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Digital Imaging for Educators

Brenda C. Nix, Director

Contents

Sources of Digital Images/Sounds

Creating Digital Images/Video

Editing Images

Creating Multimedia Presentations
Session Description Are you looking for a way to motivate an indifferent student?  Are your PowerPoint presentations somewhat blah? Perhaps you need some new tricks.   Digital imaging and multimedia tools can add excitement as well as promote high-level learning for your students.  These tools address many of the multiple intelligences identified by Howard Gardner.  Edgar Dale developed what is now know as Dale's Cone of Experience."  We remember it in the familiar quote, "A picture is worth a thousand words." He actually says people will remember 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear and 80% of what they hear, see and do. 

You will participate as engaged learners to explore sources of graphics and multimedia tools that can be used to enhance instruction and learning.  You will use a variety of digital scanners and cameras, video cameras, and video capture devices.   You will use graphics software to enhance/manipulate your images to add impact and "pizzazz" to your presentations.  As a result, all of your students will learn at high levels because you will be presenting exciting and stimulating lessons on a daily basis!

 
Introduction Presenters pay great attention to detail.  They take time to create a magical mix that appeals to all the learning modes of the audience.  They look for stimulating words, humor and music.  They have pictures, charts and video for the people who need to see things to understand them.  And the really good ones find ways to involve the audience.  If researcher Edgar Dale is correct and it is really true that people remember 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, and 80% of what they hear, see, and do, then perhaps educators, like professional presenters, must also pay great attention to detail.

 

Sources of Digital Images/Sounds

 
Web There are several ways to approach using the web as a resource to enhance presentations by students or teachers.  There are many familiar sites that are sources of images, video, pictures, sounds, animations, etc. Examples of some of these sites follow.
Cool Archive http://www.coolarchive.com
Clipart http:/www.clipart.com
Clipartsite http://www.clipartsite.com
AAA Clipart http://www.aaaclipart.com
Cameohut http://www.cameohut.com/AMENU.html
Simple searches can often locate desired material.   Advanced searches on engines such as Lycos allows searches that specify choices of material including music, pictures, and sounds. Saving these graphics is simple.  Basic instructions can be found on the KATE website.

 
CDs/Software Clipart/Music Existing installed software including PowerPoint, Word, etc. has extensive clipart libraries.  There is no doubt when using this material that licenses have been paid and that it is legal to use the material.  CDs containing clipart, pictures, video clips, sounds, etc. can be purchased.  These range from very inexpensive up to several hundred dollars.  Sound can, of course, technically be pulled from a regular CD but license fees should be researched and paid if required.   Software companies including Microsoft often add additional clipart, templates, etc. to their websites. 

 
Scanners Scanners add a new dimension to the classroom.  There are so many advantages to using a scanner.  Students' work can be scanned; photos can be scanned; printed charts and graphs as well as many other things can be scanned for use in presentations.  A simple scanning checklist can be found on the KATE website.
General Information and Tips for Beginners http://www.scantips.com/begin.html
Scanning Guides http://www.uky.edu/FACTSCenter/tut/scan/scanmenu.html
Purchasing Information http://www.scantips.com/scanlink.html
Review of Inexpensive Scanner http://www.zdnet.com/products/content/pcmg/1619/pcmg0094.html

 

Creating Digital Images/Video

 
Introduction Students and teachers will very soon want to create their own images.   Of course, there are many ways to create original digital files.  Teachers can scan Polaroid or regular photos or they can use other devices to create the files.   Students/teachers may first need to look at tips on composing pictures.  Ten Techniques for Better Pictures is found at http://www.kodak.com/US/en/nav/takingPics.shtml or more indepth image composition tips can be found in the Digital Learning Center located on the same Kodak site. 

 
Capturing Stills from Video Inexpensive devices are available for classroom use.  One example of a device that can "grab" images from videos is Snappy.  The Snappy device is an example of a peripheral that can connect a computer to a VCR or a video camera.   The software that comes with the device allows the video to be displayed on the monitor and stills to be "snapped".  To view an online demo of Snappy go to http://www.play.com/products/snappy/snapdemo.html.

 
Web Cameras Web cameras are the inexpensive cameras that have become very popular as live web cameras.  They can digitize still images as well as video, but must remain connected to a computer.  A product PDF file for one of these cameras can be found at http://www.soundblaster.com/products/datasheets and an example of images produced by these cameras can be found on the web at http://www.ugems.psu.edu/~klee/Enforcer/camera.html . 

 
Digital Cameras Digital cameras are becoming very popular in the educational environment.   They eliminate the need to buy film and wait for pictures to be developed.   The variety of cameras and the range of prices are allowing many teachers to utilize this tool.  Selecting a camera may be overwhelming.  General information about digital cameras as well as some very basic ideas for classroom use can be found at http://www.uwf.edu/~coe/tutorials/technolo/digitalc/digitalc.htm or http://www.digital-cameras.com/trailedul.htm .  

 

Editing Images

 
Introduction It is important that teachers understand some basic information about files in order to utilize graphics effectively in the classroom.  Whether the graphic will go on a web page or in a PowerPoint presentation, size and clarity are critical.   To get a better understanding of graphics in general these articles may be helpful.   Image size is the critical issue compared in a brief article found at http://www.andyart.com/tips/graphics/gt_size.htm.   A more extensive article that includes visual image comparisons is found at http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdgraph.htm.   Images can be cropped, combined, modified, etc. using editing software.   Kodak's Digital Learning Center has some short articles that are very basic on these topics at http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/dlc .

 
Editing Package: Kai's Soap There are many editing packages:  Microsoft Paint, Paintshop Pro, Photoshop, etc.  Kai's Soap is an inexpensive package that is available for both Mac and Windows platforms.  General information about the package can be found at http://www.metacreations.com/products/soap2 .

 

Creating Multimedia Presentations

 
Introduction Multimedia presentations can be created for classroom use, for presentation to parent groups or school boards, or for presentations on the web.   Presentations range from flyers to wonderful presentations created with PowerPoint, Astound, Kai's Power Tools or many other software packages.  Chapter VII of the How To Book at Kodak's Digital Learning Center http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/dlc focuses on adding excitement to presentations using pictures.  It features tips and even downloadable templates.

 
Presentation Package: Kai's Power Show Kai's Power Show is an intuitive presentation program that certainly could never be characterized as dull.  It is comprised of "rooms" that logically break up creating a presentation.  Pictures, etc. are added in the In Room and arranged in the Sort Room.  In the Edit Room special effects, animations and sound can be added.  In the final Out Room the show can be saved in a variety of ways.   It includes a player for PC and Macs and can be exported as HTML.  A review of the program is contained at http://www.macaddict.com/issues/9811/rev.kpwrshow.html .  The entire manual as well as templates for the packages is found on MetaCreations web site as well as an online walkthrough at http://www.metacreations.com/products/show/demo/in/in.html .