Not being able to attend Thursday evening work nights, I feel like I am missing quite a bit of the content from Teknologia. I do read the emails and try to keep up, but I wish the work days would be varied, since Thursdays generally do not work with my schedule.
Anyway, I saw these questions on the blog and am responding to them now: What have you collected? Media (Sounds, videos, photos, creations are vital to an ePortfolio. Put them or link them in!) I have collected mainly 360 photographs, videos, and still photographs. I have not yet played too much with sound, but will in a project I have planned. Ideas What new ideas do you have? I am trying to arrange a studio visit with a local artist. I want to create a virtual tour of her studio, including sound files (me interviewing her), 360 photograph of her studio with still images/videos embedded, and web links to her inspirational sources. Questions What questions fuel your learning? How can I make this a reality for my students? Equipment, lessons, authenticity... Understandings What knowledge and/or skill do you have now? I am fully capable of gathering content and creating a tour in Thing Link. I have also created one tour in Google Tour Creator. I know these projects work better when coming into them with a plan. Hopes / Aspirations What will you create? Conceptually, I am still very interested in using this technology to create virtual art gallery tours of my student's works, and art within the community.
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Just starting to put together a virtual tour of the Elementary Art Show at RC Buckley in Lansing. I used the "Tour Creator" to link to other 360 images, so you can essentially make it through the whole show spread throughout the building. I also made tour links in the reverse direction so you can go backwards and forwards in the show.
I did find (and am annoyed) that only horizontal photographs work. I will have to creatively edit my vertical photographs in Photoshop in order to be able to upload them properly to Thing Link. Overall, I am still happiest with Thing Link in terms of creating tours and adding content. Ken Welgoss classroom visitI went to Moravia High School yesterday with some other Teknologia participants to visit Ken Welgoss in his teaching space. The room recently was renovated to include a permanent recording studio (two walls making a corner painted green, a step up stage, lights, teleprompter, and video cameras). There were four studio tables as well, and five large Apple computers. Next to the teacher desk, there was a standing cart that had DSLR cameras and 10 brand new Mac Books.
Ken has been teaching his Video Production course for 8 years now and has built up this great collection of technology items over the years. He shared with us a list of the equipment he has in the space. Ken teaches high school art, so his video course is being offered as an art elective. Students can take it more than once if they want. The other courses Ken teaches are yearbook, digital photography, computer graphics, and AP Art. His room connects to the MS/HS art room, but he also has portfolio and supply storage in his room. The broadcast his students create is a news story about what is happening in the district. This year they found a way to have a Blue Devil Broadcast at each level (elementary and middle school). It is the art teachers in the district who are responsible for the broadcast at all levels. It was great to see how passionate Ken is about this program and what it does for the students. He even has a wall of fame, tracking students who have used these skills in their careers after high school.
We have an unused area in the high school that we are transforming into a school gallery. I used the theta360 camera on a tripod with the self-time to take shots of the space when it was empty. I then took still images and edited the images in Photoshop, adding extra information to what we envision for the gallery space.
Still working on it, but am excited about how this technology allows for planning a proposal! I was without the theta camera this week so I was unable to take any new photographs or videos. However, I believe I will be getting one to use again early next week. I did catch up with an artist friend who has started a new body of work which inspired the next thing I want to try with the 360 camera (and Thing Link). I am going to set up a studio visit at her home and use the camera to take pictures of her space. I will also use still shots for detail images and possibly audio record some q/a time with her. I will then use the content to create a studio tour on Thing Link. This would be great for organizations such as The Ithaca Art Trail, or Community Arts Partnership, as they have a registry of artists in the area. Studio Tour Planning
I'm starting to get the hang of KnightLab, but am not sure it has enough of the features I am looking for.
Our group leader was able to get 10 accounts to Thinglink and it looks like exactly what I was imagining using. I was able to add pop up images and text with ease and even uploaded the youtube link to what I was listening to in my studio the day I took the picture! Thinglink has a lot of possibilities for creating interactive spaces.
I packed the theta360 in my carry on bag for my spring break trip to Jamaica. I used it to take pictures and videos of the resort we stayed at. When I came home, I uploaded the pictures to a Google Tour Creator, which I see my school district account does not have access to (yet). I am sure if I notify my tech administrator he will open it up to be used with our school accounts.
Taking the pictures was not hard. It was mostly hard finding a safe place to set the camera down in a way that would capture the best view. I would like to experiment with a tripod and see if that helps. I also noticed you can not upload 360 videos to the Google Tour Creator. You can add points of interests with image overlays, but I am finding the image overlays are fussy. I was hoping they would just pop open like an additional window, but they stay connected to the 360 image. The amount of text you add in the points of interest and image overlay descriptions also gets in the way of viewing the background images. It is also possible to add an audio tour or music to the Google Tour. Still working out kinks but excited by the possibilities. Google Tour CreatorStill images from vacationI tried using the camera to take still images and video in class today and the students thought it was super cool. However, I am already starting a list of potential issues.
1. Staying connected to the camera - I paired this device to my school iPad and every time I leave the app or the iPad goes to sleep, I have to go back to settings and reconnect to the theta wifi. 2. I took a four minute video and am unable to get it to download. If I open it on the computer, it's not in the 360 format. I am assuming it needs to be in app or on the theta website to be viewed? The iPad is taking forever and keeps losing connection with the device, so I can't get the movie I recorded off the device. I'm also trying to move the content from the camera to my computer and it's going to take over 3 hours! Why is that? These videos are pretty short. 3. This portfolio format - inflexible. It's very hard to "add content" in the way you can on other website templates. I was hoping for an actual "Blog" page that would contain posts sorted by date. Instead, I am going to end up with a super long page (endless scrolling). 4. Share-able password - We gave up on transferring the video on the iPad and I opened the app on my iPhone, which worked better, but still very slow (to download videos). I am wondering if there is a way to upload from the computer instead on transferring on the phone or iPad? Also thinking a brand new iPad mini would be a good accessory so we aren't having students use our phones. I know there are a lot of frustrations when working with new technology and I am sure it will get better. It's just good to note how I am feeling now so if and when my students experience the same issues I am having, I will understand what they are going through. I gave up but the kids are making a music video to Taylor Swift right now and having fun.
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Artist & EducatorI have been teaching art for over 20 years at the elementary and secondary levels. I am currently instructing high school students in courses such as Studio Art, Digital Art, Advanced Drawing and Painting, and AP Studio Art. For four summers, I also instructed a master's level course at Ithaca College on Integrating Art into the Elementary Classroom. I am also finishing my MFA in Visual Art with an anticipated graduation date of July 31st, 2019. In my own work, I am investigating themes related to perseverance and resilience. -Jessica Stratton Archives
May 2020
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