preed’s blog

Final copy

Class:  Digital Multimedia

Target Audience:

The target audience for this lesson is 9^th-12^th grade digital multimedia students.  Each student has had an introduction to Photoshop and understands how to get around the interface of the software, as well as some of the drawing tools.

Context:

This project is designed for 9^th-12^th grade students for a public/private school.  A computer lab with Adobe Photoshop, a screencast program (we are using CamStudios), and connection to the internet is required.  Students should have a basic knowledge of Photoshop and basic computer skills.  
 

Learning Objectives:

Once the students have completed the lesson they will be able to…

-          Create a screencast, complete with narration

-          Upload screencasts to their blog

-          Create a blog from blogger.com

-          Further their skills Photoshop skills

Description of Lesson/Intervention

Explanation of which online tools will be incorporated
 

1. CamStudio – open source – Students will create their own screencast tutorial of a tool or process of Adobe Photoshop
2. Blogger.com – Once the students have created the screencast, they will create a blog on blogger.com and upload their screencast to their blog.
3. Using/Accessing my website student will be able to access other student blogs and screencast via links that I have step up.

Detailed description of what you as the instructor will create for your students that involves these online tools and/or what exactly students will be expected to do or create that involves these online tools

As the instructor I will give the class a walk through of how to access and create a screencast through the use of CamStudio. CamStudio should be already installed on their computer.  During this walkthrough, I will create an example screencast of exactly what I am looking for and explain the rubric.  The rubric is as followed…

-          Screencast must be a minimum of 2 minutes no more than 5 minutes with narration. (25pts)

-          The Screencast must have an introduction of which tool or process your screencast is about.  Tool or process must be “ok” by me, first come first severed. (5pts)

-          Each step of the screencast must be explained in full.  Be clear, concise, and accurate. (5pts)

-          The Screencast must be exported as an .avi file, to their desktop. (5pts)

Once the screencasts are completed each student will create a blog on Blogger.com.  I will walkthrough the process of creating the blog and have an example of what I want.  The rubric is as followed…

-          Your blog must be titled “your full name – the tool or process”

o       Example: “Tom Peters – Clone Tool” (5pts)

-          Your video must be uploaded to your blog (5pts)

-          A written introduction must accompany your video (5pts)

-          A written summary of your experience using the screencast and creating a blog is required.  Use details and examples.  Minimum of 250 words. (10pts)

Once the blog is created and the screencasts are uploaded I will link each student’s blog to my website.  As class we will watch, review, and discuss each student’s screencast tutorials.

Artifact  

I have created a link to my artifact on my blog – http://preed433.vox.com .  It is an example that I made for the student to see what I am looking for.

Justification 

There are many justifications for using screencasts over traditional methods.  First, unlike me, the teacher, standing if front of a class trying to explain how to do something on a computer or reading instructions out of a book, a screencast shows exactly how to complete a process because it captures the exact process. Screencasts are not watered down walkthroughs or guided video instructions; screencasts are captured videos of exactly what happens on your computer screen demonstrating exactly what to do and how to do it.  Secondly, narration of every step is included.  This makes following instructions, as the commands are being fulfilled, undeniably simply.  Also, in this project the students will be creating the screencast, which allows them to put the instructions of the tutorial in their own words.  This helps some students relate easier to the subject matter.  Screencast are perfect for any computer lesson.

There are also many justifications for using blogs in this lesson.  Blogs are great because they are free and allow the students to upload their screencasts directly to their blog.  We don’t have to embed the file via Youtube or Google video.  This also gives the students privacy from the rest of the world.  Since I will have everyone’s blogs linked to my site, any student in the class can check out any other student’s screencast tutorial at any time.  Using the blogs also allows the students to write an introduction for their tutorial and reflection.  All benefits together allow the students to complete the project in one spot, on their blog.  This also makes it easier for me because everything is centrally located and easy to find.

