Week 4 - Supersize me please.

We bought a Mac because of the one cast metal case - perfect for travelling.  One day we found our then 4 year old standing on the Mac to get a little bit higher - both survived the experience.  Macs are designed to make life simpler.  If I want to resize a photo I let technology do it for me.  I remember on the PC having to go through a few complex steps but not anymore.

Here is a photo of a good looking rooster that I know.

This photo measures in at a whopping 9.7MB.  Is that equal to a phone book, The Encyclopaedia Britannica or some other tome?  It's hard to say.  I found conflicting information on the internet about how much text 9.7MB is equal to.

After playing with the photo in iPhoto, the generic photo program that comes with Mac, I was able to drop the photo down to 66KB.  While he's still a good catch the photo has become pixellated, that is we can start to see the individual pixels that make up this picture. 

One way to get around this problem is to display the 66KB photo as a thumbnail.  Here the photo looks sharp again.

I have seen pixellated photos used deliberately, such as wall hangings, and accidentally, such as small images put into PowerPoint presentations.  The latter look unprofessional and generally have a watermark in them showing that the person has just ripped them off Google Images.  If teachers are going to use photos they should take the time to source sharp images that are the correct size.  Just as you wouldn't give students a poorly handwritten handout, why use dodgy images?

Voki.

I haven't used Voki in the classroom yet and I'm not sure about its application.  I prefer face to face contact and I would probably record myself somewhere in costume rather than use Lee's (Australia) voice.

The process was very simple to do and the price was right.  I would have to put on the six thinking hats to help me get past my dislike of things being over animated and two dimensional.  Perhaps this would be a good tool for students to use to help them become more creative.  I once saw a talk on Moodle which was all Voki and it was very difficult to watch.  For this reason I would only use it for short bursts, perhaps just to give some simple instructions.

Video.

As a family, we've uploaded several videos to YouTube over the past three years.  Some for travelling and some just for fun.  We found the iPod fantastic for this as we could film something and it would send it straight to YouTube without us having to do any fiddling.

My kids asked about stop-motion photography such as Sean the Sheep and many other children's show.  Thinking of the "give a man to fish..." quote I decided to show them how to fish.  We made our own stop-motion video.  This was edited with iMovie, the standard film editing software that comes with the Mac.

In regards to media, I like the idea of children creating more than they consume.  I think making movies is an important part of (digital) literacy and all children should be taught how to create entertainment, whether it's an app, storybook, movie, film clip etc, it doesn't really matter so long as they are creating something and going through that process of editing and improving.

As I said with Voki, I would feel more comfortable recording myself, or someone else, in character presenting the information I wanted the class to know.  I feel it would be more engaging if students saw familiar faces on the screen then some animation.  Perhaps it would change to teacher/student relationship if they saw certain teachers in costume or disguise.  I would use film for students who are generally shy in front of the class.  This way they can record in private and still present in public.  I would also use this method when it wasn't necessary for the class to see the presentation - then I could mark at my leisure.  Other benefits of film is incorporating people or places not part of the school

YouTube has several features for any unauthorised use of music.  One option is that the video is not played.  Our friends in Germany cannot watch one of our movies due to the music we added to it.  Another option is the video is played but the sound is muted automatically.  Most common is the popup ad that usually happens about ten seconds into the video.  This is denoted by a yellow mark in the time bar at the bottom of the video.

Copying files, photos, videos off the internet is quite simple and there are many free sites that will help you remove the music from YouTube clips.  I think students need to be made aware that just because the item doesn't come from a shop, someone still spent time and energy to create a product and we should not take as we please.  Stealing is stealing.

Many schools now ask parents to sign media release forms and having children on publicly accessible videos is something that the school would have to specify in their media release forms.

Substitution	Students substitute a class presentation/performance with the inclusion of a PowerPoint in their presentation/performance.
Augmentation	Students record their presentation and include some visual or audible effects.  This may include transitions and/or music.
Modification	Video is published to public forum, such as YouTube, where viewers are able to comment on the product.
Redifinition	Students use NearPod to create interactive presentation as well as elements of iMovie.