With global collaboration and a flat world in mind, this group of Adobe Education Leaders (primary through post secondary education) is sharing their expertise and thoughts on the use of technology in the school classroom and at districts and college/university campuses around the world.
Waiting in my inbox this morning was an email from the good people over at LEGO education. They sent a list of technology related grant opportunities that can be used to fund software and hardware for the classroom. A few of the opportunities specifically target web, video, and multimedia projects.
Allstate Foundation
The Allstate Foundation supports national and local programs that fit within any of several focus areas: safe and vital communities, economic empowerment, tolerance, inclusion, and diversity.
Heineman Foundation
Heineman programs enable youth to think, create and communicate effectively.
Best Buy Awards
Schools that implement interactive technology and effectively inspire children are prime candidates to earn these financial awards.
Time Warner Cable
Teachers who develop creative ways to use technology (Web, video, computers) to further students’ learning experiences are eligible.
See the inspiring and creative work of college and university students who captured top honors in graphic design, photography, film, illustration, animation, and other categories. View winners…
In my neck of the woods…three bright and creative high school students from Gregory-Portland High School are the Best-of-Best winners of the 2008 Adobe School Innovation Awards. They developed a “meaningful documentary about the scarring of seagrass and the effects on the local estuaries in the Coastal Bend area of Texas.” Check out their entry here.
“This project was created to inspire teachers to use technology in engaging ways to help students develop higher level thinking skills. Equally important, it serves to motivate district level leaders to provide teachers with the tools and training to do so. “
The start of a new school year is always hectic, challenging, and exciting. Student speaker, Dalton Sherman, delivers a pep talk to Dallas ISD staff to kick off their 2008 academic year. Could this kid one day run for president of the free world? Alternate URL if the below YouTube movie is blocked.
Johnny Encore teaches you how to make a video “thus living the life of a rock-and-roll legend” in this highly entertaing video tutorial series…brought to you by Adobe TV.
Today I received the August 2008, Volume 9 edition of the Adobe Education Campus e-newsletter (delivered via email). The newsletter contained links to some great instructional resources, including a link to a handful of resources for creating rich PDF student portfolios.
Topics include:
Creating electronic portfolios with Adobe Acrobat
Digital assessment with Adobe Acrobat
Generating lesson plans with Adobe Acrobat
Each topic includes nicely written directions with plenty of screen shots. Resource Link
I have always had a tuff time with teaching the pre-production phase of a media project, and let’s face it; there is a “whole lot more” that goes into creating a quality film project than shooting and editing video. Usually that “whole lot more” is found on the planning side of the project: writing the screenplay, creating the storyboard, arranging and organizing characters, and scheduling the shoot. Not the most glamorous parts of the project, but very important elements of the story telling process.
The problem I face is that students are chomping at the bit to get their hands on technology. They want to get their hands wrapped around a camera and start filming. They want to jump into Adobe Premiere and start editing. They want to use technology from project start-to-finish! I had to find a technology based pre-production tool that not only engaged students but also followed industry formatting and submission standards…and it had to be cheap (I’d rather spend money on the fun stuff).
I recently stumbled on a free pre-production utility which will certainly find its way to the top of my “bag of tricks.” Celtx is packed with goodies that will infuse new life into student pre-production planning. It offers tools for film, audio-visual, theatre, audio play (podcast?), storyboarding, and comic books. It also includes online collaboration tools, a great blog, and a handful of quick start tutorial videos. Perhaps I can even persuade the creative writing and literacy teachers to give it a spin.
Ok, I admit, I’m not ready to completely abandon the good ‘ol pencil and paper, but Celtx is pretty darn slick!
John Nack, Photoshop Guru, super blogger and Senior product manager received a whole heap of “WOWs!” as he presented on some up-and-coming goodies from Adobe. If you don’t watch his blog, you should – http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/
Peter Isaacson, VP of Education for Adobe Inc., helped kick off the 2008 Adobe Education Leader Institute. He delivered a fun welcoming to this year’s gathering and … he likes to hug (AEL inside joke).
Nobody wants to get caught with their “digital pants” down. Unfortunately there may be times when you accidently send out a document to the “big cheeses” while it is still in draft form. Stamping “Draft” on every page of a document can help save you the embarrassment of sending the wrong file…and possibly your job!
If you choose to use the stamp tool you will have to tediously visit each page of the document. Imagine having a 50 page document that needs a “Draft” stamp on each page…not much fun. However, adding a “Draft” watermark to the document would be far more efficient method of adding the document’s review status.
1. Open the document in Adobe Acrobat
2. click Document > Watermark> Add
3. Type “Draft” in the text area
4. Adjust the opacity of the text using the Opacity slider
5. Add a bit of Rotation using the Rotation radio buttons
6. Click OK
To remove the watermark click Document > Watermark>Remove
