Suzanne's Ed Tech Reflections

Digital Storytelling is a pretty hot topic right now and there are so many tools and resources out there for creating Digital Stories. Many are web based and there are lots and lots of apps. Some of the iPads apps we are using include Shadow Puppet EDU, 30 Hands, Videolicious, StoryKit, or Animoto. One of the other tools teachers and students have used is the iMovie Trailer feature to create digital stories in our 1:1 iPad classrooms. iMovie trailers are much like movie trailers that you would see at a movie theater prior to viewing a movie. They are used to entice you to want to see an upcoming movies. iMovie's Trailer feature is very similar. These are short videos created using a variety of different available templates. Usually iMovie Trailers showcase an event or happening in someone's life, such as a special vacation, graduation, or birthday. I created a couple of iMovie Trailers as Father's Day presentations for my husband and son! Teachers could create an...

Heading to Philidelphia this morning to attend the Internationl Society for Technology in Education Conference (#iste2015 or #iste15). This is an international conference with attendees from all over the world.  Looking forward to learning, sharing, and connecting! Doing a poster presentation on using iMovie Trailers for digital storytelling. More about that to come. 

While I am by no means a Graphic Designer, I have been creating some designs using Canva for presentations, posters, and even some personal items (digital Father's Day cards!). I have a lot to learn but it's been fun! I recently created by own customized Facebook cover graphic! Canva is a free online tool ( https://www.canva.com/ ) and an iPad app. You can create graphics for social media posts, documents, event posters, advertisements, and so much more. Canva includes templates that can be customized with their built in tools. Tools include images, icons, fonts, lines and shapes, and more. Many are free to use but some resources are available for purchase - usually only $1.00 each. You can also upload your own images to use in your designs - be sure to follow copyright rules though if you did not take the photos yourself! Some other examples of my recent creations. These were used in a recent presentation:           Ban...

Recently one of our School Resource Officers sent out information about Social Media Smart Cards. These cards were developed by the FBI to aid social media users in staying safe online and protecting private information. They really have some good tips. Here are some additional Staying Safe on Social Networking Sites tips: https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/tips/ST06-003 Facebook           Twitter         Linked-In         Google +         They are available to download from several websites, but the East Tennessee State University has provided links to download each of the 4 smart cards: https://www.etsu.edu/oit/helpdesk/smcards.aspx Enjoy and Stay Safe!