As I have said in other posts in this blog, this was my first course in the masters program. Although I teach a technology course, I myself have not taken classes (other than professional development) since 2004. I had no idea what to expect, but I admit that I was afraid this class would be far beyond what I was able to do.
I am very please to say that this was not at all the case. Dr. Yuen’s experience with this field really shows through in his teaching, and at the same time, he was very candid about the fact that technology is not always perfect and can sometimes be frustrating. This made me feel very comfortable and added to my confidence that I would be able to master all of the assignments in this class.
In addition to Dr. Yuen’s teaching, the class is set up through a social network. I teach through Blackboard and was happy to see a similar kind of connectivity. Because this class was taught partially online and partially in face-to-face meetings, being connected through the social network made the class available to me 24/7. Whenever I had free time I could log on and check on posts and assignments. I also found that it was very helpful to read what the other students were going through because it offered validation and solutions to the problems I was experiencing. Furthermore, all of the course’s instructional materials were available through the network, so I had answers to my questions right at my finger tips without having to waste time searching through Google or YouTube to find the information that I needed.
Each of the software applications covered in the class was free and I cannot stress how meaningful that is from the point of view of a teacher in this current economy. I think most teachers would agree with me that it is a worrying time to be teaching. We have to worry not only about our main duty of educating our students, but all we hear about is budget cuts and layoffs. If nothing else, there is definitely an attitude of doing more with less and that is why learning all of these different free software applications is so valuable. It will not only benefit me, but I can pass all of this information on to my students as well, without having to get budget approval.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Introduction: Thank Yuen!
The following is a brief description of IT644 taken from my course information section of our class' social network site. "Advanced Hypermedia Development: IT 644 is an advanced course in the development and use of interactive, animated hypermedia products for use in instructional design projects, lectures, presentations, and multimedia events. There is an emphasis on producing applications incorporating text, audio, graphics, animation and digitized video which effectively communicate to the user."
It644 was my first class taken in my Masters program at USM. My professor was a remarkable gentleman by the name of Dr. Steve Yuen. I was very impressed by his command of the subject matter and how up-to-date he was on all the new applications. Dr. Yuen also presents the information with enthusiasm that made me want to learn as much as I could. Because of this I took away a lot from this class. The applications I was introduced to, I was able to use right away in my 9th Grade STEM class, other applications will most assuredly will be integrated into my curriculum in the upcoming school year. Dr. Yuen's philosophy of learning new technology by "having to play with it to learn it" is something I believe in and fully understand to be true. This is also a lesson that I will pass on to my students. We live in a technology driven world, but not everything works correctly the first time you try it. Information is being presented to my students at light speed, and they have become conditioned to that fast pace to the point that they sometimes think that technology does not take effort or practice. Dr. Yuen's fair and practical teaching approach to the applications covered in this course helped me to pass along to my students the idea that not everything is instantaneous and sometimes you need to practice, practice, practice!
Overall I enjoyed my time in this class. I learned a lot that can be used immediately to differentiate my learning strategies. What I have learned will also, I feel, increase in the assignment interest level of student as well as the teacher. It is my utmost goal to make my class a virtual class with up to date technology. In this class we covered digital imaging, including capturing and manipulating the images; digital audio, including recording narration and importing music, as well as manipulating digital recordings; digital video, including video capturing and editing; computer tutorials, including still image turorials and video tutorials; presentation software, and animation. Looking back over all of the lessons, it is hard to pick out which I liked the most or which I may use the most. I think this shows how useful all of the information is, because it is all applicable in my day-to-day and professional (teaching) life.
It644 was my first class taken in my Masters program at USM. My professor was a remarkable gentleman by the name of Dr. Steve Yuen. I was very impressed by his command of the subject matter and how up-to-date he was on all the new applications. Dr. Yuen also presents the information with enthusiasm that made me want to learn as much as I could. Because of this I took away a lot from this class. The applications I was introduced to, I was able to use right away in my 9th Grade STEM class, other applications will most assuredly will be integrated into my curriculum in the upcoming school year. Dr. Yuen's philosophy of learning new technology by "having to play with it to learn it" is something I believe in and fully understand to be true. This is also a lesson that I will pass on to my students. We live in a technology driven world, but not everything works correctly the first time you try it. Information is being presented to my students at light speed, and they have become conditioned to that fast pace to the point that they sometimes think that technology does not take effort or practice. Dr. Yuen's fair and practical teaching approach to the applications covered in this course helped me to pass along to my students the idea that not everything is instantaneous and sometimes you need to practice, practice, practice!
