As the computer and network technician for the school district, I do not directly instruct students. However, I have an informal instructional role with all staff in the school district to use technology effectively. This course has introduced me to multimedia applications that will be very helpful as I train staff in proper use of the new software. Inspiration for visual maps and Camtasia for independent use by staff will increase my efficiency and effectiveness as I manage network use.

Multimedia
Application

Description of Multimedia Product

Link

Inspiration

The district does not allow users to view or save to the local disk (C:) drive so their computer can be imaged at any time. They can view and/or save to only network drives. They automatically save to "My Documents" which is their home directory on the network. The other two drives are for two separate purposes. The "View Only" (N:) drive is only to view files so the files remain unchanged or are not accidentally deleted. Curriculum maps and templates are stored here depending on the role/level of the person in the district (network administrator, administrator, teacher, staff member, or student). The "Trade" (O:) drive is for specific roles/levels to either just view or save files for trading. This system allows great flexibility to make different files/documents view only or trade among different roles. This system is complex and I have needed a way to display needed information (5 levels of users, folders names, types of drives) and how to apply this information. The needed information is in shades of blue and the applied information is in shade of red. This visual map allows the learner to process and access all of the information and understand what folder to use based on the role of the viewer and/or role of the person who can save to the folder. With this concept map, the learner can see the interrelated nature of the information and how it is applied.

Concept map 1

With the prevalent use of digital cameras, disk space utilization by staff and students has become a problem. If teachers and staff compressed all of their photos using Microsoft Office Picture Manager for use in documents rather than for photo quality printing, they would reduce their file size by 80-90%. This concept map begins uses primary colors to focus the learner on the necessary information, the why, and the how. These three concepts are necessary to change student and staff behavior so they compress photos and stay within their disk space quota.

Concept map 2

Camtasia

Camtasia was used to demonstrate with video the information in concept map 2. Concept maps and verb instructions will work for most staff and students, but some will need demonstration. Since it is not possible to demonstrate to everyone when they need or want a demonstration. I am excited about the efficiency Camtasia can bring to common needs that students and staff have for important technology tasks.

 Camtasia Demo

Picasa

The photo of the two men at night was cropped to focus on just the two men and lightened. It was compressed from 702 KB to 33 KB.

Original

Adjusted

The photo of the side of a house was taken at the end of the day. The photo was cropped slightly to take the blue trampoline out of the picture and lightened to get a better feel of the colors. It was compressed from 1597 KB to 342 KB and loads much quicker in documents.

Original

Adjusted

The portrait of the man at night was cropped to become a thumbnail portrait that could be used in a web site staff list. It was lightened a little but already had great detail. It was compressed from 795 KB to 10 KB and would not cause a web site to load slowly with many such pictures on it. Its small size makes it use very flexible.

Original

Adjusted

The photo of the front of a house was straighten and lightened. It was cropped to take the excessive amount of road out of the photo. By making the photo wider and shorter the house appears longer and larger. If the owner were selling the house on the web, this picture would create value. The photo was compressed from 1332 KB to 317 KB.

Original

Adjusted

Movie Maker

This video provided a good solution for informing teachers on how to clean the filters on their Promethean projectors. The video used two forms of text and used my narration and sound effects for applause at the end. I found Movie Maker easy to use after some initial frustration. It is easy to put in the visual information and then put in the audio for each segment of video. I will use Movie maker in the future.

Video

Audacity

Teachers have demonstrated an interest in developing a way for students to get  assignments when they have been absent. I took a paraphrasing assignment from their reading CD, faded in and out my own introduction music, and gave my own narration to introduce the lesson. This lab will be away for me to help teachers design oral instructions for their assignments.

 Audio