Life-Long-Learners

After reading the earlier #ETMOOC post “Lip dub: I’m havin’ a good time!” you are definitely considering exploring this innovative and engaging activity with your class. However, your enthusiasm becomes somewhat dampened when you learn more about the two lip dub innovators, Alec Couros and Dean Shareski. When you discover that Alec is a professor, currently on sabbatical, from the Faculty of Education in Regina and Dean was a learning consultant for the Prairie South School Division in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, you say to yourself … “Well if I didn’t have a full-time job with a classroom of 32 needy students, I, too, could play around with technology and have fun creating lip dubs.”

Don’t give up on this activity just yet. True, Alec and Dean did an amazing job of encouraging and facilitating the collection of lip dub video clips from individuals in different geographical locations. However, I plan to demonstrate how much easier it is for a regular classroom teacher to create a lib dub activity with her/his classroom than the effort required to produce the more complex #ETMOOC lip dub.

On November 8, 2012, I attended a Manitoba Association for Computing Educators (ManACE) Technology Information Night (TIN). I invested $5.00 to offset my supper costs and was rewarded with three different 30-minute classroom-based, professional development sessions shared by Manitoba educators. The one learning opportunity that really resonated with me was presented by Christin Mackay, a Grade 4/5 teacher from Stevenson-Britannia School. In her presentation, “Creativity & Collaboration – Making Video Mashups”, Christin showed her engaging lip dub video that she and her 26 students created. Not only was her class’ lip dup video inspiring, Christin’s “behind the scenes” strategies in this classroom-based collaborative effort, were equally important. To help other classroom teachers, I’ll share Christin’s week-long lip dub activity tips below:

• First, she selected a Sesame Street song which was popular with her students. The “What I Am” YouTube video, in which “Will.i.am” from “The Black Eyes Peas” sings with the various Sesame Street characters, was played for the class. This would become the audio track for the students’ collaborative lip dub video.
• Lyrics for the song were prepared. For example, the YouTube video “What I am by Will.i.am – Lyrics (Sesame Street)” is a good resource.
• Lyrics were displayed on a screen.
• The song was played in class while the students viewed the lyrics and sang along together.
• Students learned the song and were invited to sing along with a partner.
• A student, who was reluctant to sing, was accommodated by allowing him to demonstrate his “air drum” technique.
• Six computers were used on the day of the actual video recording.
• Christin stressed that it is very important that the “frame per second” ratio is set to the same value on all computers being used.
• The camera was positioned behind the lyric display screen.
• Students, in pairs, came up to sing the whole song which was captured as a video clip.
• After the 13 student-pair songs were recorded, Christin selected an “extended” video clip which best displayed the actions of each pair of students. Each “extended” video clip contained extra frames preceding and following the complete line of the song.
• During the compilation process, it is important to ensure that every line of the complete song is represented by a student-pair “extended” video clip.
• The individual audio tracks were removed from each student-pair “extended” video clip.
• Although other movie-making applications would work, iMovie was used to edit and arrange the clips into the lip dub video.
• Assemble all 13 “extended silent clips” into the new lip dub video timeline in the appropriate order.
• Add the “What I Am” audio track to the video project.
• Trim and “tweak” each of the 13 “extended silent clips” so that each video clip synchronized best with the particular “What I Am” audio track segment.
• Add a title and credits to the video and save the resulting movie with a backup.
• Share the final lip dub with students and celebrate. However, in order to protect the privacy of your students, do not transfer this lip dub video creation to an Internet video sharing service like YouTube or Vimeo unless you have appropriate parental approval.

Christin’s tips and strategies helped me better understand the lip dub process from a teacher’s point of view. Although there exist lip dub videos created by older students and adults, Christin shared important steps that demonstrate how younger elementary students can also be engaged in this fun, collaborative, learning adventure.

When comparing Christin’s classroom lip dub with Alec’s more ambitious #ETMOOC project, there are several factors which will appeal to those who might consider creating a class or school lip dub. Some of these important differences include:

• Christin did not need to formally pool her students and engage a survey service to rate which songs were most popular with her students.
• Her students sang the entire song so Christin had much more freedom in selecting a video segment that best showcased each student-pair. In addition, she had much more latitude in trimming video clips since each student-pair sang the entire song rather than the more restrictive single line.
• Classroom or school lip dub activities have much more consistency with regard to video capture hardware and software. Alec had no control over the application or device used to capture the individual participants’ video clip. Nor did he have control over the video image size, resolution, or portrait or landscape formats. Christin, on the other hand, could ensure that all student-pair’ videos were captured in a consistent landscape format avoiding the dreaded “Vertical Video Syndrome” as demonstrated in this comical Public Service Announcement (PSA).
• To accommodate collecting individual video clips (from Smart phones or web cameras on Macintosh and Windows-based computers), Alec had to set up a process for participants, from around the world, to send video files to him and the video editor. On the other hand, classroom teachers need only save consistently formatted student videos to a local computer or server.
• With consistent video format, resolution, and layout, the classroom/school video editor need only extract an “extended” video clip showcasing each pair of students and save them in lyrical line order.
• Based on the large number of video file contributions, Alec had to develop a file-naming convention so that each #ETMOOC video clip could be easily matched with the particular line of song lyrics. In Christin’s case, she did not need to establish a rigid file naming convention because she was working with a more manageable number of video files. Her main concern was to make certain that all student-pair video clips represented all the lyrics and music in the original song.
• Undoubtedly the #ETMOOC video editor had to manipulate a large number of video clips in a wide variety of file formats, resolutions and layout sizes. Compiling and editing such diverse raw video clips required a highly talented video editor familiar with the advanced capabilities of a fairly powerful video editing tool like Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or Pinnacle Studio. On the other hand, it would be possible for a classroom lip dub to be easily edited and arranged on an iMovie or Windows Movie Maker-like applications with its more limited number of audio and video tracks.

