The document provides instructions for using various educational apps and tools, including Pixlr for photo editing, Tagxedo for creating word clouds, graffiti generators, Microsoft Office photo editing, Slideshare for finding and sharing presentations, Screencast-O-Matic for screen recording, and websites for sourcing additional educational apps. Key steps are provided for getting started with each tool and performing basic functions like opening, editing, saving, and sharing files.

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Pixlr and Small Apps in the Classroom
Artful Artsy Amy artfulartsyamy.blogspot.com
Using apps in the classroom can be a daunting task. As teachers, we often feel as if we must be “masters” before we
disseminate information to students. It is important to understand, however, that when it comes to technology,
students are always going to understand more than us; they are digital natives and we are digital immigrants.
So, take a deep breath, and just accept the fact that students will make sense of technology more quickly than you.
I have taught several technology classes, and I always observe that teachers want specific directions on how to use
software and/or applications. Programs and apps are designed to perform many functions; their uses are more fluid
than specificity. There is no better way to learn a new program or app than to “play” with it. Think about it like riding a
bike. You learn how to ride a bike by trying to ride a bike. Sure, you might falter a bit, but eventually you just “get” it.
Learning new software, programs, and applications is just like that. Embrace it!
Pixlr
Pixlr is a wonderful, web and small-device based application that allows user to manipulate and generate digital images.
I like Pixlr mostly because it has a very similar interface as Adobe Photoshop Elements. . .but it is free and requires no
downloading.
Getting Started with Pixlr Editor (Photoshop-like version)
1. Go to www.pixlr.com
2. Click on the “Butterfly” (this is the advanced, Photoshop-like version)
Getting Started with Pixlr Express (good for adding text, borders, filters, and stickers to existing images)
1. Go to www.pixlr.com
2. Click on the middle option with the camera shutter
Getting Started with Pixlr-o-Matic (like Instagram; good for adding filters to existing images)
1. Go to www.pixlr.com
2. Click on the 3rd
option , where the camera shutter looks like a speech bubble
Tagxedo
Tagxedo is like Wordle. . .but better! Tagxedo is a word-cloud generator that allows users to choose their word cloud
shape from a menu and/or upload their own shapes.
Getting Started with Tagxedo
1. Go to www.tagxedo.com
2. Click on “create” (orange button)
3. Click on “Load” to enter your text, enter your text and click “submit” (be patient)
a. Upload a Word file and tagxedo will use words from that document
b. Type in a webpage and tagxedo will use words from that webpage
c. Type in text in the “enter text” field
4. Click on anything under the “respins” tab to customize those listed items
5. Click on the triangle next to shape to choose your word cloud shape
a. Click on one of the shapes if you like one of those choices
b. Click on “add image” to choose a custom image
i. Follow the prompts to upload an image
ii. “play” with “threshold” and “blur” sliders until you like your image
iii. Click on “accept”

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6. Click on “save” to save
a. Choose your file save
b. 500KP JPG or 500kp PNG gives you a nice size file
Graffiti Generators
I love to use graffiti generating software in the classroom. It is a great way to demonstrate to students how most
artists and digital users utilize multiple types of software to create finished products. There are some good-ish
graffiti generators out there, but not many let you save. So, I’ve taught my students how to do a screen capture to
save their work. I’m going to review how to do that in the directions below.
1. Go to http://www.graffiticreator.net/ or http://postergen.com/graffiti-creator
2. Use the prompts to create your graffiti
3. Use a screen capture to save
a. Push down the “windows” or “fn” button and the “prnt scrn” button (it will look like nothing happened)
b. Open the Paint program
c. Paste (push down the “ctrl” and “v” button)
d. Your screen capture will appear
e. Use the Paint crop tools to crop your image down to the needed material
f. Go to save
g. Choose JPG or PNG to save
h. Save your image to someplace you will remember
Basic Photo-editing on a Windows PC
There is basic photo-editing software already on your PC that allows you to crop, enhance, and manipulate the colors of
images. My experience has shown that very few people are aware of this. . . So, here is how to use this free software.
1. Open up the folder where your image is stored
2. Right-click on the image
3. Choose “Open With”
4. Choose “Microsoft Office 2010” (the icon is a red square)
5. Use the “Picture” tab to choose elements to manipulate
6. Choose “File” and then “Save” to save your image
Slideshare
How often are you making new presentations to introduce students to material? You are re-inventing the wheel,
because there are literally thousands of pre-existing presentations you can download (and some you can even edit).
There are two (very easy) ways to do this. My favorite is Slideshare. You can download presentations from Slidshare,
upload your own presentations to Slideshare, AND you can get an “embed” code from uploaded presentations to share
the presentations on blogs and websites.
Sourcing Presentations on Slideshare
1. Go to www.slideshare.net
2. Put your keywords in the “search” bar
3. Choose a presentation to view
4. Click on “save” to download the presentation (usually is saves to your “downloads” file)
5. Open your presentation (it will automatically open in the program it was created in)
6. Usually you can edit the presentation
7. If you re-share the presentation or use it professionally, make sure to cite the original url used to download the
file

