Making Creative Commons Easier: Greasemonkey and Flickr Creative Commons Images

PLEASE NOTE!!

Yesterday Flickr changed their entire layout, and as a result this script does not work in Flickr’s current form. Alan Levine has told me that he needs to change this script again for this to work – I’ll keep you posted on progress…this article comments on the constantly changing nature of Web2.0.

Flickr has a huge collection of images which users have uploaded and shared under Creative Commons Licences. This means that the owners of the images have licenced the images to allow others to use them, as long as they follow the conditions of the licence. If you have never heard of Creative Commons, you can learn more about it here on our Copyright Copyleft wiki.

The easiest Creative Commons Licence to work with is Attribution,  which means that the image can be replicated, republished or remixed in any way, as long as the original creator is attributed as such. The Attribution licence looks like this:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

There are thousands of gorgeous images available on Flickr under this licence, and attributing images is fairly simple; Creative Commons explains the process in detail on their website.

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by steren.giannini

Although the process is simple, in practise it requires quite a bit of flicking from one screen to another, copying and pasting information. Alan Levine, known for his CogDogBlog decided to do something about this – and created an amazing little Greasemonkey script that places all of the information you need to correctly attribute an image on the actual image page on Flickr – pretty cool, huh?

Greasemonkey is a Mozilla Firefox extension that allows users to install scripts that make changes to web page content.

Greasemonkey can be used for customizing page appearance, adding new functions to web pages (for example, embedding price comparisons within shopping sites), and numerous other purposes. In this case, we will be using a Greasemonkey script to alter the appearance of Flickr pages, so that the attribution information is available for each image.

Please note that this solution works most easily on the Firefox web browser. If you cannot use Firefox, it is possible to achieve similar results in other browsers, although the process is more complicated. For more information on this check out this PC World article.

A second caveat: if you try the process below on a school computer and it does not work, it may be that certain security settings have been established to block scripts from running. While some scripts are malicious, this script is not. Talk to your IT tech about making changes to allow this script to run. I have never run into this issue, however it may come up as each school sets up their security differently.

Below is a step by step process for installing Greasemonkey and the Flickr Creative Commons script onto your computer, for quick and easy Creative Commons attribution! Although the process seems long, you only need to do this once and it should continue to work forever. I’ve included the process as pdf to download, so that you can share it with others.

Download the PDF here

Once you’ve installed this script, each Flickr image page should have the following information available, ready for for you to either embed onto a web page, or to copy and paste wherever you use the image!

This is a closer look. These handy little windows of information will save you loads of time!

CMYK: Using Film to Engage, to Explore, to Challenge and to Celebrate Learning.

I think empathy is a beautiful thing. I think that’s the power of film though. We have one of the most powerful, one of the greatest communicative tools known to man. – Michelle Rodriguez

Each year the team at ResourceLink coordinates a film festival based around a particular theme.  This year’s it is CMYK: Celebrating Life’s Colours.  The festival is a celebration of film and its power as a vehicle to promote deep learning.  A part of this film festival is a student produced festival, where students from across the diocese of Brisbane create and submit films that explore the theme.

In 2013 the team from ResourceLink worked collaboratively with 4 core teachers in a model of professional learning that is focused on teaching both the students and the teachers the process of making film.  The outcome of this model has truly been inspiring and energizing.

This post will seek to explore how film and the process of film making can be used to engage students in learning, to explore rich content, to challenge students and to celebrate student learning in diverse ways.

“The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.”  Alain de Botton

Engage students in rich content:

Traditionally using film in the learning and teaching process was time consuming.  Teachers had to organise access to a particular VHS or DVD, checking for availability at the school library or local video store. In order  to screen the film, they either had to wheel the TV/DVD Combo (often bolted to a overly tall trolley) or book the A/V room, arrange students around the comparatively small screen and then try to engage students in some form of critical reflection of the content of the film.  In some instances this is still occurring in schools today.

However through contemporary technologies, teachers and students can access endless film content online – easily and quickly.

There are so many diverse ways film can be used in the learning and teaching process.  An engaging film will spark a student’s imagination; stimulate inquiry; and engage students in rich content.

One way of sparking creative and imaginative thought is to stop the film at a crucial point in the story and invite the students to complete the story or to imagine what might happen next. This is a terrific short to watch in its entirety – but even more powerful in the classroom if you stop it when the tornado ends about 2 minutes in:

Engaging students with film also requires educators to select and use a range of genres.  Why not immerse students in a new area of inquiry with a particular short film in science

or engage students in the process of imaginative narrative.

Film has traditionally been used as a way of delivering content, but creating film is a powerful and engaging way to facilitate and support student learning.

One major way film can facilitate learning is through feedback;

A teacher or parent can provide corrective information, a peer can provide an alternative strategy, a book can provide information to clarify ideas, a parent can provide encouragement, and a learner can look up the answer to evaluate the correctness of a response. Feedback thus is a “consequence” of performance – Hattie & Timperley (2007)

Filming student learning provides an immediate and accurate record from which students may gather feedback through self-reflection, from teachers or family and even from experts worldwide.

The following film shows how a student is using film to seek feedback and assistance from others.

The boy has made the film himself and Braille Skateboarding has added their voice over comments, provide guidance on how he might improve his skateboarding technique.  The combination of video and the internet has provided this boy access to experts in the field he may never had access to ordinarily.  The potential for film as a tool for feedback is endless.

When creating films for the CMYK film festival, students of diverse levels of ability engaged in robust critical discussion about film, its content and how the film was made.  They also modeled the ability to reflect on their own work in a critical way and took steps to modify their work as a result. These skills were developed in the context of film making, and the authenticity of the project made the learning far more meaningful.

There are so many ways film making supports learning in the classroom;  how might film support students with learning disabilities, or in particular specialist areas?

Oh how Shakespeare would have loved cinema! – Derek Jarman, Dancing Ledge

Explore complex ideas

While the power of film is undeniable, often finding quality content and managing this can be time consuming.  The team at ResourceLink often uses social media as a way of learning about and sourcing quality film for use in education.

One way to manage the films that are discovered is  through the use of Pinterest.  You can have either one board for all videos or different boards for different video genres, but the strength is that you can go directly to the video you wish, enlarge it within Pinterest and view fullscreen without ads, related videos and comments.  You can view all the films referred to in this post and more here.

