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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Loving PhotoShop Camera

You have to try out this cool free app from Adobe which works on iOS and Android.

Open the immersive web page embedded below to view some of the photos of places around the Kensington, Flemington, Footscray and Docklands areas of the inner north of Melbourne taken during recent lockdown walks around my house.

See what you can do with photos of your everyday surroundings.

PhotoShop Camera

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Free Adobe Tools and Learning – Follow Me

Join me on the Adobe Education Exchange. It’s helpful for learning new digital skills and downloading free tutorials & project ideas. It’s also great for connecting with other creative educators and getting help. Plus, it’s free!

Join for free

The education exchange in Adobe is the perfect place for educators to sign up for free to learn to use Adobe tools in their classroom or life. What I love about it is that when you join a course or simply browse through the reference material – you not only feel as if you are learning something useful for yourself and your students, but it is fun and you feel like part of a community.

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Ahh Adobe, You’ve done it again…

Adobe Max concluded last week and along with it came a slew of product enhancements and excitement which we have all looked forward to each November.

What’s really great about Adobe is that they’re willing to show you research projects they are working on even if it is not 100% polished. But I have to say even the 100% not polished is pretty impressive. This is co-design at an international level. All videos and master class presentations are here

 

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Create QR codes in MS Word

Normally I would use inDesign to create QR codes and I don’t recommend using free online QR code generators online – mainly because there is no such thing as a free lunch. Recently I had an email from an educator wanting to share his students’ resumes using a QR code link to a stored online copy…

I wanted to ensure as much privacy as possible, despite the fact that the content, a resume, was meant to be shared with prospective employers – ie members of the public.

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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in Humpty Doo!

As a young boy my Mother worked in the Paspalis drive-in located in Nightcliff, where the current day Nightcliff Woolworths shopping centre exists. We saw films there until after I had completed high school.

The advent of video tapes and the cost of land began to put an end to drive in theatres. In the current Netflix generation, the notion of video tape contributing to the demise of drive ins may seem far-fetched but it was true.

Cinemas faired better, although the theatre where I watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a young boy was not the victim of technological advancement, but rather the fury of Cyclone Tracy which destroyed most of Darwin in the wee hours of Christmas Day 1974.

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