Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Using PowerPoint to Create Images

Lately, I have been doing a lot of digital storybook and video projects using PhotoStory and Windows Movie Maker. Kids often have a story or movie idea in mind that involves two characters to appear in the same scene. If you are having your students use images from the web, chances of finding "the perfect picture" with both characters doing or saying exactly what the student wants, is slim to none. Or, teachers and students want to create a title slide with a little more pizazz than the features in Movie Maker will give you.

Here's a little trick you can use with your students that allows them to use their PowerPoint skills to create and design their own images and title slides. PowerPoint allows you to save a slide as an image file (jpeg, png, etc.) that can later be imported into PhotoStory or Movie Maker.

Here are a couple example slides that I designed in PowerPoint but saved as .jpegs that could now be imported into PhotoStory, MovieMaker, or any application that works with images.










Have your students design a PowerPoint slide using multiple images, snazzy backgrounds, fill effects, clipart, WordArt, etc. Then, when they go to save the file, in the "Save as" window, have them change the "Save as type" option from the default "Presentation (.*ppt) to one of the available image file options (.jpeg, giff, png, tiff) using the drop-down menu. You normally can't go wrong with .jpegs. The program will ask you if you want to save just the current slide as an image or every slide. After choosing the appropriate option, a message appears telling you that the file was successfully exported into a separate folder and the location on the network.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Got Music?

One of the most frequent questions I get asked when working with classes doing some type of a multi-media project is "Do you have any good sites for songs and sound effects?". Music is something that can really add to a project to show expression, concept understanding, or as a simple tool to keep your audience's attention. However, finding royalty-free music can sometimes be a challenge. Another hurdle, is finding media files that can be downloaded and in a format that the application you are using can read. It seems that MP3 files are the most commonly read file format for most applications.

Three of my favorite sites for royalty free music and sound files are PurplePlanet, Jamendo, and SoundBoard. All sites are free, easy to use, and provide direct downloads in MP3 format.

Purple-Planet is a donation funded website whose music can be used for any type of media production (movies, podcasts, blogs, etc.). No account is needed to use and download from the site.

The songs are grouped by moods (such as dramatic, horror, mystery, etc.) making it easy to find music to fit all your project needs. Click on the mood of your choice to display a list of tracks that you can preview and download. Quick and easy!!

Jamendo is the world's #1 platform for free and legal music downloads. Available in seven languages, it offers the largest catalog of music under Creative Commons licenses. Songs and playlists are uploaded from artists from around the globe! Downloading from Jamendo is quick and easy. Once you create your user account, you can download from an artist, album or playlist page, or even straight from their player.

SoundBoard is awesome!! The web's largest catalog of free sounds and soundboards - in over 20 categories. Some of the categories include Politics, Celebrities, Movies, Science/Nature, Historical and many, many more! What are soundboards? SoundBoards are like an audio album or soundtrack/jukebox for all your favorite Mp3 soundbytes and audio clips. You can build a soundboard for your own listening pleasure or upload your sound and share it with the world.

Enjoy!!

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Rock the House with Animoto!!

Digital video projects are a great way for students to creatively express themselves. Our digital savvy students enjoy making movies because the media they choose for their movies typically comes from web resources they use in their private lives such as YouTube, PhotoBucket, Flickr, iTunes, PlayList.com, etc. Because digital videos can be shared with the world through sites such as SchoolTube or TeacherTube, these projects create a "real audience" that motivates student learning. If you are fan of video hosting sites such as YouTube and TeacherTube, you know that videos can be designed to fit any subject and grade level.

Videos are a snap to make using Animoto! Free for teachers, Animoto.com is a web application that creates MTV-style videos with the click of a button. "Animoto videos have the emotional impact of a movie trailer and the visual energy of a music video." Users can upload their own pictures, videos, and music, or can use Animoto's bank of media resources (images, videos, and royalty free songs donated by the artists themselves)! Animoto does most of the work so students can focus on learning the content, instead of focusing on how to use the application.

Teachers can apply for a free Animoto for Educators account that comes with a few more "perks" than the standard Animoto account. Teachers can create group accounts allowing them access to monitor student's progress. In addition, these account holders have unlimited video creation rights!!

Below is a video I created on Animoto entitled "From Seed to Flower". It took all of 5 minutes to make (after I found the images, video, and song).



Click here to see some case studies of how educators are using Animoto with their students. Or, check out this one entitled: "Top 100 Children's Books".