Sunday, October 24, 2010

PE6_Adobe Captivate 5 Cover

Here is the intro to an interactive novel using Adobe Captivate.  I envision that the reader will choose which main character he or she will travel through the novel.  Sorry, no story yet, this is just conceptual.
i found the process of using Adobe Captivate quite tedious and detailed. This is not something I can create in between passing periods or even 30 minutes before school.  However, I believe speed will come with much experience.

images and media not user created and are used for conceptual purposes only

PE5 Adobe Captivate - It starts in Photoshop or Illustrator

I am finding that with much of the Adobe Suite of applications, proficiency with Photoshop and/or Illustrator is key to great design.  At first I started this cover page by using Captivate's native tools, but I found this was quite time-consuming and tedious.  Even after a valiant attempt, the graphics had little character to them and were very flat and difficult to get the exact look I wanted.

Cover without Photoshop
Photoshop CS5

It can be seen through these comparisons that Photoshop enabled me to create transparencies, enlarge the text, and make my images more prominent. I was also able to create effects, such as the negative photo effect, which I later used to create a lightning effect. The animations in the final cut, however, were generated from Adobe Captivate.

PE4 Adobe Captivate

graphics by Adobe
Adobe Captivate is one of those programs I was shocked to see that Full Sail did not include in our Mac Package.  I'm thinking it was too new for Full Sail to keep up with.  It seems to be the perfect companion for teachers to develop rich, media content into self-paced tutorials.  It seems like the ultimate test for teachers turned designers, and vice-versa.  Beyond PowerPoint, Captivate features multi-branch slides and interactive tests and quizzes.

I want to use Captivate, but the training and examples out there on the web are still rather limited.  It seems the only way to truly learn this program is to get your hands on it and mess with it.

One of the features I am wanting to experience is the multi-branching.  It is my dream to one day create interactive novels, like those old Choose Your Own Adventure books.  Multi-branching also allows the presentation to adjust to the audience.  This is perfect for engaging the audience and for creating self-paced lessons.

For my practical experience project, I will be a cover page for an interactive novel where the reader can choose his or her avatar.

W4_Reading

Main Ideas

Focus on web 2.0 articles

E-books are becoming the new medium

Little performance difference between virtual schools and traditional schools, which actually strengthens the argument for virtual schools by proving it is not an inferior substitute

Too much stimulus in online learning environments seems to have a negative effect on experienced computer users, but has no impact on others. So, keep it simple and focused, rather than flashy and distracting. 

Millennial attitudes towards technology is embracive and actually shuns old tech such as 3x5 note cards

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Sunday, October 17, 2010

PE3 Getting members & Schoology Aborted

What good is a virtual classroom without members?  This little number is the key to this course.  The key can then be sent via email.
I can use the built in email editor, but I will use Google Docs instead, because I already have the students separated by period and course number.



Now comes the biggest challenge.

What happens when I actually get real students enrolled?  I will pursue this endeavor in the next posts.

UPDATE:

After implementing Schoology into my computer lab, I found many students very excited about making their profiles and becoming friends with each other.  Unfortunately, the web site was blocked on several computers, but then was accessible later; while the other computers which had access suddenly LOST access.  In other words, it was like playing musical chairs.  It was hard to say whether it was the District's fault or if Schoology's server just couldn't take that many hits.  In any event, I had to sadly pull the plug on Schoology because I cannot work with these inconsistent connections.  Students were greatly saddened. I had to move back to my good ole' web 1.0 Google Site so students can get to their assignments.

Office Clipart

PE2 Course Creation on Schoology

Getting access to Schoology required an email verification where you had to use your professional .edu email account.  Apparently, there is a real person behind these operations as it took about 24 hours for that verification to come through.

Once I was in, I was quickly able to set up my personal profile and the course profile.

After setting up the basic course content, I had to then set up the visibility settings.  I know from experience that these settings are not to be taken in some arbitrary way.  Give too little access or too much access in any direction can create quite a bit of chaos if not handled properly.  I actually had to back and change a few settings as I pondered their implications.

PE1 Schoology


Schoology is an online virtual school that is surprisingly free.  This Learning Management System allows students to modify their own profiles and to view assignments and turn in these assignments.  There is also an online grade book, which I am not sure if I will take advantage of, since our District already uses Zangle to do our grades, records, etc.  It seems that the people at Schoology are making their money on having school districts buy their premium platform. 

Allowing us individual teachers to try it out for free is probably a good move, as it can generate quite a bit of buzz...if it lives up to its claims.  That is what I will be finding out on this journey.

Before Schoology, I was using Google Sites to create and upload assignments.  I was trying to be like Full Sail.  However, Google Sites is not exactly an LMS.  As a result, I had to create the illusion of one by posting new content manually.  However, the students did not have access to each other's profiles and could not monitor their assignments.

W3_Reading

Main Map

Focus on Google Docs

Google for course management

Google's grip on information

Using Google Docs to map out readings

Not all people are ready for Google Docs

BP12_Google Docs


Implementing Google Docs is actually the impetus of my Action Research project.  Putting my High School English course online has produced other problems, however. But that is quite another story.

