Week_4_Final Video

Here is my last video for week 4

PE7_Flash and Vuvox

Below, I will first show you how far I got with Flash because I am really proud of myself. 

Next,  wanted to share two different things I have been learning this week. Mostly, my focus has been on Flash, but I became really bored with the voice of the trainer so I decided to take a break from Flash. I explored other software tutorials on Lynda. I had heard of Vuvox before, and decided to explore this 2.0 tool. I was really excited when I started watching the tutorials, but as I began to create my own collage, but the first problem I encountered was that I could only upload 3 images to the work area. I did try to upload more at first, but it would not let me save and didn’t tell me why. The directions didn’t tell me why it wouldn’t save either, so I experimented. It would only save if there were only 3 images. Later in the tutorials though, it looked like they used more. I'll have to work on that some more.

Next, I learned (again the hard way) that wherever you cutout to place the media, it must be level and you cannot tilt it until later.

The irritating part of using this program is that it takes FOREVER to upload even small media, then the processing time takes equally as long.

I also learned from the Vuvox tutorial that saving media in an online account such as Picasa, Smugmug, or Flickr can be very useful. I like that my media can be accessed anywhere by me to be used in my creations. These online accounts also link up with Vuvox instantly so the downloading problem isn’t there because media such as short video clips can be linked to easily.

It is nice that the tutorial says that only mp3 audio can be used, but I still don’t know what kind of videos can be added! I usually work with .mov type of video, but as far as I can tell, I can’t seem to be able to use it. Clips or videos from UTUBE will work, so maybe I need to upload to that first, them bring in my videos from UTUBE. 

The tutorials also showed many ways to use the collage feature like linking it to Ebay to sell things, and linking to collections of art or videos.

Below is my completion certificate for Vuvox.

I am still working on Flash.

PE6_Flash

Learning Flash has definitely been a challenge. The first part of the Flash tutorials have been just learning the tools and what they do in Flash. Now it is starting to get a little more interesting because we are moving into the animation portion. I took lots of notes, now I just hope I can remember where the information is in the notes when I need it. It is extremely time consuming because I repeat the tutorials sometimes several times before I "get it".
I had hoped to begin making objects to show and make move, but it is really more difficult than it sounds.
I wonder what it is we will have to do with Flash in our EMDT class.
Hopefully, in my last post I can show SOMETHING I can be proud that I created.


 

BP10_Link to Erica Adkin's blog

Clink here to follow my post on Erica Adkin's Blogspot. She discovered an awesome useful tool.

BP9_Link to Matthew Park's blog

Click here to see my blog post on Matthew's post.

PE5_Adobe Flash

Progress is slow especially because I watch some training videos several times so I can work with the trainer and they really move fast. (Or I am really slow) Hopefully, next week I can show some work I have created with this software. Thus far, I have just copied the trainer.

PE4_Flash

The training I wanted to check out and learn is Adobe Flash. It has really been challenging but interesting. Huge learning curve here.

I know I have come a long way since I have started although you wouldn't know it by looking at my progress on this screenshot. The entire concept is so foreign to me that it is time intensive. Since we will be using it later in this course, I thought I had better get moving to learn it.

BP11_www.quizzegg.com

BP8_2.0 tools

Egg Quizz is a fantastic tool for the busy classroom teacher. 

With this tool, online quizzes can be created with very little effort and there are choices of various question types including  multiple choice, multiple response, fill in the blank, true/false, word list, essay, matching, and ordering.

It is important to have the first question ask the student their name so their answers can be identified.
All of the information goes into the spreadsheet which is accessible to the quiz creator. Also included in the spreadsheet is information such as how long it took the student to complete the quiz and it gives the final grade  percentage.
I love this application!
I used it to create an entire end of week reading quiz for my class. Of course it is important to test the quiz to be sure it works correctly, and it is a good thing I did. The first time through, I made a couple of mistakes such as not creating the class correctly so they could access it, and I chose to randomize the order of questions so they would be mixed for each student to minimize the chances of cheating. Unfortunately, when I randomized, I didn't realize that even the questions which went with a separate short story would be pushed to another group of questions. Ultimately, after working out the bugs, the test was a success and saved me time from grading papers.
When first checking out the site, it said there was a $50. charge for unlimited quizzes for a year. After creating my first quiz, the "special introductory price" if ordered within 5 days of my first quiz, dropped to $30. for a year.

 To me, and several teachers I know, $30 is well worth the price to create online quizzes which do the grading for us. I know that Google Docs also can create online quizzes, but you must create the formula to have it grade the quiz. I have tried both, and definitely prefer www.eggquizz.com

PE3_IMovie

Adjusting the level of ambient sound, importing sound from other areas of the video, and adding sound effects, adding movement to still shots, and using a green screen are also notable features I am excited to use in future videos. I LOVE I-MOVIE!!

Here is my completion certificate!!

YAY!!! I can hardly wait until I can use what I have learned!

PE2_IMovie

Learning to add picture in picture to my videos will definitely prove helpful when creating my videos from now on. Switching between picture and picture and the regular video is also an awesome feature. I am excited to use these in my next video. 

PE1_IMovie

I loved the IMovie training on lynda.com. I had figured out a lot of it when working on previous projects,  but there was so much more to learn from archiving pictures and videos straight from the camera, to advanced actions like 

picture in picture

.

During this point of the training, I learned about adjusting transitions so none of the video gets lost. When working on one of my videos for the EDMT program, I became extremely frustrated because I could not keep from losing part of the video before a transition. Now I know how to put in transitions without losing any video!

 

BP_6 link to Michael Chapel's blog

 Click here to see my blog on Michael's blog

BP_5 link to Jenny Grover's Blog

Click here to go to my post on Jenney Grover's blog.

I really liked using Toondoo!
Thank you Jenney for reminding me of it again!

BP4_2.0_tools

http://www.artisancam.org.uk/  

This 2.0 tool will be very useful in my fourth grade classroom. My class is currently working on a service learning project to make others aware of pollution and how it affects the oceans and our lives. One of the activities they will be participating in is going to 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms to teach them about pollution, what causes it, and what they can do to help prevent it. They were going to use Microsoft Publisher to create brochures to hand out, but, after trying out this software, I will have them use it to create and print out their anti pollution books to be distributed to the smaller children. I think the books will prove much more successful than the brochures.

The front and back can be tastefully designed, and 2-6 pages in between can be filled with information and illustrated by the student.  

This can be a very useful tool.

     

BP3_IGoogleScreenShots

CBR Tab

ETC

FSO

BP1 Welcome

This is the first blog I have created. Welcome to my blog site. This will be an interesting experience for me because I have never participated in blog posting.