As I was revising this post, I was delighted to receive an email from Paul Stewart – a Computer Technolgy teacher from Garden City Collegiate. Paul had just read my previous post entitled “Lip dub: I’m havin’ a good time!” and wanted to share with me the invigorating experience that his high school students had as they organized a school-wide lip dub. The following two videos were shot in “one take” and showcase how such a lip dub activity can enhance school spirit:

• Garden City Collegiate Lip Dub – 2011
• Garden City Collegiate Lip Dub – Split Screen – 2012

After viewing both of these videos, I was so impressed with the steadiness from the camera’s point of view. I emailed Paul and asked if the students used a tripod, on a moveable dolly, to capture the video. Paul indicated that in the 2011 lip dub the camera was hand-held by a student for the total duration of the “one-take” lip dub. However in the 2012 lip dub video, students made a home-made steadicam to help stabilize the shots. Paul even checked with the students to find out that they built the steadicam after watching the instructional YouTube video entitled  “Awesome Directors Project : $15 DIY steadicamin 15 minutes!”. This “do it yourself” project is one that students, who are engaged in making videos, might like to attempt. Undoubtedly the resulting steadicam device can be used to make more professional looking videos.

In closing, I will list a variety of different innovative lip dub YouTube videos to motivate students and their teachers:

• Gotye – “Somebody that I used to know” by Two Kids in a Car
• “Stronger” – Seattle Children’s Hospital
• The Making of Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” at Seattle Children’s Hospital
• The first lipdub video with 300 Cambodian kids
• Seven Lakes Junior High Lip Dub
• Cypress Ranch HS Anti-Bullying Lip-Dub
• Archive for Lipdub from Schools
• I’m Just Waiting for Some Miley
• Train – Hey, Soul Sister – LIPDUB UVic University (Official)
• University LipDub Videos
• Lindsay LipDUB: World’s Largest & Canada’s First City LibDub
• The Grand Rapids LipDub (NEW WORLD RECORD)
• Isaac’s Live Lip-Dub Proposal
  

I trust that the information presented by both Christin and Paul will help motivate you to engage the students in your classroom or school to demonstrate their creativity through a lip dub activity. Should you become engaged in your own lip dub learning adventure, I encourage you “pay forward” your tips, resources, and experiences by leaving comments at the end of this post to help motivate and encourage other students and educators.

Take care & keep smiling

Credits: – Flickr – Creative Commons image “singing” by Anthony Kelly
– http://www.flickr.com/photos/62337512@N00/4319350283/

Educators looking to engage their students in a fun, educational activity should consider having their students create a collaborative lip dub video of a favourite song. For those unfamiliar with the process, Wikipedia states:

A lip dub is a type of video that combines lip synching and audio dubbing to make a music video. It is made by filming individuals or a group of people lip synching while listening to a song or any recorded audio then dubbing over it in post editing with the original audio of the song.

Having joined the Educational Technology & Media’s Massive Open Online Course (#ETMOOC), I was invited, with other participants from around the world, to participate in a collaborative lip dub.

[ETMOOC Lip Dub: http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=cxwbdLMt_Bo]

I admit that my knowledge of the lip dub process was limited. In early March 2011, Andy McKiel and Darren Kuropatwa hosted a professional development session entitled “Social Media: Challenges & Opportunities for Education”. Not only were they willing to motivate their own teaching staff, they also extended an invitation to educators outside their Division. As this previous link indicates, I left this P.D. session reflecting on the power of one’s Personal Learning Network (PLN). This focus was the result of Dean Shareski’s lip dub video in which he invited 75 friends from around the world to help create a 40th birthday video entitled “Happy Birthday Alec Couros”.  I envied the organizing strategies together with talented movie editing and the commitment of hours that went into creating this masterpiece. It was evident that Alec’s friends were having so much fun engaging in this collaborative lip dub that I knew that the process had potential for students. 

I was delighted when Dean Shareski took the time to share the important “behind the scenes” processes involved in his “Happy Birthday” lip dub. Although his blog post entitled “So I started this Google doc..” shared many of the critical steps, I still felt that the steps outlined were still somewhat theoretical for me because I had not invested my energies or passion into the process. The key part that was still missing in my learning journey, was to be more actively involved in either participating or making a lip dub.

Imagine my delight when I signed up for the Educational Technology & Media’s Massive Open Online Course (#ETMOOC) to find that Alec Couros was planning to create a lip dub, with collaboration from people around the world. I decided to sign up. as a participant, so that I could get a better understanding of the mechanics involved in organizing and creating a lip dub.

To help my readers gain a better appreciation for the steps involved in organizing and creating this #ETMOOC lip dub, I’ll outline the steps below:

• Alec first invited #ETMOOC participants to consider taking part in this crowd source lip dub activity. Information was sent to participants by both email and through Twitter. Members were given ample time to consider how they might like to participate.
• Using a Google Docs spreadsheet, Alec invited members of the #ETMOOC community to suggest the name of a song whose lyrics promoted or provided meaning to this special collaborative “singing” experience.
• Once several songs were suggested, Alec used the “Poll Everywhere” survey process to gain feedback as to which of the 10 most popular suggested songs would become the actial audio track. All members of the #ETMOOC community (regardless of whether they wished to actively participate or not) were encouraged to vote for their favourite. Through continuous tweets, Alec kept the ETMOOC community aware of the the voting results.
• Once Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” was chosen as the most popular, Alec then provided the #ETMOOC community with a specific YouTube video of a Queen performance so that participants could practice singing along with the performer or refining guitar solos.
• I found Alec’s “Lip Dub Project” instruction document to be a key ingredient and insight in the organizational requirements of a lip dub with so many participants, from so many different locations, with so many different combinations of hardware and software. This is a “must read” for teachers who are considering creating a lip dub activity. True, you may not need all the extras that Alec has considered (in that his participants are from around the world), but Alec has identified key items that all teachers will find beneficial.
• In his instruction manual, Alec printed line by line the lyrics to the  song “Don’t Stop Me Now”. After each line, a space was left where a participant could add his/her name indicating that they would sing this specific line. Alec even suggested lines where he encouraged more participation that just one individual. Furthermore, participants were encouraged to engage others  (as well as pets) in creating their video segment so that the fun and laughter could be shared.
• Participants were encouraged to showcase images to represent the community where the individual was located. If you look closely, at my participation in this #ETMOOC lip dub, you will note that I am wearing a red jacket with the letters CANADA displayed across the front, with a Manitoba flag hanging in the background with an NHL “Jets” cap positioned proudly on my head.
• Alec suggested that participants make a video of them singing their selected lines(s) of “Don’t Stop Me Now”. To facilitate merging the individual participant clips, Alec suggested participants capture themselves singing their selected line as well as the previous and next lines to allow for trimming during the challenging editing process.
• The key to working with so many different video segments is to determine a file-naming code or convention. Alec insisted that each individual name his/her video as a combination of the participant name/twitter, geographic location, and the song line number. Following this important advice, my video file contribution was named:

