Do you use infographics in your classroom? Student readers should be able to gather information from infographics. Student creators should be able to make one. In this blog post, I’ll share five tips for creating infographics with students, along with a few places to find examples. You’ll also hear about a tool you can use in your classroom to help students make infographics this school year.

An infographic presents information in a visual format. I’ve featured infographics in my blog posts before (like this one). You’ve probably come across them in newspaper articles or magazines too. For student consumers and student creators, infographics are an absolute must-have. They communicate information with words, numbers, and visuals. Students should be able to read this type of media, and they can make their own too.

Creating Infographics with Students

Below, you’ll find five tips for creating infographics with students this school year. I mention these free graphic organizers, which include a keyword search activity. I also give a shout out to select features in Spark Post. Let’s dive into the tips for making infographics and a guide to using Post with students!

Examine Exemplars

Exemplars help students understand what a product can look like when it is finished. They can also help set expectations for students. You might take a look at a favorite online news source. Or you can search for topic-specific infographics with an Advanced Google search. If you use an Advanced Google search, you may want to include a file type to narrow down your options. For example, infographics are often shared with readers as PDF or JPEG files. So you can toggle in the search bar to choose one of these file types.

Another option is to go to Pinterest. There you can search for infographic boards created by other educators. Here is one board you might find useful. This website from Kids Discover has a few infographic examples you can take a look at too. During whole-class discussions, project the infographic for everyone to see. Do you want students to take a look at them in small groups or partners? Then print out the infographics or send them to a shared folder for students to explore.

Discuss Symbols

An essential component of a strong infographic are symbols or icons. These represent big ideas and should resonate with an audience as soon as they see it. Sometimes these icons become bullets on a list of information. Other times, they are next to a data point to provide some extra emphasis.

Pose questions as you examine exemplars with students. For example, ask them why the creator of an infographic might have chosen a specific icon. You might also ask them what other icons could accomplish the same goal to communicate a point.

Brainstorm Keywords

At the bottom of the blog post, I share steps for using Spark Post. I show off the Noun Project’s library of icons. These are accessible from within Spark Post. But of course, you might search for icons using another tool. No matter which platform you decide to use, students will need to do a keyword search. 

This set of free graphic organizers includes a keyword search planning page.

You might brainstorm as a whole class search terms related to a specific topic. Alternatively, you might ask students to work with a partner. Together they can list words to help them find a particular type of icon. This strategy can address frustrations students might feel as they search for icons. It can also have them build their vocabulary around a specific topic.

Set a Size

As you examine exemplar with students, they’ll notice lots of things. One thing the most likely notice is that these come in different shapes and sizes. You might decide that you want students to all create a graphic of the same size. This could be because you want students to share it in a consistent way. Or you might have an idea on how you’re going to publish these for a wider audience.

Of course, you might give students more flexibility. Or you can give them a few choices of sizes to pick from; it’s totally up to you. In Spark Post, there is the option to choose a size as soon as you get started. Students can also resize the infographic to change the shape in the middle of their project. There is the option to create infographics in multiple sizes by using the resize feature. 

Share Big or Small

Like any exciting piece of student work, you want to establish an audience. This audience might be small, just the size of your classroom. Students could post their creations in a shared space like Seesaw or Padlet. Alternatively, students could create infographics based on a data set given by a local organization. Then that organization might review student creations and post on their own platforms.

There is no one way, or right way, to have student share with an audience. I talk about authentic audiences in my book, Tasks Before Apps: Designing Rigorous Learning in a Tech-Rich Classroom. No matter what audience you choose, introduce it to students at the beginning of the project. Establishing an audience is an essential part of providing relevance for students. 

Using Spark Post to Create Infographics

In the steps below, I’ll share some tips for creating infographics using Spark Post. If you’re a regular follower of the blog (sign up here) you know I love sharing the Spark tools. Ben Forta and I also have a book titled 40 Ways to Inject Creativity in the Classroom with Adobe Spark. This book shares lots of lesson ideas. Use this link to download graphic organizers to help you get started with Adobe Spark.

Students can access Spark Post from both a web browser on a Chromebook or laptop and an iOS or Android device. The screenshots below show my Chrome browser on my MacBook. However, the features are similar to the mobile app as well.

If students use the web version, they’ll have to choose the graphic option, as opposed to Spark Video or Spark Page. You can learn more about using Video and Page in this blog post. Students are first asked to choose a background image and a size for their infographic. Both of which they can change later.

Infographics typically have solid backgrounds. So you may decide to have students choose an image during this first step and delete it later to add a solid background. Or they can press the “skip button at the bottom of the screen.

The + at the top right of the screen allows students to add both text and icons. This option is where students can search through the Noun Project to find icons to add to their infographic.

Often infographics have different sections divided by colors or lines. If you choose the layout button, you’ll be able to change the number of segments in the infographic. You can also swap out the colors or add other pictures if you like.

Sharing Student Infographics

Once students have finished their infographic, they can share it as a link for anyone to view. Alternatively, they can download it as a JPEG, PNG, or PDF file. Again, there isn’t just one way to do this. You’ll want to determine how you want students to share their final creation. That will dictate the way that they choose to publish their infographic. Students can download their infographic in multiple formats. This tool gives them lots of options to show off their work with a larger audience.

Download these free graphic organizers which include a keyword brainstorming sheet.

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, Speaker, and Curriculum & EdTech Consultant. She is the author of Tasks Before Apps (ASCD) and #FormativeTech (Corwin). Visit Monica's site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher.