Overall I enjoyed my time in this class. I learned a lot that can be used immediately to differentiate my learning strategies. What I have learned will also, I feel, increase in the assignment interest level of student as well as the teacher. It is my utmost goal to make my class a virtual class with up to date technology. In this class we covered digital imaging, including capturing and manipulating the images; digital audio, including recording narration and importing music, as well as manipulating digital recordings; digital video, including video capturing and editing; computer tutorials, including still image turorials and video tutorials; presentation software, and animation. Looking back over all of the lessons, it is hard to pick out which I liked the most or which I may use the most. I think this shows how useful all of the information is, because it is all applicable in my day-to-day and professional (teaching) life.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Fuzzwich
Project Description: "Create an animation using the Fuzzwich. You must have at least 2 characters with appropriate actions, faces, and speech bubbles."
Overview: I liked this project a lot. It gave me a chance to play with animation......and I love animation. Fuzzwich was great for introducing the concept of path animation. It also gave me yet another chance to interject humor into my course work, which is important to me, because laughter unites people and is a great way to teach.
The Fuzzwich software takes some getting used to, but overall, is pretty easy to use. It comes with many background "stages" for your anime, or you can import your own, which is what I did. It also comes with many different characters to choose from, each with their own quirky personality, and you can even cut/paste your own face (or someone else's) over a character's face.
Fuzzwich is great software to use as a teaching tool. I teach in a computer lab, and this is the type of software that is appropriate for my ninth grade students. First of all, it is free, and that is a price range that any teacher can work into their budget. Secondly, it is so entertaining, that my students will be focused on the “fun” aspect of the application. This way, they can learn media principals without the tedium of reading through text books and working drill and practice problems. As I said before, humor is very important to learning, because laughter stimulates the brain. Because this software is so entertaining and includes so many different scenarios, action and dialogue, not only can I use it in class to teach the basics of animations, but I can also create other instructional videos, messages or even commercials to help lessons stand out in my students’ minds.
Fuzzwich does have a learning curve. By this, I mean it is important to practice with it and plan your animation ahead before attempting to publish something. To that extent, and can be a little time consuming. But once you get the hang of it, it can also be addictive. Also, while this software has its benefits, it is certainly only an introduction to path animation and definitely has limits, as to be expected with free software. I plan on using this in my classroom, both to teach Fuzzwich itself and to incorporate funny animations into other lessons to keep my students interested.
Show Beyond: Slidecasting
Project Description: "Create a slidecast using the Showbeyond. Your slidecast must have the following: a title slide, a minimum of 12 images, audio or music, a short statement (text) to tell story on each slide"
Overview: Slidecast has many different uses, but being a teacher, I suppose I will start with the professional application. Showbeyond software is a great tool for a teacher to use because it is online, free and fast. In little time, I could create instructional slidecasts for a lesson with music to deliver information to my students in a way that may be easier for them to remember than just lecturing to them. Also, because I teach a web-based class, I can upload the slidecast for them to review as many times as they need, or I can keep slidecasts in my lesson plan for future classes.
For the students, Showbeyond is a way for them to develop well organized presentations without having to master one of the more detailed programs like powerpoint (also, outside of the classroom, not all of my students have access to powerpoint, but if they have internet access, they can get to Showbeyond). Uploading photos and music is really easy and the software allows plenty of opportunity to re-edit and make additions to the project.
For use outside of the classroom, Showbeyond is a good way to make a documentary for advertising or to display family photos. For the class project, I created a profile of my best friend, Robby Musso, who also happens to be an incredibly talented artist. As you can see in my Showbeyond above, Robby is a comic book artist and has been drawing for the Transformers comic books. He also shares my love for all things anime, and Showbeyond was a great way to showcase some of his artwork. I also could not resist adding the theme song from the original Transformers Movie (the one from 1983…not the one starring Shia LeBuf). If you were born in 1979 or before, admit it- you were humming along!