Below is a link my Artifact - Example of a screencast  (how to use the clone tool) on a blog and how to complete the blog.

http://tompeters2oo2.blogspot.com/

Enjoy

We will keep this light. In Chapter 31 (R/D13), what most made you say (or think) "that's so neat!" Why?

The section that stood out for me was the nanotechnology section.  Ever since I heard of nanotechnology I have been fascinated with it.  The first reason why I was so enthused about nanotechnology was an Idea I heard of dealing with medical procedures, particularly cancer.  I the idea was that nanotechnology could develop tiny tubes that could be placed in a person's blood stream and go anywhere in the body.  These tubes would act as highways for medicine.  Instead of taking a pill orally, that would take 45 minutes to dissolve and circulate through the body's blood stream, doctors and nurse provide medicine to specific area in a matter of seconds.  Another great benefit of this is that this could be used for certain treatments where the medicine maybe harmful to other parts of the body.  The nanotechnology could allow doctors to pin the point the problem area and possible upping the dosage, because only that area will would be treated instead of the entire body.  Now carry that over to the education side (this maybe be more sci-fi, more like the Matrix, than educational).  What doctors and educator could use these new nanotechnology to preform instruction or operations on particular parts of the brain.  Imagine a student with a speech impediment.  A nanotechnology is place in the brain using medicine or sophisticated tools that will either medically "cure" the student by altering the brain or instruct the brain to fix it's self.  Now this starting spill over into the cybernetics.  Maybe even in the future we'll all have little chips in our heads and when we want to learn something, like the French language, we head down to Wal-Mart buy the latest French language implant chip and within minutes the customer is fluent in French.  If this technology ever does come about, I hope it doesn't happen for several decades or I'm out of a job!

What was your favorite activity of the semester and why?

I really liked all the activities but If I had to name a favorite it would have to be... The application review.  I kind of felt like a writer for tech magazine; describing the pros and cons, easy of use, load time, functionality, all that fun stuff.   Experimenting with new software is always fun and with this activity not only did we get to play around with the software but we had the opportunity to investigate it's applicability.  It was nice that there was a list of software we could chose from (no running around searching) and they were all free!  I think the overall goal of this activity was to see if there is software out there that is comparable to Microsoft, Adobe, and some of the other big names and I think the answer is yes.  Technology is not cheap, and when we can find a great programs that we can use in our classrooms, and for free, that's the icing on the cake!      

For your reading reflection, describe two tangible take-aways that you think you could apply in your work. In other words, what are two ways you believe you can apply ideas in this chapter to improve your teaching/instructional design work?

First, the section "Learners May Need Scaffolding to Making Sense of Simulation" was good take away for me.  As a drafting/CAD and tech teacher we do a lot of designing and recreating.  Although, I don't know if I would called what we do simulations, but many of the same learning principles apply.  Usually when I start a new unit, such as Isometric drawings, as class we will do one drawing together.  Now that is pretty much 100% guided.  I walk them through everything little step to complete the drawing.  Then I assign 6-7 seven progressively harder drawing for the students to complete on their own with no guidance, except for one-on-one questions with me.  I think what I need to do is complete or partially complete 3 drawings together, each time giving less and less guided instruction until everyone can complete the drawing on there own. "...students learned better from interacting with a simulation of an electric motor when they were given specific question to answer rather than when they were allowed to explore freely" (p321).  I think this is a good point and can be applied to my class. I know the drawings aren't simulations, yet setting up guild lines or "things to watch for" when recreating a drawing is like "questions to answer" while they explore and create the drawing.  Next year, I plan on using scaffolding more in planing my units.

