Teachers Teaching Teachers #227 Why do we need print publications? 12.1.10

For six years now, we've been publishing, distributing, and discussing student work online at Youth Voices. Recently we've been talking with a group of students who are working collaboratively on producing magazines built out of the content on Youth Voices.

This show follow-ups from TTT #224 - Students and Rick West help us build community - 10.27.10. Chris Sloan described our publishing plans this way to the team of folks at MagCloud:

After many years of publishing our [Judge Memorial in Salt Lake City,Utah] high school newspaper locally on newsprint, my students just published their first school “newspaper” on MagCloud: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/Issue/128339 We just distributed the issue to the students yesterday, and everybody loves the new format. Just as exciting is the fact that a group of teachers from around the country who I collaborate with are also beginning the process of having our students publish a MagCloud photo magazine created by the digital photography group at youthvoices.net. 

We are delighted that Lauren Bernsen joined us to talk about using MagCloud in K-12 schools.

MagCloud’s Marketing Maven: she’s our PR and Marketing guru… When Lauren is not designing our advertisements and collateral, she’s planning our events and trade shows and keeping our social calendar full. A former US-Sailing team member, a prolific chef and our in-house fashionista, Lauren works hard to keep MagCloud busy and looking good! (MagCloud)

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

20:56:15 SusanEttenheim: hi victoria
20:56:25 VictoriaAsh: Hello =]
20:59:52 mslaneeus: No sound?  I'm on Stream A....
21:01:30 mslaneeus: Hello?  
21:02:01 SusanEttenheim: hi! welcome!
21:02:10 mslaneeus: Am I early?  Or late?
21:02:42 Rachael Bath: Hi is this the right time & place for the Teachers Teaching Teachers show? I am In Australia & hoping I have my time conversions right
21:02:55 Chris Sloan: Right place, right time Rachael
21:03:17 Rachael Bath: Gr8 thanx
21:06:01 SusanEttenheim: hi rachel! welcome
21:06:10 SusanEttenheim: what do you teach?
21:06:20 SusanEttenheim: hi mslaneeus
21:06:22 SusanEttenheim: welcome
21:06:56 SusanEttenheim: hi rachael
21:06:58 mslaneeus: Hi Susan.
21:07:00 mslaneeus: thanks.
21:07:06 SusanEttenheim: please introduce yourself!
21:07:24 mslaneeus: I'm Siobhan Lane from Kamloops, British Columbia.  I teach grade 6.
21:07:31 SusanEttenheim: welcome back!
21:07:36 mslaneeus: Thank you.
21:07:41 SusanEttenheim: and rachael - please introduce yourself!
21:08:01 Rachael Bath: Hi Susan I am a Primary teacher in Australia - completed my masters in ed tech in April 2010. ahve been listening for a long time never been here live. I'm Excited
21:08:20 SusanEttenheim: welcome!
21:08:40 SusanEttenheim: rachael and mslaneeus - we can skype you in to the call too - do you use sskype?
21:08:51 mslaneeus: I do.  I'm mslaneeus on Skype.
21:09:04 mslaneeus: This is okay too.
21:10:00 Rachael Bath: Yes im rachael.bath
21:10:26 SusanEttenheim: ok great! listen now - and let me know when you have a question!
21:10:35 mslaneeus: Will do.
21:10:45 SierraLevy: Hello
21:10:47 SusanEttenheim: yeahhh hi sierra - can you hear?
21:10:55 SierraLevy: No, my speakers do not work
21:10:59 Chris Sloan: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/Issue/128633
21:11:15 SusanEttenheim: humm ok well you can follow the chat and listen later to the podcast
21:11:25 SierraLevy: Okay, sounds good
21:11:26 SusanEttenheim: victoria and nick are here too
21:12:18 SierraLevy: okay, great
21:13:36 SusanEttenheim: right now we're listening to the person from magcloud
21:13:57 SusanEttenheim: sierra - do you think if you put headsets in your computer, you might be able to hear even without the speakers?
21:14:13 SierraLevy: [b]I can try
21:14:18 SusanEttenheim: why not!
21:14:37 SierraLevy: [b]I don't hear anything :(
21:15:06 SusanEttenheim: hum check your sound preferences and make sure that the sound is going to the headset output?
21:15:41 Rachael Bath: serra have you un-muted your speaker above the message box  clicked on icon below EdTechTalk A to the right - i know these are probably obvious but just suggestions
21:16:29 SierraLevy: [b]yeah, i have tried, I know that my computer is very old and the microphone was broken. the speakers only work on occasion
21:16:54 SusanEttenheim: sierra did you say there's another computer you could listen on?
21:17:39 SierraLevy: [b]No, my father is working right now
21:17:48 SierraLevy: [b]on his computer
21:17:58 SierraLevy: [b]i can download the podcast later and listen on>?
21:17:59 SusanEttenheim: ah ok
21:18:02 SusanEttenheim: sure!
21:18:10 SusanEttenheim: look at the link before - did you see it?
