1. EdgyTech
Technology for Librarians On the Edge
Employing User-friendly Technology Tools to Promote 21st Century Learning
https://animoto.com/
http://piktochart.com/
http://www.imagechef.com/
http://doppelme.com/ http://www.voki.com/
2. Why Learn Technology Tools?
Susan Newell
ODU Student of
Library Science
Personal Use and Student and Staff Assistance
6. Audio Tools
Where can I create them?
http://www.voki.com/
http://vocaroo.com/
http://blabberize.com/
https://clyp.it/
http://www.audiopal.com/
7. Image Editing and Creating
What’s available?
http://www.imagechef.com/
8. Image Editing and Creating Tools
Where can I get them?
http://www.imagechef.com/
http://bighugelabs.com/
https://www.tuxpi.com/
http://foldplay.com/
http://www.picmonkey.com/
Welcome to EdgyTech. My name is Susan Newell and I am currently teaching in Henrico County Public Schools. My passion is helping students develop a love for learning and helping them acquire the skills necessary to be life long learners and experience success in school. I’m so glad you chose to join us and I hope everyone has access to a laptop so you can see these tools up close and personal. We’re going to be talking about avatars, audio tools, image editing and creating, video tools, and infographics. We’ll be focusing most of our attention on one user-friendly tool from each of the 5 topics. If you have not yet had the opportunity to get your computer up and running, let’s take a moment to do that.
2 minutes
My goal for today was to choose tools that you, as librarians, would find useful for yourselves as well as being beneficial for the students and staff that you service. 30 seconds
An avatar is an icon used to represent a particular person. Avatars can be created with or without audio depending on the creation tool used. Rather than providing a personal photograph to make online interactions more personal, people often create an avatar for on-line use. Avatars, as compared to photographs, help to provide a level of privacy while allowing the creator to express some characteristic about them self. 1:30 minutes
Three tools to create avatars are Dopple Me, Yahoo Avatars, and Pick a Face. Of the three, Dopple Me and Pick a Face appear more user-friendly. All three sites are free and provide links to use and share your creations. You will usually need to register in order to get codes for sharing. These sites allow you to create an Avatar quickly and use it for all sorts of on-line activities. Let’s take about 5 minutes to choose a tool and create an avatar. If you already have an avatar and prefer not to create another one, please feel free to lend a hand to anyone that would like assistance. 7 minutes
I like the idea of using avatars as an ice breaker activity for students the first week of school. You can have students make their own avatars. Then print, collect, and randomly distribute them throughout the class to have students try to identify the person by their avatar. This allows students to have fun using technology, familiarize themselves with some of the functions of the computer, and set the stage for a discussion on internet safety (Health SOL 1.3f). Students can create avatars and write a story about them. (Writing SOL 1.14) Students can choose a copy of an avatar, and practice writing sentences using describing words. (Writing SOL 1.13) 2 minutes
Audio tools can be used in a multitude of ways in the elementary classroom or library setting. Students can practice their fluency by recording their reading and then listening to themselves.(Reading SOL 1.10) Another idea for using audio tools, is to have one student each day record “what we did today” to be added to the classroom blog. Audio/visual tools such as Voki and Blabberize can be used for students to create an alternative ending to a story using an applicable character (Oral Language SOL 1.1) or create a figure they have studied and have that historical figure tell something about “themselves”. (History SOL 1.2)
2 minutes
Audiopal, Clyp, and Vocaroo are audio only tools. All three tools are free of charge, easy to use, and they do not require registration in order to create an audio file. All of these audio tools provide links for you to share your creations; however, you must have registered an email address in order to receive your links from Audiopal. Voki and Blabberize are audio/visual tools. Voki allows the user to create an avatar and add audio using voice, phone, text, or upload a file. In order to create a “blabber”, you must upload a photo, add a moveable mouth, and record audio. Plan to register to use either of these tools. Sometimes Voki will allow you to create an avatar without registering, but you will not be able to save your creations and retrieve them. Voki and Blabberize are both free to use and both provide a code and a URL to share.
