Saturday, June 14, 2008
The Adobe Education Leaders got off to a great start at the Adobe head office in Chatswood in Sydney. There were five Adobe Education Leaders including 3 from NSW, 1 from NZ and myself from Melbourne. The plan is to expand the program next year to for more Education Leaders from Australia and Asia.
So what does an Adobe Education Leader do? Well, we were told about the new Adobe Curriculum which is a year long course that culminates in an exam and a qualification as an Adobe Certified Associate. Basically, you can set up training centers at your school, the kids learn the curriculum, which pretty much corresponds to the Victorian VET Multimedia Course, they get experience by sitting the Adobe exam and then their own Year 12 exam and they come out with the bonus of Adobe certification. Pretty good deal for the students by the sound of it, particularly when the Adobe people said that employers are more inclined to employ the certified student above the student who doesn't have the qualification.
We were also shown some tips and tricks in the various adobe products by the whiz kids of Adobe. We were given some freebies in the form of Wacom tablets, the full Adobe master suite and paid accommodation and flights.
On our part we all had to give a presentation on our favorite Adobe software and I gave mine on Illustrator. We listened to how the Adobe company is making inroads into the education market and that our role as educators was to show students and teachers best practice of Adobe products. This might involve going to conferences on Adobe's behalf and presenting workshops but it also means spreading the word about Adobe products.
Overall it was an interesting couple of days and great to hear what Adobe is doing with their products. The most exciting product though was the conferencing software that allows you to conduct eseminars. I can see this having great use for PD for teachers. Adobe will be sending me a login to use the product in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to using it with the rest of the Pixeled committee. Another exciting product was the Adobe Visual Communicator, basically this is being used in the States to replace newsletters. All you do is set the camera up with the software, get the student to sit in front of a blue screen and then press go. The student can then change the backgrounds or do whatever they want and then post it as a quicktime, AVI, flv etc...
Another thing was the AIR products or Adobe Rich Internet Applications that are a fancy form of widget. We had a look at Flex and how easy it was to make Internet Rich applications. Also, we had a quick peek at the new Adobe Media Player which plays FLV's with aplomb. These can be downloaded for free (the Air application add on and the Media Player) from the Adobe site.
Some great resources were:
adobetv
eseminars
adobe resources at Adobe
the adobe curriculum
Kular (a color technique website)
I came away not sure what the next step is for the Adobe Education Leaders but knowing that the company is fully supportive of our role and committed to helping teachers and students with the Adobe products.
So what does an Adobe Education Leader do? Well, we were told about the new Adobe Curriculum which is a year long course that culminates in an exam and a qualification as an Adobe Certified Associate. Basically, you can set up training centers at your school, the kids learn the curriculum, which pretty much corresponds to the Victorian VET Multimedia Course, they get experience by sitting the Adobe exam and then their own Year 12 exam and they come out with the bonus of Adobe certification. Pretty good deal for the students by the sound of it, particularly when the Adobe people said that employers are more inclined to employ the certified student above the student who doesn't have the qualification.
We were also shown some tips and tricks in the various adobe products by the whiz kids of Adobe. We were given some freebies in the form of Wacom tablets, the full Adobe master suite and paid accommodation and flights.
On our part we all had to give a presentation on our favorite Adobe software and I gave mine on Illustrator. We listened to how the Adobe company is making inroads into the education market and that our role as educators was to show students and teachers best practice of Adobe products. This might involve going to conferences on Adobe's behalf and presenting workshops but it also means spreading the word about Adobe products.
Overall it was an interesting couple of days and great to hear what Adobe is doing with their products. The most exciting product though was the conferencing software that allows you to conduct eseminars. I can see this having great use for PD for teachers. Adobe will be sending me a login to use the product in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to using it with the rest of the Pixeled committee. Another exciting product was the Adobe Visual Communicator, basically this is being used in the States to replace newsletters. All you do is set the camera up with the software, get the student to sit in front of a blue screen and then press go. The student can then change the backgrounds or do whatever they want and then post it as a quicktime, AVI, flv etc...
Another thing was the AIR products or Adobe Rich Internet Applications that are a fancy form of widget. We had a look at Flex and how easy it was to make Internet Rich applications. Also, we had a quick peek at the new Adobe Media Player which plays FLV's with aplomb. These can be downloaded for free (the Air application add on and the Media Player) from the Adobe site.