When searching for quality content, teachers often go to YouTube; but it is not the only source.  Most teachers have heard of TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Talks.  TED Talks  are a series of conferences that have been held for the past 25 years and are aimed to showcase the best of technology, entertainment and design. For the last five years they have been available for everyone to access for free, online.

TED Talks are often inspiring and engaging videos that aim to challenge and present new ways of thinking about contemporary idea.  Whilst these can be accessed via on the Ted Channel on YouTube the TED Talks site  has lot of features to make it easier to use in the classroom. These include interactive transcripts that you can use to navigate to different parts of the video, and download or embed options for sharing easily on a learning management system or other online platform.  Below is example of a quality TED Talk that might be used when exploring problem solving, developing nations and sustainability.

Another quality source is WatchKnowLearn. This site has approximately 50,000 indexed educational videos, placing them into a directory of over 5,000 categories. The videos are available without any registration or fees to teachers in the classroom, as well as parents and students at home and can be access 24/7.

TrueTube  is a site from the UK that focuses on RE, Health and PE and Citizenship videos, most aimed at students aged 11-16. The video quality is high and tackles some tricky topics in a balanced way. The site is administered by an independent production company CTVC.  who seeks to raise important ethical questions from “those of all faiths and none”.  As such teachers in a Catholic school should be aware that some of the key messages of these films may not be in keeping with Catholic theology; but there are many useful videos available at this source.

When making their films for the CMYK film festival,  students were immersed in film, reviewing as much film as possible, sharing their thoughts about film, film techniques and the importance of the message of the film for an audience. With such a range of content at teachers’ fingertips, sourcing this quality content is far easier than previously.

It is an example of what films can do, how they can slip past your defences and really break your heart – David Gilmour

Challenge creativity

The power of film to challenge us as individuals, how we see ourselves and each other is truly amazing.  We all can recall a scene from a film which moves us, we use  key sayings in our day-to-day lives from classic moments in cinema, we are transported to a galaxy far far away when we hear a particular tune.  Film speaks to us on an emotional level.

While we as educators can easily see ways to use film as a jumping off point to engage,  explore and challenge student learning, it is the challenge of using the process of making film to drive student learning which can be daunting.

The trick to making a film is to not think you need any professional equipment (although it would be awesome to have access to it). The only thing you need is an imagination and access to a camera and a device to edit the film on. You will be amazed at how great a film might be that has been made solely using a mobile device.  See how these film makers made a short film entirely on their iPhone4 using the iMovie app.

Whilst these film makers had access to addition cinematic equipment you and your students can create similar products with a little knowledge of the four phase approach to making a film, camera angles and shot types, which can be accessed here.

YouTube can also be used to edit your own film, using the video editor feature  and most PC and Apple products have basic video editing software.

The challenge that comes from taking on the challenge of film making is twofold, balancing the ‘right product’ for the ‘right context’ dilemma and ensuring that the films are developed in a way that promotes a practical understanding of copyright.

Not all student produced films need to be a finished ‘polished’ product.  There are many reasons why students make film during the learning process and the final product is not the assessable item in many cases.  The learning may have been derived through making the film; the film making process may have been a vehicle of gathering feedback or a vehicle to communicate student knowledge and understanding.  In these cases, the final product does not require a Hollywood level of production.  Using a mobile device and the  Videolicious app students can create great one minute films.

The process of making a highly polished film promotes valuable learning about content areas but also more broadly provides students with a way of fostering and extending their creativity, challenging their social and problem solving skills and promoting resilience in the face of many differing demands.  See what some of the 2013 ResourceLink student produced film festival participants thought about the process, their learning and how film might be used in their classrooms,  and watch some of the finished films below.

In both instances the students who produced these films not only engaged in the creative process of film making but also needed to ensure their work didn’t breach copyright.  The students learnt about accessing Creative Commons images and music to help build their final works – and you can learn more about how to access and use creative commons and other copyleft materials here on the Copyright Copyleft website, created by ResourceLink.

“Film is the greatest educational medium the world has ever known.” ― Preston Sturges, Sullivan’s Travels

Celebrate learning

By now if you haven’t been scared off using film in the learning and teaching process, you most probably are going to or have already done so.  Now you’ll be building a bank of great films, of various levels of production from quick grabs of students reading their imaginative narratives, collaborating during a group process, demonstrating a particular skill or screening a highly polished film.

Film is meant to be shared, so don’t keep them hidden away in a portfolio or on a DVD or USB gathering dust.  There are many ways to share these films so that students can revisit, reflect and celebrate their learning.  Why not see how YouTube is being used by the Brisbane Catholic Education Religious Education Services team here.

Set up your own YouTube channel, to store and share not only the films you and your learners have made but also to link to other films you are using to engage and explore learning in your classroom.  Often YouTube videos can be embedded in learning management systems or other digital platforms. Alternatively, you can share the link to these films using a QR code, so that the community can view your films on their mobile devices.  Learn more about QR Codes here.

Get adventurous and try using these films to augment reality, using a selection of readily available tools, which you can read more about here.

Films and film-making offer a huge number of opportunities to engage students,  to explore new ways of working and rich content, to challenge our ways of thinking  and to celebrate learning. With little required to begin using quality film and making films in your classroom, don’t put off this amazing avenue for student learning any longer – take the plunge and you and your students will have everything to gain.

Brisbane Catholic Education 2013 Sustainability Conference

Recently BCE ran a great Sustainability Conference at Riverglenn Conference Centre, Indooroopilly, Brisbane.   This inaugural one-day conference was designed to support school leaders, school sustainability contacts and Brisbane Catholic Education Office personnel as they strategically plan for sustainable practices within their communities in areas of formation, curriculum and action.

The day featured keynote addresses from Profession Ian Lowe, President of the Australian Conservation Foundation and Toby Hutcheon, Qld Conservation Council.  Other workshops to choose from including:  School stories on reducing waste, Connections with Sustainability and: Catholic Social Teaching, the BCE Justice Education policy, Cross Curriculum Priority and Schools Beyond Zero Waste.

View the 3 min snapshot video of the day.