21:19:32 SierraLevy: [b]yeah, i scrolled through the whole magazine
21:19:36 SierraLevy: [b]it was very nice
21:19:40 SierraLevy: [b]I liked the layout
21:19:42 SusanEttenheim: great
21:19:59 SusanEttenheim: victoria is talking now about the idea of creating a magazine
21:20:03 SusanEttenheim: why it sounds like fun
21:20:03 SierraLevy: [b]it was simple and clean
21:20:06 SierraLevy: [b]ohh
21:20:08 SierraLevy: [b]good
21:20:10 SusanEttenheim: as opposed to publishing on line
21:20:15 SusanEttenheim: what do you think?
21:20:24 SusanEttenheim: why does making a magazine appeal to you?
21:21:27 Rachael Bath: I think the concept of having both hard copy & electronic forms appeals to the wides audience.
21:21:42 SierraLevy: [b]It's always nice to have hard copies of information and be able to have prints of all the work we did. I know for the science class we want to put together a first impressive magazine since this is the first year we have the class and we want to be able to surprise everyone and show them we can create a scientific magazine which is fun and visually appealing.
21:21:59 SusanEttenheim: cool!
21:23:30 SierraLevy: [b]And this site also stores the magazine online? SO we have an electronic copy which is useful so we can put it on the ELRO Science Magazine website.
21:24:00 SusanEttenheim: yes
21:24:03 SusanEttenheim: hi matt!
21:24:08 SusanEttenheim: can you hear us?
21:24:09 matt montagne: hi susan!
21:24:16 SusanEttenheim: are you available to talk tonight?
21:24:32 SusanEttenheim: siobhan are you publishing at your school?
21:24:36 Rachael Bath: In Australia there are very few school magazines (the ones that do exist are predominantly photo copied in house) and I think the memorabilia factor is ureplacable.
21:24:45 matt montagne: audio=excellent
21:25:05 mslaneeus: We are not.  But I am really interested.  Would have to be appealing to a wide age range though.  Not sure how to go about doing that...
21:25:14 matt montagne: our students don't want to go digital
21:25:18 SusanEttenheim: rachael can I call you in?
21:25:21 matt montagne: they want to keep their pub in print
21:25:23 SusanEttenheim: hahahaha
21:25:24 Rachael Bath: Has Facebook replced the school Magazine?
21:25:30 SusanEttenheim: can you talk matt?
21:25:35 matt montagne: good quest Rachel
21:26:04 matt montagne: sure, Susan
21:26:41 Rachael Bath: that would be fine Susan, Don't know that I can add much more than the experts
21:27:02 SusanEttenheim: let me know when you want to talk rachael!
21:28:15 Rachael Bath: should I pose the question I have just posted re Facebook?
21:28:28 SusanEttenheim: sure!
21:28:41 SusanEttenheim: i'll call you in a sec
21:28:52 Rachael Bath: OK
21:29:54 SusanEttenheim: siobhan - can you hear ok?
21:30:04 matt montagne: I heard Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine, speak about the future of print pubs at Stanford a year ago...
21:30:05 mslaneeus: Through here?  Yep.
21:30:29 matt montagne: He said that the iPad would give Wired an opportunity to make their print pub even better...
21:30:58 SusanEttenheim: yes and klein just went to work for a similar push!
21:31:24 lauren: Cool article on why print magazines still matter: www.businessinsider.com/chris-anderson-publishing-adapting-to-a-new-age-...
21:31:47 Chris Sloan: yes Matt the Wired interface on iPad is impressive
21:31:56 matt montagne: then of course, there are countries that don't have an infrastructure for print...so that is a whole other issue!!!
21:32:14 Chris Sloan: good point Matt
21:32:29 Chris Sloan: the startup costs of printing are prohibitive for many
21:32:45 matt montagne: Chris, Anderson had an interesting point...he said they would ultimately produce fewer print issues annually, but that they would be of super high quality...
21:33:08 mslaneeus: Do any or all of you think this is valuable at the elementary level?  Or really better suited for older students? And how did you all get started?
21:33:29 Chris Sloan: @mslaneeus. I think that's what happening with my staff
21:33:39 matt montagne: Anderson talked about some interesting papers for the magazine-high gloss, foil embossed, etc...
21:33:48 Chris Sloan: smaller print runs, higher quality
21:34:00 Chris Sloan: that's what we're doing now
21:34:22 matt montagne: thank you for the succint summation, Chris!!!
21:34:51 Chris Sloan: We undersupply now
21:35:00 Chris Sloan: only the people who really want it, get it now
21:35:06 Chris Sloan: we used to throw a lot away
21:35:26 SusanEttenheim: siobhan - can I call you into the call?
21:35:33 SierraLevy: [b]can you call me in somehow>
21:35:37 SierraLevy: [b]I think it might work now
21:36:15 mslaneeus: You can.  I'm way more comfy being a 'lurker' but I'm happy to be a part of it!