Showbeyond does not require as much practice or trial and error as some of the other software applications we learned in this class, but it is rather limited in the file size and running time of the music uploads and overall project. I do not think the limitations outway the benefits of the software, but it is something to consider for larger or more professional projects that may require more detail.
Presi: Online presenting
Project Description: “Create an online presentation using Prezi. Your Prezi presentation must have at least 12 slides with images and a YouTube video. Upon completion of your assignment, please embed your Perzi presentation (Width and Height as 440 x 320) here.”
Overview: Prezi is awesome presentation software. It is probably one of the easiest, if not the easiest, presentation applications I have ever used. I have used powerpoint in the past, but I always had trouble balancing the text box in the slides or adding media. With Prezi, I did not have any of those problems. I also think Prezi looks better than powerpoint. Prezi is laid out as if your were “brainstorming” your presentation. However, where you would normally think of brainstorming as being a rough draft and needed to be re-written, the Prezi software puts the “brainstorm” format into final form for you. I found this style to be easier to create my presentation than the slide-by-slide linear format of powerpoint. I also found it very easy to load media into Prezi. To incorporate Youtube videos, all you have to do is copy and paste the URL into the text box. How could you make something any easier than that?
The Prezi I made for this class was also part of a presentation that I contributed to for work (teaching). I was tasked with presenting a chapter of a book to my staff members who had also read the book. Overall, Prezi was a great success for this task. I had no problem incorporating the data I needed from the chapter material or organizing it into a streamlined presentation. However, during the actual presentation to the faculty and staff, while I was pausing the Prezi to speak about the material, the screensaver on the computer I was using came on. When I deactivated the screensaver, the Prezi had stopped and reverted back to website view. I had to click “home” and zoom the Prezi back to the correct slide. In the future, I will definitely disable the screensaver when I use Prezi. Despite this set back in my presentation, the faculty and staff responded very well to the Prezi and I received a lot of compliments on my portion of the chapter presentations.
Also, because Prezi is so easy to use, is free, and is available online, I will recommend it to my students in the future. This will be a valuable tool for them to learn.
Create a Video with Video ToolBox
Project Description: "Create an instructional, promotional, commercial, or business video with Video Toolbox. You must have at least 2 video clips merge together and one of them has to be captured with your digital camera, digital video camera, or digital camcorder."
Overview: While I firmly believe that every software application covered in this class is valuable and useful, Video Toolbox was one of my least favorite applications. That is not to say that it is not worthwhile to learn or use, however. Because Video Toolbox is free, online software, it has inherent benefits. Because Video Toolbox is free, online software, it has limitations that make it one of the more challenging software applications covered in this class to work with.
As I have said in my introduction to this blog, one of the great lessons of this class, and one that I teach in my own computer class, is that software is not a magic instantaneous thing that you can spend 2 minutes clicking buttons on and walk away from with a finished product. Video Toolbox is one of those applications that really drives that principal home. Considering that it is free and online, it is hard to complain about, because, as with everything, you get what you pay for. My biggest problem with Video Toolbox was getting my videos to upload. I had to go through several attempts to get the video segments to upload and it was a bit time consuming and frustrating. In all honesty though, I admit that I worked in this project after trying to teach a bunch of ninth graders computers all day long, and by that point in the evening, if I never saw another computer again, it would be too soon. That is something that all technologically savvy users must deal with, however. Also, once I got my video segments uploaded, linking them together and adding affects was really very easy. I will say that Video Toolbox does come with a nice selection of editing and special effects to be free software.
In my project for this class, I used some video that I had taken for the class I teach of a project I give to my students and added an introduction to it. I will most likely use Video Toolbox to edit and merge existing video for my classes, but I do not think I will assign my students their own Video Toolbox assignments, unless it is for extra credit for the more proficient student.
Screen Capture with Jing
Jing Screen cast
Project Description: "Create a series of screen captures (a minimum of 5 images and a video) on a computing task using the Jing and Screencast.com."
