Herman Wood

GarageBand for Lovinggood, February 4th

We'll be introducing and exploring GarageBand on the Macs in this session.  GarageBand is a part of the iLife suite of applications, including iPhoto and iMovie that we have already explored.  GarageBand is used with to create and edit audio and audiovisual files.  In our society, we know that sound is used to enhance visual media.  (What would Star Wars be like without the soundtrack?)  

Even with no musical talent or training, you can create short arrangements using built in audio loops created by professionals to help you get just the sound you want using GarageBand.  You can also create podcasts that can be played in a web browser, iTunes, or an iPod.

I'll introduce the software to you, help you create a short audio clip for whatever purpose you may have, and show you where to get started if you are inclined to create a podcast.

It might be helpful if you'd bring your own set of headphones if you have some!

Lovinggood iMovie Session

It's time to learn to import video & edit!  Please use this link as your reference for iMovie 6:  http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/resource_files/iMovie/iMovie_Manual.pdf

If you have the newer version, then use this link:  http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/resource_files/iMovie%2008/iMovie_7_how.pdf

If you don't have access to the video footage we shot in an earlier session, you can shoot some more using the technique I'll show in person.  We'll learn about importing, editing, adding titles, transitions, audio, and still shots.

Your only assignment today is create a short video & share!

iWeb & Classroom Websites

Classroom websites can be the foundation for a one stop shop to fit all the needs of students and parents! In our district, we are not able to provide space for every teacher at this time. You are still welcome to provide your own. There are solutions that provide space and templates that are marketed to teachers, but their drawbacks and cost make the unpalatable to me.

Your starting point on the Mac is iWeb. It's simple. The main problem is if you are trying to maintain more than one specific web site- say a family site and a school site. It's difficult to keep the two separated. Once you're done, you have to upload your site to a web server. Here's the link for iWeb help: http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/resource_files/iWeb.pdf

Depending on your internet provider, you may already have space provided to you that comes with the cost of internet service. Bellsouth, before AT&T, and Earthlink are local service providers who have reasonably simple procedures for uploading a web page created on your Mac. Comcast is another story altogether. We tried multiple times leading in to last summer to find ways to FTP a website onto personal space on Comcast servers and finally concluded that they just don't want it done. Here's the link to support for hosting: http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/Hosting_Help.htm

Directions for Earthlink are current as of this writing. Bellsouth, now AT&T, should be updated soon.

To do the upload, you'll need to download and install CyberDuck (approved software on the district list): http://cyberduck.ch/

Here's the directions for CyberDuck: http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/resource_files/CyberDuck_config.pdf

It's a little geeky, but once you see your web page in someone else's browser window, it's pretty rewarding!

iDVD & iWeb for Compiling Collections of Content

One problem with creating lots of media is how to share it. Another is how to archive it!

iWeb and iDVD are helpful with both of these challenges. iWeb is solid web site creation tool. As long as you stay with the premise of keeping media in the default location, and even if you don't, it's simple to drag and drop whatever you want wherever you want it on a web page. As always, support materials for iWeb are at our website, the Integrated Mac. You'll also find information on how to upload your web page and guidance in choosing a host (a place on the web so others can see the web page) for the site.

iDVD is used to create DVD's that can be played on almost any DVD player. Content that can be placed on DVD's created in this way include slide shows, as well as movies. Though it also supports drag and drop, the interface can be daunting. Support materials can be found at our site, at: http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/resource_files/iDVD6.pdf

Atomic Learning also has great tutorials for both of these applications.

GarageBand Introduction

GarageBand is a fun tool that can used to create music, either with built in loops, touching keys on the keyboard, or via a MIDI instrument attached to the computer. It can also create a podcast or score a movie!

Even a musical imbecile like me can create an nice introductory piece for a slideshow or movie!

We have created written documentation to help with using the program. You can find it at:
http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/iTools_06.html

You should start by trying to create a short 15 to 30 second loop that could be used for introducing a slide show or movie. The first handout in the series, GarageBand Music, will take you through that.

The other documents can also help with podcasting and attaching MIDI instruments.

