SCED 6270: Introduction to Methods, Planning, Assessment, & Technology |
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Hopefully you were able to install Audacity 1.3.12 on your computer and are ready for class. David Vernon mentioned to bring headphones so you don't bother those around you as you try to learn audio editing. Good point. I will show you how easy it is to record audio, edit audio, and then export audio to a popular and compressed format in Audacity. This will help you with lessons, creating podcasts, student projects, etc., that will help keep your students engaged. After today's demo, you will have to do the audio assignment that is due on April 27, 2010. Here are the links you requested in class:
Examples of Old Time Radio (War of the Worlds, etc.)
Bribing Mr. Rathke
Free Music and Sound FX Files (Last updated 12/2007 so some links could be out of date. Remember, Google is your friend.)
You may have noticed a Twitter feed at the bottom of my USU page. I have a Twitter account and will periodically post thoughts, ideas, and links to intreguing ideas to help you use technology in the classroom. I also have a blog (that I started as a class assignment in INST 4010 last semester) where I will start posting more regularly. This is not for class, but for continued information after you finish this course. The locations of both of these are:
twitter.com/iRathke
tech-ed-issues.blogspot.com
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
For next week, be sure to have Audacity installed. There are two versions of the program on their web site. The beta version is very stable an much easier to use so I suggest that you download and install Audacity 1.3.12 onto your computer. There is a portable version on PortableApps.com but it is the 1.2.6 version and it is a bit more cumbersome to use so I don't really recommend that one. For class, you may also want to download this zip file of sounds to use in class.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Not an excuse, but an explanation. I am way behind on grading. My wife has been working on a Masters and I have been her main support and editor/statistician throughout the process leading up to her Master's defense of her thesis tomorrow. Things have been hectic. Include the fact that my school's third term ended last week and I had to get my grades in on six different courses. So, now that the dust has settled a bit, I have finally graded your image assignments. I like to take my time and try to give some feedback rather than just a score. I am happy to say that I find your work very creative this semester and have enjoyed your attempts to grasp technology. Good work! Now I'm hoping that I can get around to your web page assignments...
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
I'll start class today with some information on web pages, HTML, etc. Then we'll use Kompozer to create our own teacher's web page. This assignment is due by noon on March 30, 2010. (You must upload a .zip file of your project folder to Blackboard). If you need to check out tutoring sites, etc., as mentioned in class tonight, just go here.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
For next week's lecture on web design you will need to have a few things handy if you can:
- If possible, have access to a computer during class either in a lab or bring a laptop.
- Have KompoZer installed* on the computer you are using or on a flash (USB) drive, the portable application. You can find this program at portableapps.com
- You can also install a non-portable version directly onto your computer's hard drive. The advantage is that the program runs faster than from a USB drive. The standard, non-portable, version of KompoZer is here.
- Have at least one image you would like to include in a web page. We are creating a web page to communicate to students and parents, we will start with an "about me" page.
- Regarding the "about me" page, please have about a page of text composed that we can format in a web page. The format is unimportant, you can write it in Microsoft Word or Notepad. It just needs to be accessible during the class so you can copy and past it into your web page editor.
*Note: The program you download is an installer. Save it to your desktop, then run it to install it anywhere on your computer or on a flash (USB) drive. It will run faster if installed directly on your computer. There is a Mac version of Portable NVu for those who like Apple Computers. You can find it here.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
In class I quickly explained file formats. The formats covered uncompressed (.bmp, .tif), compressed (.jpg, .gif, .png), transparent (.gif, .png), and layered (.psd). Then I went over how to do layering in GIMP. Your assignment, after the in-class exercise is to do something similar. You will need to combine two images and send me a layered (.psd or .xcf) file or upload to Blackboard. The assignment is here. Keep in mind that you are demonstrating working in layers. I'm not worried about quality since it takes time to become proficient.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Welcome to the technology portion of SCED 6270: Introduction to Methods, Planning, Assessment, & Technology (MPAT). Instead of confusing you with words like pedagogy, Marzano, backwards design, scaffolding, etc., I going to try and help you focus all the wonderful stuff you are learning into a mechanism that will help you engage students in the actual practice of learning.
To accomplish this, we will discuss today's learners by looking at one point of view, that of Marc Prensky, in the article Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. For next time that I meet with you (January 26th) please read the article and be ready to discuss. Something that may be helpful is a blog I used for INST 4010 (tech-ed-issues.blogspot.com) that contains a discussion on this topic as well. In particular, read my post called All a Twitter. Additionally, I would like you to read all of these articles. (What!?! You scream. Relax, they're mostly just a page or two):
I will demonstrate how not to kill your students with PowerPoint. And then we'll address how to access my web site, what assignments we will do and how to submit them.
Assignments for this course include the aforementioned reading, learning to manipulate images, how to create a web site in order to more effectively communicate to students and parents, and how to create and edit audio to enhance visual lessons, record your lectures for podcasting, and the alike.
It is preferable to have your own laptop anytime you attend class if possible. For this course you will be required to install the following FREE software on your computer. If you don't have access to a computer to bring to class, you will need to look for a portable equivalent that you can run off a USB flash drive on a lab computer. My recommendation is to go to portableapps.com to see what I mean. You will need the following:
- Kompozer web design program either
- GIMP (image manipulation software) as either
- Audacity 1.3.12 (sound editing software) as either
- direct install (Windows or Mac) or as
- portable app Windows only). NOTE: The portable version of Audacity is version 1.2.6 which is not nearly as good as the direct install of version 1.3.12
Also, be sure to download this zip file of images for the photo editing lesson in January 26th.
Note: As mentioned in class today. If you use a Mac and you want to use GIMP, you may need to install the X11 windowing system. You can find it on your computer's install disk, or you can download it here. Install this like any Mac program and you are done (by double-clicking on the installer and following the prompts). When you install GIMP, or any other program that requires X11, it will launch automatically.
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