Videos, Dreamweaver, Darfur

Videos on Darfur and cyberbullying are starting to be deposited in the UDrive. Check them out. Leave comments on the directors blogs. I am posting the best videos to teachertube.com
Many of you are finishing Project 6. Check the notes from a previous blog entry. Be sure that you create TWO files: the template and the Bahia Park file.

Project 7 notes: skip page 7.38. Also, when you are doing the hotspot and behaviors for the three regions of Florida do them one at a time. I couldn't get them to work all at once. This will make sense when you do the project.

Project 6, Project 7 and the movie are due by Thursday April 19.

Check out this use of technology. Learn how to use this technology! This is the expectation of the world we live in, that you can present information using these tools. Old school would have been a chart with the places that have been burned. I think this tool is more effective. I am not sure all of you have Google Earth on your machines. Period One will let me know.

This may sound a bit like a sermon but I hope some of you have been effected by the images from Darfur or the stories of cyberbullying. Making the videos and increasing awareness is a small step in solving the problem. Never waste a day. Students in Darfur would do anything to have your life for even a day. And I know some of your lives are NOT easy. There are students in this community who have incredible challenges, yet you never hear about it. And then there are students who spend the day in PAC because they did something stupid. Don't waste a day and don't let your classmates waste a day. Imagine if those in PAC or the large amount of students who are "ME" people took some energy and pored it into raising awareness about Darfur. If it saved one life or stopped the conflict one day early it would be worth it.

If it was you been chased down by the militia, your sisters killed, your mom raped and beaten could you imagine if you sent a cry for help and nobody answered? Or cared? Or even knew where Darfur was?

Technorati Tags: darfur video stopcyberbullying

Stuff

Many of you are off to a good start on your movie. Please be sure to note your subject in your blog. If you do the work at home you will need to burn the movie file on to a CD. You want the MOVIE FILE, not the project. If you think you are done please save the movie file into the Udrive. Be sure to name your file correctly.

Project 6 involves templates and some work in CSS language. This work is fairly detailed, but pretty simple. Creating templates or style sheets is a time saver. We will not spend much time on this. However, if you decide to go further into programming this would be an excellent area to focus on as it unleashes a lot of the more powerful features of Dreamweaver.

For project six you will do the project, the outline, and the quiz. No extras. Be aware that the "logo" image is actually named "title" in this project.

And check out freeplaymusic. I found this site this morning and like it a lot so far. Very easy to use. (Aargh---someone just let me know its currently blocked for students. I will work on it).

Video

We have talked often about how video is becoming more and more essential for web site design and construction. Almost every website you visit has a video component. In addition, videos are used in business, academics, sports, and other disciplines. It is an essential means of communication in todays society and I feel everyone should understand the basics of creating a video.

This weeks assignment is on the class wiki. The assignment involves creating a public service announcement for students. The assignment has some very specific instructions so I urge you to read it carefully. The most important part of the assignment is to tell a story! Can you get your point across in 28 seconds?

I encourage you to collaborate on this project, however I do require that you use mixed gender teams. You can be in teams of 1-4 people.

I want to make clear that if you are new to this type of software I do not expect anything too technically grand. You will use this assignment to experiment and play around with the software.

Good luck.

3D writing

Writing for the web is a profoundly different skill than writing for other disciplines. Composing an article in MS Word or with pencil and paper is a two-dimensional process. What you write on the paper is all there is.

Writing on the web is in three dimensions. You not only see what is on the screen but there are infinite layers behind it that you link to.

Click here: two dimensions.

Click here: three dimensions.

None of you go home and read MS Word documents. All of you go home and read documents on the web with text, images, links, animations, etc... Writing and reading in three dimensions is an essential skill now for any field you plan to pursue. That is what you must practice on your blog. Many of you have rich, multi-faceted entries with links to important information. This is writing in three dimensions. Some of you have paragraphs with no links, images, or anything that is beyond two dimension writing.