Brian Metcalfe-@bkmetcalfe-WinnipegCanada-Line5.MOV

• Alec set up a mechanism so that the respective video clips could be sent to him using the Dropbox and DropitTome services. An alternate email process for sending video files was also included so that all participants could send their song snippet to Alec by the stated deadline.
• Alec then shared the collected video files in Dropbox with Josh Stumpenhorst (@stumpteacher).  Josh volunteered to use his “magic” with Pinnacle Studio to create the resulting #ETMOOC Lip Dub.
• Once the video was created, it was shared on YouTube with the #ETMOOC community and the world.

I think that Alec summarized the intent of this lip dub project when he stated:

Let’s have fun with this! Show some of that joy and exuberance that many of you have shown thus far. I hope that this results in a great bonding experience, more familiarity with community members, and an artifact that helps to represent the experience of #etmooc.

Although many would consider the uploading of the lip dub to YouTube as the final process in this creative endeavour, I am so thankful that Alec took a most important additional step. Alec found the time to reflect on this lib dub project in his post “Making of the #etmooc Lipdub”. I find that I always learn so much from educators who are willing to share tips and strategies to improve projects with the benefit of hind-sight.

I encourage readers to check out Alec’s reflective post to learn how using a file-name convention starting with the line # (rather than at the end) allows one to automatically sort video clips in order of the songs lyrics. In addition, I particularly liked Alec’s reminder of how he added a “+” sign alias to his Google mail “couros+etmooc@gmail.com” so that he could more easily filter email related to this innovative project. However, without Alec’s reflective post, I would not have realized that my “Don’t Stop Me Now” video clip (which was my first video attempt on our iPad Christmas gift) was suffering from the dreaded “Vertical Video Syndrome”.

In conclusion, I was so delighted to be an active participant in this engaging and fun activity. Furthermore, having the flexibility and freedom to choose which of the Queen lyrics I would sing was very important to me. I felt that as a Life-Long-Learner and recent MOOC participant, I was proud to sing “Don’t stop me now … don’t stop me … ’cause I’m having a good time … having a good time!”

Take care & keep smiling

Although this tale has already been documented in my earlier posts, this powerful, inspirational story needs to be regularly shared with educators and their students.

Alan Levine (aka @cogdog) has challenged DS106 and ETMOOC participants to share “True Stories of Open Sharing … examples of times when there was an unexpected positive outcome after sharing something openly online.”

My inspiring story starts with a serendipitous visit to 10-year old Laura Stockman’s blog entitled “25 Days to Make a Difference”. Through a blog post, I shared Laura’s passionate quest “to make the world a little better”. In turn, two amazing educators Chris Harbeck (of Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Karl Fisch (of Centennial, Colorado) challenged their students to contribute funds in December to be shared with different charities. I have tried to capture this story of concern, caring, and connection in the following “Sharing Is Caring” YouTube video:

 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P16Nf7YaX6I]

I have included resource slides at the end of this video which list the 10 respective Internet addresses of important components of this inspirational story. However, I am also including them below, as active hyperlinks, to make it easier for readers to examine this story in depth:

• Laura Stockman’s post – “25 Days to Make a Difference”
• Brian Metcalfe’s post – “How to Make A Difference in December”
  
• Chris Harbeck’s post – “Would your students donate $0.25 per day?“
• Chris Harbeck’s wiki – “25centsaday“
• Karl Fisch’s post – “A Quarter is More Than Just a Fraction“
• Brian Metcalfe’s post – “December Charity Challenges for Students“
• Chris Harbeck’s post – “Teaching Citizenship – Part 2 – Pay It Forward“
• Chris Harbeck’s post – “Teaching Citizenship – Part 3 – 25 cents a day“
• Chris Harbeck’s Vimeo video – “Why Digital Citizenship Matters“
• Brian Metcalfe’s post – “We Day: A December Charity Challenge“

I encourage educators to bookmark this video and review it each November so that you and your students can consider making your difference in December.

Take care & keep smiling

I’m having fun learning how to create animated GIFs with frames extracted from digital video. In fact, with practice, and the support and feedback of my DS106 learning community, I think I am getting better!

I created this animated GIF and then chose my title. The message combination resonates with me on two levels: the primary one which I’ll address now and the more subtle, subliminal suggestion (which I hope you can figure out), I’ll share at the end of this post.

DS106 Task Tips
This post’s title warning “You Snooze – You Lose!”, with its animated GIF, is a reminder to both DS106 participants (and me) to begin work early Monday morning on the current week’s “Daily Creates” and/or assignments. Those who wait until Sunday to complete the majority of projects assigned during that week will be not only frustrated but will miss out on many positive support and learning opportunities.

