I want to start working with the elementary schools soon, because I know there are lots of classes that want help doing different technology-related projects. I have spoken with teachers at Blueridge, Seymour Heights, and Capilano, and they are interested in getting help teaching programs to their classes. A few of these teachers want help making websites on the school site as well.
If we are going to teach a program to an elementary school class, we should make a guide for the teachers. This should be a small booklet that covers everything that we are going to help them teach the class. Everyone in the class should be working on a basic project that will help them learn the program. We can teach Scratch, Photoshop, or Powerpoint to their classes. For each of these programs, we should have a project prepared that the kids can work on.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Scratch Impressions
I have not had an opportunity to use Scratch very much yet, but I have read articles about it and I am aware of its ease of use for children in elementary school. It seems like it will be a simple program to learn to use, and could be useful in teaching kids 2D animation. Another positive of the program is that it is free, and can easily be loaded onto computers at elementary schools.
As I haven't been able to use the program much, I can't provide many negatives about Scratch. However, the fact that it is much more basic than Flash could be a problem for older kids, but I don't expect that to be a concern with elementary school kids. Although Scratch is not as powerful as Flash, it is much easier for younger kids to use and this will be important if we try to teach them the program.
I found the layout of the program interesting because it simplifies the process of creating and animating 2D graphics for younger kids. Although it isn't as powerful as Flash, it has enough features to be useful for students in elementary schools. Another feature that I found interesting was the Youtube-like site that has been set up to share Scratch projects. This would make it very easy for parents to go online and look at their child's projects.
As I haven't been able to use the program much, I can't provide many negatives about Scratch. However, the fact that it is much more basic than Flash could be a problem for older kids, but I don't expect that to be a concern with elementary school kids. Although Scratch is not as powerful as Flash, it is much easier for younger kids to use and this will be important if we try to teach them the program.
I found the layout of the program interesting because it simplifies the process of creating and animating 2D graphics for younger kids. Although it isn't as powerful as Flash, it has enough features to be useful for students in elementary schools. Another feature that I found interesting was the Youtube-like site that has been set up to share Scratch projects. This would make it very easy for parents to go online and look at their child's projects.
Keep Toolkit Impressions
I have had an opportunity to go through Keep Toolkit and make an account, and I have posted a few of our projects on my portfolio. The site is clean and fairly easy to navigate. It is great to have a page with links to all of our projects on it. I liked how easy it was to quickly set up a page, but it doesn't look professional enough to be used as a portfolio to show to others.
I am having a few problems with exporting a Flash movie into a movie file small enough to fit on the site, but this more of a problem with Flash than with Keep Toolkit. I think that they should accept larger files, but you are getting a decent amount of space for free. I can see how this site would be useful for a teacher in organizing multiple projects into one page, and making them accessible for both students and parents. Personally, I don't feel that I will get much use out of the website, but it may be useful for certain applications in the future.
It is great that you can load photos and videos on to your portfolio, and this feature is one of the most interesting parts of Keep Toolkit. Although the site is not very powerful, it is easy to use, making it more appropriate for teachers who are not used to making websites.
I am having a few problems with exporting a Flash movie into a movie file small enough to fit on the site, but this more of a problem with Flash than with Keep Toolkit. I think that they should accept larger files, but you are getting a decent amount of space for free. I can see how this site would be useful for a teacher in organizing multiple projects into one page, and making them accessible for both students and parents. Personally, I don't feel that I will get much use out of the website, but it may be useful for certain applications in the future.
It is great that you can load photos and videos on to your portfolio, and this feature is one of the most interesting parts of Keep Toolkit. Although the site is not very powerful, it is easy to use, making it more appropriate for teachers who are not used to making websites.
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