Is there a place for 2 dimensional writing? Of course. If you are writing for yourself (journal, diary, etc..) there is little need for writing in 2D. But if you are writing on the web it is inherently a conversation not a lecture/speech. You should make this as rich a conversation as possible.

Go back and look at your last few entries. Resubmit anything you feel can be improved and become more three dimensional. Don't get left behind as the world switches to 3D writing. Work on this skill!! Your blog is your website. People from around the world read it. Make it the BEST example you can of your writing, coding, and web design skills.

2D: I am Brandt Schneider. I have a daughter named Claudia and I teach Web Design at Seymour High School.

3D: I am Brandt Schneider. I have a daughter named Claudia and I teach Web Design at Seymour High School.

Darfur

For the past week we have been discussing cyberbullying and the situation with Kathy Sierra. We have discussed ways to address cyberbullying and how the actions of one can effect many.

When I was in school I studied a lot about historical revolutions. The Nazi revolution and the Holocaust were part of my studies. Often when we think about these historical events we think of them in the large scale; the millions of people dead, the large scale destruction.

However, much of my study was about how in order for the mass genocide to occur there has to be millions of individual situations. One individual making a decision to hurt someone else, and many other individuals who don't do anything to stop it. The Holocaust was built by millions of individual decisions to harm, hurt, and kill people.

I am sure many of you have studied the destruction in Darfur, a region of the Sudan. Please review some information here. This is large scale genocide. Many believe the world does not care.

We have studied how simulations can effect learning. We have played Ayiti which focusses on the plight of the poor in Haiti, and 3rd World Farmer where you try to survive on a farm in a devloping country. These games have shown us that interactive games may have a place in education. Almost all of you play some sort of game online and you need to understand how they work as a web designer.

Today we will review the game Darfur is Dying. This game is developed for children slightly younger than yourselves. However, I believe we can learn important lessons about Darfur and about how learning is occurring online.

Please learn the game, play it, and then reflect on the situation in Darfur. I would like you to then write a blog entry about the game. This blog entry will be written for a specific audience. This is part of continuing effort to summarize.

Boys:
Review the game for "Gaming Developer Magazine", a magazine that caters to the serious game developer. You write for a section "Educational Games". Your article should cater to your reading audience and should be between 200-250 words.

Girls:
Review the game for "Education Week", a magazine that caters to the teachers. You write for a section "Educational Games". Your article should cater to your reading audience and should be between 200-250 words.

Technorati Tags: DarfurisDying stopcyberbullying gaming

Kathy Sierra

We read last week about Kathy Sierra, the teacher who was beng threatened with the online posts. Through that discussion we talked about cyberbullying. It was very interesting to read your blogs.

I was a bit worried that many of you said if that one should just "brush off" bullying on the internet and just ignore it. Kathy Sierra talks about this in a recent post:

Unfortunately, I still do NOT know who made the unclebobism post; nobody has yet been able to tell me that the person who did this is not a real threat. We've become so desensitized to vile comments on the net that many people can't comprehend why I would feel threatened. But if we dismiss every cruel, vile, sexually threatening comment as simply the work of an anonymous troll, we will no longer be able to recognize a real threat. Are we willing to stake our mother/sister/daughter's life on a sexually and physically threatening photo or comment, simply because it appeared on the internet and therefore must be harmless?

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: KathySierra stopcyberbullying

End of Marking Period

OK. This is the end of the marking period. Things will move very fast today and tomorrow.

1. Turn in your exam. Click here for directions. Leave time for this. You could do the writing at home, but I must get the exam evaluation before midnight on Tuesday. No evaluation--no grade.

2. Check teacherease for errors. I make mistakes. I will not accept late work, but I want to fix errors. Your responsibility to check.

3. Amnesty program was posted on March 15. If you are going to participate any work must be submitted by 2pm on Tuesday.

I have 100 of these exams to check so please try hard to get them submitted correctly. Since I extended the deadline because of snow I am in a bit of a time crunch. Help eachother!!!