Secondly, the section "Surface Features vs. Functional Features of Visuals" was another good take away for me.  The book uses the term transformational graphics, which mean visuals that change or have motion over time.  I really need to incorporate many transformational graphics in to my architecture class. The entire class is based how to design, understand, and build residential architecture.  The book does an excellent job showing how given component looks on how like floor joist or a section view of a foundation wall.  The problem is the students can't relate that information to the rest of the house.   My best analogy would  be something like put together a puzzle.  When putting together a large puzzle, many of us may work on several separate sections of the puzzle at once.  This is "ok", because as the section get bigger and bigger we see where they if together with the other sections.  Residential architecture is like this, but with pieces that do not if exactly together.  What I think I need introduce to my class is videos from shows like "This Old House" where they can see how the floor joist sitting on the sill plate and how the sub floor rests on joists and is located under the sole plate.  Not only do they get to see these components in a real house, they also get to the see a great transformational graphics in act: the workers building the house!   I think transformational graphics can be applied to almost any subject.  I think when you show the act being performed it always shines light on the subject, especially for our visual learners.

Here is a list of some more popular applications. If you aware of others, please contact me and I will let you know if I think it would be a good one to review (within the groups that say "suite", you do not need to review each app in the suite - just two apps total):

• Google Documents (o ffice suite)
• Ajax (office suite)
• Zoho (office suite)
• Picnik (photo editing)
• FotoFlexer (photo editing)
• Phixr (photo editing)

ONE 

Zohosheet

TWO 

Phixer

As a digital multimedia teacher, who only deals with Photoshop and other Adobe products, I thought I would good to check out Phixr.  Phixr is a web based, meaning you need a internet connect, image manipulating software.  The first thing, I noticed and was not impressed by was the amount of time it took Phixr to upload my image.  Now this could be a attribute a variety of things, such as a slow internet connect and a bandwidth issue.  It took roughly 3 minutes to upload a 1.49 MB photo.  1.49 MB, from my experience, is not that big for a photo file.  Given the average class time is around 50 minutes some student may be spend up to 10 minutes of the time just loading up one photo.  To complicate matters further, if you had 30 kids upload files at the same time, this might bog down the website as well as eat up the bandwidth and bog down the school servers, thus making the time even longer.  Once I did get my photo uploaded, I noticed that there are not many told to choose from.  Some key tools that are not there, include the brush, pencil, clone, and lasso tools.  The brush and pencil tools are just simply drawings tools, that I believe are a must.  The clone tool, which can duplicate other part of the photo, is a must for fixing up or reconstructing photo, and editing certain objects out of an image.  Finally and most importantly, the lasso tool allows the user to only select a part of the photo for editing.  Phixer does have some neat effects, including "pop art," "swirl," and, "emboss" but you must apply these effects to the entire drawing.  Some other features include, rotating the drawing, scaling the drawing, convert it to black and white, adding speech bubbles and text.  Phixer does allow you to save your file as a jpg, png, pdf, gif, and ocr format.  Also, Phixer does have a feature that allows you to upload your photos direct to facebook, flickr, picasa, imageshack and some other photo sharing sites.

While Phixer does offer the basics of photo editing I would not recommend this software for 9-12 classes.  I think there are better softwares out there that are comparable to Photoshop, like GIMP.  I think Phixer would be an "ok"  application at the higher elementary levels for computer introduction and small photo editing activities.  Yet, due to the fact it is a web based software and the limited tools it offers, this software would not be suitable for a class, such as digital photography.  Fun easy program, just not meant higher applications.

Reflect on what you perceive to be your own areas of strength and what competencies you feel you need to work hardest to develop given your professional goals. State and describe at least three competencies you’d like to develop and why. I do understand that most of you are school teachers, not ID&T professionals, but certainly there is plenty overlap between these different types of roles.

Strengths

I think some of my strength include patience, easy going/laid back, the ability to learn technology quickly, flexible, and versatility.  I feel patience and versatility are a must when working with students who can become extremely frustrated with complex software. Also, being a little laid back in the classroom can help students take more risks and try new things, especially if you are teaching an elective.  At the beginning of this year I was told I was going to teach Web page design. I knew nothing about html code or CSS or anything to do with web pages. Yet, my technological self came through as I learned the basics of html as well as the Dreamweaver software.

Three competencies to work on....