Overview: Jing is practically tailor made for instruction, but that does not mean that there cannot be plenty of other uses for it. I, however, will most certainly be using this in my classroom to provide students with refresher materials to look at when they are working on their own. I have not decided if I will assign my students to create their own Jing projects, but this would certainly be useful to them in all of their classes. What I like most about Jing is the ability to add comments and instructions to the screen captures. I played football in high school and follow college and professional football as a hobby. Not only would Jing screen capture be useful academically, it would also be a great tool for coaches to use in breaking apart game films to highlight certain plays.
Not only does Jing offer still screen capture images, but you can also capture video from processes on your monitor for instructional purposes. My computer lab is set up with broadcast like the computer lab Dr. Yuen uses in IT 644. With Jing, I can broadcast a pre-recorded lesson of me working through some specific assignments and my students can follow along with me at their monitors. Not everyone understands technology at the same rate, and Jing lets me communicate to the students while the watch the action unfold on their monitors. I think this is a more effective way of delivering the information. Also, whereas a lecture only lasts as long as I am talking, I can save Jing tutorials to my class’s Blackboard hub and the students can access it however many times they need to.
I think Jing is fantastic and it will help me tremendously with Solid Works and CAD because I can show my students where the buttons are on the programs. I will use Jing as much as I can in the upcoming semesters in my class. I also cannot think of any problems I have encountered with Jing. It is fairly straightforward to use, and I do not recall any moments of it not working or any periods of frustration. That, combined with the fact that it is free and online makes it the perfect teaching tool. I was very glad to have been exposed to it in Dr. Yuen’s class.
Project Description: "Create a series of screen captures (a minimum of 5 images and a video) on a computing task using the Jing and Screencast.com."
Overview: Jing is practically tailor made for instruction, but that does not mean that there cannot be plenty of other uses for it. I, however, will most certainly be using this in my classroom to provide students with refresher materials to look at when they are working on their own. I have not decided if I will assign my students to create their own Jing projects, but this would certainly be useful to them in all of their classes. What I like most about Jing is the ability to add comments and instructions to the screen captures. I played football in high school and follow college and professional football as a hobby. Not only would Jing screen capture be useful academically, it would also be a great tool for coaches to use in breaking apart game films to highlight certain plays.
Not only does Jing offer still screen capture images, but you can also capture video from processes on your monitor for instructional purposes. My computer lab is set up with broadcast like the computer lab Dr. Yuen uses in IT 644. With Jing, I can broadcast a pre-recorded lesson of me working through some specific assignments and my students can follow along with me at their monitors. Not everyone understands technology at the same rate, and Jing lets me communicate to the students while the watch the action unfold on their monitors. I think this is a more effective way of delivering the information. Also, whereas a lecture only lasts as long as I am talking, I can save Jing tutorials to my class’s Blackboard hub and the students can access it however many times they need to.
I think Jing is fantastic and it will help me tremendously with Solid Works and CAD because I can show my students where the buttons are on the programs. I will use Jing as much as I can in the upcoming semesters in my class. I also cannot think of any problems I have encountered with Jing. It is fairly straightforward to use, and I do not recall any moments of it not working or any periods of frustration. That, combined with the fact that it is free and online makes it the perfect teaching tool. I was very glad to have been exposed to it in Dr. Yuen’s class.
Audacity: Audio Mixing and Recording
Audacity: News flash
Project Description: "Audio Recording and Mixing. Using Audacity, create an instructional, promotional, commercial, or business audio. You must have at least 3 audio clips join and mix together. The final audio must last 2 to 5 minutes with the attributes (32 bit, stereo, 44,100 Hz sample rate)."
Overview: Audacity software was surprising to me because it was loaded with sound editing capability, more so, than I thought free, online software would be. Other software applications covered in this class have been very straight forward and user friendly, but I cannot say that Audacity falls into that category, and that may be because it is not as limited as some of the other software applications we have covered. Audacity is definitely an application that will require practice and trial and error. Much of the error part will be user error, if you are doing your own voice recordings. You will gain a new appreciation for news casters and voice actors, because it seems as though as soon as you hit the record button in Audacity, your tongue will immediately become tied.
