SMOOTHIES and Learnshifting

SMOOTHIES stands for ShortMultimodalOnlineOpportunitiesToHelpInterestedEducatorsSucceed These Friday afternoon 15-minute informal online learning opportunities have been running since before the COVID pandemic and were the main reason I ended up running the upskilling training for teachers who potentially had to deliver classes online during the COVID dark days. To a large extent, Read more…

FAIR – Fun, Aspirational, Inspirational, Respect

When I was reflecting on words I know are crucial to determining purpose, direction and achievement for students, I settled on these four. The fact they formed the word “fair” which in turn is part of the phrase that Australia is famous for, namely giving people a “fair go” made me want to share these four words and why I think they are important for students, teachers, parents, carers and anyone wanting to give the best fair go to someone, to anyone.

It is also obvious that the component words of this acronym are not new as ingredients to creating an opportunity for a child to live their best life, but I do like the fact I have bundled them into a four-letter “F” word that I like.

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Easy Video Closed Captions – 3 problems and 5 tips

I have previously created captions for inclusion as CC (Closed Captions) for some of our educational videos. It has become easier but there are three problems I have encountered.

  1. Accuracy of the transcription. You can’t be too colloquial or mumble. Accent is another challenge for the transcriber software.
  2. Formatting and placement of the captions. There are standards associated with caption font, size and placement along with number of characters for each speech segment.
  3. Editing and republishing with captions. Many times you transcribe, edit and publish your video, only to find that mistake you missed. This results in a visit back to the captions workflow. You want it to be as easy as possible.

I think I have finally found a solution that will lead to the wider use of closed captions in our departmental videos in education and training. But first, let’s look at some of the tools and processes.

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My Chilli Hawaiian Shirts are HOT!

Well at least I would like to think they are. That is the beauty of creativity, it can be something to share with others or something intensely personal. I, like a surprising number of people from not just around where I live, but from all over the world seem to have a special relationship with chillies.

I am here today to present a Hot Topic which I hope you can use in your schools… 

Ideation, the formation of ideas or concepts is very personal. In an education environment where we might teach ideation we should apply some structure. Ideation should come from a need, a passion something to solve, improve or replace. This presentation will walk through my ideation process from start to end. My intent is to share the process as well as how I use some of the Adobe tools in my journey. 

My idea formed when I wanted a chilli Hawaiian shirt. I couldn’t find what I wanted but over the years I had taken many photographs of chillies I had grown.

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I’ve Started a Free ICT Podcast for Teachers

This is a transcription of the podcast that appears below and the text has been included for the same reason I created an audio version – to try and reach you in the format that you like. Sadly even though it, like most things I do is “free” – to increase “headline readbility” in my blog, the use of that one “power word” gets me from a 51% to a 73% Headline rating… But that’s a story for another day.

  • Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress; working hard for something we love, is called passion.
  • Do what you love, love what you do.
  • If it is to be it is up to me. (Ten two-letter words)

This is not a podcast about leadership or well-being or anything like that. It is an acknowledgment that you’re listening to this probably outside of working hours because you’re interested in ICT matters and you are only doing it not because you have been told to, but because you want to… and so keying in on the words of passion, love and wanting to do something because it is up to you means you have landed here because you want to.

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LogTransport2 Error Adobe

Whenever I shut down my computer, I get an error message popping up warning about a problem with LogTransport2. It has become so common I don’t even register when I see it anymore. It tends to happen at work where there is more blocking of internet chatter between apps.

I stumbled upon an article and more importantly an easy solution to this problem. My diagram below looks like a treasure hunt map but I wanted to share a foolproof way to get to the setting. Basically you need to switch off the sharing of your Adobe activity back to Abobe to help them with making products better. As an Adobe Education Leader, I felt it was the right thing to do in sharing back. However, as it is causing this error, I wanted to share how to stop the error.

You can choose not to make this change and no harm will be done. I guess it is for the slighty obsessive/compulsive amongst us who like things to shut down without error messages, as harmless as they may be.

Click Read More for the diagram if you are not sure where that setting is to turn off.

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Character Animator – Bring School Posters to Life

Primary School Project – Viking Ship

I love almost all of the Adobe products, and one of my clear favourites is Character Animator. It has brought many a smile to my face and that of students and teachers who have been introduced to this amazing tool. First – what is character animator? Character Animator uses your expressions and movements to animate characters in real time. Using your webcam and microphone, Character Animator matches your expressions — from syncing lips to tracking eyes — to animate in real time. Select from hundreds or pre-built puppets or custom make your puppet using Photoshop, Fresco or Illustrator. It’s so fast, you can livestream while you work to wow audiences every step of the way. Your performance brings a character to life.

This post is about how you can easily integrate Character Animator into your primary class lessons on any subject as an add on product/project to any assignment projects you give to your students.

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