As the Digital Storytelling DS106 course moves into more participant-selected assignments and projects, I’d recommend the following:

1. Plan out your upcoming week’s work early.
2. Select your first weekly assignment carefully. Pick one that you feel you can accomplish in the least amount of time and, if necessary, with little time spent learning new applications or techniques. Once you have completed your first weekly assignment, you will be motivated and inspired to continue with others.
3. In your blog posts, document your learning journey. Where possible, provide hyperlinks to tips and resources that showcase how you “tweaked” or made the assignment “your own”. Indicate, what you might do differently if you were to attempt this assignment again.
4. Choose your “Daily Creates” with care. As an example, if you are instructed, as a minimum, to “do three ‘Daily Creates’ this week”, do not wait until Friday, Saturday and Sunday to tackle this task. Also, if you are weak using Photoshop (as I am), I might be tempted to bypass the Wednesday challenge asking me to “Design a poster of an action movie starring Julia Child” because I know it will require me to spend more than 20 minutes. However, don’t skip a “Daily Create” hoping that the next one will be easier. In reality, the “Daily Creates” are designed to stimulate your creativity and engage you in your learning adventure. No one appreciates this endeavour better than Norm Wright (from the Spring 2012 DS106 course) who shares more than a year’s worth of each days’ creativity in “All My Daily Creates”.
5. Leave some “percolation time”. In order to be innovative in completing or designing your own assignments, you will need “think time” to explore all aspects of the endeavour before jumping into the task at hand.
6. Investigate the DS106 Handbook for ideas and tips to help you progress, with fewer hassles. The associated links have been compiled from previous DS106 courses and represent the best resources.
7. Invoke Google Reader’s RSS feeds in order to keep up-to-date with blog posts and resources shared by the DS106 learning community.
8. Read other student’s blog posts and provide positive, constructive comments.
9. Connect with other DS106 students (face-to-face or online) so that you have an idea of whom you might like to work with should a collaborative project be assigned.
10. Sign up for Twitter so that you can monitor and reply to DS106-related tweets, which can be filtered, using the hashtags like #ds106, #dailycreate or specific iindividuals like #cogdog. I personally like to use TweetDeck, to organize Twitter feeds, as I can setup individual columns for “All Friends”; “Mentions”; “Search: #ds106″; “Search: #dailycreate”; “Favorites”; etc.
11. Take time to send 140 character tweets (with the #ds106 and/or #dailycreate hashtags) to share your accomplishments. You will be surprised how many of your DS106 colleagues will check out your creativity and provide you with motivational comments.
12. Faithfully read CogDog’s Blog posts and Twitter feeds (@cogdog) so that you are kept up-to-date on the many facets of the DS106 course.
13. Always be generous when scheduling each project’s time estimate. Remember that when using technology, Murphy’s Law states that “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” If you have completed a DS106 assignment in less time than you previously estimated, then you are “laughing”
14. If you leave projects to the weekend you will miss out on the valuable aspect of reading colleagues’ blog posts and commenting. This important step helps build a productive and caring learning community.

Creating My Animated GIF
Without repeating myself, I worked through the basic tasks that I have already documented in my post entitled “The eyes are the windows into the soul. In fact, as someone who does not easily internalize processes, I find that if I document the steps in my learning journey, I can go back to that post whenever I need to repeat the process. In summary, I used these steps:

1. I began, by selecting the YouTube movie trailer “The Mask of Zorro – Trailer”
2. Since I am using an older Windows computer running the XP operating system, I used the PWN YouTube bookmarklet process for downloading the trailer and saved it as a High Quality MP4 file. 
3. Next I used MPEG Streamclip to extract only the clip showing Zorro’s “sword play” near the start of the trailer. I was careful determining the “In ” and “Out” points along the timeline by using my arrow keys to move one frame at a time. Ideally, I wanted the final sword slash to end at a position near where the initial slash began. Such positioning would promote a cleaner, cyclic animated GIF. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a video footage where Zorro uses his rapier in repeated, distinctive “Z” slashing moves, so I did the best that I could in selecting the start and end points of this trimmed video clip.
4. I extracted 16 frames that I imported into GIMP as separate layers. I then followed the detailed steps in the DS106 Handbook link “Creating Animated GIFs with (free) Open Source Software”.

I admit that I do not understand the complexities of GIMP and follow the instructions blindly. However,  having a link to these important instructional documents, always helps me in the future. I know that if I enter “animated GIF” (without quotes) into my right-hand “Search L-L-L Blog” field on my blog, I will find posts explaining how to create animated GIFs. I know that if I scan each post for hyperlinks, I’ll find valuable resources to help me create another animated GIF.

I’ll always like to ask myself … “If you were to repeat this assignment/project, what would you do differently?”. For this activity, I’d like to follow up on Alan Levine’s suggestion to try and reduce the size of animated GIFs. To do so, I would like to see if I could delete some of the 16 frames that I extracted without diminishing the visual appeal of the sword play.

Did you find the subliminal message?
At the start of this post, I suggested that the title “You Snooze – You Lose!” and Zorro’s distinctive, three stroke rapier cut “Z mark”, shared a subtle, subliminal message. One might suggest that the animated GIF, that I created, produces a repetitive pattern of “Z Z Z Z …”. In the English language, the symbol of repeated Zs often means that an individual is snoozing or snoring. Thus Zorro, with his distinctive sword-play, is subtly reinforcing the title message that snoozing or snoring during the DS106 term not only causes the individual to lose out, but perhaps equally important, the DS106 learning and support community loses an important contributing component … You!

Take care & keep smiling

You might ask, like my wife, why am I enrolling in the DS106 course again. Didn’t I get my “fill” of on-line learning a year ago? The simple answer is that there are gaps in my learning that I want to try fill. I have found that through the on-going support, comments, and instructional blog posts of the DS106 community, I can take ownership for my own learning and professional development.

In the previous post, I alluded to the fact that GIF animation had become so much more sophisticated over the past dozen years. Certainly, I was actively engaged in the Spring 2012 DS106 course and I was extremely pleased at the skills and knowledge I had gained. However, as I continued to read other DS106-related blog posts, during the remainder of 2012, I realized that my GIF animation was quite limiTed.