Justice and Sustainability: Brisbane Catholic Education’s Justice Education Policy

This post is a summary of a workshop presented on the topic of Justice and Sustainability as part of a full day Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) 2013 Sustainability Conference by Kerry Rush, Senior Education Officer, ResourceLink and Rick Dalmau, Building Officer, Building Services.   During this workshop the new BCE Justice Education Policy  was unpacked and its practical application for schools and offices explored.  What was different about the workshop was the way in which the content of the document and a sense of the sacredness of place were explored by participants actively engaging with an ASSISI - A Strategic Systems-based Integrated Sustainability Initiative approach advocated by Catholic Earth Care.

 How is taking this approach different to the delivery of most workshops?

This type of approach involves developing a participatory culture – one which encourages and skills groups of people to engage in processes that host and gather the collective intelligence of a group, organisation and its stakeholder in creating sustainable solutions and bring about change.  Today the participatory culture of the world is being enhanced and somewhat driven by the internet and technology, however, it is also a reflection on a world that is becoming increasingly complex and fragmented and many believing there is a genuine need for the gathering of collective intelligence to arrive at sustainable solutions to world problems.

 To foster participatory culture, intentionally half of the Justice and Sustainability workshop was genuinely participatory.  Those present were shown ASSISI processes and given opportunity to dialogue, connect and tune into the assumptions and beliefs of others through active, empathetic listening and generative conversations.

One creative and effective learning opportunity on sustainability was the ‘hands on core activity’, which was based on the idea in this video:

This involved participants creating imagined earth core samples with aligning narratives from past ages through to today and a possible future.  This group activity combined with an exploration of local vegetation; in particular, the silky oak tree, which engaged participants holistically.  All were given time to be present in the here and now at Riverglenn by the Brisbane River, to reflect on the beauty of the silky oak tree within the splendor of God’s creation,  and explore the aesthetic beauty of the silky oak’s rays revealed in the built environment.  These approaches meant participants in the short one-hour space of the workshop had time to wonder, learn, converse, question and be taken to new places of understanding about Sustainability.

For more information and details click here for the workshop PowerPoint.

Creating Quality Presentations Part Two: Nuts and Bolts

 

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Pot Noodle: http://flickr.com/photos/maggiew/6121970836/

Now the previous post has given you  an overview of the basics for creating a great presentation, the following information will focus on ‘how to’ actually produce it.

Choose your Tool

Your first decision when creating a presentation is deciding which tool best suits the purpose. The main players for presentations are PowerPoint (Windows), Keynote (Mac) and Prezi (Online).

There are also mobile apps that create presentations, which are useful if you are on the move.

PowerPoint is the best known application in this area. Superb presentations can be created using PowerPoint – Nancy Duarte has created an amazing example of just how far PowerPoint can be pushed, which can be viewed here. PowerPoint is easy to use, although it can sometimes be a little unreliable when embedding video, (more on this later) and many of its pre-designed themes and templates are less than appealing.

Keynote is only available to those operating on the Mac platform. It performs the same role as PowerPoint, however some argue its design is sleeker and it is known to be able to handle video and music files more capably than PowerPoint.

Click the image to go to a Prezi presentation explaining Prezi in further detail.

Prezi is a relative newcomer, but it is growing in popularity. Prezi is online, and stores your presentations ‘in the cloud’, although for a modest subscription you can download a desktop editor, which allows you to work in an offline mode.

Prezi is not based on linear slides, but has an unlimited canvas, onto which you place your content. As you design your Prezi, you create a ‘path’ which directs the order in which this content is presented. Being a canvas, Prezi is terrific for creating non-linear presentations, as you can zoom in and out to view the big picture or focus on smaller details, and the design is not limited by slide size. A tutorial on getting started with Prezi  can be downloaded here. Click the image to view a brief Prezi on what Prezi is all about.

A beautiful mobile device presentation app is Haiku Deck. The focus of Haiku Deck is to create image based slides, with minimal text. Built into the app is a search of Creative Commons licenced images, and it automatically places the attribution onto the image, which is a huge time saver. If you have access to an iPad, it is worth exploring. Below is an example of a Haiku Deck slide.

Start Creating

• Slide Layout

Avoid using the standard templates, if at all possible. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, they are not original or memorable. As PowerPoint is used so commonly, the layouts will make your slides seem just like everyone else’s. Secondly, the templates provided encourage the creation of slideuments – encouraging headings and subheadings, dot points and even two columns of information on the one slide.

• Colour Matters

Example of an Ishihara color test plate. The numeral “74″ should be clearly visible to viewers with normal color vision.

What looks amazing on the computer may not display as well when projected on a screen. The size and brightness of the room and strength of the projector can impact upon the colours, rendering some colour combinations unreadable. Another consideration is that approximately 8% of men suffer from colour-blindness (Victorian Department of Health and Safety,2013). Therefore the choice of background colour, text colour and the use of contrast are all important.

• Finding Quality Images

The vast majority of images found through Google Images are copyrighted. When presenting to an audience, replicating images you do not have permission to use breaches copyright. Fortunately, there are a number of sources of images you can use, and these sources are growing.Creative Commons licenced images are an alternative to copyrighted images. Whereas copyright works on an all rights reserved model, Creative Commons licences allow the creator of the work to state which rights they choose to reserve (e.g. non-commercial indicates the creator reserves the right to prohibit commercial use of their creation). Images can also be labelled Public Domain, which means anyone is free to use them. These images are usually commonly used symbols, or images that have passed out of copyright.

A comprehensive explanation of Creative Commons, Public Domain and Copyright is available on the Copyright and Copyleft wiki.

If you have a budget for the presentation, you can purchase images from one of the many stock photo companies online. We have found iStockphoto to have an excellent range, and reasonably priced.

If you have no funds, don’t despair! There are many other excellent sources of creative commons licenced and free images and quality clipart.

Flickr Creative Commons – a huge range of photos all licenced to be used under various CC Licences.

Wikimedia Commons – a database of over 16 million freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.

Clker  royalty free public domain clip art in vector format and in image PNG format. It also allows you to make simple edits to these images.

• Inserting Video

Inserting video in PowerPoint can be problematic. PowerPoint offers three options for inserting video.