Some great resources were:
adobetv
eseminars
adobe resources at Adobe
the adobe curriculum
Kular (a color technique website)
I came away not sure what the next step is for the Adobe Education Leaders but knowing that the company is fully supportive of our role and committed to helping teachers and students with the Adobe products.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Actionscript PD It’s always hard to give up a day of your weekend to school-related work, but it was a really useful and enjoyable day last Saturday.
Despite a slight glitch with addresses, everyone managed to find I.D.E.A. in their new premises at 190 Queen Street
Paul and his staff made us very welcome and the facilities were great. It was interesting to have a quick look at a show reel of some of the 3D animation being done by the diploma students. The recent Federal budget announced the introduction of HECS for some of the pathways offered by I.D.E.A, making private providers a more attractive proposition for some students. We look forward to hearing more from Paul!
Although the participants in the workshop came from a variety of backgrounds, with vastly different levels of experience, our trainer Adam Parker was able to pitch the session at a suitable level for all. I enjoyed Adam’s historical tidbits (YAH-Alan Kay!!) and interesting analogies that would work well with our students. For example, he likened a Flash object to a biological cell. The inner nucleus contains the instructions inbuilt by Flash that we don’t need to know about, with a cell membrane that has various openings that we can send instructions through via scripting. I also loved Adam’s little paper model of timelines within timelines. Adam paced things really well, giving us breaks at just the right times.
There wasn’t a great deal of hands on, but it never became boring and Adam left us some exercises to work through in our own time. I think everyone came away with something to add to their knowledge of Flash and Actionscripting. Lunch at nearby Gloria Jeans was enough to fill everyone up. It was also a great opportunity to network and share ideas with fellow teachers. Most participants agreed they would like to attend more! Feedback the committee will certainly take on board.
Claire Bloom
Warrandyte High
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Industry Dinner
This post comes from Marian who had a wonderful night at the Pixeled dinner last week.
It’s usually the smokers who congregate outside restaurants these days, but during the Industry Dinner it wasn’t us who were smoking. The dinner was held at Angliss Restaurant which is part of the William Angliss TAFE, so when we heard the fire evacuation alarm we unkindly assumed it was our kitchen that was on fire. It turned out to be another kitchen upstairs – we could all smell something burning as we stood outside in LaTrobe Street shivering in the cold. It turned out to be less than a raging inferno, so we went back inside reasonably quickly to hear the remainder of the excellent presentation by guest speaker and talented animator, Alicia Braumberger. Alicia is studying Multimedia at Swinburne and concurrently working as a freelance storyboard artist and illustrator. Her work is very art-based, reflecting her exceptional drawing ability. I would recommend her as a guest speaker for VCE students of either VCD or Multimedia as her youth and energy would make her an inspirational role model.
The food was a la carte, but catering quickly to a large group did not ruffle any of the young wait-staff. We ate a three-course meal, each beautifully presented and tasty. Drinks were at reasonable bar prices.
The second guest speaker, Adam Parker, took us into a new domain – robotics. Adam spoke about visionary design practices and the role of drawing. He took us on a short historical voyage around computer hardware and software, illustrated by sketches done by the very early PC pioneers who imagined the first monitors and mice. We then journeyed by some lateral leaps through to present-day robotics and the microbot. Microbots can be programmed collectively to behave as a mass, but by some fairly simple programming, this mass can behave unlike any other when exposed to outside forces – blowing on them could make the mass expand or maybe contract, pushing them could roll the mass into a ball, make it branch out, whatever, just depending on the programming. The possibilities are only limited by the designer’s imagination - that’s where drawing came in. Adam showed some of his thumbnails – pretty good sketches for a programmer-type.
Teachers new to teaching Multimedia had great opportunities to network on the night and State Reviewer Mark Ridgeway was able to give timely advice and assistance. We all took the chance to fulfil the VET requirement to update our industry knowledge and contacts in the most pleasant way possible, with good food, good wine and good company.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Another year and another blog entry and we are still no closer to a consistent way to teach Vet Multimedia. Recently I was reading through messages to the ATOM list, the message board for teachers of Media. Several teachers raised the point that they thought their subject was the most difficult one to teach in the VCE curriculum. They made the following points:
Had to handle equipment like cameras and computers
Needed to know software like final cut pro and premiere
Had to teach storyboarding, portfolios and scripting
Needed to teach other delivery methods such as magazines, newspapers, ezines and animation
The list went on to a few more things. I was tempted to write back to the ATOM list and say if they though that teaching media is hard then they should try teaching Multimedia. These are the reasons why it sucks:
No study guide
Have to know all the software including photoshop, illustrator, flash, movie maker/premiere (or equivalent), dreamweaver , Soundforge etc...
