First equest the embed code. The CNN server is slow to respond but be patient and it will appear over the podcast. Then simply cut and paste it into your course or blog. I used the keyboard commands [CTRL]-[C] to copy and [CTRL]-[V] to paste. If you are using a Mac simiply replace the apple key for the control key.

CNN’s embedded podcasts produce annoying scrollbars. I did eliminate one by resizing the viewing window. Experimenting with the width and length parameters of the embed code should eliminate them entirely if you have the time and patience to experiment. I suggest living with the scrollbars.

Copyright? CNN is placing its material on the World Wide Web and freely offering the code to use it. I am not a lawyer but they’re behavior does not suggest this is an issue.

Overall I believe this is an important opportunity for educators to include high quality and current information into courses.

Randy Pausch’s ‘Last Lecture’

Mark Winegar — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:09:47 +0000

Time marches on without giving us a second thought.

Charles Osgood gives his best at describing the “life of Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who became famous after his “Last Lecture” appeared on YouTube and inspired millions around the world.” Watch a few minutes of an inspired life.

This was a man who loved life. He shared his life and love of learning through his teaching and speeches. His boyish candor and sense of humor touched all of us lucky enough to be in his audience. My only exposure to Dr. Pausch is through the World Wide Web. His TED talk inspired me to learn more about him. Although we never met he did touch my life. That’s the power of a good man and the web.

Listen to the speech that is inspiring people everywhere.

If you’re not psyched up now you must not have been listening.

iTunes U

Mark Winegar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:51:52 +0000

The iTunes store has been a great resource for educational pods and vods for sometime. I’ve been incorporating their podcasts in all of my Blackboard courses for some time now. The biggest problem I’ve had it navigating around the podcasts to find material which made the process more time consuming than it needed to be. However, the rewards far outweighed the pain.

Thanks to Steve Jobs and his friends I can now sit more comfortably because he has made the iTunes store more user-friendly by adding two new features.

The first is a back-button like then one on your web browser. It works that same way too so you won’t need any training on this feature. It may not seem like a big deal but I spend a lot of time at the iTunes store and it’s more than worth its weight in gold.

The more exciting new feature is iTunes U! Apple has recognized how significant their podcasts are to the education community and so they’ve reorganized the store to make shopping easier for educators. Thank you Apple!

Click here to check out the iTunes U online announcement.