Inserting a video from file is essentially the same as inserting an image. You browse to where the file is located, and click insert. There are a number of caveats on this simple process.

a)   Keep the video file and the PowerPoint file in the same folder. The video is not embedded into the PowerPoint, it ‘links’ to it, so if you move the PowerPoint (say onto a data key to transport to the presentation location) and you don’t move the video file as well, the video will fail to load. Moving the entire folder with all linked files goes some way to resolving this (although it is good to test at the presentation location, as sometimes videos need to be ‘reinserted’).

b)  If you have a video stored as a file on your hard drive, you should either own this video or have permission to store it. Downloading YouTube videos without the permission of the creator is a breach of copyright.

Inserting a video from a website can be problematic. There are multiple requests for assistance online from PowerPoint users for whom this process just simply doesn’t work. The process seems simple:

Step 1: Copy the embed code from the video you wish to include. Note you must choose the ‘old embed code’ option.

Step 2: Paste into PowerPoint in the appropriate field under Insert Video from Website.

This process has never worked successfully for us, on a range of different computers. The video appears as a black box that will not play, or there is an error which requires Adobe Flash to be updated (even when the latest version is installed).
Fortunately, there are two alternatives:

a) Hyperlink to the video

b) Use a third party plug-in such as AuthorStream

Hyperlinking to the video means you temporarily leave the presentation, and go to where the video is situated to view. This can be disruptive during a presentation, however it does mean you can link to any video on any website (YouTube, Vimeo, TeacherTube etc). You can also link to a video edited on SafeShare TV, so that all of the annoying ads are removed. A tutorial on how to hyperlink to Safeshare TV can be downloaded here.

A third party plug-in such as AuthorStream allows you to embed YouTube or Vimeo videos directly into the slideshow so that they can be seamlessly displayed as part of the presentation.

Download Authorstream and follow the directions to install. Once it is installed, in PowerPoint a new tab will appear on the ribbon at the top of the screen.

Embedding the video is simply a matter of pasting the video hyperlink (not the embed code) into the window, as below.

Please note that embedded videos require an internet connection to operate.

Embedding video from clipart is quite straight forward, however the limited range of videos available from clipart means this option is rarely chosen.        The videos available are generally classified as animations, and add little to formal presentations.

If you have many videos to embed, it may be easier to choose Prezi as your presentation tool. To embed video into Prezi, simply paste the link where you want the video to appear, and as long as you have an internet connection, the process is complete.

• Fonts are important

Choice of font is essential if you wish to have readable slides. If at all possible, choose no more than two fonts; a headline font and a text font. Make use of bold and italic options if you need further differentiation.

Nancy Duarte explains font choice very well in her book, Slideology. Essentially, there are two types of fonts; serif and sans serif.
Serifs are the small strokes at the end of letters that aid readability – you can see them

Serif fonts are good for long chunks of text. San Serif fonts don’t have the serifs, and are

Once you have selected the font, don’t make the mistake of keeping it too small. Even though it may be readable on the computer screen, once projected this may change. As a general rule, stick to 24pt and above, larger if you are presenting in a large room and some audience members may be seated far from the screen.

Choice of font does not have to be limited to those available in the application. There are several websites where you can download free fonts for maximum impact. Two excellent sites are

(click on the logos to go to the sites).

One thing to note if you are using downloaded fonts – they will only work on the computer where the fonts are installed. This is vital to know, as many presentations are created on one computer and transferred for presentation onto a different computer. If you know the presentation is going to be moved, it is best to stick to one of the pre-installed fonts, or save the presentation in PDF format, which will prevent the fonts from changing no matter what computer is being used.

Avoid the overuse of bullet points!

Want to know more?

These two posts on creating presentations that work have drawn on the work of several experts in this area; Nancy Duarte, Garr Reynolds and Seth Godin. A full bibliography of references used is below for further reading and information.

5 Ways to Make PowerPoint Sing! (And Dance!). (n.d.). Duarte Blog. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://blog.duarte.com/2010/01/5-ways-to-make-powerpoint-sing-and-dance/

Department of Human Services, Victoria. (n.d.). Colour blindness. Better Health Channel. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Colour_blindness

Duarte, N. (2008). slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations (1st ed.). O’Reilly Media.

Godin, S. (2001, January 10). Really Bad PowerPoint: (and how to avoid it): Seth Godin: Amazon.com: Books. Do You Zoom Inc.

Hooker, D. (2012, March 25). Get Started with Prezi. Prezi Support. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from https://prezi.zendesk.com/entries/23448918-Get-Started-with-Prezi

Lessons from TED: 5 Simple Tweaks. (n.d.). Duarte Blog. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://blog.duarte.com/2009/02/lessons-from-ted-5-simple-tweaks/

Reynolds, G. (2011). Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (2nd Edition) (2nd ed.). New Riders.

Creating Quality Presentations Part One: First Steps

Death by PowerPoint

Image used with permission: Frits Ahlefeldt http://www.hikingartist.net/media.details.php?mediaID=NTllODkwZGI1NWZm

Every day, in conference rooms and offices around the world, people are dying. Death by PowerPoint is the commonly used term for presentations of endless slides, filled with dense text, complex diagrams and poor design.

The simple tips in this two-part post will help you transform presentations into tools of communication that will engage the audience, and provide a memorable accompaniment to your message.

The first post  will give you four simple steps to improve the overall impact of your presentations. The second post will focus on specific strategies to aid in the creation of effective presentations, as well as a tutorial for the PowerPoint alternative, Prezi. You can download the printable booklet of both posts here:http://tinyurl.com/presentationsthatwork .

You can view the presentation that accompanies this workshop here.

First Steps

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Thomas Leth-Olsen: http://flickr.com/photos/thomasletholsen/6050828458/

Seth Godin, entrepreneur, author and public speaker admits that he has seen a lot of presentations in his career; and is adamant that most are poor. His simple rules for creating effective presentations have formed the basis of what I call ‘First Steps’.

