PracticalExperience_Flash_Part6

This is what I was able to accomplish with my first attempt at using Flash. I probably would have had a better product if I had experimented along with the tutorial videos. Now having watched the tutorials and attempted a project, I will watch some of the tutorials again and actually play along and pause as needed. Overall I am still excited to create something in Flash and see the rest of what the program has to offer.
Enjoy!

PracticalExperience_Flash_Part5

Ok-I've covered the basic features, staying organized, adding and manipulating text, and editing symbols and instances. The last part seemed a little confusing but I am sure when I am working on an actual project it will be easier to follow. So far the program seems to be very well set up for easy organization, creating and editing. The last sitting I did was a little short because the introduction to animation is next and I did not want to be overwhelmed when starting this section. I did notice that a few others are learning Flash now also and are already on the animation sections, which makes me more excited to see what I can do in Flash! After I have lunch, I will be off to Flash animation land....... tty in a bit :)

WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM by Steven Johnson

PracticalExperience_Flash_Part4

During this session I learned all about the library, layers and how to stay organized while working in Flash. It was refreshing to have this info before getting to the middle of a project and realizing that you can't find anything without wasting a lot of time searching the whole file. In the past few years I have become much more conscious about staying organized, especially on my computer. I try to start a file for each new project and save all pictures, word documents, etc. at the beginning so when I need to access something it is right at my finger tips. This cuts down on frustration and makes working on project much more enjoyable. Having the knowledge of how to stay organized before starting to create in program with many options and features like Flash will be beneficial and hopefully help me turn out better products in a shorter amount of time.

PracticalExperience_Flash_Part3

Wow--Chapter 3 was a lot to take in in one sitting! It was interesting watching the avocado take shape as the tools were explained. I did not play around with creating shapes, gradients, fills, lines, etc. while watching the videos this time, mostly because they moved so quickly. Now that I have successfully made my head hurt from all the new wrinkles I am going to call it a night...Good night all!

PracticalExperience_Flash_Part2

What you are seeing is my first drawing in Flash. I made it through the first two chapters and was able to create this picture. Most of the drawing tools and features are similar to other graphics programs, so it was a nice refresher course. I also like how all of the tools have keyboard shortcuts listed when you hover over the tool (hopefully I'll start remembering them....) The one tool that was new to me was the Deco tool--it was freakin' awesome!!! You can draw trees, buildings, plants, stylized designs and lots of other things. I made the stars by selecting the Polystar tool and playing with the number and size of the points. I am ready to start Chapter 3 which is almost an hour long--maybe I'll have some animation next time!

PracticalExperience_Flash_Part1

Flash----aaaahhhh, aaaaahhhhh......the savior of the universe!!!!!!

I have chosen to learn Flash (which will include Builder, Catalyst, and any other additions to Flash) from the Adobe CS5 package. I have never used or knowingly worked with Flash before--actually I do not even know what it does yet. What drew me to this program at this time is 1) It's always good to learn new things--especially with technology 2) We are going to be using it in an upcoming class and 3) A man I work with would like to use it but has not had a chance to play around with it yet; if I learn the program I will hopefully be able to give him advice or show him some tricks when he does decide to use the program. I am off to Lynda.com to start earning my certificate!!!!

BP11_OMM_Choice

Well....the theme of the day has been for technology to not cooperate so why should this be any different....

Due to "errors in processing my video" it will not embed on my blog BUT DON'T DISPAIR!!!! You can be magically whisked away to my video on YouTube with this link....Enjoy! 

BP10_Comment to Dena Moncrief

Follow this link to my comment on Dena's blog....

BP9_Comment to Tyler Badertscher

Follow this link to my comments on Tyler's blog...