However, Audacity recordings are pretty easy to delete or edit and, as I said, there are lots and lots of features that will allow you to manipulate your digital recording for any number of desired outcomes. For my class project, I could not resist the temptation of making a gag news reel. The background noises, music, and sound effects were a breeze to incorporate and I was able to alter the pitch of my voice to sound more (or less?) news worthy.
Because this is one of the more detail oriented software applications covered in the class, I most likely would not assign my own students to make a digital recording of their own as an assignment. However, because this software is free and online, I also feel that it would be neglectful not to at least show my students that this exists. A lot of my students are interested in music, particularly rap and hip-hop, and I feel that this would be of interest to them as it simulates studio recording equipment. I enjoyed learning about and using Audacity, but because it is audio only, and has no visual element, I will most likely use it for presentations or promotional work for the faculty, staff or professional development associated with my job, rather than use it with my students in the class room.
Project Description: "Audio Recording and Mixing. Using Audacity, create an instructional, promotional, commercial, or business audio. You must have at least 3 audio clips join and mix together. The final audio must last 2 to 5 minutes with the attributes (32 bit, stereo, 44,100 Hz sample rate)."
Overview: Audacity software was surprising to me because it was loaded with sound editing capability, more so, than I thought free, online software would be. Other software applications covered in this class have been very straight forward and user friendly, but I cannot say that Audacity falls into that category, and that may be because it is not as limited as some of the other software applications we have covered. Audacity is definitely an application that will require practice and trial and error. Much of the error part will be user error, if you are doing your own voice recordings. You will gain a new appreciation for news casters and voice actors, because it seems as though as soon as you hit the record button in Audacity, your tongue will immediately become tied.
However, Audacity recordings are pretty easy to delete or edit and, as I said, there are lots and lots of features that will allow you to manipulate your digital recording for any number of desired outcomes. For my class project, I could not resist the temptation of making a gag news reel. The background noises, music, and sound effects were a breeze to incorporate and I was able to alter the pitch of my voice to sound more (or less?) news worthy.
Because this is one of the more detail oriented software applications covered in the class, I most likely would not assign my own students to make a digital recording of their own as an assignment. However, because this software is free and online, I also feel that it would be neglectful not to at least show my students that this exists. A lot of my students are interested in music, particularly rap and hip-hop, and I feel that this would be of interest to them as it simulates studio recording equipment. I enjoyed learning about and using Audacity, but because it is audio only, and has no visual element, I will most likely use it for presentations or promotional work for the faculty, staff or professional development associated with my job, rather than use it with my students in the class room.
CleVr 360
I even used hot spots!!!!
Panorama of Huntindon on CleVR.com
Project Description: "Create a Panoramic 360 Degree Movie using CleVR. Find your favorite spot and take a series of pictures with your digital camera."
Overview: This was the second assignment we undertook in IT 644 and this one seriously made me wonder what I had gotten myself into. I work with a digital camera on a fairly regular basis in the technology class that I teach and am familiar with its use and functions to the extent that I thought this project would be a breeze. Not so much. This assignment was my first encounter with the truth that technology sometimes takes a lot of practice and you cannot sit down with a new application and expect to have a perfect product in one afternoon.
I do like the CleVR software, especially for the fact that it is free and online. Uploading still snapshots to it was very easy. However, because it is free, it has limitations. One of the chief limitations of the software application is that you cannot manually manipulate how the program stitches your photographs together. One instructional source stated that I needed to have 10-15% overlap in my images for them to successfully stitch together. Another source told me that I needed a much larger percentage of overlap than that. There was also some variation of how many snapshots were needed to make a 360 degree panorama, which ranged anywhere from six photos to 20 photos. What I ended up having to do was to try each version of instructions until I achieved the best result. Another problem with CleVR is that to create the panorama, you have to go through a couple of stages of uploading and during the uploading/stitching process, for some unknown reason, the program would drop several of my photographs. I ended up re-shooting just those snapshots that were routinely dropped and manipulating them back into the project. It was a little frustrating, but the basic principles of panorama photography were effectively delivered and overall, this would a good assignment to work with.