Step 1: Keep Text Minimal

One of the common issues with slides in a presentation is ‘cognitive load’. Cognitive load is essentially how much your brain can take in. Our working memory is limited, and we process words and images separately, and therefore, when a speaker is presenting to an audience, and there is a slide full of text behind them, the audience must make a subconscious choice about which to pay attention to. They simply can’t take in both.  Seth Godin says absolutely no more than 6 words per slide; however if this is too rigid, at least try to limit the text to the main ideas. The audience came to hear the speaker. If all of the content is on the presentation, they could have just stayed at home and had the slideshow emailed to them!

Step 2: Use Inspiring Images

Now that the text on each slide is minimised, you have room to include amazing images! The content of the presentation is made richer when it is accompanied by images that engage the audience emotionally. An image smokestacks belching into the sky is far more memorable than a list of dot points about pollution. One key thing to remember when choosing images is that the image should illustrate the point you are making – design, don’t decorate. For example:

An example of a poorly designed slide, with too much text and ‘decorative’ clipart.

An example of a slide with better design. Limited text, and an image that illustrates the point of the speaker.

Step 3: Keep it Simple

PowerPoint is fitted out with many features that are not conducive to good design. Animations that have text swooshing across the slide, transitions that blink and flash and overdone backgrounds that distract from the text simply confuse your message. The best presentations are simple, clean and free of distractions.

Step 4: Put the Information in a Handout

Like this! The audience will be relieved to know that all of the information being communicated during the presentation will be theirs to walk away with at the conclusion. This frees them up to truly listen to the presenter – rather than scribbling down notes. It also means your slides do not have to contain all of the information, and can be used to engage the audience using the tips above.  It is important – vital! However, that it is handed out at the end of the presentation – otherwise the audience will simply read the document, and ignore the presenter.

Presentations which contain the entirety of information being delivered are known as ‘slideuments’. They are a terrible hybrid of document and slideshow presentation. While it may take a little longer to create a document and an accompanying presentation, the results are worth it in audience engagement and quality communication.

More is coming!

This has been an overview of the basics for creating a great presentation. The following post will detail more specific strategies for actually producing presentations.

Creating Quality Web Content – Tips and Strategies

Nowadays it is easy for everyone to publish to a world-wide audience. Blogs, wikis and simple drag and drop website creators  enable even the youngest students to have a voice online. This is a blessing and a curse!

When it comes to web content, students need to understand both sides of the coin – how to critically analyse and identify quality content, and also how to create and publish quality content. In addition, teachers are often encouraged to build a web presence – for professional development, as a means of communication with parents and community, or to share resources. Creating and publishing quality web content requires skills that don’t necessarily come naturally, and are not part of teacher training! Therefore this blog post aims to give a very simple introduction to basic tips and strategies for creating web content that is useable and accessible.

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Paul Veugen

Design

Good design, driven by a clear purpose is key in successful web publishing. Design extends beyond visual design (although this is very important) and includes page layout, text design and accessibility (including navigation).

Visual design

Used with permission from Paper Leaf Design

Web content that adheres to the elements of graphic design will always be more visually appealing and thus more likely to encourage users to spend more time on your site. This handy poster outlines the main principles of visual design (and you can download your own pdf or .eps copy free from the friendly designers at PaperLeaf.

Page Layout and Text Design

Page layout and text design work hand in hand. A clear page layout, with plenty of white space and well spaced text will enable users to find what they want quickly. Your most important information should be clearly visible and easily accessible. Any inclusion on a page should serve a purpose; in web design, as in fashion, it makes sense to follow Coco Chanel’s advice:

“Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.”

Users want to access your content to find information, to solve a problem or to connect with others. Anything that does not enhance or enable these actions is unnecessary and may even detract. This could be as simple as using too many fonts which confuses the reader.

A nice, simple article for further reading is Good Web Design is all About the User.

Accessibility

Accessibility is very important for all web content. It is the inclusive practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities, as well as ensuring your web content renders correctly across all browsers and devices.  This includes making sure images have text equivalents so that people using text to speech readers know about the images, as well as having meaningfully named and highlighted links, and the ability to enlarge font sizes for readability. All of these considerations are important to enable access for all users. More information on accessibility is available on the World Wide Web Consortium pages.
This video is also a great summary:

Navigation

Navigation is how users find your all important content. Poor site design and navigation will frustrate users.  If users cannot find the page they are searching for, or get ‘lost’ and are unable to return easily to the home page, they may well never return.  Link titles should be brief, but descriptive, and take users where they expect to go. If a page does not contain the information that should logically be on that page, many people will just stop searching.

This terrific short video outlines key tips for effective navigation. Essentially, navigation should be:

• compact
• logical
• clear
• intuitive
• fast
• future proof and
• compatible across devices and browsers

Communication

Of course, terrific design will only take you so far – users are accessing your site for the content. Janice (Ginny) Redish is a world renowned expert on writing content for the web. She sees communications on the web as a conversation – between the publisher and the user. Using this conversation analogy, the users strike up a conversation with you each time they come across your content. How do you communicate with them? Obviously in order to have a quality conversation, you need to know the who you are speaking with, and this is where knowing your audience is vital. Is your audience young or old? Are they technical, or are they more likely to be new to technology? What have they come to your site to obtain?

Meeting user’s needs is the number one goal, and the way you communicate your content is vitally important in this exchange. If the content is too complex, buried deeply within the site or is simply boring, users will quickly move on. Redish suggests using short, simple words wherever possible (readers are busy), keeping the tone ‘active’ (by using verbs) and conversational. Redish’s book, Letting Go of the Words, is a must read for anyone publishing to the web and wanting to improve their content. For employees of Brisbane Catholic Education, this title may be borrowed from the ResourceLink library. Some of her presentations are available on Slideshare.

Don’t Forget!

Copyright and Creative Commons

When you publish online, you are publishing to a world wide audience. Even if what you are publishing may be for educational purposes, you still need to be aware of copyright. Fortunately the number of images licenced under Creative Commons is growing exponentially, and it is also much easier in this digital age to contact owners of images to ask permission to use them. For example, the Principles of Design poster earlier in this post was not licenced under Creative Commons, but a quick message on Facebook requesting usage was responded to in a matter of days.

When using Creative Commons images, be sure to attribute the images correctly. It is best practice to place the attribution on the image or very close to it, so that users can immediately see how the image is licenced. You can find more easy to understand information about Copyright and Creative Commons on the ResourceLink wiki Copyright and Copyleft. You can also read how to attribute correctly on the Creative Commons website.

