Bits & Bytes
Snacking on Digital Media for Engaged Learning
Issue 5 | Mar 15 2018 | The Creativity Edition
Get Creative!
When planning, make sure you build in time for storyboarding and embed digital citizenship instruction on copyright and intellectual property. Creating requires process. In my experience, the emphasis on the design process is reflected in high-quality student projects.
And finally, make sure you try out the app yourself first. Create the student project you have in mind, so you can see the challenges and pitfalls before you bring the project to the classroom. This will also allow you to show the students a solid example!
Apps for Getting Creative
Create With iPad Apps
Apple Clips - This is my favorite new app! Apple Clips is free and available on any iOS device that is running iOS 10+. It comes with voiceover, a selfie-video feature, an "animated poster" library, emojis and animated stickers (They have a deal with Disney, so it's pretty sweet!), a music library, and titles/text. Because Apple Clips is designed for social media, the files export small and compressed, which is a nice feature. Several Enrichment classes played in the library during Read Across America, creating "Book Clips". I also imagine this a great tool to literally explain anything!
Adobe Spark Video - Use still images, video, text, and voiceover in this fun, beautiful, and easy-to-use app. A music and theme library is built into the app and students can search for images within the app, pulling public domain and creative commons images from the web. In fact, the app cites all CC images at the end of the students' projects automatically, which is an added bonus. Projects can be shared through a hyperlink from the app or students can download their projects as a video to the camera role and share it out from there to Google Drive, Google Classroom, or Canvas. Tip: Students must be 13+ to use this app, as they need an Adobe ID to sign in to access the tool. Ask Sarah for her Google Form parent permission letter template!
Garageband - Garageband for iOS is easy to use and allows students to create their own music tracks and/or record their voice and export the files as MP3s (universal sound file format) for use in podcasts, web sites, and more. Ask Sarah for her "Garageband How to" directions and for help with storyboard templates.
iMotion - Create stop motion animation videos with this terrific and simple app. The app has a built in "onion skin" feature that allows students to see the last frame for small incremental movements. Students can export the video clips and bring them into iMovie to add music, sound effects, voiceover, and titles.
iMovie - This simple movie editing app has it all: voiceover, Ken Burns effects (panning on images) music and sound effect library, sound balance, title, and more. Note that iMovie for iOS is more limited than the full desktop version, but it's still pretty powerful.
Word Clouds
Scroll down to the bottom right corner and open their "word cloud app. The page looks babyish but the app works great on a Chromebook. You can change the shape and download as a PNG file.
This one requires a focus on inputting specific words, rather than pasting in a bunch of text. You can make unique shapes, a variety of colors, font, and style choices. At the end, you can download as a JPG or PNG. Choose from tons of fonts and layouts and select unique color palettes or use HEX color codes.
This one is clean and easy. You can choose from a few styles and color gradients. Go to the gear menu for fonts, orientation, and colors. 100 is the maximum number of words. To grab the image, you can do a screenshot. (On a Chromebook, if you want to select a particular part of the screen, go to CTRL + Shift + Window Key, 6th one in from the left.) OR, there is a link in the gear menu to download as a PNG. I found best success by right clicking on the PNG link and it opens in a new window with a transparent background. Then, the kids can right click and save the image.
Name That Book! Word Art - Grade 7 Humanities
Student Directions From Mary: I told the students that as experts on their books, they were going to come up with 20-30 words or phrases that would give clues about the book, without giving it away too easily. I showed them some “too obvious” examples before they started brainstorming their lists. The next day, I showed WordArt.com and the fun features. They downloaded their piece as a JPEG and submitted to me via Google Classroom and included the book title in their comments. I made the slideshow and then we played "Name That Book!" as a class, using a numbered page I made.
Looking for Some Apps?
Tech Tools for Engagement - An ENORMOUS annotated collection (Google Doc) that is categorized by purpose.
Google Song Maker - This is a brand new tool! Create your own unique melodies right in your browser. Choose up to two instruments and your own tempo. "Paint" your notes.
More Fodder for Thought on Creativity & Innovation
Online Class and Learning Community:
- Learning Creative Learning | MIT Media Lab: A community of educators, designers, and tinkerers exploring creative learning through projects, passion, peers, and play (PS. This is on my list of things to do this summer!)
- Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson | TedTalk
- Where do good ideas come from? | Steven Johnson [animated talk - video]
- We need a bigger definition of creativity | John Spencer (Creator of the LAUNCH Cycle)
Books & Articles:
- Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity Through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play | by Mitch Resnick, LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research, MIT Media Lab
- Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner
- Out of Our Minds: The Power of Being Creative by Sir Ken Robinson
- Can Creativity Be Taught? 73% of Creative People Say Yes [article - Fast Company]
Credits
Book Word Art by Mrs. Dietrich's Grade 7 Humanities Students