Adventures in Twitterland...How Twitter can be used by educators and bloggers

As you can see by the right column of this blog, I have a Twitter account.

Twitter defines itself as a "real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting."

A common perception of Twitter is that it's just a place for people to talk about what they're doing. But the site's best function is as a news source.

Help Me Improve KHGN's Site

I need some feedback on the KHGN Web site that I manage. There are somethings I know I want to change, but I'd like some reader feedback.

Click here to go to KHGN site

Let me know what you think. Specifically, I want to know what you think about our photo galleries, videos, site organization and all the stuff on the sides of the pages.

Free Web Application of the Week: PhotoXpress Can Sizzle Up Your Presentation, Website

The World Wide Web can be a jungle for images that can bring a little spice to your multimedia. But most of the time, it'll cost you.

I manage a blog for my parent's business in Ohio as well as their regular e-mail marketing. A lot of the time, I need some sort of art to go along with the e-mail or post. For the past year or so, I ended up using istockphoto.com, which is a great site, filled with every image you can ever imagine.

But it costs about $2 to get a small graphic.

When I needed a graphic for a Prezi I recently did, I asked around for a site to find free stock images. That's when I was turned onto Photoxpress.com.

Cardinals rock Alamodome

Results will be announced within 30 minutes.

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Working with big lense has its advantages

I shouldn't have any problems keeping my fingers out of the picture with this NIKON VR 200 lense. Go Cardinals!

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This will be Big Red Cardinal Band in 35 minutes

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Cards prepare to warm up for state competition

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I arrived in San Antonio

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How to set up a Blogger account pt. I

I took some time to put together four tutorial videos on setting up a Blogger account. The videos run about six - 10 minutes a piece, from an introductory perspective.

Most of learning Blogger comes from playing with it on your own. But if you are uncertain about the software, you can check out the following videos for some help.  In the video about Blogger settings, I talk a little bit about how a blog editor can moderate comments and the blog's readers.

Editor's Note: Sorry, you will be unable to view the videos from a district computer because the firewall blocks all YouTube videos. Enjoy them at home though!

Let me know if you have any specific questions in the comments.

Former Cowboy WR Tony Hill talks to HHS football players

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NPR: Average Sticker Price For College $36,993 A Year

by Jacob Goldstein
Planet Money blog

Editors Note: The following article is from NPR.org. I will post parts of articles on this blog from time to time if I think the article is relevant to education or digital communications. I will give credit to the organization and author and only include the first few paragraphs of the article. -- CR

The cost of going to a public college has increased by 24 percent in the past five years. The cost of private school is up 17 percent.

Christopher Furlong/Getty Image

But that's just the sticker price. The value of grants and scholarships has also gone way up, wiping out the average increase at private schools and blunting it at public schools.

Here are some of the key numbers from a report released today by the College Board.

Continue Reading

The Battle of Video Sharing Sites pt. I

We have a bit of a conundrum at KHGN. We want to produce videos on our Web site, but we don't want to eat up server space.

At the same time, we want to be mobile ready and have our videos be viewable on HCISD computers behind the districts firewall. The best way to have a mobile-ready video is to utilize a video-sharing site, like the two featured with the following logos:

Free Web Application of the Week: Photoshop.com provides free editing/storage

http://www.photoshop.com/

Recently I wiped my laptop clean of unnecessary programs in order to make it a lean, mean, word processing/browsing machine.

I also did it so it would force me to utilize free Web applications. We are no longer at the mercy of purchasing the latest edition of Microsoft Office. You can do any and every basic digital function for free these days.

So each week, I'm going to post about a Web application that I like or don't like. I'll go over how to use it as well and provide some other additional information.

 For editing photos, photoshop.com has been my flavor of the month.

NPR: Think You Know How to Study? Think Again

Check out this NPR Talk of the Nation podcast on studying...

How to post a comment

I received a comment on my Facebook page the other day regarding commenting on this blog. So I put together a short video that shows you how to comment on the blog:

Behind the scenes at KHGN

photo of Mallory, khgn co-op student. photo by Corey via his phone./td>

I want to share an inside look into KHGN with this blog. We replace photos for 407 N Sunshine strip admin building hallways.

As a sidenote, I wrote and edited this post solely with my phone. It was a little tricky but manageable. Most of the work had to be done in html editor for some reason.

My First Podcast

photo via photoxpress.com

I love podcasts, as you can see by my "What's Corey Listening To" object in the left column of my blog. It's a great way for getting news on the go because you can listen in your car, while your doing chores or while your exercising.

We at KHGN think it's going to be a great way to share news with our parents who may not get the chance to sit down and watch a KHGN show, but have time to listen during their commute or in their office.

So here's my first podcast. Let me know what you think in the comment section. I'll archive the podcasts in my podcast page.

Speaking to a crowd is easy with good presentation

Before I give a presentation, my heart pounds to the point where it'll try to talk my brain out of walking to the front of the room. That goes for every crowd, no matter if it's 10 people or 50 people.

Picture from Monday night's City Council PTSA meeting where I presented.

Why educators should blog

I know what you're thinking. You have lesson plans, parent meetings, grading and you're supposed to throw blogging on top of the work load.

Photo from http://www.themactech.com/wp-content/frustrated.jpg 

Increasingly, education is becoming a matter of accessibility. It's why Jefferson Elementary opens its doors an hour early for its students, offering Mandarin Chinese class twice a week. It's why 10 campuses offer after school programs, most of which provide instruction on subjects not covered during the traditional school day. It's why higher education is offering more and more online classes.

So if you can provide additional instruction that students can access with the click of the mouse, why wouldn't you take advantage of that?