( I'm using the competencies listed in TABLE 27.3)

1.    Prepare for instructional methods and material.  I teach 5 different preps, and planning this year has been a huge struggle for me. As I grow and develop as a teacher I hope I can plan more effectively and efficiently.  I felt this year I was spending more time on some classes than other.  This summer I plan to do some major planing for my classes next year to find that balance.

2.    Evaluate instructional effectiveness.  As a new teacher, teaching all electives that do not have clear objectives I tried many different instructional methods and projects that would hopefully provide the skills that I thought were important to learn.  I did not "test" the students to see if they were actually learning as much I should have. I'm also believing now that if students know there is a test along with a lesson they will behave/focus/participate more than usual.  I think I need to create my own objectives and use a systematic method to accomplish these objective.  Another project for the summer.

3.     Apply business skills to the training function.  As an industrial technology technology (drafting/CAD) I would like to see what skills an engineering or architecture firm are looking for in a potential employee.  Besides understanding drafting and CAD what are the other less taught skills that employers are looking for.  Do they need more team collaboration, more manufacturing process knowledge, more artistic ability like sketching, more in depth general computer/networking skill, these are the extras that I would like to pursue and try to implement into my classroom.  

For your reading reflection, since you have now read for the past few weeks about instructional design/technology in three different contexts (business, P -12 & higher ed), identify 2 or 3 significant themes or differences you have noticed across these contexts and describe them. Is there a particular area or way that you believe your current professional working environment could learn from the other contexts described in these chapters?

First, the theme of Systemic v. Piecemeal change is definitely applicable theme to all three areas. The differences are in why these areas need the change.  Businesses to me are mostly making a Piecemeal change.  Changing little things here and there, step-by-step, to improve profitability and competitiveness.  Or when things are going awful and the business needs a total overhaul, the systemic change comes into play. Unlike businesses, P-12 and universities are not out for a profit.  However, sometimes I personally feel differently about this with regards to the price of public university tuition.  P-12 and universities are here to educate.  When education results slip, ie graduation rate, test scores, etc. or reputations are on the line, schools may use the piecemeal change to tweak their policies or if things are really bad a systemic approach may be best.  

I think if schools acted more like businesses they would not let methods/procedures that are not working go on as far as they do.  There are so many schools out there that are failing our children, and if these were businesses they would be out of business. However, public schools simply don't go out of business as long as there are students in the area, plus the taxpayer is always there to pickup the bill.  Business don't get this luxury, and constantly have to be at their best.  I think if public schools were more aggressive with change and output, like businesses, we would be turning out better results.

Another theme or idea that I felt was important was the idea of evaluation.  The book talked about how evaluations should be a continual on-going process.  I think all businesses have this approach.  Businesses are constantly evaluating training programs, concept ideas for products, advertisement ideas, marketing campaigns, etc.  Example, advertising campaigns that go bad don't stay out there for the public to dislike. As soon as the data comes in, and the results are not what were previously thought, business pull the plug.  Schools on the other hand like to evaluate programs and methods at the conclusion of the unit, semester, school year.  I am not saying this happens everywhere, this just has been my experience, especially at the university level.  This post facto method does not correct the situation but rather allows it.

I think we can achieve better results if we take a more dynamic approached to evaluations like businesses.  As soon as the results or progress data come in a decisive decision should be taken, if need.  If something is clearly failing as a resulted from an evaluation, changes must be made.  Also, I know new teachers are always evaluated, but what about the 83 year old tenured teacher who is still using lesson plans from 1956?  I think regardless of teacher tenure everyone needs to be evaluated.  Not all the time, but occasionally just to make sure everyones up to par.  As a new teacher, I know that majority of the tenured teachers in my school are amazing, but what about that few who have lost the passion and now our just there to collect a paycheck.  I think with ongoing evaluations for everyone we can root out the bad apples, tenured or not, that are not providing our children with the knowledge and skills to be successful.

