Lecture Series-Frank McCourt

I attended the lecture series on Frank McCourt at Lamar University. He is a retired school teacher and author of Angela's Ashes. He talked about growing up in Ireland and his first teaching assignments and had the audience in stitches. The lecture series is not what I expected. He was very entertaining and he captivated the audience with his humor and poise. He wrote the novels, Tis, Angela & the Baby Jesus and Teacher Man. He lectures at different colleges and universities. If you have not heard him speak I highly recommend attending one of his lectures. You will be glad you did.

Podcasting on Newsletters

I attended a conference last week and participated in some podcast workshops. My plan is to use podcasting in the next class I teach.

Our group (EDLD 5366 students) worked together to create a podcast on how to creat a newsletter. We worked on a script,recorded and added music to the podcast. We are now ready to show you the final product. It was an interesting experience. The Podcast we created is here.

Raster and Vector Graphics

What is Raster and Vector Graphics?

Raster graphics come from Photoshop and Corel Photopaint and vector is produced by Adobe Illustrator, Free Hand, and CorelDraw. The results look similar but the way they are made is the difference. One uses more memory than the other.

Raster is made up of millions of squares,pixels of a variety of colors. The more pixels you have the better your image. The raster image can look smooth from a distance but when you zoom in the individual pixels show.

A vector is from a math formula for lines and curves. The quality of the image is the same no matter how close you zoom in. Vector files use millions of individual pixels but use less memory than the raster files

Why is color important in a document?

Why is color important in a document?

Too much color will take away from the document. If the color is bright, it makes the article harder to read. When we read a document, we want it to be interesting, exciting, and interesting to the reader. Color should be harmonious. It should create in the reader a sense of order and balance. If it is not harmonious, it could be boring and chaotic. We may not be able to look at it. Harmony brings a dynamics to the document.

Look at the title of this document and tell me what you think about the color?

13 Telltale Signs of do it yourself desktop publishing by Robin Williams

Robin Williams article of the 13 Telltale Signs of a do it yourself desktop publishing document.

Robin Williams discusses the 13 telltale signs of a do-it-yourslelf desktop publishing document. This is a good article because it gives you information on what you should do in developing a document for desktop publishing. The older generation used the typewriter to develop these documents. We need to use current updated information when developing a document. There are varieties of software to use in producing the document. We still need to be careful the final product does not look like a do it yourself model. We should avoid using gray boxes that make it difficult to read. He says to invest in a sans serif face, bolding it in black. He does not believe underlines should be used and only one space after a punctuation. The document should be well balance. If you center it center it all. Some documents that are not centered do create a dynamic look. His article says that borders around everything give it an amateur look. I personally like to have borders around tables and charts. This article covers many good points. As a first time learner of desktop publishing, I would recommend reading this artilce and looking at a variety of desktop publishing documents before getting started in your creation. Compare the documents you select to find out what appeals to you.

Digital Graphics/Animation--Communication

The student delivers the product electronically in a variety of media, with appropriate supervision. The student is expected to:

"publish information in saved files, Internet documents, CD-ROM discs, or video"

Once the student has become knowledgable of the tools, navigation, software, and hardware, they are ready to start and complete a project. They will learn to publish files on the internet, save their work to a cd, usb, harddrive, and or a video. Once it is saved they will be able to open it up, revise, add to or make changes to produce a quality product.

Digital Graphics/Animation--Solving Problems

The student uses appropriate computer-based productivity tools to create and modify solutions to problems. The student is expected to:

"Integrate the productivity tools including, but not limited to, word processor, database, spreadsheet, telecommunications, draw, paint, and utility programs into digital graphics."

Students must be familiar with the productivity tools and how they work in order to troubleshoot any problems they encounter. This is important because they may get to a point they cannot move forward until a problem has been resolved. Problem solving skills will carry with them as they enter adult life and the work world.