Digital tools

May as well jump in at the deep end, what an adventure. I thought the previous couple of weeks were a steep learning curve, wow. I had a basic understanding of what was out there but I am amazed at the amount of digital tools available and the capabilities.It's a feeling of empowerment to be able to use the tools to be able to manipulate these images. 

For my embedded task this week I decided to use images.

A picture is worth a thousand words. 

What would students see when they look at this image?







An image tells a story that invokes different emotions in terms of each persons connections and visualisations in relation to the event.

Why is a picture worth a thousand words.Take into account the proliferation of advertising mediums that we engage in today such as newspapers, magazines, web sites and TVs. The purpose of unsing, creating and presenting images in learning is to engage your audience and have them think and communicate graphically. Literacy is normally associated with reading and writing, but it can also relate to images and other digital mediums, such as audio, visual, power point and podcasts. Visual literacy is applying critical thinking where initially the student sees, but then thinks and wonders. Employ critical thinking, where teacher and student engage in dialogue about the material. An image tells a story and invokes different emotions in terms of each persons connections and visualisations in relation to the event.

On this journey of digital tools I have looked at different image file types such as PNG, JPEG, GIF and TIFF.  A file type is chosen dependant on how the image is to be used. Where the PNG file type image is saved to power point. I was able to layer the image of this gorgeous gerbera to get this effect by making the background transparent.

Gerbera

Gif file types are best used with images of flat colour, such as logos, maps and graphs

Original image

image after editing

Substitution: ask the students to select any photo they would like to work with. They are able to work to a theme of their choice.

Augmentation: Then get ready to edit. Try as many of the effects as they like. Some of the capabilities include layering, different effects & frames, graphics & textures and editing tools.
Email a copy of your finished product to the other teams. Images are quite large, so using the file extension of jpeg, gif, & png compresses the file reducing the colour used in the image.

Modification: Work within teams and upload the finished images to a collaborative website. Students are able to work on this in class time

Redefinition: The teacher has decided the the teams are to share their work with another class. Each team is to document any issues and findings on blogspot. Collate this research, communicate and distribute the findings and conclusions.


With the era of digital tools students like Gen Z are becoming more involved in and starting to take ownership of their learning. Working together in small groups students learn from each other. Smaller classes tend to allow them to gain confidence allowing them to share with each other and not feel intimidated.



As with the use of all digital media tools students must always consider the repercussions of acting unethically. This includes asking permission of the person who owns the image and if it is available for  use and make sure you have permission to download the file.

image enlargement 

I enlarged this photo to show the effect of enlarging the image and how it has gone blurry.
The issue here is you cannot necessarily take an image and enlarge it.

I decided to use Wisemapping a mind mapping tool to scaffold my task for this week. As a teacher I believe it will help me to see the different areas that I need to cover. The benefit from all the sites I have researched doing this task will be immeasurable in a classroom situation

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