BP8_Yugma

The Web 2.0 tool I checked out this week is Yugma. According to their site ""Yugma" is a Sanskrit word meaning "confluence, meeting or state of togetherness." which is an appropriate name since it is an instant web conferencing SAS tool. Some of the popular uses for Yugma have been webinars, sales presentations, group conferencing and many other events where people need to be connected but are not or can not be in the same place at the same time. The free version lets you share your desktop with up to 20 others during your event. You also have teleconferencing, chat and Skype integration. You can purchase an upgraded account based on how many attendees you would like to have at your events. (See picture below)

When you do upgrade to a Pro plan you will have access to Whiteboard tools, meeting recording and playback, mouse/keyboard sharing, meeting scheduling, Webinar registration and data tracking and a few others features. (See below)

I have not signed up to try Yugma yet (I do not want to waste my 15 day trial of the upgrade) BUT if it is as easy to use as their sales pitch says, then it would be a great resource for teachers, administrators and professionals. When gathering ideas for my AR project I had considered how to combat calamity days (missed days of school due to inclement weather or other serious circumstances). This would be a great tool to use on the days where people are not physically able to get to the same place for a class or meeting. Another plus if one were to upgrade from the free account is the ability to record meetings or Webinars for later access--great for students that miss school! The program seems to be similar to Wimba, but maybe a little more advanced and interactive for the host and attendees. I will be looking forward for a chance to use Yugma in the future!

BP7_OMM_BigUniverseLearning

Watch the video here.....
or click the link to watch it on YouTube....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qylvnqWW2r0

BP4_BigUniverseLearning

Week 2: Web 2.0 review

Big Universe      http://teachersfirst.com/20/getsource.cfm?id=9336

This seems like it would be a very valuable tool for educators to use in any classroom. The site is user-friendly and the program is SMARTboard compatible. There is also an extensive library of images to choose from if you do not already have your own created. They promote being a safe and monitored place to publish, either privately or publicly, and the user can search books that have already been published to the site. The user can also share titles, subscribe to Big Universe’s RSS feed, and connect with the site on Facebook and Twitter. The main drawback would be the cost to purchase either a monthly or yearly license.

1 yr school license (multiple users):         $995.00

1 yr classroom (up to 35 users): $ 129.95 or monthly $14.95

1 yr home (personal use): $ 79.95 or monthly $8.95

I think it would be a great tool for a district to purchase if they had the funds to do so. If I were to use it in a classroom setting (mine being Art), I would have older classes of students (upper elementary or over) create children’s’ books that they would share with the younger elementary students in their school or district. This would involve collaboration with the English teachers, possibly other subject teachers depending on what the story involves, the graphic arts teacher (if the district is that lucky) and the elementary teachers. By having the older students create and then read their stories to a younger audience, they will be personally connected which in turn should mean they are more motivated and engaged with the project; this would also give the younger students something to look forward too when they became the older students. 

BP6_Comment to Jason Reed

Hey--follow this link to see my comments on Jason Reed's blog.....

BP5_Comment to Ryan Kelsey

Follow this link to
see my comments
on Ryan's blog....

Readings

WEEK ONE


Creating Opportunities for College Access....
This article covered data gathered from a case study on an Illinois charter school. The school was created to prepare the area youth for entrance into college, both academically and socially. As long as the students were willing to work, they were there to work with them. Although the study was geared to minorities, it did offer some ideas or base lines for running a college access program. The article also had two pages of references which I was able to find 9 more sources to check out.


Knowledge for Practice....
This article discussed the training for college access advisors for Cleveland Scholarship Programs (CSP). The training was broken down into general areas (each was listed with a description) and a review of how the training went, along with a timeline for presenting topics, was covered also. This article did not go in-depth on how they created their program but did offer a link to download the Training Modules and Objectives as well as a few references for further exploration.

Promising Practices....
In this article an overview of 3 programs in the Mid-East US was given. 1) A financial aid based program that had expanded into a more holistic program, 2)A scholarship program, and 3) A unique partnership between secondary and post-secondary entities. In relation to college access the groups highlighted assist college bound students with assistance in tuition and related educational expenses. The last group discussed is a model for creative solutions, community involvement and partnerships.