Sometimes, as in the case of YouTube videos and the infographic at the end of this post, an embed code is offered for those who wish to use the content on their own page. An embed code is like a more complex hyperlink – the content remains on the content-owner’s page, yet is also embedded and shows on your own site. Using embedded videos and graphics does not breach copyright, as the content is still residing on the owner’s site, and the code simply links to it. Embed codes are particularly useful when publishing to Learning Management Systems.

Creating web content is easy and fun. With planning and forethought, your web content can be highly useful, attractive and effective. The infographic below sums up everything you need to know.

Have fun creating!

Source: What Makes Someone Leave A Website?

The ASSISI Experience: Animators for Sustainability

You may be thinking that this article will feature reflections on a recent sojourn to one of Umbria’s most beautiful walled cities, the birthplace of St Francis, the ancient city of Assisi.  As magnificent as that beautiful city is and any pilgrim’s journal will recount, this is a reflection of a similar yet different type of ASSISI experience, an experience that engages with Sustainability.

How might we imagine what sustainability is and how might we go about developing a sustainable future.  Alex Steffen an American futurist and co-founder of World Changing  attempts to see a sustainable future in his TED Education Talk below.

Educators are called to engage students in a conversation about sustainability, a conversation that calls all participants to action.

Image created by Ben van Trier, Education Officer ResourceLink using Instaquote

Recently, at Santa Theresa Spirituality Centre, Ormiston, Brisbane,  fifteen participants engaged in a four day retreat experience for Animators of Sustainability facilitated by Luke Edwards of Catholic Earthcare Australia and Megan Seneque, an international systems change consultant.   For Catholic Earthcare Australia, the acronym ASSISI – A Strategic Systems-based Integrated Sustainability Initiative is used to name their three-day, transformative process for animators and transformative it was.

After experiencing ASSISI, all participants stated freely that they found themselves in a new place of understanding, seeing the world and becoming much more attuned to sustainability from a Catholic Christian perspective.  All animators would agree that it was a capacity building and worthwhile process. Some animators have been moved to write their reflections of this significant experience.

What was the ASSISI experience like for me?

Alex Collins, Manager from Centacare, Rockhampton Diocese:

I can summarise my experience as one of involution, revolution and evolution.   Involution is that the first twelve hours gave my mind and spirit a workout through reflection and in this process I discovered how many patterns within me as a leader were unfit.  By day four I felt all my paradigms and existing behavioural rituals evolutionising, the experience of listening with an open heart, mind and hands taught me in a new way that what is around me is also inside me.  Becoming an animator has placed me in a new evolutionary point, one that is an invitation to shape shift our vision of sustainability as spirit-nourishing and we have the capacity to welcome others into this new system.

Colleen Mullins-Sifread, Fleet and Security Coordinator – Office Services, Brisbane Catholic Education:

ASSISI gave us a chance for listening, conversation, engaging, sharing thought, reflection, challenges, engaging with new concepts and techniques, confusion, U turns, realisations, “ah-ha” moments, new understandings, deep thinking and moving forward.

Dalveen Fletcher, Year 5 Teacher, St Eugene’s College, Burpengary:

Dalveen, with others from the school community, have developed the Eugreenies’ Community Garden.

This experience for me was very daunting initially.  I felt rather out of my depth, mostly because I’d assumed that everyone else had a far greater understanding of what was being spoken about.  As the days progressed I felt myself at a turning point in my thinking, taking a U-turn as per lots of the diagrams we had investigated in relation to animating change within my own organization.  At the conclusion of our time together I felt re-energised, valued and ready to move forward using many of the new strategies we had talked about.

Jenifer Fowler at work in the Eugreenies’ Community Garden

What new learning did you experience?

Dalveen Fletcher:

I learnt far more than I could possibly remember or follow up on without revisiting all the documents we were given.  However, what has stayed very much in my mind is a diagram we looked at, yet another big U that focused on ‘letting go’ and ‘letting come’ as the turning point in animating change.  This has been invaluable in far more situations than I thought possible and I do see a new ‘me’ emerging.  Let’s hope this is also sustainable.

Colleen Mullins-Sifread:

New concepts, heightened understanding of my role and those of others across the organization.

Kerry Rush, Senior Education Officer Brisbane Catholic Education Office:  Dutton Park:

I learnt many things, but one of my biggest learnings was that transformative change is best brought about by a holistic approach that engages a group or groups towards integrated solutions instead of using a fragmented, pushing through, driving to solution approach that is frequently supported with “so called” consultation processes that arrive at preconceived solutions.   Holistic transformative approaches to change can look like this:  a group or groups of people engaging in generative conversations, appreciative inquiry, attentive listening, that fosters rich and authentic dialogue to co-plan and collaborative act.  Such groups that are working in this way will get to a point of realizing that they know what they don’t know and will freely draw on multi-disciplined knowledge, skills interests and capacities of others to join and support the groups’ initiatives. A holistic notion of sustainability underpins Assisi.   This understanding of sustainability is one that incorporates human, social (cultural/economic/political) and environmental sustainability.  It is not just about caring for the environment, it is about caring for and sustaining all of God’s creation.  In light of this new understanding I was able to self-reflect and critique my own successes and failures to lead sustainable change over the years.

A very accessible text that is pre-requisite reading for the ASSISI program is Denis Edwards’ book, “Jesus in the Natural World”.  It has so many gems about ecological conversion.  Paraphrased from the book’s blurb, ecological conversion requires a radical change of mind and heart.  Such a conversion will lead to a deeper love and respect for all of creation.  This involves moving towards sustainable lifestyle, patterns of production and consumption, economic and political choices.

Watch an interview with Denis Edwards regarding his book “Jesus in the Natural World” below.

Would you recommend the program to anyone else?

Dalveen Fletcher:

I would highly recommend this program to others who are striving to make changes within their own work places.  However, I believe it is best to have others from your own work place with you to complete action plans and start from the same understandings explored during the time together.

Colleen Mullins-Sifread and Kerry Rush:

Absolutely, most definitely!

What does being an ASSISI animator now mean to you?