BP11_Comment to Veronica Santos

Click on this link to see my comment to Veronica's blog regarding Kidopo.com.

BP10_Comment to Tricia Atkinson

Click on this link to see my comment to Tricia's blog regarding Zooburst.com


Video by Tricia Atkinson

BP9_Tizmos


Tizmos.com is a web 2.0 site with a lot of potential.  It’s basically a stripped down version of iGoogle in that you can post up to 8 links in a series of drop boxes.   This makes your links much more visual.  These links can then be categorized by key word.

To use Tizmos, you need to sign up for an account with them, which is free to use.  They seem to make their money off the ads that show up on the home page.  After making your account, you go out and get your 1-8 links of your choosing.  Tizmos will then convert these links into thumbnails.  Apparently, these thumbnails can even be updated in real time and will change accordingly.  At the time of this writing, however, my thumbnails were last updated in the year 1600.

After you collect your links, it is then time to share your page with the world. You can choose from 287 web 2.0 applications, or you can keep your page all to yourself in privacy mode.  Tizmos encourages you to use your new custom page as your permanent home page.

Teachers can use Tizmos to create links ahead of time for their students to browse through.  I think this can be incredibly useful in a computer lab situation where you don’t want students randomly doing fruitless and useless Google searches for their favorite rappers and Twilight updates.  For example, for a unit on King Arthur with my English 12 students, I created some links to historical sites, literary sites, media sites, and I even found a cool Google timeline on the Arthurian Legends.  I can then have my students create presentations or products based on the links I have provided. 

However, at this time, Tizmos has been experiencing some ”heavy traffic” and so it doesn’t seem to be working properly.  Perhaps when all of us Full Sailors have written our reviews, Tizmos will work again.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

W2_Reading

Main Points

Focus on Student Needs
Quotes from the Literature


Growing References List

BP8_GoAnimate



GoAnimate has been a fun adventure. Use it to produce quick intros or even solid concepts for your core subjects.  There is a bit of a learning curve, but it is well worth it.  The most fun homework you've ever had!

BP7_Comment to Judy De Los Santos

Follow this link to see my comments at Judy's ETC Blog regarding Schoology.

BP6_Comment to JoAnn

Click on this link to see my comment to JoAnn's blog regarding Xtranormal.com

BP5_GoAnimate


http://goanimate.com/

Attending Full Sail, I had actually heard of Go!Animate floating around the discussion boards.  I then saw a student use it to complete one of our assignments.  I found the concept of having a novice create his or her own cartoons very appealing.  I could see it being used to demonstrate short points or perhaps as an introduction to more content.
                When I started poking around, I noticed the free section had a good number of options.  Many of the costumes and set designs were Halloween themed.  I then began creating my first character, which, like God, was to be made in my own image.  Except God didn’t have to deal with presets. I found the choices for body parts and clothing quite diverse, although all the cool stuff cost money. These items are purchased with the in-game currency, “go-bucks”.  I thought, let’s really see this thing operate, so I coughed up the $18 dollars for the 3-month premium membership.  This money gave me a nice allowance with which I could create characters, modify them, etc.  Unfortunately, my Avatar ended up costing me practically half of my allowance.  I guess that is the cost of beauty in this game, eh?
                So, with my one, expensive character, I set out to design my cartoon.  The set designs were numerous and varied. There were also many stock characters to choose from (luckily for free).  The animation process uses Flash as its GUI, which makes complex operations a little tedious as you have to click on specific buttons to invoke the appropriate actions. However, after getting through the 1-hour learning curve, my creativity was able to come forward.  I found the process a little tedious, as animation should be, but I found it quite rewarding to see the outcome.  There is a text-to-speech feature which produces humorous-though-not-quite-as-intended outcomes.  The variety of voices and accents was enough to differentiate characters. There is an upload feature where you can import your own voices, Flash animations, characters, etc.  However, there comes a point when I start feeling like someone should be PAYING ME, for generating all this content.
                There is a social feature which conveniently connects to your Gmail, Facebook, or Yahoo accounts.  The game also rewards you for sharing your content with other people in the form of Experience Points. Apparently, my profile can actually gain levels, but I’m not quite sure what that does entirely.
                Finally, when you are done with your animation (after a considerable amount of hours has quickly passed by), you can publish and download to HD.  This file you can upload to YouTube, but it does take quite a while for your movie to publish, so don’t try doing so in a pinch for time.  By the way, the HD download costs another 100 GoBucks.  Which means I only have enough now to download 1 more HD movie and to perhaps gave my Avatar some designer jeans or something.  So just like its Hollywood counterpart, GoAnimate! Puts top talent and content at a premium, leaving us would-be animators to be forever stuck with our B-Movie cartoons.  That’s alright. B-movies are more fun to make, than to watch anyway!
FYI: The cartoon above is to be used as in introduction to a formal lecture on how students should integrate their in-text citations for their Research Papers.