Had to be able to hand code HTML
Have to teach programming such as Actionscripting or equivalent
Have to teach English in the content/copy section
Have to teach Design Skills
Have to use Cameras and Video Equipment
Have to teach portfolios
Have to teach animation
Have to fit in lots of theory
Have an horrendous exam at the end of the year which is almost impossible to prepare our students for as we have no study guide to follow and the TAFE package is clearly not suited to testing high school students.
I didn't want to sound like a smart arse so I didn't send my message to the ATOM list. Would have made me feel better though.
Enjoy your year!
Had to handle equipment like cameras and computers
Needed to know software like final cut pro and premiere
Had to teach storyboarding, portfolios and scripting
Needed to teach other delivery methods such as magazines, newspapers, ezines and animation
The list went on to a few more things. I was tempted to write back to the ATOM list and say if they though that teaching media is hard then they should try teaching Multimedia. These are the reasons why it sucks:
No study guide
Have to know all the software including photoshop, illustrator, flash, movie maker/premiere (or equivalent), dreamweaver , Soundforge etc...
Had to be able to hand code HTML
Have to teach programming such as Actionscripting or equivalent
Have to teach English in the content/copy section
Have to teach Design Skills
Have to use Cameras and Video Equipment
Have to teach portfolios
Have to teach animation
Have to fit in lots of theory
Have an horrendous exam at the end of the year which is almost impossible to prepare our students for as we have no study guide to follow and the TAFE package is clearly not suited to testing high school students.
I didn't want to sound like a smart arse so I didn't send my message to the ATOM list. Would have made me feel better though.
Enjoy your year!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Exam feedback from UNI and TAFE teachers
Here is the feed back i got from two Flash teachers, one teaching at TAFE and one at UNI.
Tuckers!
This is a bit hard for a cert 3! ... but i passed!...so can i get the certificate now?
A lot of my cert 4 students dont even know this and they have flash for 1 year! (3 hrs a week)
i get from this exam that I think it is showing more of an understanding of how to read code (all code) and understand what variables/strings/etc are, rather than making an application work, although to answer drag and drop to the "people and desk" example is pretty much having to know how to code the piece.
to cover a few languages is making it tough on most students aswell, html and actionScript are both complicated to a beginner!.
Cheers
TAFE Teacher
yo tuckers!.
you can post my email comments if you think it would help the case. what did others respond with. similar comments i presume?!?!
i guess simply put, nerds will understand that befor they even start your class, and very few other peoples brains just dont work in the logic of code so they will struggle to get it in such a short time. thats what ive found with my experience anyway. if its multimedia it needs to have an emphasis on design and most of all "concept development" thats where we lack as well!
Cheers
TAFE Teacher
Hi Ana
I didn't think those questions were too hard. Having said that most of my second years that just
completed a year of flash actionscripting would probably struggle with
them...
I'm a bit concerned that they are still using the Flash 5 method of giving
text boxes variable names and targeting that instead of giving them an
instance name and targeting the .text property - this has been the correct
way of doing it since flash 6 and we are almost up to Flash 9
cheers
Uni Teacher
**** I did explain to him that some schools can not afford to upgrade as often as Uni's, but i thought you might like to see it.
Hi Ana
One part of one subject? Then yes, that is completely unreasonable.
I figured it was for students that had completed at least a year of
Actionscripting, 3 hours a week.
Sure you can pass on my comments.
catch you soon
Uni Teacher
Tuckers!
This is a bit hard for a cert 3! ... but i passed!...so can i get the certificate now?
A lot of my cert 4 students dont even know this and they have flash for 1 year! (3 hrs a week)
i get from this exam that I think it is showing more of an understanding of how to read code (all code) and understand what variables/strings/etc are, rather than making an application work, although to answer drag and drop to the "people and desk" example is pretty much having to know how to code the piece.
to cover a few languages is making it tough on most students aswell, html and actionScript are both complicated to a beginner!.
Cheers
TAFE Teacher
yo tuckers!.
you can post my email comments if you think it would help the case. what did others respond with. similar comments i presume?!?!
i guess simply put, nerds will understand that befor they even start your class, and very few other peoples brains just dont work in the logic of code so they will struggle to get it in such a short time. thats what ive found with my experience anyway. if its multimedia it needs to have an emphasis on design and most of all "concept development" thats where we lack as well!
