My final project is a video that is a story about being caught on both sides of the digital divide.To create this video I used Windows Live Movie Maker. I had only made a one minute video before using only photos and the old version of Windows Movie Maker, but with the help of YouTube tutorials I quickly beat the learning curve with the new Live version. The majority of my time was spent, regarding my final project, on learning how to slice/trim video clips and edit sound. My project heavily relies on the perfect time of my music to set the tone which meant a few hours to get it perfectly inline with my photos and video clips. In the end I probably spent a solid 15 to 20 hours at least on what is in my final product, but honestly most of this time was spent on deciding how best to present my photos and video then struggling with the technology. Windows Live Moive Maker is easy, simple and I will definitely use it in the future.
I also spent a few hours learning how to use audacity and the sound recorder provided on my computer. As I am not in Mani’s class I had not been introduced to audacity. I found it to be user friendly and is a great tool for creating podcasts, etc. I did add a small 20 second voice clip to my final video project, but I was not able to add music on top of my voice. I think with more time I could have worked it out and will try to do so in the future.
I had also never imported my own video clips into movie maker before and I was worried about it. The last time I attmepted anything like this files and formats were not as compatable as they are now and converting files was much more difficult. It was so easy and I am glad that I went for it.
In addition to what ended up in my final product I spent at least 5 hours struggling with Wax 2.0 in an attempt to include a green screen video in my final project. In the end I felt that the struggle I was facing was not worth it for the final product I would have created. The main problem I ran into occured when I would save my final video, it would look as though it worked perfectly in wax and then when I rendered it, it would skip and appear choppy. I have a feeling that one of my files may have been corrupt, but I am still unsure. I would like to attempt to use green screen in the future and think it would be a valuable tool for my students to use, but I think my next attempt will just be for fun so the stress of it not working is removed.
I also spent part of one class learning to use the wii-mote white board. It was easy to use once it was set up, but I do not feel that I will be using it in my class any time soon. The technology behind smart boards and white boards is not where I would like them to be as far as how I feel they can be beneficial in the science classroom. With this being said it would be useful in a mathematics class as an alternative to the white board or chalk board.
Everything else I spent time on was in class when we learned to make comic strips, stop motion animation, etc.
For the distribution of the 60% allocated to my final project I would like it to be broken down as follows:
10% Digital Camera
5% Video Camera (only 5% because final project is more based around photos)
15% Video Editing (only 15% because mainly used photos)
20% Sound Editing
10% Photo Editing or Paint (only one photo was enhance with paint, but almost every photo was edited using Picasa)
Total = 60%
Great class, learnt alot and will definitely be using many of these tools during my future teaching career.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
June 21st, 2010
Back to the grind after the weekend. Today was great we learned about great potrable apps that will be very useful when I am teaching. The site, http://portableapps.com, has a great astronmy app called, stellarium. I will be using this for my science 9's during the space science unit.
We also did more work with green screen chroma today which was helpful, but still has not sold me. I have found that althought it is user friendly and straight forward, everytime I go to render something goes wrong. As I am not a very tech friendly person I find it very frustrating.
I am happy with my progress thus far in this class and even though I get frustrated with certain programs I am still glad that I have been introduced to the programs and hope to master them one days.
Regards, Tara
Back to the grind after the weekend. Today was great we learned about great potrable apps that will be very useful when I am teaching. The site, http://portableapps.com, has a great astronmy app called, stellarium. I will be using this for my science 9's during the space science unit.
We also did more work with green screen chroma today which was helpful, but still has not sold me. I have found that althought it is user friendly and straight forward, everytime I go to render something goes wrong. As I am not a very tech friendly person I find it very frustrating.
I am happy with my progress thus far in this class and even though I get frustrated with certain programs I am still glad that I have been introduced to the programs and hope to master them one days.
Regards, Tara
Friday, June 18, 2010
June 18th, 2010
Today was great to learn about the mind maps such as gliffy.com that I can definitely use in my science classes. It is also great that you provided us with the Elec 2.5 as I do teach electric circuits, can't wait to get home and try it out.
I will definitely use google docs and mind42.com in the future. I agree that it is very difficult for students to get together outside of school time with everything else they are involved in so any tools we can give them to be more flexible is great. In addition I am very happy I was introduced to the screencast-o-matic program. It is simple to use and I was always a bit afraid of trying screen capture before. Now, that I know how easy screen capture is I will take advantage of it to support my students learning when introducing them to programs they may be unfamiliar with.
Thanks, Tara
Today was great to learn about the mind maps such as gliffy.com that I can definitely use in my science classes. It is also great that you provided us with the Elec 2.5 as I do teach electric circuits, can't wait to get home and try it out.
I will definitely use google docs and mind42.com in the future. I agree that it is very difficult for students to get together outside of school time with everything else they are involved in so any tools we can give them to be more flexible is great. In addition I am very happy I was introduced to the screencast-o-matic program. It is simple to use and I was always a bit afraid of trying screen capture before. Now, that I know how easy screen capture is I will take advantage of it to support my students learning when introducing them to programs they may be unfamiliar with.
