Jazz 1-2-3 VC!

Today was the first day of Jazz. It was pretty interesting. I actually like it! I didn't expect to have fun but I did. I highly recommend attend this program if your are interested in videoconferencing. We're connecting to schools from across America. The first lesson was actually easy. I can see myself doing this in my district for sure.

Web Authoring

Today learned about web development. The teacher is having trouble getting her material ready. I totally understand. Been there done that. Once she got started it was great! I learned a couple of things today.

B. Matthews

Podcasting

Today we covered podcasting using Audacity. Audacity is a free podcasting tool individuals can download and use to create podcasts. Podcasts would be great for ELL/ELS students, beginning readers, struggling readers, technology staff development demonstrations/instructions etc. It is a nice program for novice learners as well. Overall, I like to podcast. It takes a considerable amount of time to setup though but the final product is well worth the effort. Listed below are some possible episode titles for instructional purposes. They are as follows:

1. Digital Storytelling for 6th-8th Grade Students Episodes 1 of 2
2. PowerPoint Tips and Tricks For Teachers

B. Matthews

Animation & Multimedia-PM

This afternoon we worked with PowerPoint. Once again, this is material I am already familiar with and covered with instructional personnel on June 16th. With this lesson I was able to create a quick and consistent design using smartart tags. Overall, today was a good day.

B. Matthews

Animation & Multimedia-AM

Today we learned how to create animations in Photoshop. This is material I am familiar with. I have been working with Adobe Macromedia products for almost ten years now. We cover Photoshop earlier in the year with our 9th-12th grade students. The kiddos did great and was able to use Photoshop collaboratively in other applications as well. I must say that the newer version of Photoshop makes it easier to create animations. The kids would love this product. However, I am ready to move onto something more interesting.

B. Matthews