So now that I have “dotted my “T”s … we’ll now cross our “I”s”

[Animated GIF reflecting "The eyes are the windows into the soul"]

The Back Story
As an educator, I am so grateful to the DS106 individuals, who not only share their assignments, but also take the time to provide insights and instructions into their creative process. Sometimes when we attend Educational Technology conferences or professional development sessions, we are exposed to perfect, polished activities or projects. However, on returning to our classrooms, we may become discouraged when we attempt to replicate the process ourselves. Some of the reasons for this failure might include lacking the necessary hardware, software, or more importantly, the skills that the sharing educator took for granted. I welcome the DS106 model in which participants are encouraged to share their insights into their creative process.

To illustrate the importance of this “Back Story” process, I urge educational readers to view Dean Shareski’s K-12 Online Conference keynote video entitled “Sharing: The Moral Imperative”. Here, Dean suggests that “the ability to teach and share beyond our classrooms is moving from ‘nice to do’ to ‘necessary to do’”. Although this keynote was extremely powerful and the message is still just as important today as it was in the Fall of 2010, it was Dean’s “Back Story” that I appreciated. Later in the conference Dean shared a remarkable, instructional “behind the scenes” video to help educators better understand why and how his original “Sharing” video was created. Here, I learned a number of tips including how Dean set up his scrolling iPad (above the video camera) to function as his teleprompter.

In the past, the vast majority of individuals were content to be “consumers” of information from sources such as Internet web sites. Only a few were “producers” who created animated GIFs and learned to craft web pages using HyperText Markup Language (HTML). However, there has been a dramatic shift!. Today, the vast majority of students, particularly those in the DS106 community, learn best as “producers of knowledge”, be it their own blog or crafty, video-based, animated GIFs. In order to encourage such production, I recommend that one strive to include insight into how each assignment was crafted through a “back story” process. Through providing such “teachable moments” your learning will improve and perhaps, more importantly, you will provide a learning legacy for others.

My “Animated” Learning Journey
My motivation to begin was the realization that many of the creative “GIF masters” (that I referenced in the previous post) were starting with video rather than a static image to create their animated GIFs. As I was unfamiliar with the process for capturing video, I searched the DS106 website for  information on “animated GIFs”. I was delighted to find a DS106 wiki, which was a veritable gold mine of tutorials. The one that I explored was:

•  Creating Animated GIFs with MPEG Streamclip and GIMP

Based on this information, I jumped in “with both feet” and started searching YouTube for possible videos. I selected a video entitled “Judyism: Judge Judy At Her Best”. I thought that the expression in Judy’s eyes might not only help me learn more about animating from a video clip but might also qualify my work for the “GIF Me Again About My Eyes” assignment worth “two points”.

My next hurdle involved finding a reliable mechanism for downloading YouTube videos. I still use an older Windows computer running the XP operating system so my choices of free downloading options may be somewhat limited. I investigated the Fastest YouTube Downloader, Freemake Video Downloader (for Windows) and the Pwn YouTube process.  Gizmo’s Freeware  posted “Finally a Free, Flexible Youtube Download That Works” which recommended Freemake Video Downloader. I had previously installed this software during last year’s DS106 class. However, during a more thorough investigation this year, I became rather concerned when it was revealed that Freemake Video Downloader used the “Open Candy” system during installation. I admit that when I install software, I always read each page and opt-out of any additions of other products or new toolbars. I pay a yearly license fee to run commercial, up-to-date virus protection and regularly run Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware to remove any potential unwanted threats. So with this latest information, I utilized the Pwn YouTube process, which appeared to be the least invasive approach, to downloading video from YouTube.

Once I had captured the “Judge Judy” video, I downloaded MPEG Streamclip to trim the frames that displayed the eye movement. I found by using the arrow keys on my keyboard, I could advance along the timeline and select video frame-by-frame. These frames were then exported into the GIMP image manipulation program which I had downloaded and installed.

I admit that I do not know very much about making animated GIFs from video. However, I found that by viewing Michael Branson Smith’s excellent “Animated GIF” video and following the detailed steps in the DS106 wiki tutorial, I was able to produce my first animated GIF from video.

The Last Important Question
My wife, who was also a teacher, was very involved in her school divisions “Science Fair”. When judging student projects, one of her most important questions near the end of her interview with students was “If you were to do this over again, what would you do differently?” Such a question is one that I think we, as professionals, should continually ask ourselves.

In my case, I know that there are three things that I would like to attempt:

1. Explore the process for adding an additional “reverse string” of selected video frames to the exported images  to make a smoother, cyclic animated GIF. Michael Branson Smith explained this process do well in his video “GIFFing Video Clips with Photoshop”  (starting at approximately the 5:00 minute mark). However, I’m not sure that my copy of “Photoshop Elements 6″ has all the necessary features.
2. Explore different YouTube download processes and conversion to different formats. I would like to find the best combination to not capture quality video clips but also display the resulting animated GIF in the best format in my blog.
3. Most importantly, I’d recommend that DS106-ers use as their primary resource “The DS106 Handbook”. I believe the renovations to the DS106 web site have been spectacular. The format is so much more inviting and is organized in an efficient manner with all the tools you need identified in the handbook. Therefore, don’t search for “Ds106 animated GIFs” like I did, which brought up the older wiki-based information; rather check out the ever-evolving and updated links in the handbook such as:

• Creating Animated GIFs the Modern Way
• Creating Animated GIFs with (free) Open Source Software
• Downloading YouTube Videos

I admit that this post is rather lengthy but I hope that by modelling the “Back Story” process, I can encourage others to share their tips and tricks along their learning journey.

Take care & keep smiling

Creating animated GIFs can be an engaging educational exercise. Students can be challenged to use a computer to draw a series of related, progressive images that, when blended together, create animation.

Background
Twenty-five years ago the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) was created to display images using less than 256 colours. Long before applications such as Flash, iMovie, Photo Story 3, Voki, YouTube or Xtranormal were developed, the only way moving images could be displayed on a web page was through the creation of an animated GIF.

