About CForum

January 4, 2008

Location:
Utah Education Network – U of U Campus
Milton Bennion Hall – MBH 202 (Map)

Welcome - Victoria Rasmussen

Theme-based photo taking activity - Ann Howden and Jared Covili

    • Tips for Taking Great Digital Images
      1. View your picture as a grid and frame the subject in the outside corners of the grid.
      2. Look your subject in the eye - take the photograph of a person from its level.
      3. Simplify your background. Keep the photo free from clutter, shapes and "noise".
      4. Be a picture director - avoid taking "snapshots", but instead photograph your subject in its environment in a way you want.
      5. Alter your camera angle - take vertical pictures.
      6. Play with the flash - turn it off and see what you get. Be aware of the position of the sun.
      7. Move in close, and then get closer. Make your subject fill the entire frame of the picture.

    • Other Tips
      1. Resolution and Compression - Size and Quality (Higher is better)
      2. Use digital zoom vs. optical zoom
      3. Continuous / Rapid / Burst - for shooting successive images
      4. White Balance
      5. Understand your camera's settings - M A S P
        • M = Manual, on this setting you are in total control of the camera
        • A = Aperture Priority, this means that you can set the aperture at a specific setting and the camera will autsomatically adjust the shutter speed and sometimes the ISO to change your exposure for the scenes you are shooting.
        • S = Shutter Priority, this means that your shutter will be fixed at the speed you determine and the camera will adjust the aperture and sometimes the ISO to change your exposure for the scenes you are shooting.
        • P = Program setting also known as automatic; will totally put the camera in control of how your scenes are being recorded. This can be good if you are beginning but you will find that it is far from perfect and will likely frustrate you if you want to know more about how the camera works.

       

    • Photography Field Assignment - each group was given a song to find photos that fit the theme.
      • Apply the Rule of Thirds to all of the photographs you take.
      • Take 2 pictures of the same subject, one with flash and one without.
      • Take a picture of a person (a portrait) at their eye level.
      • Take 2 pictures of the same subject, one with a busy background and one with a simplified background.
      • Take 2 pictures of the same subject, one vertical and one horizontal.
      • Take a close up picture of the object. Then, move in and take a picture even closer (macro mode on your digital camera).
      • Take a picture of some scenery, a good "background" shot.
      • Take 2 pictures of the same subject, one into the sun and the other away from the sun.

       

    • We shared our PhotoStories. They were excellent and this activity was fun for all. Thanks Annie and Jared!

Western Waters Digital Library<empty>
The Western Waters Digital Library (WWDL) contains about 109,000 digital objects focusing on water in the west. WWDL is a collaborative regional project created by twelve university libraries in eight western states.

Digital Western Soundscapes - Susan SalemWester Soundscapes
Western Soundscapes is a searchable web-based audio archive with a focus on the natural sounds of the western United States. This project is still in a pilot phase but eventually there will be 700 recordings in the collection.

<empty>Water Wise Utah web site - Jessica Anderson
The site is organized by:

    • WATCH:
      • Water Programming on KUED and UEN-TV
      • Listen to RadioWest and special reports on KUER-FM90
    • DO
      • Participate in local Water Wise events
      • Locate your local water resources
      • Calculate your water usage
      • Play the EPA Water Sense Game to see how water wise you are
      • Locate your local water resources
      • Calculate your water usage
      • Play the EPA Water Sense Game to see how water wise you are
    • LEARN
      • View water programs online in Media Hub
      • Attend Bear River: Last Chance to Change Course at the Utah Museum of Natural History and local venues
      • Visit the Western Waters Digital Library hosted by J. Willard Marriott Library
      • Browse the Water Wise Utah Digital Collection
      There is so much more on this site - so be sure to check it out.

Soundzabound - Laura HunterSoundzabound and Barry Britt

    Royality free music for education available on K-12 Pioneer Online Library and soon the audio files will be available in eMedia as well.
    • Searching Options:
      • Down the left hand side of the page Search by categories, various time slices, Volumes, Titles and Keyword Search. (Examples of Keyword Search would include: news, sports, rock, classical, up tempo, mid tempo, low tempo)
      • Or you may go straight to the volumes on the right hand menu under “Browse Volumes.”
    • Click the PLAY button to review the track of your choice.
    • Click the DOWNLOAD MP3 to save the audio file to your computer. Click DOWNLOAD ALBUM to save the contents of that album to your computer.
      For WINDOWS you will be asked if you want to Open or Save the file. If you select Open – the program will open the file and play the selection. If you select save – the program will ask where you would like the file saved.

      For MACINTOSH (it is recommended that Safari be used as the internet application) Your selection will be downloaded directly to the hard drive and will open in i-Tunes or your default digital media player.

Gadget of the Month - Brett Zabel
Slingbox - watch your home television over the Internet.
The Slingbox allows you to watch and control your favorite TV source from anywhere in the world on your laptop or cell phone. So now you can watch your DVR, digital cable, satellite receiver, or DVD player wherever you see fit.

UEN Updates - UEN Staff

    • The new Professional Development schedule is up for January - May.
    • New Web Conferencing Service from UEN: WIMBA
      This is a web collaboration service coming for Utah's public higher education and K-12 educators. Over the next few weeks, UEN will begin a phased rollout of the Wimba Collaborative Suite for educational use statewide.
    • Today (Friday January 4th) there will be a live broadcast of a Capitol rededication led by Mrs. Huntsman on KUED (ch. 7) at 2:00 pm and schools are encouraged to watch. Due to some copyright restrictions we are not able to broadcast the program live on the Internet. KUED is working with the Capitol people to arrange for the program to be added later to UEN’s eMedia for educators to show in their classrooms.
    • Over 800 new items have been entered into eMedia. (e.g. Science videos from Visual Learning, Soundzabound audio files)
    • Digital TV signup for $40 coupon - visit www.dtv2009.gov
    • MHz Worldview will begin airing on UEN-TV starting Feb. 1, 2008.
    • PBS (KUED) will broadcasting all of the Jane Austen novels on Masterpiece Theatre - starting on Jan. 13th.

USOE Updates - Rick Gaisford

    • Rick needs grant readers on Thursday Jan. 10 at the Qwest building from 11:30 - 4:30.
    • There will be a planning meeting about the iTunes U on Friday, Jan. 18. Rick will send an email.
    • Rural Schools Conference - July 8 - 11 in Cedar City.

UCET Updates - Margo Shirley

    • UCET 2.0 – Explore and Create Possibilities - February 29 and March 1, 2008
      Taylorsville High School, Granite School District
    • Robert needs a co-host for the Over-the-Shoulder presentations. Please contact him.
    • Posters were distributed around the district.
    • Registration - Before Feb. 15 $45 / After Feb. 15 $55

    • Don't forget that you are invited to contribute to the WIKI that Margo created to support "Classroom Instruction That Works" and "Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works"

      http://technologythatworks.wikispaces.com

    • Theme: The next generation of NETS for Students <empty>


    • Research and Information Fluency
      Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
    1. plan strategies to guide inquiry.
    2. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
    3. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
    4. process data and report results.

    Last year C-Forum gathered a lot of resources to support this standard when we focused on the Big 6.

UTIPS Updates - Julie Quinn

    • New items will be posted shortly - it shouldn't break educator's current tests.
    • USOE is still trying to hire a programmer to help out with online testing.

Future meeting dates:

    • February 1, 2008 - Granite School District
    • April 11, 2008 - Davis School District

Utah State Office of Education - USOE     Utah Education Network - UEN     Utah Coalition for Educational Technology - UCET

For questions or comments contact us.