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Uploading Presentations to Slideshare
1. Go to www.slideshare.net
2. Click on “signup” and follow the prompts to make a free account
3. Login
4. Click on “upload” and follow the prompts to add a presentation
Embedding Slideshares into Websites and Blogs
1. Go to www.slideshare.net
2. Find the presentation you want to embed
3. Click on “embed”
4. Copy the code that appears (highlight and press “ctrl” and “c”)
5. Go to your website and/or blog
a. How you enter embed codes varies from website to website
b. Make sure you have a choice where you can enter html (code language)
c. Paste the coped embed code (press “ctrl” and “v”)
d. Save/publish
Sourcing Presentations from Google and Other Search Engines
1. Go to the search engine of your choice
2. Enter your keyword/keyword phrase AND “ppt”
3. Click “search”
4. Your results should include links to the uploaded presentations of others (you can do this for any file type)
5. If you re-share the presentation or use it professionally, make sure to cite the original url used to download the
file
Screencast-O-Matic
Screencast-O-Matic (SOM) is a web-based application that allows you to record both your voice and your actions on a
computer (it records whatever is appearing on your screen while you record). Once you are done recording, you can
save your video as a file on your computer or upload it to a YouTube account. This is a great way to share tutorials with
students and to record live-action demonstrations. I record a lot of my Art demonstrations using my document camera. I
upload the recordings to YouTube, and when students have been absent they benefit from the same demonstration as
everyone else (plus, they can do it on their own!).
Using Screencast-O-Matic
1. Go to www.screencastomatic.com
2. Click on “start recording” (nope! You don’t have to login or have an account!)
3. Whatever is inside the black and white dashed line is what will be recorded
4. Click on the red button to start recording
5. Click on the blue pause button to pause while recording
6. Click on the red button to continue recording
7. Click on “done” when you are finished recording
8. Choose how to publish
a. Choose “publish to video file” to save to your computer (follow the prompts)
b. Choose “publish to YouTube” to save to youtube (you need to already have youtube account; follow the
prompts)
Using Screencast-O-Matic with a Document Camera
1. Go to http://tinyurl.com/usingSCOM
2. Watch the video (made using Screencast-O-Matic

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Sourcing Applications on the Web
There are far too many awesome, educational web applications for us to cover in just one class. In fact, you probably
know of at least a few stellar apps that we haven’t covered and/or that I don’t know about it. That is just the nature of
apps; the web is literally an app jungle. There is a process to sourcing apps that is not unlike research. Here is how I go
about sourcing new applications.
Applications that are Recommended from Reputable EdTech Bloggers
1. http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/
2. http://www.purelypaperless.com/
3. http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/
4. http://theasideblog.blogspot.com/
5. http://www.edtechroundup.org/
6. http://kbakerbyodlit.blogspot.com/
7. http://www.edudemic.com/
8. http://blog.isaacpineda.com/
9. http://cyber-kap.blogspot.com/
10. http://hackeducation.com/
11. http://drydenart.weebly.com/ (visual art specific)
Sourcing Applications from the Internet
1. Go to Google.com
2. Enter in key words, for example “best art games for kids”
3. Look for links that are compiled lists
4. Visit the recommended sites
5. Spend no less than five minutes; if it doesn’t seem “good” then move on
Animation in the Classroom
We are going to look at animation during one of our meetings later in the term. Until then, here are a few fun animation
websites.
1. http://www.abcya.com/animate.htm
2. http://goanimate.com/
3. http://www.dvolver.com/moviemaker/make.html
4. http://tinyurl.com/flipbookshort
5. http://www.zimmertwins.com/movie/create
6. http://www.voki.com/
7. http://scratch.mit.edu/
Fixing URLs that are too Long
Sometimes, the web address is just too long. If you give your students a long URL, they will spend most of class just
trying to get to the site and/or telling you that their computer “won’t go to that website.” An easy way to avoid that is to
make the URL shorter. There are lots of services that will do this for you online, below are my two favorites. Follow the
directions to shorten any URL.
1. http://tinyurl.com/
2. http://goo.gl/