For my class project I shot the street that I live on. I used a tripod and this helped me keep track of my shots so that I could add in just the shots that the program dropped. CleVR has hot spots as a feature, which lets you select a portion of your photograph and make it interactive be adding text. When the viewer’s cursor passes over the hot spot, they can click on it and the text will be displayed. I put some hot spots into my project, so you can see how they work.
I think the most valuable lesson I learned from CleVR was patience! Overall, however, this was a good tool to work with to learn the basics.
Photostory
Rock Photostory
Project Description: "Create/import/capture/scan a minimum of 20 photo images and then modify some of these images with Picnik and/or Splashup online.Using Photo Story 3, create a photo slideshow containing these photo images with captions and titles, narration, motion animation and transition effects, and music."
Overview: Photostory was a lot of fun and a good (easy) way to start this class. What I like about this software is that it is free and available online so that you can access it from any computer. I used Picnik to manipulate my photographs and I found that process to be kind of addictive. Picnik is free too and it has tons of features to edit digital images. I will most likely buy the upgraded edition for use in the technology class that I teach. I do not think that Photostory will be as useful to me as an instructional tool, but my students love to re-visit the work that they have done, so I think that they will really enjoy seeing a progression of their work through Photostory. I will also introduce my students to Picnik, because it is an easy and effective way to teach them how malleable digital images are. Also, my niece, who is the same age as my students, has begun to work with a modeling agency. I think she will be interested to see how touch-ups can be applied to digital photography and Picnik has touch-up features including teeth whitening, slimming, even changing hair color.
Among the digital editing features that I liked the most in Picnik were “night vision” and all of the different font effects you could add to your pictures. This allowed me to get really creative with my project, which in turn, made it a lot of fun. In the project I did for this class, I used some photographs of my Chihuahua, Rock. Rock has amber colored eyes that have been hard to delete the “red-eye” effect in iPhoto on Mac Book. It was easier to erase red-eye in Picnik, although I did not always choose the “animal” selection that they offer when eliminating red-eye.
Photostory was very easy to upload and arrange images in. I can see myself using this often in class to make documentaries of the projects we create. I did not have an opportunity to work with the narration in Photostory because I had not yet sorted out my microphone hardware on my laptop, but adding in musical soundtrack was very easy. Rock is the “baby” of our family, and my mother-in-law and other extended family members have loved watching the photostory over and over again.
Project Description: "Create/import/capture/scan a minimum of 20 photo images and then modify some of these images with Picnik and/or Splashup online.Using Photo Story 3, create a photo slideshow containing these photo images with captions and titles, narration, motion animation and transition effects, and music."
Overview: Photostory was a lot of fun and a good (easy) way to start this class. What I like about this software is that it is free and available online so that you can access it from any computer. I used Picnik to manipulate my photographs and I found that process to be kind of addictive. Picnik is free too and it has tons of features to edit digital images. I will most likely buy the upgraded edition for use in the technology class that I teach. I do not think that Photostory will be as useful to me as an instructional tool, but my students love to re-visit the work that they have done, so I think that they will really enjoy seeing a progression of their work through Photostory. I will also introduce my students to Picnik, because it is an easy and effective way to teach them how malleable digital images are. Also, my niece, who is the same age as my students, has begun to work with a modeling agency. I think she will be interested to see how touch-ups can be applied to digital photography and Picnik has touch-up features including teeth whitening, slimming, even changing hair color.
Among the digital editing features that I liked the most in Picnik were “night vision” and all of the different font effects you could add to your pictures. This allowed me to get really creative with my project, which in turn, made it a lot of fun. In the project I did for this class, I used some photographs of my Chihuahua, Rock. Rock has amber colored eyes that have been hard to delete the “red-eye” effect in iPhoto on Mac Book. It was easier to erase red-eye in Picnik, although I did not always choose the “animal” selection that they offer when eliminating red-eye.
Photostory was very easy to upload and arrange images in. I can see myself using this often in class to make documentaries of the projects we create. I did not have an opportunity to work with the narration in Photostory because I had not yet sorted out my microphone hardware on my laptop, but adding in musical soundtrack was very easy. Rock is the “baby” of our family, and my mother-in-law and other extended family members have loved watching the photostory over and over again.
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