Playing with AI-generated video

 最近貪玩，把上課的部分內容製成AI-generated video供學員觀看，代替我的解說或學員的即時閱讀，下面便是一例：Fukuko 在述說當初如何開始 Team Teaching (45 seconds)。

除了表情頗真實外，她的嘴形和發音的高度配合，令人驚異。這樣下去，我快無工可做了。

https://youtube.com/shorts/lfpSg77QQXg

Using the 'Connect to a post' function for a short presentation

 Padlet 的Canvas template，內有Connect to a post功能。昨天用這功能做一個五分鐘的展示，解說9個attribute與兩個概念的關係，發覺效果不錯。好處是同一個post可以connect to 多過一個概念，不是簡單的非此即彼，而且展示的過程很吸引眼球。

Just observed an excellent lesson

 今早就著Jockey Club Blended Learning Project觀了很精彩的一課，還意外發現中一學生製作video (how to make egg tarts)的能力我自愧不如。除了三位同校英文老師也一同觀課外(這是很好的professional development活動)，連校長也全程一小時在座，以表示對老師的支持。

生命影響生命: It goes both ways

 我們說教育事業是生命影響生命，一般是指教師的生命影響學生的生命。但對我來說，這是相向的，教師的生命亦會被學生的生命影響。

就像前晚和70年代後期的學生敘舊，她們述說當天我的一言一行，我的課堂活動， 我曾經說過的話，甚至我用過的教材，這大部分我已經忘記了，但是她們到今天仍記得這麼清楚。

於是反過來，她們的記憶提醒我要對教學工作負責，要繼續努力，做一個有熱誠的教育工作者。

我又再想起Make a Difference movie裏，Ms Thompson對Teddy不離不棄，Teddy日後成為出色的醫生，他在婚禮裏感謝Ms Thompson: "Thank you for believing in me. Thank me so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference." Ms Thompson卻說: "Teddy, you have it all wrong. YOU were the one that taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you."

多謝每一個令我不要忘記教學工作重要性的學生，你們的生命，也影響了我的生命。

https://makeadifferencemovie.com/index.php

Becoming a Symbaloo Certified Educator

 The latest e-Learning qualification I have obtained:

TTS apps that claim to be able to clone your voice

 Text-to-speech app雖然可以把输入的文字轉化成audio file,而且技術日趨成熟，但是narration 的聲音仍然要由app預設的選取。我曾經夢想有一天只要我輸入我自己聲線的樣本，TTS app便會採用我的聲音去generate audio narration。

最近一些AI app 聲稱可以這樣做，我試過Resemble AI,和Eleven Labs,結果都不滿意，完全不像我的聲線。如果你試用過這類app而效果滿意，有勞告知。

Another one using my own voice

Just did another one, this time using a recording of my own voice. The fantastic thing is how the avatar's facial speech movements are fully synchronised with my speech.

https://studio.d-id.com/share?id=a9d1142e38219283fe7ea813a8dc87ec&utm_source=copy

AI-generated Narrated Video

Text-to-speech technology used to produce oral narrations which somehow sounded robotic. But like all technologies, they got better and better. Below is an AI-generated video which I created from a script. (I gave the app the script; it then gave me the narrated video.) You will see that if you close your eyes and just listen to the audio, there is no way you can tell whether it's from a robot or a human. Well, perhaps you can tell it's from a robot, because a human won't sound that perfect. (She made a slip of the tongue: peer --- observation, because of my typing mistake in the script.)

https://studio.d-id.com/share?id=21b66a4b217a681138da3763f9b93ea0&utm_source=copy&fbclid=IwAR3OfkpAsXmQgnmMAtdQRXTT6816bLtdpV8JsvB30nEs58PuDwxVmadxCAE

AI generated avatar-videos

 And then had a go with https://studio.d-id.com/, which is used to generate an avatar-presented video from a script that you input. 

I made one from a personal biodata script. 

I think such videos have to be short. Otherwise, viewers can get bored by looking at the same avatar for too long, not to mention the fact the oral narration will still sound a bit robotic. 

https://studio.d-id.com/share?id=29aad4508d59bf44c8759bd0a732fa0f&utm_source=copy

Generating a slide deck from an AI tool.

 Just had a go with https://slidesgpt.com/index.html. 

The result is not bad, though it's unlikely it will give you 100% of what you have wanted. The picture that does with each generated slide often makes no sense. 

On other other hand, each slide is accompanied with Speaker Notes!

I think it can still be of some help, as you can pick those generated slides that suit your purpose.