Cheers
TAFE Teacher
Hi Ana
I didn't think those questions were too hard. Having said that most of my second years that just
completed a year of flash actionscripting would probably struggle with
them...
I'm a bit concerned that they are still using the Flash 5 method of giving
text boxes variable names and targeting that instead of giving them an
instance name and targeting the .text property - this has been the correct
way of doing it since flash 6 and we are almost up to Flash 9
cheers
Uni Teacher
**** I did explain to him that some schools can not afford to upgrade as often as Uni's, but i thought you might like to see it.
Hi Ana
One part of one subject? Then yes, that is completely unreasonable.
I figured it was for students that had completed at least a year of
Actionscripting, 3 hours a week.
Sure you can pass on my comments.
catch you soon
Uni Teacher
Friday, January 12, 2007
Wikis
I've started a Wiki for the Certificate II and Certificate III Multimedia course. I think it would be handy if we can all start adding to the Wiki so we at least have some common source to go to during the year for help with terminology. Also, we can direct students towards the wiki for revision or general use. The address of the wikis is as follows:
http://mmterminology.pbwiki.com/
If you want to contribute to this wiki just send me an email and I can give you access.
http://mmterminology.pbwiki.com/
If you want to contribute to this wiki just send me an email and I can give you access.
Monday, December 11, 2006
On another note - here is a round up of the Pixeled Conference day by our correspondent Marian Stoney.
Pixeled Conference
The second annual PixelEd One Day Conference was held again at lab.3000 in the city on Thursday December 7th, and was attended by over thirty committed teachers of Multimedia. We ran six sessions in all, covering everything from the basics of design to the raw edge of new media. Vice-president Stuart Bush delved into the mysteries of Machinema which, for those of us who had trouble even pronouncing the name, is the process of creating a movie by manipulating a game to provide the action for the story and adding a voice-over dialogue. (Think “Red Vs Blue”.) I became the proud recipient of a Freddo Frog for owning up to the fact that I have never played an Xbox-style game. And if you are wondering, I wasn’t the only one.
Scripting is not everyone’s cup of tea, but in my opinion it’s a bit like learning a foreign language. You need to immerse yourself in it as much as possible, and absorb all you can; gradually it starts to make sense to read or listen to, but your own attempts at using it might be pretty basic and tentative. After a while (with lots of errors, of course) you start to put it all together in some sort of cohesive form and away you go! Anyway Rachelle, our own purple-haired president, ran a great session where she helped many of us along the rocky path to scripting fluency.
Teachers of Multimedia come from a range of backgrounds, and generally those from the IT area can feel as at sea with design terminology as some of us from an art background can feel with scripting. That’s why I offered a session on design elements and principles – to take the fear factor out of design. Thanks, guys, it was a fun session and I hope worthwhile.
Mario Yannakakis ran a session on incorporating video into Flash 8, an area that I would love to explore. Lots of useful info on file compression and management, presented in Mario’s unique style.
Augusta Zeeng from Eltham College presented her inaugural session on making theory fun for Cert II. Just in her first year of teaching, Augusta did an excellent job, backed up with helpful resources.
I ran the last session of the day on creating good animation. I did show lots of cute little animations to keep everyone amused but did learn one thing – don’t make people take notes in the last session of the day! John Parlas from Yarra Valley Grammar took over from me for the last half hour or so, to run a practical session on speed lines and easing in Flash – great graphics and useful techniques with excellent take-home resources.
Some of the sessions were videoed and should be on the member’s section of the PixelEd site soon. Next year we are thinking of packaging up a DVD of the day’s sessions, notes and resources as a way of providing PD to teachers in country schools.
For me, the highlights of the day were the involvement of the new presenters (anytime, guys!) and the enthusiasm of the participants. It was a superb opportunity to network and to gain new and fresh approaches, not just from the presenters but from each other as well.
Pixeled Conference
The second annual PixelEd One Day Conference was held again at lab.3000 in the city on Thursday December 7th, and was attended by over thirty committed teachers of Multimedia. We ran six sessions in all, covering everything from the basics of design to the raw edge of new media. Vice-president Stuart Bush delved into the mysteries of Machinema which, for those of us who had trouble even pronouncing the name, is the process of creating a movie by manipulating a game to provide the action for the story and adding a voice-over dialogue. (Think “Red Vs Blue”.) I became the proud recipient of a Freddo Frog for owning up to the fact that I have never played an Xbox-style game. And if you are wondering, I wasn’t the only one.
