Adding Audio to Google Slides

What:

Google Slides users everywhere have long been requesting a feature to add audio to slides and Google for Education finally came through with the option to add audio to a slide. The only issue is that Google has not created an internal tool to record the audio. Therefore, here are four web-based free audio recording tools (source). 

ChromeMP3 Recorder is a simple tool that is a web app that only runs on Chromebooks. A brief how-to is located below (source). 

  • First, install the “ChromeMP3 Recorder” web app. You can get the Chrome Web Store link on the site at https://www.hablacloud.com/
  • Once the web app has been installed, you can open it from the Chromebook app launcher when needed.
  • When the app opens, simply click the red “Record” button to start recording.
  • You can click the “Pause” button if needed during recording.
  • When done, click the “Stop” button.
  • The app will now ask you where you want to save the MP3 file in your Google Drive. You can also name the file at this point to make it easier to find later.

Online Voice Recorder is another easy tool but this one is a website that runs on Chromebooks, Macs, and PCs. A brief how-to is located below (source). 

  • Go to the site at: https://online-voice-recorder.com/
  • Click the mic button to start recording.
  • Note: you will need to give it permission to use your microphone the first time you use the site.
  • Click the “Stop” button when done.
  • You will now get a screen where you can preview your voice recording.
  • If needed, you can trim the start and end of the audio to remove any extra dead space.
  • When done, click “Save“.
  • The MP3 file will be downloaded to your device!

Beautiful Audio Editor is easy to use and has lots of extra features for editing. A brief how-to is located below (source). 

  • Launch the tool at: https://beautifulaudioeditor.appspot.com/app
  • Click the “Record” button at the bottom of the screen to start recording.
  • Note: you will need to give it permission to use your microphone the first time you use the site.
  • Click the “Stop” button when done.
  • Your recorded track will now be added to the editor.
  • You can drag the play head back to the start and press the play button to preview your recording.
  • If you need to trim out any of the audio, you will need to use the “Split Section” and “Remove Section” buttons in the top toolbar.
  • When you are happy with the audio, you can click the “Download as MP3” button to generate a link to save the file to your device.

Twisted Wave is a more robust audio recording tool with lots of features that allows you to record up to five minutes at a time. A brief how-to is located below (source). 

  • Go to the website at: https://twistedwave.com/online
  • Click “New document” to create a new file..
  • Click the red “Record” button to start recording.
  • Note: you will need to give it permission to use your microphone the first time you use the site.
  • Click the “Stop” button when done.
  • Your recorded track will now be added to the editor.
  • You can click at the start of your clip and press the “Play” button to preview your recording.
  • If you need to trim out any of the audio, you can click and drag with your mouse to select the portion you want to get rid of, and then press your “Delete” button.
  • When you are happy with the audio, you can download it my clicking “File” then “Download“.
  • Better yet, to save it directly to your Google Drive you can click “File” then “Save to Google Drive“. TwistedWave will ask you to log in with your Google account and give permission.

Next Steps

Interested in learning more? Check out the websites below for great information. 

References:

All sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above. 

TLDR (too long didn’t read):

Google Slides users everywhere have long been requesting a feature to add audio to slides and Google for Education finally came through with the option to add audio to a slide. The only issue is that Google has not created an internal tool to record the audio. Therefore, here are four web-based free audio recording tools (source). 

@hollandkaylah

Build. Make. Hack. Grow. Every Kid Can Be a Maker with DIY Club.

DIY is a club for kids to earn Skills. DIY Makers share their work with the community and get patches for the Skills they earn. Each Skill consists of a set of Challenges that help them learn techniques to get the hang of it. Once a Maker completes a Challenge, they add photos and video to their Portfolio to show what they did.

Makers are curious about the world and strive to learn all kinds of practical knowledge and share it. They seek adventure in the outdoors, participate in communities, use technology to innovate, and have the confidence to try new things” (Source).

Take a look at DIY.org and consider the positive impact it can make in your family, classroom, club, civic group, etc.

“Creativity now is as important in education as literacy,
and we should treat it with the same status.”

–Sir Ken Robinson

Audio and Video Tutorials Made Simple #aaim2011

I’ve been developing this professional development workshop for the past few months and I am excited about presenting it for the first time today at the AAIM Conference.

Workshop Description
Equip parents to help with homework and enable students to engage with course content inside and outside the classroom with online tutorials. Learn how to easily create audio and video tutorials using free web-based resources.