Thanks, Tara
June 17th, 2010
During yesterdays calls we used Zoho Show which is an awsome program to allow students to collaborate on powerpoint presentations from home outside of school. I am not big on the group work, but will definitely use this program in the future if I ever have students do group work. So glad I learnt how to use it!!!
I understand how some people feel pressed by time, but I wish we had a chance to learn screen control. It would be great to know with secondary students. At least I know it is out there now and can look it up.
I spent most of my time working on a green screen project which was extremely frustrating. I wouldn't work on the comuters at the school so I downloaded wax at home. It was easy to use and I thought it worked great until I went to watch my video and it kept skipping over seconds here and there. I am about to abandon this project.
Tara
During yesterdays calls we used Zoho Show which is an awsome program to allow students to collaborate on powerpoint presentations from home outside of school. I am not big on the group work, but will definitely use this program in the future if I ever have students do group work. So glad I learnt how to use it!!!
I understand how some people feel pressed by time, but I wish we had a chance to learn screen control. It would be great to know with secondary students. At least I know it is out there now and can look it up.
I spent most of my time working on a green screen project which was extremely frustrating. I wouldn't work on the comuters at the school so I downloaded wax at home. It was easy to use and I thought it worked great until I went to watch my video and it kept skipping over seconds here and there. I am about to abandon this project.
Tara
Friday, June 11, 2010
June 11th, 2010
Today was great as well. Learned how to layer images and take say my head out of a photo and add it to another image. As Lindsey mentioned this could be used in biology by taking a picture of an animal dissection and labeling it using a program like this. Another tool I can't wait to apply to my class/teaching is a whiteboard or wiimote board. I feel that once you have the skills to use these to their full potential that they can be strong teaching tools in math and science. For example in biology, I would love to use a smartboard to teach anatomy if I had a program where I could add in and take out body parts or label them on the board. Photo editing is also a valuable tool to teach students how the media that they observe everyday is edited and changed to let the viewer see what the corporation wants them to and not necessarily the truth.
Great class, getting onto the final project this weekend.
Tara
Today was great as well. Learned how to layer images and take say my head out of a photo and add it to another image. As Lindsey mentioned this could be used in biology by taking a picture of an animal dissection and labeling it using a program like this. Another tool I can't wait to apply to my class/teaching is a whiteboard or wiimote board. I feel that once you have the skills to use these to their full potential that they can be strong teaching tools in math and science. For example in biology, I would love to use a smartboard to teach anatomy if I had a program where I could add in and take out body parts or label them on the board. Photo editing is also a valuable tool to teach students how the media that they observe everyday is edited and changed to let the viewer see what the corporation wants them to and not necessarily the truth.
Great class, getting onto the final project this weekend.
Tara
Thursday, June 10, 2010
June 10th, 2010
Today in class it was basically a free space to take the time to create and work on our projects. It is a great class to have this free space in as many are more than willing to help each other and share their knowledge. I spent most of the class working on my website and thinking about my main project. I am excited to get started on my new project and hope to get a fair amount done this weekend. It is also exciting to see other people create their project to see what types of technology interest people and what I might possibly use in my classroom.
Off to work at the Sidney street market.
See you tomorrow. Tara
Today in class it was basically a free space to take the time to create and work on our projects. It is a great class to have this free space in as many are more than willing to help each other and share their knowledge. I spent most of the class working on my website and thinking about my main project. I am excited to get started on my new project and hope to get a fair amount done this weekend. It is also exciting to see other people create their project to see what types of technology interest people and what I might possibly use in my classroom.
Off to work at the Sidney street market.
See you tomorrow. Tara
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
June 9th, 2010
In class today we learnt to make a stop motion animation, use green screen chroma and download a you tube video. The stop motion animation was great. I only did a hang man type animation and it was really shake because I was holding the paper, but I am happy about the potential that this media form has to be used in my future classes. I have been introduced to green screen chroma before so I am okay with it, but it was a bit disappointing that it would not work for us in class today. I found that how we were shown to download a youtube video was great. In the past I have downloaded a youtube downloader onto my computer which also works really great. It is a great way to be sure your videos will work with an unreliable internet connection.
So far so good, I will keep cracking away at my website.
Cheers, Tara
In class today we learnt to make a stop motion animation, use green screen chroma and download a you tube video. The stop motion animation was great. I only did a hang man type animation and it was really shake because I was holding the paper, but I am happy about the potential that this media form has to be used in my future classes. I have been introduced to green screen chroma before so I am okay with it, but it was a bit disappointing that it would not work for us in class today. I found that how we were shown to download a youtube video was great. In the past I have downloaded a youtube downloader onto my computer which also works really great. It is a great way to be sure your videos will work with an unreliable internet connection.
So far so good, I will keep cracking away at my website.
Cheers, Tara
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