2 minutes
Let’s take about 7 minutes to go to one of the audio tool sites and experiment with creating an audio or audio/visual clip.
9 minutes
Just to give you a little idea about the many different types of image editing and creation templates that are available, I wanted to show you three items that were made using Image Chef. You are looking at a newspaper template that allows you to insert a photograph and text, a “poster” that allows you to do the same, and a “sticky note” text template. 1 minute
Image chef is probably the most versatile of the 5 tools shown. It has a variety of text templates as well as photo tools. It even has a word mosaic generator. Big Huge Labs, Tuxpi, and Image Chef contain templates to create posters, banners, signs, and pictures in frames. Big Huge Labs, Image Chef, Tuxpi, and Pic Monkey have tools to customize photographs. Foldplay allows the creator to use photos to create foldable books, origami, and 3D shapes. All of these tools provide easy to understand tutorials, can be used free of charge, and provide links so creations can be used and shared.
1:30 minutes
Students can use the word mosaic tool in Image Chef to create a picture using only nouns. Students could be working on identifying nouns or identification of singular vs. plural nouns. (Language SOL 1.2) They can work in groups to display their knowledge of edible plants/plant parts by choosing an appropriate picture to insert and adding text, for example: celery- stem. (Science SOL 1.4) Students can locate pictures of various shapes found in their environment, insert them into a frame, and label them, for example: door- rectangle. (Math SOL 1.13) 1:30 minutes
(Quickly click on the video. It takes a while to load.) Animoto is one of my favorite video tools. It is extremely easy to use. The only drawback is, it will only allow you a 15-day trial period and then you can apply for a free account. 2 minutes
Pixiclip is an interactive whiteboard. You can upload images or draw, then add audio and video messages. Jing is a tool that allows you to capture images on your screen, write on that image, record video, and easily share on line. Powtoon is a tool that allows the user to create animated cartoon-like videos and presentations. Animoto allows the user to easily upload pictures, select music from their variety of tunes, or insert your own audio and create a video. Powtoon, Jing, and Pixiclip all offer a “free” version with limited features and as mentioned earlier, Animoto will allow you to apply for a free account. 2 minutes
Students could easily create video presentations using pictures they had taken using Animoto. For example, students could take pictures of various parts of a plant, add text to label the plant part, select music if so desired, and create a video to share what they have learned. (Science SOL 1.4) Students could illustrate their own poetry. (Reading SOL 1.8) They could create a video about themselves. (Oral Language SOL 1.1) 1:30 minutes
An infographic is a visual, similar to a chart, that is used to present information or data. This infographic was made using one of the templates found in Picktochart. It provides an easy way to communicate an idea, event, etc… without having a heavy amount of text that would discourage or impede some people from taking the time to read. You can easily deliver your main idea, a photograph, and other graphics that can be understood without a great deal of time invested. If there is additional information you would like to add, you can always insert a QR Code. 2 minutes
Infographics can be very compelling as ideas can be presented in a concise, visually-pleasing manner. People can quickly scan them as they walk by. They are easy to share electronically. 1 minute
In first grade, I would use the creation of an infographic as a whole-class activity. Students could work in groups to decide the best way to display what the Hungry Caterpillar ate each of the seven days. We would determine the best way to create a visual to represent the story and allow each group to create a portion of the infographic. (Reading SOL 1.9) Another way we could use an infographic is to display rules students have identified for playground safety. (Health SOL 1.3c) After several group attempts, students could work in partners to create their own infographic using the simple tools that are provided, such as icons and text. (Writing SOL 1.14)
Pictochart and Easel.ly are primarily used to create infographics. Canva is used to create banners, brochures, business cards, cards, flyers, picture collages, post cards, and infographics. All three tools have numerous templates, icons, and stickers and all can be used free of charge. 2 minutes
I’m so glad you joined me today in our adventure to trek for edgytech. Does anyone have any questions or comments they would like contribute?
4:30 minutes (Total 45 minutes)