21:36:15 matt montagne: I do think that if my students were faced wtiht the same economic issues that real newspapers are experiencing that they'd develop a better online presense and move to smaller print runs, but higher quality as Chris says
21:36:35 SusanEttenheim: great - just opening up a spot for you...
21:36:54 matt montagne: my students can just go to the copier and print whatever they'd like...they don't have the economic issues to worry about-I wish they did.
21:37:03 SierraLevy: [b]is there something I have to request?
21:37:20 matt montagne: love that 'extreme' publishing
21:38:05 Chris Sloan: http://longshotmag.com/
21:41:10 matt montagne: baby duty calls
21:41:18 Chris Sloan: good talking to you Matt
21:41:31 VictoriaAsh: When I first started looking into making a magazine, I found out InDesign. What I liked about it was that it could be created as a digital magazine as well as a print magazine.
21:41:48 Chris Sloan: we use InDesign too
21:42:04 Chris Sloan: but we just upload pdfs to MagCloud
21:46:15 mslaneeus: How often are you all publishing?  Monthly?  A few times a year?
21:46:37 Chris Sloan: We publish monthly
21:47:19 mslaneeus: Did you start with student interest?  A committee?  How do you decide your articles?
21:47:55 Chris Sloan: The students determine the content.  There are senior editors.
21:48:07 lauren: baremagazine.magcloud.com
21:48:28 mslaneeus: Hmmmm... trying to envision how to begin the process with much younger students.....
21:49:06 Chris Sloan: Think about starting with everybody submitting a good piece of writing.  It could be open or around a theme.
21:49:25 Chris Sloan: Then there's usually some overachiever who will volunteer to try to put it together
21:49:33 mslaneeus: I have one of those!
21:49:33 lauren: Themes help alot. I think taking a page from Longshot is a great place to start
21:49:35 Chris Sloan: but you'll probably help
21:50:02 Chris Sloan: You can use Microsoft Word
21:50:15 mslaneeus: We are on Linux.  Have Open Office.
21:50:20 SusanEttenheim: there's a brand new Google Doc available too!
21:50:24 Chris Sloan: http://stemarts.com/
21:50:27 SusanEttenheim: and Pages is great for this too!
21:50:55 lauren: Microsoft Publisher is probably the easiest for a PC if you aren't going to use InDesign
21:51:09 lauren: otherwise for Macs, I really recommend PAGES or InDesign
21:51:31 SusanEttenheim: lauren - it turns out that there's a teacher - I think in Cal who has just developed a Google Doc template for a magazine layout!
21:51:41 lauren: wow
21:51:42 SusanEttenheim: it's very exciting because the doc can be shared
21:51:47 lauren: that's great!
21:51:49 mslaneeus: Hmm......We don't have Windows available to the students.  Only Linux so maybe Google is a great way to go.
21:51:54 SusanEttenheim: we should connect you!
21:52:11 lauren: that's very cool. I would love to see it
21:54:12 Chris Sloan: yes Google Docs would work
21:55:13 lauren: fotoblur.magcloud.com
21:55:21 Chris Sloan: Susan, I talked to Cheryl from California (after she posted to the Group). She's a great resource for all of us.
21:55:32 lauren: jpgmag.magcloud.com
21:55:54 SusanEttenheim: yes - I wanted to invite her tonight but just didn't get to it!
21:56:07 Chris Sloan: But she also said we can use her template however we wanted.
21:56:22 Chris Sloan: so mslaneeus we should talk more
21:57:33 mslaneeus: @ Chris - we should indeed.  I am trying to wrap my head around it....
21:58:43 Chris Sloan: It's really not that hard. If I can do it, you can do it
21:59:31 mslaneeus: :)
22:01:53 Rachael Bath: how can I go back to get the first link in the chat room I closed the window OOPS!
22:02:08 Chris Sloan: what was the link
22:02:14 SusanEttenheim: rachael this will all be published too
22:03:23 Rachael Bath: I think it was the magcloud link to Laurens magazine
22:04:38 Chris Sloan: here's a link to what my student is doing: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/Issue/128633
22:04:57 lauren: [email protected]  if you have any questions that we don't cover!
22:05:14 lauren: magcloud.wordpress.com
22:05:27 Rachael Bath: thanks Chris
22:05:36 Rachael Bath: and Lauren
22:07:13 Chris Sloan: what age do you teach Rachael
22:08:53 Rachael Bath: I am a primary teacher - not working at the moment. Finished my Masers in EdTech this year. Dissertation on "Incorporating social networking into the primary classroom".
22:09:22 mslaneeus: @ Chris....can I pick your brain sometime?  Contact?
22:09:38 Paul Allison: Rachel ... also check out http://voicesonthegulf.org -- the "Our Space" channel has elementary students.
22:09:49 Chris Sloan: @Rachael. I'm also getting a degree in Ed Tech
22:10:11 Chris Sloan: @mslaneeus any time. [email protected]
22:10:29 Rachael Bath: Paul I have had a brief look will deffinately get back to it
22:10:40 mslaneeus: @ Chris.   Thank you!
22:10:51 Rachael Bath: Good luck Chris
22:11:08 Chris Sloan: and to you too!