EDUO9150_McCartyAssignment 5 - Suite Productivity

Lesson Plan / Unit of Study 

Title: Storyboards for Beginners - Pre-Production Tasks

Course: Video Production I

Grade: 9th/10th

Standards Covered (if available):

ODE CT Media Arts Standards - Outcome 2.4. Visual Layouts

• 2.4.1. Create thumbnail and rough sketches.

ODE CT Media Arts Standards - Outcome 3.1. Career-based Writing

• 3.1.10. Select visual imagery to support or enhance copy.

Length: 2-3 days

Teacher Lesson Plan Google Doc:

Assignment Sheet/HyperDoc(ish!) Google Slide:

EDUO91509_McCartyAssignment 4

Making a Case for Google Tools in Career Tech:

Google’s cloud-based G Suite Tools paired with our specific media production technology and equipment (even phones) provide students easy access to organizational tools and methods they will encounter in the media industry. Self discipline, planning, organization and constructed knowledge empower students to express their creativity and strive to be the best storytellers they can be. Check out the details here!

EDUO9150_McCartyAssignment 3

Why G Suite?

Up front, I want to be honest and say that as a former media industry pro and teacher of an elective Career Tech class, I am biased towards the constructivist side of education. My students take plenty of tests that measure their learning “measurables.” I strive to teach them 21st Century skills to work in a demanding media industry that requires the ability to work collaboratively, perform in authentic hands-on environments on strict deadlines that require organizational skills to execute creative processes while also thinking critically about technical and editorial issues that content and clients demand. 

For this assignment I’m going to take the position that G Suite Tools very effectively support my student learning outcomes in all of the above. The real world scenario I will use as a backdrop is a very large (typically between 20-24 minutes) documentary video project my seniors produce that tells the story of a local veteran and their experience in a military branch and their combat experiences. SIDE NOTE: Unless they enlisted at 15, most of these men and women are gone now and sadly the history they lived and made and their personal stories leave us as well. There were some storytelling lessons in there for my students as well over the years.

My analysis will use the following criteria to assess the G Suite Tools effectiveness in our Career Tech program:

• help to develop collaborative and individual constructivist learning environments

• increase measurable student achievement

• inspire and engage students in the learning process

• support the SAMR model of learning

• improve thinking skills

Assignment 3

EDUO9150_McCartyAssignment 2

 

A Google G Suite Overview

Today I add my thoughts on the G Suite apps I use for education. Not a complete list, but a good sample of how I use these tools and their benefits in my high school Career Tech video courses and program

G Suite Apps I Use:

EDUO9150_McCartyAssignment 1

A Blog Resuscitated

Hello Blog fans! It's alive... Back from the ether in 2008 - and from the upper deck TV Studio we built inside the Worker's Indoor Arena, site of the 2008 Olympic Boxing venue in Beijing (and my office for a month!) My old blog, "The TVCommando's Journal," was a way to engage my students and I've resuscitated it for my latest post graduate course endeavors mastering G-Tools.

As for me, a lot has changed since 2008 and my return home from covering 267 fights in 28 days at the Olympics. After the 2008-2009 school year, I left my teaching position in K12 and taught media production at a small, private college. When the college's budget shortfalls, made worse by the economic conditions during the post-2008 market crash, many of the Professional Instructor contracts at the school were not be renewed at the end of the 2014-2015 academic year. But for some divine intervention, I ended up back where I started in my old K12 position and I never looked back. 

So for context, as I start a course on G-Suite for Education, "where" was Google and apps in 2008? My inquiring mind wanted to remember... Turns out, in an article I found from TechCrunch, "Google Page Creator,"was about to be evolved from something more familiar called, Google Sites, and Google Docs, Email and Calendar were about to get offline editing capabilities. These "updates" seem almost quaint now.

I'm ready for the bell. Hopefully, I don't get KO'd in the along the way!

Assignment 1: 

Converting your analog VHS collection to DVDs!

Greetings! I get asked this question A LOT now days, "Hey, you're a video person, how can I (or can you!) convert my 400 VHS tapes to DVD's?"

Here's one of the best how-to's I've found written by Bob Hudson.

Good luck with that, by the way!!

Photographer's Tech Tip: Automate, automate, automate!!!

Enjoying the NC beach this week with my family and of course, that means photo opportunities abound!

And while digital camera technology sure makes capturing the moment easy, it has created another problem unforeseen by most amateur shutterbugs - file management! Now, instead of a stack of prints, all of your precious moment are computer files that need to be downloaded, renamed, resized and of course, backed up...twice! And if you're like me and take photos by the hundreds you will quickly need a way to streamline simple tasks like renaming and resizing your images.

Well, today, I wanted to offer a simple, FREE, PC utility (actually, two utilities) to help you automate (sometimes called, batch) rename and resize your photos. Those familiar with Adobe's famous image manipulation software, Photoshop, can use its automation functions but I thought

LIFE'S A BEACH!

Laugh Break!

Greetings... I'm a little late in posting this because I just found and uploaded the pictures!


http://photobucket.com/tvcommandocomedycentral 


Last year, I was lucky enough to be asked to shoot stand-up comedian John Caparulo. (Here's a clip running on his site. My camera had all of the close ups!) Caparulo made a triumphant return to the buckeye state when he brought his straight-talking (OK, potty-mouthed) humor to a sold out show at the Ohio Theatre. Caparulo was born in East Liverpool, Ohio and like me, is a Kent State grad. Unlike me, a mere amateur, Caparulo is a professional wiseass!


The shoot aired on Comedy Central last December and was produced and shot in HD by the production company of Blue Collar comedy legend Jeff Foxworthy.


The show was hilarious! I had to literally let go of the camera several times because I was laughing so hard...and, best of all, the check didn't bounce! All in all, not a bad day for a TVCommando.

