A Conversation With Dr. Keith Westman from Otus

Last month I thought to myself that I didn't have enough to do so I set about launching a podcast. I failed. It turns out that I don't really have enough time to do all of the editing that a good podcast requires and still meet all of the other obligations that I have in my life. But I did record a handful of conversations with folks over Google Hangouts. I'm going to publish those recordings over the next couple of weeks. The editing is rough to non-existent, but the conversations are good. The first one that I'm publishing is my conversation with Dr. Keith Westman.

Keith is the COO of Otus. Otus is an LMS provider that I frequently recommend to teachers and administrators who are looking for something with more features that Google Classroom but not so complicated that you'll need weeks of training to understand how it all works. And Otus is free for individual teachers to use which makes it a great choice for small schools.

Smithsonian & ePals Present the 2014 Junior Folklorist Challenge

ePals and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage are hosting the 2014 Junior Folklorist Challenge. The challenge asks students to identify examples of folklore in their communities, identify tradition bearers, and conduct interviews with tradition bearers. Interviews can be recorded in text, video, or audio. After conducting and recordings their interviews students need to create a short (under seven minutes) video, audio slideshow, or podcast about their chosen tradition and tradition bearer. Click here to see all of the presentation requirements. See the video below for more information about the challenge.

Applications for Education
Even if your students don't make submissions to the 2014 Junior Folklorist Challenge, the concept of the challenge makes for a great local history project. Collaboratively creating a website to organize and feature presentations about local traditions could be a good community service for your students.

How to Record Audio Interviews With Skype and QuickTime

Last week someone asked me if it was possible to record the audio portion of a Skype call. The answer is yes, you can. There is software designed specifically for that purpose (VodBurner is a popular choice), but if you have a Mac you can record by using QuickTime. The screenshots below provide directions for recording a Skype audio call by using QuickTime. After recording your call you can take the audio file and use it Garage Band or another audio editing tool like Audacity to edit the audio.

Step 1: Call your contact. You can call by connecting to a Skype contact or you can call by dialing a phone number.

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Step 2: While your call is in progress open QuickTime and select "New Audio Recording" from the "File" drop-down menu.

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Step 3: Choose an input source for recording your call. Unless you have another microphone connected to your Mac, select "Built-in microphone."Click the red "record" button when you're ready to start capturing the conversation.

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Step 4: After your call has ended, save the recording then export it to your desktop as "Audio Only." You will then be able to use the audio recording in the sound editor of your choice.

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