BP_8 RILS-Links To Comments

Joe Brightman's Blog, Theoretically Speaking, features a RILS plan that has music students using the Web 2.0 tool, uJam. The students are creating musical compositions around their own solo performances and working collaboratively.  Follow  this link to my comments on his blog.

Glenn Shelton's blog, Ponderings of a Mid-Life Teacher, explores an innovative use of Web 2.0 tools to review for an end of course test.  Follow this link for my comments on his blog.

ETC_Final_Project

Overview:

            This Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario will have students creating work in a Web 2.0 tool that is very similar to software tools that they use in the school computer labs.  They will compare and contrast their experience and share their opinions with the teacher and each other.  The assignment will be executed entirely online.

1.              Target Audience: 

2^nd year college students.  Generally20-28 yrs. old, male and female.

2.              Materials (per student):

a)    Computer with

·  Adobe Photoshop

·  Adobe Audition

b)  Broadband Internet Connection

c)   Picture or sound files for students to work with

3.              Objectives: (Students will…)

a)    Create a new piece of work using an Aviary.com tool (Phoenix or Myna).

b)   Analyze the ease of use of the Aviary tool.

c)    Evaluate and contrast the capability of the Aviary tool with that of the comparative Adobe product (they’ve already used).

d)   Identify how this technology might be useful in one or more of the courses taken at the college.

4.         Procedure

a)    Email the student group with a link to Schoology.com including the access code for this assignment/class.  Request a brief message be sent by each student once they have registered for Schoology and linked to the class with the access code.

b)   From Schoology, send a message to all students with a link to Aviary.com.  Direct students to either create or manipulate an image, as they would do with Photoshop or create a new a new audio file using several audio tracks in Myna.

c)    Create a discussion board in Schoology for students to post a link to their work and leave comments.

d)   Direct the students to save their work on the Aviary server, then copy and paste the link to the work in the Discussion Board.  They must then view or listen to at least 2 other students’ works and leave comments.

e)    After comments have been posted, direct students to take the last step and write a blog comparing/contrasting the Aviary tool with the Adobe tool and reflecting on their experience.  Students should be directed to embed their work into the blog post.

Blog post can either be done from inside Schoology or one central blog could be created for the project using Blogger.

5.         Web 2.0 Tools

This RIL Scenario will utilize two tools of the Aviary.com suite of online tools: Phoenix & Myna.  These tools are comparable to the popular and well-known Adobe production tools of Photoshop and Audition, respectively.  This scenario will also make use of another Web 2.0 tool: Schoology.com.  Schoology offers a Facebook-like social networking environment as well as learning management tools.  This will become the conduit for students to communicate with the professor and each other during the learning/experimentation process.  Finally, students will publish links to their finished work and the critiques to a class blog using blogger.

6.         Social Participation

After completing their creations, students must view or listen to two other student’s works and post comments on the work.  This interchange between students will serve as a foundation for their final compare/contrast entry on the blog post.

7.         Making Connections

Students will connect work that they have done with their lab software with the Web 2.0 tools to create something new.  The new material will then become part of a new project, which will make use of the product(s) created with the Aviary tool(s).  The students’ work will also be shared to other classes and courses via their blog post on the web.

8.         Create/Produce

While the student will create a new work connected with a previous endeavor, the real product will be the analysis of the Web 2.0 tool itself.  Sharing the experience with other students will help all the students gain insight into effective use of the Aviary tools and guide the lesson toward more effective deployment in the future.

9.         Assessment

            See rubric below.

RILS Rubric for Student Work
	Excellent	Good	Average	Marginal
Product Production (20%)	Project contains detail and complexity comparative to projects done in class.	Project is a complete product but lacks some detail or complexity	Project is overly simple and lacks detail and complexity.	Project is incomplete and does not yield a complete product.
Analysis of Web 2.0 Tool (25%)	Narrative contains complete notes of personal experience and personal observations about the process of using the Aviary tool.	Narrative contains some notes of personal experience and at least 1 observation on the process of using the Aviary tool.	Narrative makes at least a single reference of personal experience and one observation on the process of using the Aviary tool.	Narrative lacks notes of personal experience and does not explain the process of using the Aviary tool.
Evaluation (compare/   contrast) (30%)	Narrative contains clear and specific comparisons to Adobe product equivalent and expresses preferences backed by reason.	Narrative makes some general comparisons to Adobe product equivalent and expresses preferences.	Narrative summarizes experience and compares to equivalent Adobe product.  Statement of preference is not fully explained.	Narrative makes no comparisons to Adobe product equivalent and expresses no opinion on preference.
Reflection (25%)	Narrative reflects on the student’s experience and projects, by example, specifically how the Aviary tool could be used by others in a similar course.	Narrative reflects on the student’s experience and describes possible use in another course, not necessarily by example.	Narrative summarizes but does not reflect on student’s personal experience.  Projects possible use of tool without examples.	Narrative lacks reflection on experience and does not project a possible use for the application.