Is that a Mini-Laptop in your backpack? Or, are you just glad to see me?

Evening all... Today's entry is a shameless technology plug to all those looking for a small, portable laptop. Called 'Netbooks in tech/geek speak (or is it geek/tech speak?), they sport many of the standard features their larger, portable cousins do but in a much smaller package. How small? Think smaller than a regular-sized laptop, but bigger than your average smartphone:



'Netbooks feature all that we've come to expect from today's laptop technology:

• Small screens (8" -10") typically
  
• Wi-Fi
  
• Web Cam (w/ Mic)
• External monitor connections
  
• USB ports
  
• Audio/Headphone I/O ports
  
• Regular HD and SSD HD technology
  
• Plenty of RAM 
• Flash memory card readers
  
• Small keyboards

'Netbooks sport many flavors and are produced by a host of manufacturers: Dell, Acer, Asus, HP and MSi all currently sell their version. In fact, the market for UMPC's (Ultra-Mobile PC) is growing, especially in a down economy when prices for these bad boys start at less than $300 for basic models.


Where the Computing Rubber Meets the Road


As a teacher, TVCommando, writer, part-time traveler and photographer, I found what I call the UMPC portability to power ratio worth the investment. Remember though, YMMV - Your Milage May Vary. Ask yourself first, what are my computing needs? These are not machines intended for serious computer tasks like video editing, gaming or AUTO CAD. Also, what is your budget? Do you travel?


For my trip to China last summer and for my teaching, I was looking for a laptop with a small footprint that wouldn't break the bank. It needed to fit in a backpack without sacrificing my mainstay computing demands - word processing, web/email...and because I'm a pretty serious photographer, I need the ability to run Photoshop efficiently for image manipulation/management. Lastly, it needed to have the ability to drive an external monitor, and/or the ability to hook up to a projector in a classroom for lesson presentations.


And the winner is...


After researching regular PC and Apple laptops, and all of the UMPC models (available last summer) and consulting an IT friend and fellow tech/geek, I chose the MSi Wind - Model  U100. And because I'm a serious geek, I added another 1gig of RAM (for a total of 2gigs) to mine and a slightly faster/larger 2.5" SATA HD (the MSi Wind sports a regular 2.5" HD).  Fully loaded my MSi Wind weighs in at less than 1.5 lbs! I took off for Beijing with it in my backpack loaded up with Microsoft's XP Professional, Office, Skype, Photoshop et. al. Total price with add on hardware? $575.


(For the record, a similarly configured 13" Macbook is $950. The new 13" Macbook Pro is $1,099.) *Source: Apple.com. Prices quoted include my education discount! Your prices may vary*


Mighty 'Wind rocks!

So, how'd my little gadget do on its maiden voyage to the far east? In a word: terrific! Despite the fact I'm not a Microsoft OS fan (OK, full disclosure: I use Macs because I want to...I use PC's because I have to!), the MSi Wind met all of my demands with flying colors and then some! In fact, it's still in my backpack today, albeit with some slight modifications (more on that in a later post!)


Bottom line? No matter what you do, and especially if you have to travel to do it, if you're in the market for a laptop and want a surprising amount of computing power packed in a small package, check out one of the hottest trends in laptops: UMPC 'Netbooks.


Good things do indeed come in small packages.

It's a Digital World. We're just live'n in it!

Want an economic indicator of how high the legal stakes are for media companies, software companies and consumers in a digital world? Two words: lawyer fees!  Naturally, the folks over at Wired Magazine covering the latest Digital Millennium Copyright Act fight between the MPAA and Real Networks over their software RealDVD, which allows consumer's the ability to copy material on DVDs, are all over the story.


Maybe bluesman Robert Cray had it right when he sang, "Tell me a boat full a lawyers just sank!"

Toured Tiananmen Square

Now that our schedule has eased a bit at the boxing venue, we've been able to hit the must see landmarks of China and Beijing. Monday it was Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Very impressive...

Check out the photos here:
http://photobucket.com/tvcommando_tiananamensquare
http://photobucket.com/tvcommando_forbiddencity

Olympic Scoring for Boxing: Are You Seen'n What I'm See'n?

OK, checking the big boxing tote board, two sessions a day...24 bouts a day...times seven 16hr. competition days in a row so far...errr...carry the one...man, they're starting to run together!


Day 8 (I think!) from the Olympic boxing venue and like many of you watching boxing from Beijing, confusion reigns. Judging from the line up of countries with their boxers in a bunch, international amateur boxing has a huge problem on it's hands. Their credibility is on the ropes.

Indeed, after shooting over 150 Olympic Boxing matches from my perch in the upper deck of the Worker's Indoor Arena, I think I'm ready to offer a humble TVCommando's through the lens opinion on Olympic boxing scoring - wacked!

It appears the International Boxing folks have managed to do the impossible; design a scoring system more complicated (and flawed) than the scoring for Olympic Figure Skating. No easy feat. Sadly, the Olympic boxing ring like many other Olympic fields of dreams suffers from scoring controversies.

In it's current form, boxing scoring has no accountability by turning judges into button pushers. With all of the dynamics of two guys moving, jabbing, weaving and throwing sometimes multiple punches, this system seems too complicated and painfully slow. For a punch to register as a point three of five judges have to press a button (a red button for the red corner, and blue button for the blue corner...get it?) within one second of impact for the scoring system to register one point. It's almost comical to watch a fighter land what is obviously a scoring punch and have the point register with the other fighter, or worse, not at all.

For now, I've learned from boxing pros like Teddy Atlas that several sure things exist in international amateur boxing, left jabs will slow down a charging opponent, everyone hates the scoring system, and by the time the next summer Olympics roll around, the scoring system will probably change.