 
[An animated GIF welcoming readers to the New Year]

I admit that I thought I was fairly familiar with the way in which animated GIFs were created. In fact, in October 2000, I wrote a rather detailed article about the process entitled “Get Animated … with Ulead’s GIF Animator Lite Edition”. Students were eager to use Microsoft Paint to create a series of progressive images that were assembled into an animated GIF.

I still remember a major time-saving tip that Don Bellamy, a talented graphic artist, shared with me. The gist of his recommendation was:

To save time when creating animated GIFs, always start with the finished slide/image and work backwards. You can erase components while creating new slides in reverse, faster than you can draw new slide additions working in the forward manner.

The animated growing flower GIF, at right, is composed of five different slides or images. Without Don’s influence, I would have begun the animation process by creating the first slide/image of the pot. Next I would have added the sprouting plant component and saved it as the second slide or image. Successive slides would have included leaves growing off the stem in both directions culminating with the flower bloom as the fifth and last image. However, I found it to be much easier and faster to start with the finished image of the blossoming flower which was saved as slide 5. Then I worked backwards erasing, in turn, the flower (slide 4); left leaf (slide 3); right leaf (slide 2); sprout (slide 1) leaving only the flower pot. When these slides were reassembled (in the forward, numerical progression) using the “GIF Animator” Windows freeware, the result was the animated rose that you see displayed.

Likewise the final slide, in the above New Year’s welcoming animated message, was created with the complete message. The “working backward”  procedure used was to:

• Complete the final message – saved as “ani-NewYears-40.jpg” (with its arbitrarily high-numbered file name)
• Erase final exclamation mark – save resulting image as “ani-NewYears-39.jpg”
• Erase “adventure” – save resulting image as “ani-NewYears-38.jpg”
• Continue the process, erasing one word at a time, while saving the resulting image with its next lower file number
• Erase the large red “0″, as the second last image, and save the image as “ani-NewYears-20.jpg”
• Erase the large red “2″ and save the resulting blank yellow rectangle (with the lowest slide/image number as “ani-NewYears-19.jpg”

The resulting 20 “ani-NewYears-##” images were imported into the GIF Animator software, and like all animated GIF creation software, were imported in ascending order of numerical slide/images from lowest file number (with the least detailed display) to the highest file number which displays the final, complete illustration. One can modify the exposure time of each slide/image in the animation software and when the final GIF is assembled, it can be opened in any browser to view the animation effect. This was the animated GIF process of which I was familiar.

Animation in the 21st Century
Now, we fast forward about 12 years where I am re-introduced to animated GIFs in an on-line  Digital Storytelling “DS106” course. Right away, I realized that my knowledge of how to create animated GIFs had not kept up-to-date. As instructors, Jim Groom and Alan Levine, challenged us by not only creating animated GIFs from images but also by creating animated images from movies, television, and home videos. Not to be outdone, other DS106 instructors and students went wild demonstrating their “animated” creativity. In fact, as I explored the animated GIFs from DS106 this past Summer and Fall terms, I began to feel the excitement to signup for another DS106 session which officially starts January 14, 2013. In order that you can experience the creativity and positive learning environment fostered through DS106, I encourage you to explore the links, blog posts, and comments shared by the following amazing individuals:

• Spreadsheet Invasion: Animating Pong – Jim Groom
• Photo it Like the Peanut Butter – Alan Levine
• Animated Comic Book Cover – I’m Free At Last – Jim Groom
• It’s a great day for sporting GIFs – Hockey – Rowan Peter
• Salivating Over Animated GIFs – Michael Branson Smith
• Return of the Animated GIF Day! – Ben Rimes
• DS106 GIFFEST – Alan Levine
• Multi Frame GIF Story: Beaker’s Hair – Andrew Forgrave
• Merry GIFmas to All! – Ben Rimes
• Keep Clicking Those Ruby GIF Slippers – Alan Levine

However, the best part about the creativity demonstrated by these “GIF masters” is that, as part of the DS106 learning community, they shared the processes they went through to accomplish their animation. I think that as educators we need to ask our students to reflect and share the processes/hangups that they encounter when learning. It can definitely be a window into their comprehension and, better yet, provide us with important feedback into out teaching.

Take care & keep smiling

Sisler High School, the Winnipeg School Division, Eyeconic Media and Microsoft Canada will be hosting a five day Professional Development session on cutting edge ICT skills for digital learners during the week of July 9 – 13, 2012. Our goal is to engage and empower educators through hands-on workshops.

Although the cost for each workshop is $50.00, anyone may sign up for individual morning or afternoon workshop sessions which are of interest:

• Workshop 1: The Cloud Classroom – Monday July 9th, 9:00 am -11:45 am
• Workshop 2: Web & Gaming Graphics – Monday, July 9th, 12:45 pm – 3:30 pm
• Workshop 3: Video Conferencing in the Classroom – Tuesday, July 10th, 9:00 am – 11:45 am
• Workshop 4: Video Editing for the Web – Tuesday, July 10th, 12:45 pm – 3:30 pm
• Workshop 5: Photo-imaging for the Web – Wednesday, July 11th, 9:00 am – 11:45 am
• Workshop 6: Introduction to Web Design – Wednesday, July 11th, 12:45 pm – 3:30 pm
• Workshop 7: Web Graphics & Animation – Thursday, July 12th, 9:00 am – 11:45 am
• Workshop 8: Audio Composition – Thursday, July 12th, 12:45 pm – 3:30 pm
• Workshop 9: Game Design for the Web – Friday, July 13th, 9:00 am – 11:45 am
• Workshop 10: Online Teacher Presence – Friday, July 13th, 12:45 pm – 3:30 pm

Additional P.D. details and specific workshop content can be found in the E3 Workshop Booklet which may be downloaded in PDF format.

There are still some workshops seats available, so register as soon as possible at: Eyeconic Media (www.eyeconic.ca)

Take care & keep smiling

Over the years, the last Thursday of April has been designated as a special day. This year, Thursday, April 26th is designated as the international “Pay it Forward Day” … an excellent opportunity for students to demonstrate their digital citizenship.