Scripting is not everyone’s cup of tea, but in my opinion it’s a bit like learning a foreign language. You need to immerse yourself in it as much as possible, and absorb all you can; gradually it starts to make sense to read or listen to, but your own attempts at using it might be pretty basic and tentative. After a while (with lots of errors, of course) you start to put it all together in some sort of cohesive form and away you go! Anyway Rachelle, our own purple-haired president, ran a great session where she helped many of us along the rocky path to scripting fluency.
Teachers of Multimedia come from a range of backgrounds, and generally those from the IT area can feel as at sea with design terminology as some of us from an art background can feel with scripting. That’s why I offered a session on design elements and principles – to take the fear factor out of design. Thanks, guys, it was a fun session and I hope worthwhile.
Mario Yannakakis ran a session on incorporating video into Flash 8, an area that I would love to explore. Lots of useful info on file compression and management, presented in Mario’s unique style.
Augusta Zeeng from Eltham College presented her inaugural session on making theory fun for Cert II. Just in her first year of teaching, Augusta did an excellent job, backed up with helpful resources.
I ran the last session of the day on creating good animation. I did show lots of cute little animations to keep everyone amused but did learn one thing – don’t make people take notes in the last session of the day! John Parlas from Yarra Valley Grammar took over from me for the last half hour or so, to run a practical session on speed lines and easing in Flash – great graphics and useful techniques with excellent take-home resources.
Some of the sessions were videoed and should be on the member’s section of the PixelEd site soon. Next year we are thinking of packaging up a DVD of the day’s sessions, notes and resources as a way of providing PD to teachers in country schools.
For me, the highlights of the day were the involvement of the new presenters (anytime, guys!) and the enthusiasm of the participants. It was a superb opportunity to network and to gain new and fresh approaches, not just from the presenters but from each other as well.
Some good news on the Multimedia front. One of Jacquie Hewitt's students at Bayside has won the prestigious Vocational Education Award. Jacqui has written a short piece about the student.
Vocational Education Award
Scarlett comes from Bayside College Newport (Western Suburbs)and has
just completed Year 12 2006. She completed VET Multimedia cert III with
RMIT as the RTO. I applied for the Vocational Education award for
Scarlett van Mourik as she had done work placement with Pete Brownstein
(Riverstone Multimedia) and had cut and edited a DVD of the 2005 New
Zealand Festival shot at Federation Square. This DVD was showcased at
the New Zealand consulate with the endorsement of Multicultural Arts
Victoria and Melbourne City Council. The New Zealand Consulate have use
of it as a promotioanl DVD. Scarlett has completed a number of short
films of the Polynesian dance group-"Fusian" and aids in an after school
multimedia class for Polynesian students. Scarlett's film work was also
shortlisted at Atom
Scarlett won the Vocational Award $2000 and was shortlisted out of 500
students to win the Prime Ministers' Skills for Excellence. ($2000) 10
VET students in Australia win this award and 10 SBNA (School based New
Apprenticeship but it is now called ABS I think). Scarlett was the only
Victroian VET recipient and is an outstanding role model for the study
VET Multimedia Cert III. She hopes to get into the film industry and
intends to do further study in 2007.
Cheers Jacqui Hewitt
Vocational Education Award
Scarlett comes from Bayside College Newport (Western Suburbs)and has
just completed Year 12 2006. She completed VET Multimedia cert III with
RMIT as the RTO. I applied for the Vocational Education award for
Scarlett van Mourik as she had done work placement with Pete Brownstein
(Riverstone Multimedia) and had cut and edited a DVD of the 2005 New
Zealand Festival shot at Federation Square. This DVD was showcased at
the New Zealand consulate with the endorsement of Multicultural Arts
Victoria and Melbourne City Council. The New Zealand Consulate have use
of it as a promotioanl DVD. Scarlett has completed a number of short
films of the Polynesian dance group-"Fusian" and aids in an after school
multimedia class for Polynesian students. Scarlett's film work was also
shortlisted at Atom
Scarlett won the Vocational Award $2000 and was shortlisted out of 500
students to win the Prime Ministers' Skills for Excellence. ($2000) 10
VET students in Australia win this award and 10 SBNA (School based New
Apprenticeship but it is now called ABS I think). Scarlett was the only
Victroian VET recipient and is an outstanding role model for the study
VET Multimedia Cert III. She hopes to get into the film industry and
intends to do further study in 2007.
Cheers Jacqui Hewitt
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