As always, Atomic Learning (login required) provides great information as well. Here's the link to the basics:
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/garageband3_wn

If you teach music, there's lesson accelerators that may also help:
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/la_gstaff_gb3mac
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/la_noteval_gb3mac

Being a musical imbecile, I don't feel qualified to comment on what level the lessons are appropriate for.

iMovie- Getting Started

iMovie is a simple way to edit video and move it to about any medium you want. You can import from a camera or QuickTime format from the web. The cart has digital video cameras on it, but you do need to get cables and tape from Mrs. Crumley. If you've never used a video camera before, or even if you have, it would be a good idea to take a quick look at two pdf's our group has made available:

Here's a guide to the Canon ZR series of camcorders: http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/resource_files/DV_Camera_Guide.pdf

The above will help with the mechanics of operating many cameras. There is more to operating a camera than knowing what button to push. Please also take a look at: http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/resource_files/iMovie/Art_of_Movies.pdf

Once you have some video, our website on iMovie is a great help: http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/resource_files/iMovie/iMovie_Manual.pdf

We'll go over the interface and what you need to know to get started during our session.

Please keep in mind that you really should begin with a project of your own that is limited in scope. I suggest the first project be about one minute in total length. The first student project should be about the same. As you design student projects, a rubric for evaluation is a must! Rubistrar is the best resource I have seen for creating rubrics: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

Get some footage shot, do a little editing, and we will share on December 6th when we get back together.

iPhoto Possibilities

The materials for iPhoto can be found here.

iPhoto is capable of creating many different kinds of projects. In many cases where a movie is to be created with still images, iPhoto is all that's needed. Images can be imported from the web, CD, or camera. Once imported, it's a great idea to organize the images for a particular project into an album (iPhoto '08 changes the way it handles imports, so it may not as important to use albums.) Once imported, images can be edited by cropping, red eye reduction, retouching, and via a few other adjustments.

Setting up a slide show is a simple process from an album. Just click on the slideshow icon, adjust timing individually or for the whole show, set the transitions and music, click play and you're off!

On a side note, you can save PowerPoint slides as .jpg images and then import them in to alternate with other images.

There are also several print projects that are simple to do, including books, calendars, and cards. It's not necessary to purchase anything from Apple.

Lovinggood Mac: iTunes and Podcasts

As we just said, iTunes is the place to keep music purchased from the iTunes store or CD. The iTunes store can be used to purchase music. It's also the best single link to podcasts! Podcasts are multimedia files that are playable on a computer and a portable music player and are published on a regular basis in a form that is subscribable. There are podcasts available on almost every topic imaginable. Open iTunes, click podcasts, and browse or search for podcasts in your subject area. Here's some that I thought were interesting:

Here's some links (only on the Macs) directly to some example podcasts:
Science
Language Arts
Social Studies
A link just for Tim Tuohy.
Art
Math
Languages

Lovinggood Mac: Audio & the Web Introduction

Creating multimedia on a Mac is a very integrated process. Every application already knows where to look for content created by other applications. For example, let's say you were creating a slide show. One application that can do that is iPhoto. So you set up the slide show with pictures from the recent family reunion but suddenly realize just how cool it would be if that song your cousin Austin played on the guitar could play while the slide show is running. Where does iPhoto look for the music? In iTunes and GarageBand music libraries, of course! I'll share an example with you in our session. I had one posted on TeacherTube that has apparently been removed. My guess is that someone flagged it as a personal video and therefore not relevant. Probably never occurred to them that it was an example for someone....

The lesson we should take away from this is that we the default location for files on a Mac is almost always the best place! Music is in the music folder, pictures in the picture folder, movies in the movie folder, etc..

To get a feel for this, and to look at more examples, we're going to start with a look at iTunes. Here's the resources you'll need: http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/resource_files/iTunes/iTunes_Manual.pdf

The icon on the Mac looks like this:

Lovinggood Mac Basics: Navigating the Interface

Teachers should meet with Mrs. Crumley prior to the project to have her set up a login for use with your project.

At the bottom of the screen will be the dock. The dock is where shortcuts to many of the software applications on the Mac are. Here's the icon for the primary web browser on the Mac:

Three dots are at the top left of almost all open windows on a Mac. They look like this:

The red dot closes the window, the yellow dot "docks" the window, and the green dot optimizes the size of the window for your screen:

Closing a window on a Mac does not close the application. It's important to close applications by clicking the name of the application and scrolling down to "Quit Safari", for example.

If too many applications are open at one time, the computer's performance will slow down. This can be a big problem with multimedia! I know of one DVD project that took 12 hours to burn to disc because of just such an issue.