As an educator, I enjoyed the inspirational 2000 movie called “Pay It Forward”, staring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment. The story is about a 12 year old student who is challenged by his Social Studies teacher to “Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action.” The youngster devises a process in which he does a good deed to three people in need with the hope that each of them will “pay it forward” to three new people and that this process will continue exponentially.

Pay it Forward Day
Teachers are encouraged to introduce and celebrate the “Pay It Forward Day” with their students. Educators are encouraged to investigate the wealth of educational resources that are available on the Pay It Forward Day web site including:

• Pay It Forward Day Trailer
• Pay It Forward Day Kit
• Pay It Forward Day Cards – Primary School
• Pay It Forward Day Cards – High School

Teachers in Manitoba are implementing the nine “big ideas” that form the framework of the Literacy with Information and Communication Technology (LwICT) continuum.

True, teaching citizenship can be a challenge but the opportunity and the resources provided through the “Pay It Forward Day” make it much easier and meaningful. In closing, I have to ask you … how many acts of kindness will students in your classes initiate on the way to this year’s target goal of 3 million?

Take care & keep smiling

In today’s economy people are always looking to invest wisely. This same strategy applies equally to K-12 teachers who must get the best possible return on their educational investments. In other words, if you invest some of your time, talent, or treasure, do you substantially gain in your educational pay-out.

As a K-12 teacher, would you be willing to invest $5.00, together with two hours of your time, to gain the following:

• Opportunity to hear three, 20-30 minute, presentations from educators who share innovative ideas and strategies for engaging students
• Chance to meet and learn from like-minded K-12 educators who utilize technology to enhance their teaching
• Classroom-based activities that you or a colleague might be able to adapt for your own students
• Supper of pizza, salad, and refreshments

If you feel that the $5.00 investment, together with two hours of your time, is a fair trade, then I recommend that you attend the Manitoba Association for Computing Educators (ManACE) Technology Information Night (TIN) on Wednesday, April 18, 2012. This event will be held at Sargent Park School at 1070 Dominion Street from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm. If you are unable to attend, please pass this information along to other educators who may be interested. Better yet, print this full-size poster from the link at the end, and place it in your staff room to share this amazing learning opportunity with others.

This PD opportunity is open to all as there is no need to be a ManACE member. All that is required is that one register on-line to help organizers plan appropriately. Show up at the doors with your $5.00 and be prepared to be provided with both educational possibilities and pizza.

The following three interesting presentations will be shared:

Building Broader Minds with ‘Bee-Bots’
Presented by: Kathy Routhier, Winnipeg School Division
Many educators have begun to explore the use of robotics with students of all ages. Some robot hardware & software packages can be expensive to implement in classrooms. Others can come with too steep of a learning curve to appeal to younger students. But not Bee-Bots! Find out how Bee-Bots can challenge your student’s problem-solving and inquiry skills.

Teaching in a BYOD Environment
Presented by: Roy Norris, Louis Riel School Division
How would classroom teaching and learning change if your students were told they could “Bring Your Own Device”? What if this wasn’t just an opportunity – it was an expectation? What would you do differently as a teacher to provide meaningful opportunities for your students to leverage the power of the devices they bring to school with them? This presentation, by a Grade 9 teacher involved with Dakota Collegiate’s BYOD program, will address some of the opportunities & challenges encountered as Dakota Collegiate has broken new ground with their BYOD initiative this year.

“DS106″ – The ABC’s of Digital Storytelling
Presented by: Brian Metcalfe, Life-Long-Learner
Are you interested in powerful, creative ideas and activities to enhance your day-to-day teaching? If so, you need to learn more about a free, 15 week digital storytelling MOOC (massive, open online course) known as DS106. Participants, who enroll in this first year university course, are expected to engage in the learning process through creating, commenting and reflecting within their own blog. However, through sharing first-hand experiences and providing highlights of daily creative challenges and assignments in photography, audio and video formats, it is hoped that the audience will see the potential for adapting many of these creative projects to engage their own K-12 students.

Remember to register and attend. I’m sure that after participating in this Technology Information Night, you will leave knowing that your small investment has yielded a practical, and powerful pay-out.

Take care & keep smiling

Resources:

ManACE Memos – “Another ManACE TIN – April 18th in Winnipeg”
http://manacememos.blogspot.ca/2012/03/another-manace-tin-april-18th-in.htm

ManACE TIN Posters (in PDF format):
- Large Colour Poster (11″ x 17″) & Small Colour Poster (8.5″ x 11″)

Background and Balance
As I write today’s analysis of certain scenes in a favourite movie, I am worrying about “blog balance”. This is a condition that I continue to wrestle with as I progress on my learning journey with the online digital storytelling course DS106. In past, I have posted articles that I felt were of interest to students and teacher in K-12 classrooms. True some activities might have been immediately applicable and some readers might have said “Yes … I can use that resource or strategy with my students next week”. Others may have been shared more for information and the content may not have direct impact and or adaption by teachers. However, as I progress through the 8th week of my 15 week DS106 course and move into the video production segment, I worry that my required blog reflections may have little impact on most K-12 educators unless they are teaching a film study course.

In past, I have warned readers that my required DS106 assignments and reflective blog posts would make my learning more transparent. However, I still worry about “blog balance” since I want to try and ensure that there is some information that might apply to K-12 educators in the vast majority of my posts. I believe that I may have a possible solution. When I am writing a post that focuses heavily on a DS106 assignment which I feel may not have as wide appeal to my K-12 readers, I will try to provide some additional relevance to K-12 educators my inserting a “Teachable Moment” into the blog. This way readers who are not interested in the details of my DS106 reflection can look for my “light bulb” icon and quickly read the related “Teachable Moment” information which may be more meaningful or applicable to them and their students. Undoubtedly in today’s post where I look, through a new lense with a much more critical eye, at one of my favourite movies, I will attempt to provide better blog balance by inserting a later “Teachable Moment” in this lengthy post.

