Adventures with iMovie

Adventures with iMovie...oh what an adventure it was. Imovie was an interesting experience for me, but one that I am glad I got to experiment with and now know how to operate. It was pretty stressful at the beginning, but let's face it, I get pretty stressed out in the beginning with most of the programs in this class. So I guess no one is surprised that some amount of stress was involved with the production of my iMovie.

Anyways, iMovie is a very interesting program. It is incredible to think that we can just take a series of 12-15 pictures, drag them into the program, add some effects, and way to go you have created your very own movie. That sounds rather simple, but there were some technical difficulties.

I had a hard time with the timing of all of the clips. Some were rather long and others really short, but I had no idea how that was happening. I then had to cut a lot out and go in and adjust the time. I also realized that pressing "add" and "update" were two completely different actions. "Add" added stuff while "update" acted like a save button. It took me a really long time to realize that those buttons were very different. But once I did, it was smooth sailing. I also had a lot of help from Brittany. She seems to catch on to things in class very quickly. I am always a few steps behind her. I am thankful for her though, she helps me out a ton in class.

In the end, I sort of enjoyed iMovie. Ha I am not sure I will ever just fire it up on my computer at home and start creating masterpieces. But I am thankful that I know how to use it. I think that if I got more familiar with it I could use it somehow in the classroom. I think that it would be a great tool to use to introduce myself to the class in an easy and quick way. I also think that kids are very interested in forms of multimedia and the potential that they hold. There is a ton of creativity that could be displayed using iMovie.

I loved adding a soundtrack to my movie. I think sound adds so much to a project, so I loved that aspect. That was also maybe the easiest part. I just had to drag it into the program and there it was.

So yay for me and my relationship with iMovie. It might be a short relationship, but that doesn't mean I didn't learn a lot.

Scavenger Hunt using Voicethread

I adore scavenger hunts and VoiceThread. Scavenger hunts are always an activity that I have loved. I love getting out of wherever you are, being able to move around outside, and how it incorporates all the members of a group. It was great to be able to have a long break outside, away from the ice box that is our classroom. I also really enjoyed my group members and the creativity that we all incorporated into our hunt.

Once we got back into the classroom and opened up VoiceThread I immediately loved it. It was so simple to use. It was such a forgiving program and that is something I need to not get overwhelmed and stressed. I also loved the features of the program with text comments, doodling, and being able to make voice comments. Doodling and voice comments were my favorite. You get to demonstrate your creativity and really have fun with your comments.

This would be such an excellent feature to use in the classroom. I would love to have my students go on a scavenger hunt and display their images with VoiceThread. I think that students would love using VoiceThread because of the potential for an abundant use of their creativity. I think they would love to doodle and voice comment. It would be a great idea to use because all different types of students would thrive under this program. All different types of creativity would be able to shine.

Needless to say, I loved VoiceThread and can't wait to use it in my classroom!

My Digital Image Collection

This is a slideshow of my digital image collection. Included in the slideshow are a scan, a photo I took with my camera, an image from Big Box of Art, an image I got from the internet, and a screen shot. Making a digital image collection turned out to be somewhat frustrating. I never thought that something that seemed as simple as collecting digital images would cause any sort of stress. I think the biggest problem I had with the digital image collection was that I had no idea how to take a screen shot and I had never used Picassa.

The screen shot turned out to be a really cool tool that I can hopefully use in the classroom. I just had no idea that one even existed in the first place. Then I had no idea how to actually get one. But the process turned out to be rather simple and I am glad that I know how to get one now. I think that I just got a little frustrated because I did not know anything about them. I tend to get a little overwhelmed when I do not know how to do something. It was also getting to be towards the end of class and I knew I also had to resize the image and put it in my powerpoint. But all is well! It worked out fine and my stress faded away quickly. Now I know how to take a screen shot, resize one, place it in a slideshow, and hopefully be able to demonstrate a exercise to my students using the screen shot.

Picassa turned out to also be a cool tool, but another one that I was rather frustrated with in the beginning. I also had never heard of Picassa so was completely unfamiliar with its features. Resizing pictures in photoshop was also new to me and seemed rather confusing from the outside. But once I figured out that you just had to type in the measurements it became less confusing. Picassa was difficult because I could not really figure out how the program actually worked. I had trouble deleting a picture at first and then putting in a caption. However, I eventually got the hang of it. I would not say I am a pro by any means, but at least I now know how the program works and would be able to use it if I had to.

All in all my digital image slideshow turned out to be good I hope. I know that it is not the most interesting show, but at least it is one that I created and took the time to figure out how to actually create one.

Google Docs...Sign me up!

This past week in Instructional Technology we learned about Google Docs. We played around with them a little bit and then used the program to create a hypothetical internet activity for a potential high school classroom. I love Google Docs. It is so easy to use. We also learned about Wikis this past week and I think they are sort of similar to Google Docs. They are similar in the fact that they both include pages on the internet that multiple people have access to and can make changes to. However I thought Wikis were a bit more confusing than Google Docs, but maybe it just has to do with the fact that I use Google a ton and I am really familiar with it. Anyways, I plan on using Google Docs a ton in the future. Like I said it is so easy and it is such a plus that the people in my group can do what post what they want and make corrections without having to send multiple drafts of an email.

As for my technology progress, I think I am kind of getting the hang of stuff. I know that I am placed at Hardin Valley Academy this fall and I think I could use a ton of this tech stuff in my classroom.

Here is a link to Hardin Valley's Media Center website that demonstrates how technology advanced they are: http://mediacenter.hardinvalleyac.knoxschools.org/modules/groups/integrated_home.phtml?&gid=508472&sessionid=4e423268ca96fd3ecd91050b6c3e9182&t=41e439229d7fab0bc608d9e366807198.

I have heard that they are a very tech savvy school, so I would love to be able to implement all of my new knowledge in my classroom. Hopefully I will continue to go forward and soak up as much new information as possible.

Welcome!

Welcome to my Instructional Technology 486 blog! This is a blog that I have to create for class, but one in which I think I will enjoy. Who knows, maybe I will post more than once a week and I will become an actual "blogger." I can't guarantee anything though, so no one get their hopes up. I hope that this class will be one that benefits me personally as well as my future students. I am excited about the idea of using technology in the classroom because I think there are endless possibilities. I know that my classroom will be very much improved with the use of technology. Well thanks for visiting! Come back soon!