Monday, October 4, 2010

BP4_WiZiQ




    It’s always been a vision of mine to teach a class completely at a distance. I feel that this is the ultimate test of a curriculum and its planning.  This is because the learner must rely on the material and assessments to learn the content. As an instructor, I cannot just “wing it” by relying on my personal gifts of the gab.  Sure, I can stand up in front of people and entertain them with some humorous anecdotes, and perhaps even illicit some from the crowd.  It’s like Night at the Improv.  However, Distance Learning is where the real “metal meets the road” in the sense that I must rely on the educational materials and construct assessments that really give an accurate measure of the students’ proficiency.
    WiZiQ (http://www.wiziq.com/) will help me to realize that vision by providing a free virtual classroom to experiment in.  Once you’re signed up, you can hold virtual class sessions with all the screen sharing, media playing, video chatting, and session recording you can handle.  These classes can be scheduled or can be made available immediately.  One only needs the email addresses of the attendees to make this successful.
    However, there is a whole other financial aspect to WiZiQ.  By paying for a Premium Membership ($50/year), you can develop actual courses.  You can design and distribute tests.  Attendees only need a link, with no sign-up required on their part. You can then set up the course fee anywhere from Free to $999.  WiZiQ will gather a 5% commission fee, but handle all the registration and payment logistics automatically.

    Now, if I can only think of a course where I can charge $999….

Sunday, October 3, 2010

W1_Reading

Main
Level 2
Blackboard K-12 Survey

Which Type of Collaboration Helps?

E-Education Evolving

Is Education 1.0 ready for 2.0?
References

Thursday, September 30, 2010

BP1_Google Reader








National Education Association

I like to think of NEA as the “pulse of education”.  They highlight legal issues and trends on a national scale.  It inspires me to see states starting to utilize more technology in their schools with programs such as 1-to-1 Computing and High School Online. Sometimes I can feel alone in a digital divide where many teachers at my site are lucky enough to use their email program; never mind trying to incorporate some sort of technological wizardry.  NEA helps me to see that I am not the only educator trying to integrate technology.  I believe the NEA has it on straight when it comes to their stance regarding NCLB and merit-pay.  Their daily news section informs me of the encroaching NCLB threat and The Obama Administration’s ever steady advancement into our education system.  I am able to share many of these stories with my fellow teachers in the lunch room, and it always sparks a heated discussion. It sure beats the lunch room gossip.  What is neat is that they can email you a daily digest. This goes straight into my Ipod touch, arming me for the battle every morning.



This site goes beyond the pages of the book we read in our TMD course.  Presentation is something I do every day in the presence of at least 180 teenagers. This site not only reminds me of the elements of design I need to continue to improve upon, but it is also a resource into the ever changing landscape of the art and science of presentation.  This site features new YouTube videos by designers and opens up the world to other designers and thinkers in the industry. This is not a web site.  It’s a blog.  This means the RSS feed continues to be fed, an ultimately, my presentations are better because of it.  Presentation Zen is one of those books I need to place under my pillow at night, in hopes that I can wake up with a fresh look at how I’m impacting my students.  “More emotion” “Less is more”…the mantras continue.



Referred by Presentation Zen, this site practically needs no introduction.  Most of us know of its 5 million images, but what a lot of people don’t know is its library of stock videos, vector illustrations, and even tiny Flash animations.  As a presentation designer for both my students and for my church, I need all the images I can get.  However, one might question as to why I am putting iStockphoto into my RSS feed. I mean, wouldn’t a link do just fine?  The answer is quite simple: free images.  Like most educators, I don’t have some sort of corporate budget to buy licenses for these images. Instead, I can download their free weekly and monthly stock images. Over time, I might even have a respectful collection of free, high quality images.  This is yet another reason why those 2 Terabyte hard drives will come in handy, at least until the 10 Terabyte ones come down in price.


Official Google Docs Blog

This is not only part of my Action Research Project, but it is also the platform with which I run my classrooms.  The assortment of free programs available to me works well in an academic environment where budgets have run dry and technology has run aground in the craggy cliffs of 8-year old Dells and Windows XP.  However, these products are still under constant change. It seems Google is never quite finished with these products.  The RSS feed will keep me updated on the latest features and even programs as soon as they become available.  I rely on these programs so much, I can certainly use every feature I can get my hands on.  I can then pass this information on to my students, in hopes our Google Docs accounts become easier and more efficient.  For example, did you know they have a brand new revision history feature?  Did you know keyboard shortcuts just got added as of this writing?  No? Then check it out and feed that RSS beast.



Edutopia
What educational technologist DOESN’T have Edutopia loaded in their Reader?  I use to get this magazine for free, until they started charging.  At that time, I lost all contact with the digital frontier.  Then I started to hear more about their awesome website and I was able to get on their mailing list.  I am now back in the loop.  I appreciate Edutopia’s take on educational technology; that it’s not of the devil, and that proper implementation of it is so crucial.  I can see where the monthly print magazine cannot even keep up anymore with the rapid advancement of educational technology.  This RSS feed will make sure I stay on the front lines of this great endeavor.