Bridge of the River Kwai
In past I have watched movies for their entertainment value and, I must admit, rather superficially. More recently, I have enjoyed looking at the “Extra Features” often included in DVD movie rentals. For example, while listening/viewing the director’s comments about certain scenes (together with the number of “takes”), seeing the attention to detail on an actor’s uniform to make it appear authentic, or watching how a certain special effect was created, all helped me to better appreciate the amount of work and detail that happened “behind the scenes” in the making of a particular movie.

In my DS106 video pre-production assignment, I have been challenged to pick a favourite movie, identify key scenes, and analyze the movie using some of the elements identified by Roger Ebert.

The movie that I selected was “The Bridge on the River Kwai” which won seven Oscars in 1957. Although fictionalized to some extent, this movie is based on historical reality in which British POWs were forced by their Japanese captors in 1942-43 to build a bridge on the “Death Railway” to link Bangkok, Thailand to Rangoon, Burma.

Undoubtedly the acting between the two adversaries, Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), – the senior officer of the British POWs and Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) – the POW camp commandant, was superb. Add to this the musical theme of the River Kwai March (sometimes referred to as the Colonel Bogey March) and you have a powerful movie that I remember every time I hear someone whistling this unforgettable tune.

It is obvious that “The Bridge of the River Kwai” fits quite nicely into the War or Adventure genre but the Drama between the two protagonists should not be overlooked.

DS106 has revealed so many new aspects of storytelling to me. I must admit that the following quote from Roger Ebert’s “How to Read a Movie” has caused me to view movies in an entirely new manner:

In simplistic terms: Right is more positive, left more negative. Movement to the right seems more favorable; to the left, less so. The future seems to live on the right, the past on the left. The top is dominant over the bottom. The foreground is stronger than the background. Symmetrical compositions seem at rest. Diagonals in a composition seem to “move” in the direction of the sharpest angle they form, even though of course they may not move at all. Therefore, a composition could lead us into a background that becomes dominant over a foreground. Tilt shots of course put everything on a diagonal, implying the world is out of balance. I have the impression that more tilts are down to the right than to the left, perhaps suggesting the characters are sliding perilously into their futures. Left tilts to me suggest helplessness, sadness, resignation. Few tilts feel positive. Movement is dominant over things that are still. A POV above a character’s eyeline reduces him; below the eyeline, enhances him. Extreme high angle shots make characters into pawns; low angles make them into gods. Brighter areas tend to be dominant over darker areas, but far from always: Within the context, you can seek the “dominant contrast,” which is the area we are drawn toward. Sometimes it will be darker, further back, lower, and so on. It can be as effective to go against intrinsic weightings as to follow them.

I admit that the above quotation, caused me to look at the following YouTube video excerpt of “The Bridge of the River Kwai” through a new lense:

 Bridge on The River Kwai – 1957 – Clip 1

As the whistling British POWs march into camp, they travel from the right to the left side across the picture. This subtly indicates that they are moving towards a much more negative environment demonstrated by the harsh treatment of the soldiers by the Japanese. A box or platform is brought out for Colonel Saito to address the POWs and this repeated action throughout the movie allows the camera angles to point down on the insignificant POWs while looking up on the superior commandant who controls the prisoners’ very existence.

Teachable Moment

I realize that, at present, not all educators have access, due to school or Divisional filtering, to YouTube videos to enhance their teaching. However, this “Teachable Moment” tip will save time when attempting to efficiently cue YouTube videos for viewing at home and/or school. For example, the previous “Bridge on The River Kwai” (Clip 1) contains 6 minutes and 34 seconds of video. However, if you wished to focus only on Colonel Saito’s address to the POWs, you might want the YouTube movie to start at the 4 minute and 25 second mark. This can easily be accomplished by adding the “&t” time (in minutes and seconds) parameter to the YouTube video URL. The above clip can be found on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcIehms6u5M If this entry was copied and pasted into one’s browser, the video would begin at the regular default start position of 0 minutes and 0 seconds. However, if “&t=4m25s” (without quotes) is added to the end of the above URL so that the new address is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcIehms6u5M&t=4m25s then the video display will automatically start 4 minutes and 25 seconds into the particular YouTube video. For those who find this to be too technical, I recommend you view the easy-to-use web interface found at: “Cut to the Chase at YouTube Time“. To help readers better understand this process, I will demonstrate linking to a specific YouTube video starting time throughout the remainder of this blog post. I trust that this tip provides some balance for my K-12 educators to offset this rather lengthy DS106 video assignment post.

This DS106 assignment introduced me to the term “trope”. As a former Mathematics and Computer Science educator, I must admit that I was unfamiliar with this term and was unaware that movies use a host of tropes or “metaphors” to convey their messages. Using the TV Tropes as a reference, I have identified the following tropes in “The Bridge on the River Kwai” and provide appropriate links to YouTube videos to illustrate their use:

• A Father to His Men & An Officer and a Gentleman & Face Death with Dignity – Colonel Nicholson demands that, according to the Geneva Convention his officers do not have to work along side their regular soldier prisoners building this bridge. He withstands torture in the iron box rather than issue a command to have his officers work on this bridge.
  - Advising Colonel Saito of Geneva Convention – Clip 2 (1:30)
• Real Song Theme Tune – The Kwai River March or Colonel Bogie March, popularized by Mitch Miller, is a very powerful audio connection to this movie.
  - Whistling prisoners enter POW compound – Clip 1 (0:18)
• Deadpan Snarker – Commander/Major Shears questions superiors as to whether he should jump … with , or without a parachute.
  - Discussion of parachute training – Clip 5 (0:16)
• My God, What Have I Done? – At the end of the movie, Colonel Nicholson realizes that his pride has driven him to build a railway bridge that ultimately will befit the enemy.
  -  The brigde (sic) on the river Kwai ending – (0:51)

To the reader who has read to the ending of this rather lengthy post, I congratulate you.

Take care & keep smiling