Photoshop: So Cool They Made it a Verb

Uses in the Classroom: It almost seems obvious to say that Photoshop has many possible uses in the classroom. Kids love to look at and manipulate images, which means any time they get a chance to do this, they will be more likely to "put up with" any other pieces of the lesson or activity. Students can create images to go along with stories they wrote, or they can create images to depict what they believe the setting of a story (or the characters) to look like. Any time a student gets a chance to reinforce what they are reading, they are more likely to understand what they have read and apply it to their own situations.

Photoshop could also be used to help illustrate the power of media. Teachers could show students "Photoshopped" images to help students understand what advertisements and other forms of media do to images and videos to help sell their products. Students could even use Photoshop to create their own "propaganda". These are simply a few ideas for an English classroom, but there are tons of possibilities in any subject.

The animated image above, or similar animated images, could be used to direct students to a particular piece of information on a class website, or to draw attention to an announcement or a link. The "flashing" circle draws attention to itself, making it a useful tool to keep students from missing important things.

Issues to Consider: If given the chance, students would spend every second selecting and editing images. This can sometimes cause a problem if the Photoshop part of a project is only a small one. Because there are so many different things that you can do using this software, and the possibilities are almost endless, that means the time students will want to devote to it is timeless as well. Not to mention, some students simply work slower, or love to slow down the process! Teachers using Photoshop as a part of a larger project should make sure to limit the amount of time students have to work on their images, and make sure they come into the work time with all the images they need already collected and ready to edit! This can significantly reduce slow-downs.

Copyright: This animated image is an original of Angie Burns.

Infographics: A New Way to See Information

Uses in the Classroom: Infographics have plenty of potential uses in the classroom. I personally learned how to crochet using infographics (after trying to learn by reading about it). Because they are so versatile, teachers can use them to present almost any kind of information, especially data, processes and other similar things. In a high school English classroom, for example, I could use an infographic to show relationships between characters in a novel, or I could use one to show how to cite a sources using MLA format. Students can also create infographics to demonstrate their understanding of these kinds of tasks as well.

For this particular project I chose to create an infographic to show my WAY Researchers how to log in to the program, First Class, change his/her password, and set up his/her mailbox. This will be more helpful to my Researchers than simply telling them how to do this, or writing out directions. Visually representing information using pictures and organized information is much more beneficial to learners. 

Issues to Consider: I came in to this project expecting it to be very simple. I've created infographics before using various programs (I just didn't know what they were called before this project!). In fact, I was using several infographics I created in Google Docs for the Induction process at my Learning Lab. I figured, I'll take one of them that needed to be tweeked (because it wasn't quite as effective as I would like it to be) and recreate it using one of the approved programs. 

I picked easel.ly and all seemed well at first until I tried to save. I was directed to create an account, which was expected, but after creating an account, I had lost all of the work I had done on my infographic previously! After venting a little frustration, I started over and created what I thought was an amazing infographic, I saved it, and when I went to view it, I had lost the top, bottom, left and right of my infographic. Apparently, the only part of the screen you can use to create your infographic is a semi-transparent square in the center of the "easel". This would have been nice to know the first time. I then had to start again from scratch. Because easel.ly is a beta site, it doesn't have a lot of the support information that more established sites have. My blonde moment with this project was almost catastrophic, but luckily for me, the third time is the charm!

Copyright: This is an original infographic by Angie Burns. All screenshots contained in this infographic were taken by the author for the purpose of guiding new WAY Mount Pleasant Researchers through the Induction process.

Instructional Video: Mac Basics

Uses in the Classroom: As a teacher for an online school, instructional videos are my bread and butter. In particular, I use them in the emails I write to Researchers as scaffolding to help them earn new standards. I also send my Researchers in the Learning Lab to different videos as well, but in the Lab it is more like showing them what they can do when they are at home. From time to time, Researchers will also create instructional videos to demonstrate one set of standards or another.

Instructional videos are best used by the teacher in a traditional classroom for lectures that are very detailed, that students may need to pause frequently to understand everything, but that will save considerable classroom time by allowing students to access the video from home as "homework". It is also helpful with assisting students with application tasks, like creating a portfolio. Students can also create instructional videos to aid in comprehension, application, or synthesis of many different subjects and topics. This is something that I hadn't previously thought of!