Workshop Resources
Wiki Page with workshop lesson plan, tutorials, notes, and materials

Our Family’s Favorite App

I decided to share AudioBoo during my presentation at TeacheMeet Memphis. Our kids and I have a lot of fun with this service. AudioBoo makes podcasting and audio blogging a snap and can positively impact your classroom (See previous posts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). Here are my notes as well as the Ustream archive from my session. My full presentation notes are also available on my wiki, Learning Telecollaboratively.

Tutorials
Publishing to AudioBoo from a Web Browser
Creating an AudioBoo from iPhone

Teacher-Created Examples
2 Announcements
AudioBoo in the Classroom
More Examples

Student-Created Examples

First Day of Preschool


Kids Get Creative


Dear Mrs. Estep…

Let’s Connect
Clif’s AudioBoo Profile

Requesting Your Assistance: Making the Curriculum POP!

One of the professional development workshops I’m facilitating this week is titled Making the Curriculum Pop. We’ll be focusing on the use of digital media and alternative text selections to engage students’ interest in “pop” culture. I would appreciate any ideas for connecting music, TV, movies, newspapers, magazines, etc. with the curriculum, as well as links to images, audio, video, resources, etc. that you can share. I’ll certainly credit you for your suggestions, too.

Multiple Representations of Understanding through Digital Media (TAISTI)

I’m back in Nashville today for the TAIS Technology Institute. I’m excited about having opportunities to work with and learn from classroom teachers, media specialists, administrators, and more. I’ll be sharing a workshop on Multiple Representations of Understanding through Digital Media. The PowerPoint presentation is below and the full workshop notes are available on my wiki. Note that the links and logos in the PowerPoint presentation are clickable.

Multiple Representations of Understanding through Digital Media (NCTIES)

I’m enjoying the North Carolina Technology in Education Society’s 2010 Conference in Raleigh, NC. I’m excited about being one of the featured speakers and having opportunities to work with and learn from classroom teachers, media specialists, administrators, and more.

Today I’ll be sharing a pre-conference workshop on Multiple Representations of Understanding through Digital Media. This energetic session will demonstrate that with freely available digital technologies students can demonstrate their understanding of course content in multiple ways (images, audio, video, presentations, artwork, and more). Each student’s end product (learning artifact) allows them to personally self-express their understanding/mastery of the content/skills. Although teachers may not be comfortable using all of today’s technology it is important to consider allowing students to use it to communicate their understanding as they are often more naturally able to more fully express themselves with digital media. The PowerPoint presentation is below and the full workshop notes are available on my wiki. Note that the links and logos in the PowerPoint presentation are clickable.

Publishing to AudioBoo from a Web Browser

Our kids and I have a lot of fun with AudioBoo. AudioBoo is a service that makes podcasting and audio blogging a snap and can positively impact your classroom (See previous posts1, 2, 3 and 4). Although the service has previously pretty much been limited to iPhone users it is now available to everyone. Here’s a screencast demonstrating how to use their recently released BrowserBoo feature which makes it possible to record to AudioBoo through any web browser.

Here’s the sample Boo that I created during the screencast above.

Listen!

You can browse through my AudioBoo profile page to look through many other examples of boos that the kids and I have published.

I strongly encourage all teachers to take a look at AudioBoo. Whether or not you choose to use it as a teacher I believe there are students in your classroom that would enjoy using it and benefit from engaging this learning modality.

Sign-up for your AudioBoo account, friend me and other educators, and begin enjoying the valuable contributions this can bring you and your students.

Reply to Miguel Guhlin

THINKING OUT LOUD
Episode 006

Yesterday’s blog post by Miguel Guhlin (@mguhlin) caused me to think…and that caused me to want to share and think out loud…and now I’d really like to know how others respond…so…please read Miguel’s brief post about the Google Teacher Academy application process, then view my reply below and share your response.

I’d definitely appreciate it. 🙂

Please share your text/audio/video reply in the Comments section of this post or respond to the corresponding Seesmic conversation (Think video-based Twitter).

Multiple Representations of Understanding with Technology

These are the slides from my first Tennessee Educational Technology Conference presentation. Unfortunately the animations and effects were lost when uploaded to SlideShare. I’ve shared my notes and resources from this presentation over on my wiki, Learning Telecollaboratively. I hope to create a Vidcast or SlideCast of this presentation once I return home and things settle down.

I demonstrated that with freely available digital technologies students can demonstrate their understanding of course content in multiple ways (images, audio, video, presentations, artwork, and more). Each student’s end product (learning artifact) allows them to personally self-express their understanding of the content/mastery of the skills. Although teachers may not be comfortable using all of today’s technology it is important to consider allowing students to use it to communicate their understanding as they are often more naturally able to more fully express themselves with digital media.

View more presentations from Clif Mims.

Conference Tag: #tetc