Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

10 years ago, if you asked the average person to name 10 fonts, it might have been challenging. Not today. Typeface has always been significant but until recently, it was only the job of graphic designers to really understand it.

But as we’ve now been giving more tools to create multimedia and graphical content, we need to have a better understanding of font. I recall discussions with primary teachers years ago, insisting on using Comic Sans in digital content because the “a” reflected the way students were to print it. Is that still a factor? (I actually have a font installed on my computer called , “I hate Comic Sans”) What other discussions should teachers have with their students about font and typeface other than not to use dingbats for their essays? I certainly don’t know a lot about it. I know that somewhere I read serif fonts are easiest to read. I know about Guy Kawasaki’s font rule .

But fonts are now more than just about text, they are art and they are used in a graphical context in much our digital work. I know I certainly pay more attention. I did not address adequately in my design presentation for K12, mostly because I don’t have enough understanding. I ‘ll have to work that. It’s become so much a part of how we view digital content that this video, courtesy Bill Mckinnon actually is understood. We get what he’s talking about.

Image:Font 006 by Stewf

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Other than having this commercial’s jingle run in my brain and our house, I didn’t realize its origins. This isn’t the first time nor the last time a kid will fool around with his computer, put together a video, post it and find audience. That’s old news for many. The shift is that the amateur is valued and perhaps equal.

Consumers creating commercials “is part of this brave new world we live in,” said Lee Clow, chairman and chief creative officer at TBWA Worldwide, based in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Playa del Rey.

What’s different is that although the tools are cheaper and very close to those of professionals, they aren’t even necessary; good ideas and design are. Dan Pink is on to something.  The kid didn’t even use a camera. He took a song he liked but more importantly a lyric in the song and crafted a short but powerful message. Just messing around. With all that’s available we don’t need a camera or much of a computer for kids to be producing some amazing things. It’s not about fancy tools or access as much as it is about ideas and communication. Like my post yesterday, with all the media we observed, we have examples of what works and what doesn’t.

So let that be a lesson to all you kids out there….Innovation and Design is the challenge not technology.

Technorati Tags: ipod, innovation, nickhaley

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A few years ago, I had the privilege of putting together a video on how assessment works in the real world. I interviewed local people who talked about how assessment for learning works in their world.

One of those I interviewed was Scott Schultz of the Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders along with defensive line coach and Hall of Famer Ron Estay. In the light of their recent victory, I thought I’d republish their interview. I did publish the entire video a while back but wanted to showcase this one in particular.

Not only is it entertaining (don’t forget to watch the blooper at the end) but in many ways helps bring assessment ideas out of a strictly educational sense and demonstrates its value in life. Congratulations Scott, Ron and the Riders on a great season and their contributions to our community in many ways including helping us understand the value of assessment for learning.

Technorati Tags: scottschultz, ronestay, saskatchewanroughriders, greycup, assessment

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I’ve also appreciated the use of time lapse photography. From watching a flower bloom to the changing of seasons, it’s a powerful technique.

I checked my Canon SD750 and realized it had the feature. So let’s give it a try.

I set it up tonight while I prepared a meal for my family and our friends. The total time of preparation was about 50 minutes. I set the time lapse to shoot every 2 seconds. What you have is about 2 minutes which I cut down to about 80 seconds. If you look carefully you should see a spill, boy in underwear and puppies.

This will prove to be a valuable tool for me. Check your digital camera and see if you can do time lapse. I think it’s very cool.

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In creating the keynote for the Flat Classroom 2007 Project, I utilized chroma keying. Many seemed quite intrigued as to how I did it and although for most videographers, this is not a difficult or complicated task, for those entering into video editing it may seem a bit arduous. It’s not. This video demonstrates how I use chroma keying.

As I mention in my keynote and in this behind the scenes look, chroma keying has the WOW factor but with anything else it can be overused. I don’t claim to be an expert editor so for those with greater skill than I, excuse the rather crude editing and set up.

I think the potential for projects like Vicki’s and Julie’s would be to have students collaborate and create content that appears seamless;as if they were working in the same room.  I like the recent Gmail video as one example as well.

I used Viddler based on Chris Harbeck’s use and it serves as a nice interactive video tool. Go ahead and leave a comment on the video itself.

Technorati Tags: chromakey, greenscreen, flatclassroom, shareski, viddler

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Bud alerted me to this via twitter,

Almost a new take on Did you Know but it’s actually another video from Michael Wesch of Kansas State who produced The Machine is Using Us.

Don’t dismiss this because it’s focused on higher ed. The message is pretty much the same. Powerful.

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I always like the question on the Did You Know video that asks, “to whom were these questions (the 2.7 billion searches per month) asked Before Google?” Turns out Google has been answering our questions for at least 200 years.

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Kathy Cassidy’s grade one students tell what they are thankful for on this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Warning: cuteness alert!

If you’ve never used or heard of flixn, it enables you to record directly to the website and provides a embed code for you to place on your blog. No need to register just click record, stop and paste the code. I’d be thankful if you left a comment on her blog.

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