Monday, February 27, 2017

WOW Everyone With Adobe Spark - Week 4

Adobe Spark is a free design tool suite that allows you to create graphics, web pages, and animated videos in seconds. You can use this tool on your computer browser or your iPhone & iPad. You can access Adobe Spark by logging in with your Google single sign-on or an Adobe ID. Spark contains three different tools:
Post, Page, and Video.

Once you login and click the yellow-circle plus-sign, you'll see this:
Three different creation options: Video (red circle), Page (blue circle), Post (green circle).


Adobe Spark Post
(for creating graphics/images)- Design custom social media images in seconds. You can upload your own photo as a background, search from tons of free photos, or even use solid color backgrounds. Add eye-catching text and in no time you can create images to be used for almost any reason imaginable: social media (with preset sizes for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc), memes, event invitations, custom graphics for presentations or projects, the options are endless. You can download your image to your computer or phone or tablet library. And the ease with which you can create all this on your phone is so great.
Choose what size you want your graphic to be i.e. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Poster, Slide, etc.
On the top right, you'll find the tools you need to customize your graphic. 

Adobe Spark Page
(for creating a webpage) - Create magazine-style web pages in minutes. This is an easy and modern looking way to communicate information like newsletters, photos, reports, etc. You’ll find different page designs and layouts, colors, and text to use and can add photos and different text to customize. Everything comes to life by what’s called “Glideshow”; your page will have a smooth sleek motion to it. Sharing your page can be done via social media or by a direct link via email.   
When you begin creating your page, it looks like this:
Once you begin, you can click the plus-sign to add photos, text, buttons, videos, photo grid, glideshow.


Adobe Spark Video
(for creating animated videos)-
Create quick, beautiful, compelling animated videos. You can combine video clips and photos into your video plus add customized text, search free music, add your own personal music, or add your voice. There are different styles and themes to choose from to match your story and message.
You'll see an inspiring prompt that focuses on the story or idea right when you begin a new project.
To help guide your video creation, you can choose to a story template such as: Promote an Idea, Tell What Happened, A Hero’s Journey, Show and Tell, Personal Growth, Teach a Lesson, An Invitation, or Start from Scratch.
Easy to customize and navigate "storyboard" style template.


For your iPhone or iPad:

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Quick And Easy Screen Recording With Quicktime Player - Week 3



Did you know you could create screen-recordings on a your Mac with Quicktime Player?
Yes, you can, and it’s easy. Make sure you’re running Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later and with Quicktime Player screen-recording, you can record whatever is on your screen, whether it is web-based or not. This sets it apart from web-based only screen-recording apps or extensions which record items that run in your internet browser.


Here's what to do:

  1. Find and open Quicktime Player from the Applications folder located in Finder. If it’s not already there, drag the Quicktime Player app/icon to the Dock for easy access to it.

  2. Click File > New Screen Recording
  3. Next to the record button, click the down arrow and select either the internal microphone unless you’d like to add an external microphone.
  4. Click the red record button to begin recording.
  5. This message will appear to select either recording in full screen or dragging to select part of a screen.
  6. To stop recording, click stop from the menu bar (you'll see a tiny stop button on the top-right near the clock) or right-click the Quicktime Player icon from the Dock and select Stop Recording.
  7. Click File > Save > and select a place that’s easy for you to find your recording, like the Desktop.

You now have a video file of your screen recording that is ready to use. You can do things like upload it to YouTube or upload and share it via Google Drive. If you want to enhance your screen-recording further, you can easily import it into a movie editing tool such as iMovie or WeVideo.

Monday, February 13, 2017

Smart Tech-niques With Chrome QR Code Scanner & iPad Split Screen - Week 2

Chrome Now Lets You Scan QR Codes

It’s never been easier to scan a QR code, than it is now with Chrome.


Before, in order to scan QR codes on your phone or tablet, it was necessary to install a separate app. Now with the updated version of Chrome, this is no longer necessary. This works for reading QR codes and barcodes and works on your iPhone or iPad.


First, delete any previous QR reader app on your device and make sure you have the latest version of the Chrome app installed.


Then, you can access the QR scanner in two ways:


  1. From any home screen on your iPhone or iPad, touch your finger to the screen and drag-down to reveal the Spotlight search box, then type and search “QR” and select Scan QR Code.
  2. 3D Touch the Chrome app icon and select Scan QR Code. NOTE: 3D Touch is on an iPhone 6S or later.


After doing either of these, the Chrome QR scanner will open for you to use!
The first time QR scanner opens, you must select OK to allow Chrome to access your camera.
Easily scan QR codes and barcodes with the Chrome QR scanner

Monday, February 6, 2017

SafeShare.TV To Cleanup YouTube Videos - Week 1

Using SafeShare.tv is a great way to cleanup distractions from a YouTube video. It's quick and easy to use. 

From the SafeShare.tv website:



How to use SafeShare.tv:
  • Find the video you want from YouTube
  • Copy the video URL
  • Paste the YouTube URL into SafeShare.tv
  • SafeShare.tv will cleanup the distractions from the video and you can share the clean version with your students via link or even QR code
  • You can even customize the start/end point & the title & description

Customizing your video....

 Before SafeShare.tv....


After SafeShare.tv....