Planning for Opportunity....
This article provided an outline for starting a college-going culture in your school. The process was broken down into sections and discussed in detail. The overall theme through all portions of the article were to be consistent with language and expectations of college and to provide as much support as possible. There were also multiple references provided for further research.

BP_DiigoGroup

I'm not really sure what I am supposed to be blogging about with this post. I created an account with Diigo, which was SUPER easy to do, and am now a member of a few other groups and even have a few followers. I do think it will be a useful organization tool for my Action Research project once I start playing around with the features. Since I will be dealing with many people, many sources of information, and tracking data I will need something that is simple to use, add to, access and can hold everything I will be throwing that direction.

I am planning to start a mentoring program that will be sustainable as long as the guidance counselor(s) keep the base information updated. I will utilize junior students as mentors to freshmen students. They will be doing something similar to my job (college access advisor) but not on as large a scale. My goal is to start with these grades so as they progresses to the next grade there will always be students that have had a part in the mentoring program. If the program is successful and maintained, the high school I will be working with will be the only one in the area that I know of housing a college access program on their own. I think that if I become familiar with Diigo’s features and make it a point to store and organize my information there, I will be less stressed and able to create a functioning program where students learn and stay active for years to follow.

BP1_GoogleReader

feed://images.apple.com/main/rss/hotnews/hotnews.rss
feed://seminars.apple.com/rss/sol.rss
I chose to follow Hot News and Seminars from Apple because I am a new Mac user. My thoughts are with the Hot New I will be kept up to date with what the company is releasing and doing with their technologies. The Seminars will keep me notified when learning opportunities or events are happening that I may be able to participate.

feed://arted20.ning.com/activity/log/list?fmt=rss
Art Education 2.0 is a collection of Art Educators from different areas. It is promoted as a sharing community where teachers can stay in touch with what others are doing as well as how they are integrating technology into their classrooms. This will be beneficial for me to follow for networking and for brainstorming ideas. I especially like the element of joining Art with technology. Since the Arts are being cut from schools, the more technology is integrated the less likely the school will be to do away with them.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/tedtalks_video
I chose TED to follow from the view videos I have watched in my FSO classes. I can get tips to make my lessons better from watching how different people present and condense their information to the time limits.  Also, the videos I have watched so far have been very engaging while still remaining educational.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/EdutopiaNewContent
My 5th RSS site is Edutopia. I came across their magazine while subbing in one of the schools in my area. After flipping through the pages I knew the organization was one that I wanted to learn about more. I went home and checked out their site, where I registered to receive e-mail updates. A year later I am now registered for RSS feed from their site so I can stay in touch with what happens daily. I was intrigued by the magazine because it seemed to be a breath of fresh air about education. The people in the articles were excited, passionate and making things happen in their schools. They were also open to new ways of instruction and making sure their population was being served to the best of their abilities. It was refreshing to read about teachers and educational professionals that were not suffering from burnout.

BP2_iGoogleScreenShots

I started my iGoogle page in our first class with Dr. Wyly. Before then I had not used Google for anything other than a search engine (and that was only when I wanted images). After creating my initial iGoogle page I have found myself logging in just to see my cat picture and famous quote of the day from the gadgets I have added. Now having added tabs for ETC, AR, and a special tab for FSO, I will be able to keep everything super organized. I LOVE having stuff well organized and right at my fingertips; it makes everything less stressful! Right now the new tabs are very bare bones, but will be beefed up as the class progresses and I find more links and gadgets appropriate for each tab. Also after setting up the new tabs and adding links to them, it is like a physical 3 ring binder, only this is MUCH lighter and not as cumbersome when adding new information. It is also more accessible since you can access it from any computer with an Internet connection and not have to carry around a heavy, bulky book.

I think this would be a great tool for schools to start utilizing. It would keep the students organized without having to manually check their teachers web pages everyday. It would also allow them to find their own gadgets to add to the pages that the teacher may not know about yet. As an Art teacher my students could create tabs for different media or sections of the Art world (such as history, museums, artists, etc.).