Dalveen Fletcher:

Being an ASSISI animator means a great deal to me at this time.  The term ‘animator’ means, to me, facilitating changes, not having to make these changes happen all by myself.  I see the role as a person on a journey of change with many like-minded individuals and communities working together to achieve success.

Colleen Mullins-Sifread:

Communicating from the heart to spread the word about sustainability.

Kerry Rush:

Being an animator for me, still mean having energy for or inspiring energy for something.  It’s also about trusting people, promoting participation and letting go of the way you want things to go.  Also I think the idea of Denis Edwards of seeing things properly with the eyes of wisdom is terrific challenge for animators to aspire to and practise.  This requires seeing all things as loved by God, eyes that listen and connect:  seeing things with loving eyes beyond arrogant, valuing stares and prejudice, beyond the ignorant, blinkered view and position.  Seeing the world in this way is a big challenge.  If only we could buy glasses that enhanced our capacity for eyes of wisdom.

What new processes will you adopt?

Dalveen Fletcher:

Click on the icon above to learn more about this text.

I have begun to adopt a number of new processes within my school simply by sharing what my time with ASSISI was all about.  I have personally invited many to come to our garden to share the experience and am hopeful that this direct, personal approach will be effective.  I will be using the EATING process but need a much better understand of all areas of this before getting any further that the ‘E’ and the ‘A’!

The EATING approach comes from ‘Kitchen Table Sustainability’ by Wendy Sarkissian et al.  It is an approach that can be used to foster community engagement for sustainability. It is an acronym for Education, Action, Trust, Inclusion, Nourishment and Governance.

Find out about additional resources being used by the team at ResourceLink here.

Colleen Mullins-Sifread:

U Theory and being aware of “Who am I being, that their eyes are not shining?”

The U theory comes form the work of Otto Sharmer. It is a theory that assists people to move from reactive quick fixes to generative responses that address the systemic root issues.  It is journey to change that is particularly helpful to those leading change. It is one path with five movements:

1. Co-initiating: building common intent,
2. Co-sensing: observe, observe, observe
3. Presencing: connecting to the common will,
4. Co-creating: Prototyping the new
5. Co-evolving: Embody the New ecosystems.

What did you discover about others roles and journeys toward sustainability?

Dalveen Fletcher:

I discovered that other teachers have had a similar journey as me.  I found I am very much not alone in feeling frustrated and not valued for what we have been trying to achieve.  I have importantly discovered that Brisbane Catholic Education is very much on board with striving towards creating a sustainable workplace and that those who attended from the Brisbane Catholic Education Officer are very much valuing the work that is tirelessly being done in schools.  I’ve also just re-read some notes about two different models – one driven by answers and the more favourable one guided by questions.  This is very worthwhile.

How would you do things differently after the ASSISI program?

Dalveen Fletcher:

Perhaps if I had done the ASSISI program years ago before attempting and continuing many sustainability initiatives, I would not have felt so much despair along the way!  I would have found others to come on board and work together to animate many desperately needed changes in our school.  However, having already started the journey, I will take to heart many of the learning experiences we shared.  In particular, I will stop speaking from a place of ‘lack’ and work with who and what we do have.

In what way was the ASSISI experience transformational?

Dalveen Fletcher:

The ASSISI experience has been transformational in creating what I hope is the start of a new and much improved version of ‘me’.  Everything else in going to flow from there!

Image created by Ben van Trier, Education Officer ResourceLink, using Instaquote

What dreams, preferred futures imaginings did you have or hear articulated at the end of the program?

Colleen Mullins-Sifread:

I’d like to see more connections within and between schools.  Networks for the dedicated, creative people with “like minds” across the organization and ecouraging local conversations to start the ball rolling.

Dalveen Fletcher:

Moving forward in a positive manner.  Hoping to achieve my dreamed vision for 2016 where all memebers of the St Eugenes’s College community are at some point and in some way egaging with the understanding of what they are achieving.  Celebrating the achievements and community importance of the Eugreenies’ Community Garden, the profile an value of the project will be further fostered.

Kerry Rush:

Working with groups of people within Brisbane Catholic Educatione and beyond towards (A) Strategic Systems based Integrated Sustainability Initiatives, developing great relationships with others, having fun and doing our bit together to educate, inform and enact sustainability the ASSISI way.

What words of wisdom or experiences will you remember?

Dalveen Fletcher:

Authentic! Heritage! Legacy!

Colleen Mullins-Sifread:

“Life can be framed by the conversations you don’t have”.  The phases of U Theory.  Create communities of co-creation.

Kerry Rush:

Let go and see all of Creation with eyes of wisdom.

Image created by Ben van Trier, Education Officer ResourceLink using WordFoto.

iPad uPad wePad; Going 1-1 at St Oliver Plunkett

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be invited to St Oliver Plunkett to be a part of their 1-1 iPad rollout to the very excited Year 6 class.

Led by their fabulous teacher librarian, Ann-Marie Furber and fearless class teacher, Brooke Maguire, with consultation from the very dedicated and talented Education Officer Learning and Teaching Technologies, Danielle Carter, the Year 6 class participated in a series of workshops in order to develop their skills before they were officially given management of their very own devices.

Cannon Hill Feb 2013

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While the school maintains ownership, the students manage the purchasing of additional apps, and the care and maintenance of the iPads for the time they are at the school. This means the students have 24-7 access to their learning. The rollout has been a carefully managed process, with a great deal of professional development and pre-planning being done before the students had access to the devices.

The bootcamp itself was a terrific opportunity to work with a group of enthusiastic and excited Year 6 students. The workshops they participated in dealt with simple tips and tricks for managing their iPad, Email etiquette, run by Ann-Marie Furber, Teacher Librarian, Successful Searching, run by classroom teacher Brooke Maguire and Copyright and Creative Commons, run by myself, Kay Cantwell, Education Officer Digital Learning. Once the students had completed these workshops, they were officially licensed to take ‘ownership’ of their devices.

Evidence of the planning undertaken prior to this 1-1 rollout was the well established resources that had been developed in order to maximise student learning. Rather than be overwhelmed with apps, or being seduced by limited, content focused apps that had all of the bells and whistles but little quality pedagogy, lists of Core Student and Core Teacher apps were developed, as well as a list of apps suitable for Inquiry Learning.