10.      Reflection

Students will create a blog post to compare/contrast the Aviary tool with the Adobe tool.  This will be a written evaluation, posted to a project-centered blog and will include a reflection on their experience and their personal projection for its classroom use.

The teacher will create a personal reflection using iMovie that includes feedback from the student reflections (using screen capture and/or Screenflow video).

PE5_Aviary/Myna

Since I am well versed in audio production and not at all on image editing, I chose to explore the Myna application in the Aviary suite.

Myna compares very well to the multi-track environment of Adobe Audition and would probably seem comfortably familiar to Garage Band users as well.

In the multi-track session above, I have 3 tracks: a voice-over and two tracks of music.  I can easily move these tracks around to sync the music to the voiceover anywhere I want.  The screen shot above also has the automation track visible for 2 of my 3 tracks.  This is where I am able to manipulate the volume and other elements of the sound file.  I can also edit how much of the file I use by trimming it from either the left or right side.

Close up view of an individual music clip in Myna.  The yellow line indicates volume adjustments.  Dragging the upper ends inward allow a user to edit the clip by limiting how much of it is used.  Dragging the lower end outward allows the clip to loop or repeat, seamlessly.

Finally, by simply double-clicking the file I can open up the effects window.  Below you can see that I chose to add reverb to the top track, but you can see in the list on the right that there are several other effects to choose from.

Students often struggle to make deadlines and some try to work from home where they may not have all the resource of the school’s computer lab.  While getting comfortable and knowledgeable with Adobe Audition is required for my Audio Production class.  I can see several instances where using Myna could help students create at home and supplement their work in class.  They could even save their work online for free, then download the .mp3 once they are in class.

Take a listen to the brief piece of work that I put together in Myna.  It’s just a reworking of a piece of my 1-minute video for BlogAmp.  It doesn’t have the reverb that I mentioned above and it does contain a “speak-o”…that’s like a typo, but spoken…but it illustrates the flexibility and capability of Myna.  Also, it illustrates the benefit of their limited free online storage and the ability to embed a player, right in your blog...perhaps, easier than BlogAMP!

BlogAMP vo music mix.egg on Aviary.

The only real drawback of Myna compared to Adobe Audition is that Audition gives you the capability to physically edit and modify an individual sound clip.  Myna does not provide this, though with proper trimming and sequencing, you could accomplish comparable results with Myna’s multi-track environment.

PE4-Aviary

I’m actually targeting two Web 2.0 tools for my RILS project: Schoology.com and Aviary.com.   I’m hoping that this strategy isn’t too ambitious.  Asking students to work with two brand new tools might be a lot, but each should be somewhat familiar to them. 

Between Wimba and various student blogs I think we’re all familiar with Schoology by now, so I won’t spend time on that except to say that it will serve as the environment in which my students will communicate and collaborate.

Aviary.com is a site that hosts a variety of programs that rival the well-known applications in the Adobe Creative Suite such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Audition.  For my RILS project, I have focused my attention on two specific Aviary applications Phoenix and Myna.   

 

Phoenix is Aviary’s answer to Adobe’s Photoshop.  It's a pretty powerful image editor.  For a demonstration of the application's capabilities, follow the link.

Myna is comparable to Adobe Audition – a multi-track sound editor.  For a demonstration of the application's capabilities, follow the link.

My target audience is comprised of college students that have experience in one or both of the Adobe products, so my challenge to them is to use the Aviary products then compare and contrast their abilities, ease of use and application to that of the Adobe products.  Like some of our assignments in ETC, I’m not that concerned with the students’ final product using these tools.  I’m more interested in their analysis.

Since my volunteers have actually departed for the semester, I’m just hoping that they’ll still have enough drive to try these applications fully before they are overwhelmed with summer-fever.  I’m also going to work with Myna myself so check back to see how we all make out!

BP7_One_Minute_Video

Here's my one minute video on BlogAMP, the first web 2.0 tool that I reviewed.  Hope you enjoy it!

BP6_Mindi's Mind

I recently blogged about Schoology.com and linked to Glenn Shelton's blog in that post.  Well if you want some more info on Schoology, but with a little attitude and conviction, read my classmate Mindi Vandagriff's blog.  Mindi's Mind tells like it is with true Texas flavor.  Seriously, Mindi's a great blogger -- check it out.

BP5_Theoretically Speaking

My teammate and classmate Joe Brightman is a music teacher and a real quick study when it comes to media tools.  Check out his blog Theoretically Speaking.  He found a great Web 2.0 tool recently called uJam; read his blog on it.  While you're there, watch his :60 video on uJam and see his media skills at work.