I have spent most of my weekend trying to figure out how to embed sound and video files into the school’s Globalstudent blogs. Globalstudent and Globalteacher blogs are powered by WordPress just like Edublogs but they are supported by Victorian Education Channel and SLAV (Schools Library Association of Victoria) and so there is no cost to teachers and they are free of advertisements.
However the tools for posting blogs do not include a media player in Globalstudent/teacher and so sound files and video files are not embedded but open in a separate window. Considering Edublogs and Globalstudent blogs are so similar I knew that it had to be possible. Finally after trying many workarounds I discovered the solution with a Google search. Jake Ludington’s MediaBlab had the code that I needed and clearly explains what it all means.
It even explained why the controls on the Quicktime player weren’t always visible. Now when the students post their sound and video files they will play in the same window which is a much more attractive option. The only thing I have to master now is making the videos the right size for the blog page. You can see how it works at Berwick Lodge Home Page. There is a Video example on Grade 6Z’s site as well. In this example you will understand what I mean about getting the size of the video right. If I made the player any smaller parts of the movie were cut off so it is just a matter of choosing the right dimensions when making the file.