My Google page creator site is designed for my Digital Multimedia class.  The home page gives an overview of the class the different software we use.  There is a navigation bar at the top that allows you to access the Photoshop, Flash, and Premiere pages.  Each page has three links to HELP sites, and two books that I feel are great resources.  Also, there is a link, "MR. REED's Website,"  to my actual website.

Enjoy!  Here is the link.

http://tompeters2oo2.googlepages.com/home

Class - Digital Multimedia

Unit - Understanding and Intro to Photoshop.

Set of Screencasts - Each screencast will be a short narrative of how to use the different the tools of Photoshop (clone, marque, etc), and some computer basics in regards to the program

Screencast 1: How to OPEN/SAVE an Image in Photoshop

Description: This screencast will be an overview of how to open Photoshop, start a new project by inserting an image.  The narration will cover exactly what files Photoshop is compatible with, changing the color MODE of the file and how this will effect the type of file you can save your image as. Finally, the narration will show exactly how to save the the image as a particular type of file (jpg, gif, psd, etc.)

Screencast 2: How to use the CLONE tool in Photoshop

Description: This screencast will be a step-by-step process of how to use the CLONE tool.  The clone tool as an
amazing yet simply that can duplicate certain parts of the image you are working with.  The narration will first have the students open an image file from the my server drive.  Once the imagine is open the narration will give an overview of the tool and were it is located.  Next, the narration will describe/show the step-by-step process of how to use the clone tool.  The screencast will than preform a specific task, i.e. cloning an object to specific area.  The students will then be asked to do the same.

Overview/Review:  I think screencasts  would be an enormous asset to any technology teacher.  These tutorials or walkthrough could be applicable for any software, CAD, BIM, Word, Dreamweaver, InDesgin, Acrobat, or anything!  The two screencasts I chose to do would be easily fit into my unit on Photoshop because I would do the exact same thing but all the student would be look up at the projector instead of their own machine.  The screencast would actually be better because they could replay the instructions as many times as they want, or stop the screencast, preform the step, then start the screen cast up again.  Also, it would be great for students who forget easily ( i have many of those) or those who were absent on the day of the lesson.

Reading Chapter 21 (R/D8) : Pick out two trends or issues that particularly surprised you and/or hit home and explain why.

As a new teacher, with zero experience, I would have to say my the biggest surprise for me was the fact that I had no idea there where so many different methods and categories of change.  I just thought if you want to change something, go change it.  All this talk of Piecemeal vs. Systemic and Product vs. Process is all new to me.  To narrow it down I would have to say that systemic change is the biggest surprise.  I have never seen a school district even come close to a complete overhaul, lots of talk - no action. However I am sure it happens.  I have seen the state do a systemic changes of our high school graduation requirements and that has hit home for many of us in the election departments, but i guess if the state wants a bunch of cookie cutter students, thats what they will get.  Personally, I think Piecemeal is the way to go, unless absolutely nothing is working and drastic measures are needed.  

The second big surprise to me was table 21.1 on page 212 "revised discrete events in the GSTE."  Like I said, I am a new naive teacher that thought many of the processes in a school system were fairly simply.  After reading the section on GSTE and this table, the first thought that popped into my head was, "no wonder nothing gets done, or if something does it take a couple years"  Holy cow!  This is one complex process.  To me this looks like a government bureaucracy, but I see the importance of taking it slow and "doing it right the first time." I just could not get over how involved the process it was  Then once your done with the discrete events you move on to the list of 18 continuous events in the GSTE.  It seems to be that GSTE is a never ending process.

Yet, the biggest surprise for me was the fact that Chugach actually stuck with one of these change methods, and it worked.  I always hear about these new and wonderful ideas that are going to change eduction and everything, yet to hear a school who actually stuck with one for over 8 years is amazing to me.  I feel like most schools jump on the bandwagon for a year or less and decided to move on. Chugach followed all the steps, worked hard, probably thought about quiting, but stuck with it.  That was good surprise to end the chapter.