Issues to Consider: For teachers attempting to completely flip their classroom, this can be quite a time-consuming task. When I was teaching high school in south west Kansas, a friend of mine discovered she was expecting and decided she was going to create instructional videos for all of the lectures she was going to miss during maternity leave. Even though she had experience with screencasting and movie making software, this still became such a large chore for my friend, that it took her over six months of dedicated work (outside of her actual work) to create 2 months worth of instructional videos for her students. It did end up working out for her, but I feel like most teachers should try to pace themselves and not try to flip their classroom all at once. Make a video here, find a video there, and slowly build your digital tool box.

Copyright: The movie is an original of Angie Burns. Screencasts and Screenshots were created by the author and music was provided by Chris Zabriskie through freemusicarchive.org.

Digital Storytelling: A New Twist on an Old Classic

Uses in the Classroom: As an English teacher, the possibilities for digital storytelling in the classroom are endless. For this assignment, I chose to create an example to show students of a persuasive book report using Windows Movie Maker. I would use this to help students recognize what a quality product would look like for this assignment, but students would then go on to create their own persuasive book reports using Windows Movie Maker, using the software to showcase the work they have already done; evaluating the quality of a literary text, and validating that opinion with evidence from the text.

Digital storytelling could also be used to create biographies or auto biographies. In the past I have had students collaborate with a partner to interview each other and create a documentary about his/her partner. Students spent time not only interviewing each other, but also collecting music and pictures for his/her interviewer. Because the subject and the director always had different opinions, students had to collaborate to synthesize the documentary media. These are only a few possibilities for digital storytelling in an English classroom!

Issues to Consider: Having had students work with Windows Movie Maker in the past, I know the many things that can go wrong, especially since I never took the time to learn how to use it before I set my students loose on the program! It is a free and user friendly program, however, there are several important things that must be done at various stages to avoid catastrophic result, and these things are not always apparent! For example, I had several students try to submit their movies to me as Movie Maker files, and I was unable to open them. Files need to be converted to movies before they can be viewed outside of Windows Movie Maker. There are a few other little "quirks" to the program like this one, but if you take the time ahead of time to know the programs you ask your kids to use, these problems can be avoided easily.

Copyright: This movie is an original of Angie Burns. Images were provided by Wikimedia.org and music was provided by Paniks live through freemusicarchive.org.

Screencast: Setting up a Digital Portfolio using Weebly

Uses in the Classroom: Screencasting can be used in several different ways. I have previous experience with Jing as an Content Area Expert for WAY (Widening Advancements for Youth). I often use Jing to create videos showing Researchers (this is what we call our students) how to use programs to choose the best possible project for them and their needs at that moment. This can often be a very complicated process, and with Jing I can pull up their records on my screen. This makes it much easier for them to understand how to use the program when I can use their own information as the example. Math Experts for WAY also often use it to demonstrate how to complete a problem.

Students can create screencasts to explain programs and applications to each other. The best way to learn something is to have to teach it to someone else, and screencasting gives students the perfect opportunity to do this. Best of all, work can be published to the internet through blogs, Facebook, YouTube, or to contribute toward a digital portfolio.

In the teacher's hands, screencasting is best used for explaining new programs and applications on the computer that help facilitate a lesson, but aren't necessarily part of the lesson themselves. For this post, I used CamStudio to create a screencast showing students how to create a digital portfolio using Weebly. I found the program relatively easy to use after watching a tutorial video. By using screencasts to teach applications and programs such as PowerPoint, Movie Maker, Weebly, Google Drive, etc., teachers have more time to spend teaching the content and students have more time to spend diving into it. Screencasting can also be used to bring revising and editing to life. Used by either a teacher or a peer, revising becomes more interactive. The editor would narrate any spelling or grammatical changes, confusing areas, or suggestions for reorganizing.

Issues to Consider: Screencasting itself is very simple; press record, show what you wanted to show, end recording, and save. However, people often make mistakes. When those mistakes happen (in the form of a sneeze, a stutter, or a very wrong click), this leaves a "screencaster" with only two options: They can start all over again, or they can press stop and begin a new recording, causing more work later in the form of editing. This would also mean learning and using a completely different program. For some students (or adults), this would be no problem, but for the technologically-apprehensive of any age, this could end up being a deal breaker.

Copyright: The video included is an original screencast of Angie Burns.