Vid #Tutorials: How to make an online presentation with 280 Slides or Empressr #edtech #artsed #web2.0

If you would like to use the site 280 Slides you can make an online presentation and turn it into an embeddable piece of work on your favorite web site. The site is really easy to use, all you need to do is plug in an email (won't have to check it) and you can make a simple presentation that can be embedded into a site or downloaded as a Powerpoint/PDF file.   (No audio allowed though).

Watch my video tutorial below to find out how:

280_slides_tutorial_-_create_account,_add_slides,_pics,_text_and_embed_to_Edmodo.mp4 Watch on Posterous

You can watch this video to find out how to login/register for a new account, upload your pictures, create new slides, type out your info and then embed it into your favorite web site such as Edmodo

 

Empressr is also a great online presentation site. It is also free, but just takes a bit more info when you start to register. What I like about it better is that you can animate your slideshow and create narrations that can automatically go through the whole presentation. Afterwards, you can embed the slideshow into your favorite site, but it is a bit trickier (watch video #3 to understand why)

 

Empressr_Tutorial_-_create_account,_add_slides,_pics,_text_and_record_w_web_cam.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Tutorial 1 - You can view this tutorial to find out how to create/register for an account. Afterwards, it is simple on how to upload your pictures, create new slides and even use your web cam for narrations or take pics/video of you.

Empressr_tutorial_2_-_insert_narrations,_customize_your_movie_and_embed_into_edmodo.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Tutorial 2- After you make your voice narrations, you need to know how to edit and insert them. I also provide some tips on how you can get your slideshow to automatically play with the narrations like a smooth movie. Finally, at the end, I show you how to save, but don't worry about the embed code part.....

Empressr_Tutorial_3-_The_CORRECT_way_to_embed_into_Edmodo.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Tutorial 3 - Turns out there are issues when just "embedding" your presentation from Empressr when you are all done. There is a trick that you got to do in order to use the embed code from your main "my empressrs" page. View this video to find out how to publish your video to Edmodo

How to create an atmospheric perspective painting using the free DrawCast app on your Apple device

It was really nice to have some time to sit back and relax to paint. I haven't really done this before (posting via email to posterous)so bare with me and feel free to check out this post often as I post more pictures and turn this more into a tutorial

Step 1:I was really inspired by the overall amount of nature around me on the back porch. I framed my shot of the trees to decide how strong would the composition be.

Step 2 MAKE THE BACKGROUND:

By using the free Drawcast app, (which you can check out here) you can make an excellent painting. There are a variety of free drawing apps for the IPad/Iphone, I really like Drawcast due to drawing on layers, variety of brush sizes and being able to adjust the transparency of color or layer and you can instantly post your art to Facebook.

You are going to want to create a background that has a watercolor wash effect to it, and we will then gradually add layers to properly show Atmospheric Perspective.

This is a picture that we took while in Asheville. Notice that the colors at the bottom are nice and dark, and they get gradually lighter and more blue the further away from us. Just remember DARKER=CLOSER,  LIGHTER=FURTHER SO what I did to create the illusion of atmospheric perspective, was by creating a graded wash with my palette and stylus.

A graded wash is used in watercolor painting to help show depth or value. I created a "wash" by clicking on the color wheel icon, and adjusting the size of my brush to 100 and the intensity/translucence to 100. You can also use a dark shade of a blue for the bottom, but as you start to fill the canvas and you make back and forth strokes, you should gradually lower the intensity/translucence. Basically, by the time you reach the top of your canvas, you should have a light shade of blue. And if you want to make a color darker, just go back over it with your stylus.

You can also add a few random bushes here and there to break up the open area. Once your background is completed, click on the gear icon in the upper left hand corner. Select "save to photo library" so that you can utilize this saved picture for later.

STEP THREE: MAKE THE MIDGROUND

Create a new piece of art in the app. Make sure you click on the icon in the upper right hand corner fo the screen and then select Midground.

I primarilly made the trees on my midground. On my image above, it is shown with my background. Once you complete this drawing, you can create a special added effect by clicking on your "midground icon" and then adjust the intensity/translucence of that layer as well.

STEP FOUR: COMBINE MIDGROUND AND BACKGROUND -

If you look at the image above, I combined the two layers together. To get this going, click on your layer icon in the upper right hand corner and select "set new background"

This will take you to another screen to select your background. Choose the option "photo from my Photo Library"

Open up your Photo Library and select the background picture that you created back in Step 2 (you can also use another photo for a more realistic background. Finally, click "Done" on your Layers window, and the two images are now together.

STEP FIVE: CREATE YOUR FOREGROUND

You can see from the image above that I have already drawn on the foreground layer so that it was primarily the leaves/greenery of my composition.

To do this, click on the layer icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen. Then select "draw on foreground."

The foreground is the closest thing to you, so when you color it, make sure you make your colors fairly dark, at least they should be darker than the midground and background. You can accomplish this by adjusting the transparency of the layers and the colors that you paint with.

STEP SIX: FINALIZE AND PUBLISH

If you look at the above picture, this is my completed work with all three layers and I have signed it.

After completing your foreground, double check to make sure that all of your layers, colors, opacity, etc. is all set.

You can click on the gear in the upper left hand corner to share the work that you have completed whether email, saved to your device or right to your Facebook page.

You can also go into the layer window and select "Tools" and you then have the option to merge all of the layers into a lattened image. ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE FOR SURE YOU LIKE YOUR WORK AS YOU CAN NOT UNDO IT.

Best of luck and can't wait to see what you make

  

 

Confessions of a Fifth Year Teacher

Wanting More and Looking Out on the Horizon

Another year has gone by as a teacher, but what I find interesting, perhaps almost concerning, is how little the number of students that I really made connections with or was really upset that I would not be seeing them anymore. I know in the past, the start of June had been a bittersweet time, but this year I didn't give out books or write sappy messages of farewells, just a few posed pictures and brief comments in a yearbook or two.

Perhaps I was just running out of time towards the end of the school year, or that this is the school year that I have been much more diligent to NOT be in school as much.......

 

If you would like to read the rest of the article, check it out on the Yahoo Contributor network HERE

How to use Yodio to make movies with your cell phone

Using Yodio in Your Classroom to Record Cell Phone Narrations and Create Embeddable Movies

In another article of cell phones in the classroom, in hopes of finding engaging projects with my students, I was informed about a web site called Yodio. With Yodio, you can register your cell phone with their
site to record narrations. Those narrations can then be attached to images in the form of an embeddable movie called a Yodio. By pairing up the audio with the still image, you can also create transitions in between the "tracks" and then publish the film on the Yodio site so that the world can see.

If you would like to read more, click on this link
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7826234/using_yodio_in_your_classroo...

to my associated content page. And again, thanks so much to everyone for clicking so that I can make money off of my writing