Twisted Wave for Recording Audio on Chromebooks

Here's a great discovery that you can use with your students to record audio tracks on Chromebooks!  Check out www.twistedwave.com.

If you have ever used “Audacity”, the free open source software for recording and editing sounds, you will find this program very similar and just as easy to use.  Not only can you easily record an audio track of up to 30 seconds, but with TwistedWave you can also save the audio track directly to a Google Docs Account.  This is a fantastic student tool for fluency practice.

Getting started is easy, there is nothing to download or install.  Go to www.twistedwave.com and click the “Online” icon on the right side of the page.  Twisted Wave works great on Chrombooks, but it can also be used in Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer.

When you are ready to begin a recording, click the "New Document" icon under the introductory paragraph.

Clicking "New Document" will bring up a new window asking permission to access the microphone on your computer.  Click the "Allow" and the "Remember" check boxes to avoid seeing this request in the future.  You may also see a second "Allow" button at the top of the screen in a grey menu bar if you are using the Chrome Browser.  Internet Explorer will sometimes request permission with an option at the bottom of the browser window.

The audio recording screen will now appear active on your screen.  The rewind, pause, forward, and record buttons are now available for you to begin recording.

You will find with a little practice that students can also quickly delete and re-record their audio tracks using the "Control+A" keyboard shortcuts and Delete keys much faster than closing and reopening this audio window.

When you have an audio track that you are ready to save, simply click "File" and make a selection as to how you'd like to save your file.  Note that you can even send the audio file straight to Google Drive!

Without an account students can only save an audio track up to 30 seconds long.  If you need to create longer clips then you will first need to set up a free TwistedWave account with your email.  Students can set up free accounts with their @csdddocs.org student email (The student Gmail feature is only available for students in grades 6 and up in the Canyons School District).

For more tips and tricks on using TwistedWave or installing the TwistedWave bookmarklet in your Chrome bookmarks bar, check out https://twistedwave.com/online/

Podcasts: Expanding Your PLN

Have you ever heard of a Podcast? Do you know what it is? Have you listened or watched one? Well, if you haven’t heard about them, then this is your opportunity to learn. Podcasts are either audio or video and they tell a story or give you information. Most are based on a subject. People who have their own podcast usually love what they do or want to help other people learn more about their interest.

I listen to them to learn more about the subject that they are about. I listen to a few Mac Podcasts. Some are teaching me new things about the mac and others are about Mac news. One is daily but most of them are weekly. They range in length from 15 minutes to 2 hours each podcast.

I enjoy listening to them. They are all part of my PLN. I learn a lot of new things from them. Here are a few that I listen to: Mac Power Users, For Mac Eyes Only, Mac OS Ken, and Today in IOS are my Mac Podcast and I found them on iTunes. I also found one that I enjoy listening to just for fun. I’m a Star Trek fan and this podcast is starting at the very beginning of the first series and talking about each episode. It is called Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast.

There are Podcasts about any subject that you are interested in or want to learn about. I hope that you will look into them and start learning.

Ross