This, along with a ‘workflow wall’ which creates a visual list of apps the students need to access in order to complete a task, allows students to make use of their iPad as a tool, rather than as a source of low level learning or as a time filler activity and games device.

The students loved both the Bootcamp, and of course the idea of having these devices to aid their learning; some of their feedback after the sessions included:

I give today a 5 because learning all these new things about this amazing device
& that we are the class to be chosen is pretty cool.

I give today a five because we had lots of learning opportunities and it was totally AWESOME!!!!!!!!

I give today a 5 because it was fun and cool way to learn

I give today a 5/5 because it was a very good learning experience for me.
Thank you to all the teachers for making it a great day!

This is a list of what the students learnt:

I’m sure the 1-1 iPad rollout at St Oliver Plunkett is going to be a huge success – due to the careful planning, the focus on learning, and the fact that the iPads are not being viewed as the be-all and end-all, but just another (albeit incredibly powerful) tool for the students to utilise in their learning journey.

Postscript:

See below for the Copyright Resource that I created to help the Year 6′s begin to understand the crazy complexities of copyright, and the potential of Creative Commons. With a content creation tool such as the iPad at their fingertips, it is vital that the students know how to access resources that they have permission to use when creating multimodal works. Link to the Presentation and Booklet.

Faith inspired by contemporary media

Catholic schools are not only places that foster the educational development of students they are increasingly provide the school community, in all its cultural and spiritual diversity, with opportunities to engage with the Catholic Christian Faith Tradition.  In a contemporary context with fewer people regularly attending mass it is often the school that not only teaches the wider school community about religion it also provides the community with religious experience.   It is in this dual nature of the teaching and ministry of Catholic schooling that the wider community needs to be invited into a rich and meaningful dialogue around faith.

Who will be the ‘digital missionaries’ of the church?

The Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge spoke at Brisbane Catholic Education’s Powerhouse of Leaders 2012, a gathering of the diocese year 12 student leaders (read more about this event in an earlier post) calling those present to be not only leaders of their schools, but also leaders in the Church.  Leading the Church into and onto the ‘digital continent’ is the perfect opportunity for today’s youth in the church to lead.  His Grace asked the student leaders, who will be the ‘digital missionaries’ of the church?  Watch the Archbishop’s homily to hear more of what he shared.

The call to become ‘digital missionaries’ provides school and parish communities with some challenges but also with many exciting new opportunities to reflect and imagine how this might take place.  An aspect of this challenge is the belief that technology can be seen as a way to replace much of what makes life and living so rich and vibrant, especially a catholic Christian life.  So it is important to engage with technology and media in a way that sustainable, American psychologist Sherry Turkle, in her TED Talk Connected, but alone? examines the way technology is used by people to feel connected.  Ultimately Turkle concludes that contemporary technology must be embraced not as an alternative but as a vehicle to deepen traditional experiences.  This is a balance is not commonly achieved in the secular world, but, perhaps this is where these emerging digital missionaries are needed most.

How might this look in a school or parish community? 

Click on the image to access the Religion and Ethics course.

It is timely to pause and ask the question, how might this look in a school or parish community?  It is also timely to look to those organisations and groups who are engaging with contemporary media and technology in some really exciting ways, locally, nationally and internationally.  You’ll see it’s already happening.

Locally, Brisbane Catholic Education’s newly developed Religion and Ethics course is a quality example of using media to engage and extend students learning with a blend of traditional and contemporary pedagogies and ultimately providing students with a learning experience that challenges students to be active, critical and powerful members of their communities.

The Faith and Life team of the Archdiocese of Brisbane are also engaging with contemporary technologies and media in exciting new ways.  Hosting a YouTube channel means that now the entire diocese and beyond can connect to the Cathedral and Archbishop Mark.  In addition to this, the recently published prayer resource atimeofgrace for the Year of Grace further engages with technology in an exciting way.  Using a variety of prayers and QR codes or links to online content, this resource merges traditional prayer types with contemporary resources and ways of praying.

Nationally the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference host a media blog and a YouTube channel, both of which provide schools and parishes with a wealth of resources, reflections and ideas.

Caritas Australia are successfully using social media to help communicate to the wider community news about their work and to promote their annual Project Compassion.  Students and parishioners can follow Caritas Australia on the official facebook page or twitter account and can watch the many great films made by Caritas Australia via YouTube.

Click on the image to learn more or to download this app.

Internationally His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has compelled to the church to engage with social networks.  He himself has almost 1.5 Million English speaking followers on his official twitter account and many thousands more followers across His 8 additional non-english accounts.  Follow His Holiness on twitter here You can also down load The Pope App which provides access to news, photos, video and much more.

Also the team of WYD RIO 2013 are engaging with social media in a way that is quite exciting.  With a presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, this team are producing and sharing some fresh and youthful media.  Truly engaging and connecting pilgrims in the conversation of World Youth Day 2013 before the official gathering begins later this year.

How can a school or parish compete with large organisations?

Now that you are more aware of how the wider church community is engaging with contemporary media, the question still remains, How might this look for a school or parish?  Most of these sites produce and distribute media are from bigger institutions with budgets and paid staff.  Many can also draw on the services of in-house professional graphic designers.  So how can a school or parish develop media at the same level?  Again turning to contemporary technology and in particular to mobile devices and the wide selection of photographic apps available schools and parishes can produce media at the same level of quality as these groups.  The following brief list is a collection of some great apps that the team at ResourceLink have used to produce quality pieces of media in a faith context.  Such as the reflective image shown.

1. Camera+, add vintage filters, frames and text to your photos with this easy to use app.
2. WordFoto, turn photos into stunning word art!
3. PicPlayPost, collage and frame together images and video.
4. InstaQuote create quotes that are easily shared and beautiful.

What’s a way forward?

Harnessing the power contemporary technology combined with the energy and capacity of young and the young at heart, schools and parishes can be inspired to answer the call of both His Holiness Benedict XVI and His Grace Mark Coleridge to boldly lead the church into and onto the digital continent.  By do so schools and parishes will engage their communities in a conversation about their Catholic Christian faith and to do so in ways that have the potential to challenge and transform believers and those seeking faith.