Adobe released a global research study today at Bett that highlights the importance of teaching creative problem solving skills in the age of automation.Adobe also announced exciting new education offerings to help improve accessibility, starting in April 2018, including:

1. Making Spark Premium available to all schools and universities at no cost.
2. Granting access to Creative Cloud to students under the age of 13, consistent with U.S. children’s privacy regulations.
3. New School I.D. integration, which will enable students to use their school identification to log into Creative Cloud apps at school or at home.

Key findings from the report include:

• 97% of educators feel creative problem solving is important for students to learn
• 74% of educators and 76% of policymakers and influencers believe professions that require creative problem solving are less likely to be impacted by automation in the future
• 86% of educators say students who excel at creative problem solving will have higher-earning job opportunities in the future
• 69% educators agree that there is not enough emphasis on creative problem solving in today’s curricula
• 80% of educators and 67% of policymakers believe that creative problem solving should be integrated across all courses

To see the full study and an infographic, visit the Adobe Education microsite and the Adobe Blog.

How do your students share their learning in the math classroom? When it comes to movie-making, designing a website, or creating a social media graphic, we don’t often associate these activities with mathematics. But students of all ages can jump into open-ended creation tools to tell the story of their learning in any subject area. As they master a new math concept, explore math vocabulary, or solve problems in their community, the free, BYOD-friendly tools from Adobe Spark are fantastic options for both student and teacher creations.

The Adobe Spark tools are all accessible on the web and each have their own iOS app. I’ve even created some graphic organizers for using these creation tools with students which you can download here. If you aren’t already familiar with the Adobe Spark tools, here is a run down before we jump into math activities:

• Spark Video: Movie-making tool that lets users combine images, text, video and icons with music, themes and voice narration. Here’s more info.
• Spark Page: Website creation tool that lets users combine text, images, captions, links and embedded videos without any coding experience needed. Here’s more info.
• Spark Post: Graphic design tool that lets users layer text over an image or collection of images in the perfect shape for sharing on different social media platforms. Here’s more info.

As a teacher, you might decide to create a Spark Video introducing new vocabulary terms to students, or have students take on the task of creating their own videos. One of the reasons I love Spark Video is how it easily captures voice and gives users plenty of options to search for images and icons to match your words. If you have an interactive word wall in your classroom you can even attach a link to the video using a QR code so it’s easy to hear new words and see them in action too.

PBL Pages

If your students are engaged in a project-based learning experience you can have them document their process using a Spark Page. Since Spark Page is an open-ended website creation tool, students can decide if they’d like to share their PBL experience using text, images, videos, or a combination of all three. Although I’m a big fan of coding in the classroom, one thing I love about Spark Page is how easy it is to get started with out any computer programming experience. Students can pick and choose which elements to add to their page (ex. text, hyperlink, photos, etc.) and create a beautiful final project that tells the story of their learning

Spotted Posts

When I host professional development sessions for schools, one of my favorite ways to get participants out of their seats is to snap pictures in the space we’re using that day. With students, they can “spot math” all around their classroom and snap pictures of what they find. From obtuse angles to cylinders, you can send students on a scavenger hunt to take pictures related to your math unit of study. Students can open up the pictures they’ve snapped in Spark Post and add labels, captions, or responses to a prompt you’ve shared. One of the great features in Spark Post is how you can search for images too. So if students have trouble finding a sphere in your classroom, they can search for an image instead.

Bonus: I’ve shared how you can use Spark Post to help organize your classroom library – try using this same strategy for labeling bins of math resources in your classroom!

Looking for planning pages to use with the other Spark tools? Click here to download the graphic organizers.

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

Looking for a new way to share information with families? You can create a class website using the free, easy-to-use Spark Page. Perfect for teachers on Chromebooks, laptops, iPads and iPhones, this simple website creation tool is a fantastic choice for creating a classroom website. You might decide to kick off the year introducing a new class website or pause mid-year to share the great work happening in your classroom!

This past week I led a handful of sessions at the Hunterdon County EdTech Fest in New Jersey. We spent time exploring Spark Page together and carved out time to create a website using this super easy tool. In a manner of minutes we were up and running – adding pictures, creating a links to curated resources and designing spaces that would be easy for students and families to navigate. Ready to create your own class website with Adobe Spark? Check out these tips to make your class website shine!

10 Tips for Creating a Class Website with Adobe Spark

Instead of sharing everything on the school calendar each month, narrow down the list to a few highlights. You might share just a couple pictures and have students contribute a paragraph or two to your page. By highlighting a few special events or topics you can focus on quality over quantity and make the task of creating a class website manageable.

Curate resources

A class website is the perfect space to share a list of hand-picked resources for families. You might choose one or two reading apps from this list or add a link to a YouTube video connected to your current unit of study. Curating content is all about picking the strongest, most relevant materials for families.

List action items

Is there a field trip on your schedule? In need of a class volunteer? Use a class website to host a list of action items for families. This could include deadlines for signing up for a special event or a list of supplies you’d like donated for the class.

Gather information

With Spark Page you can add a link to a Google Form by easily creating a button on your page. This is a great option for family surveys or when asking folks to submit the name of the dish they’re bringing to a potluck dinner. All you have to do is create the form in Google Forms and copy and paste the link to the form into a button on your Spark Page.

Update the link

What’s super cool about Spark Page is how easy it is to update a website you’ve created without worrying about the link changing. After you share your Page for the first time you can go back and make changes like adding an update or new information for families. Once you’ve made the edits and additions you can press the share button again and you’ll have the option to upload the link.

Get permission

If you decide to share photos of students or pictures of their work on your Spark Page, make sure your permissions are set. Some schools and districts have standard release forms they distribute to families at the beginning of the school year. You may want to explain to families at back-to-school night or a special assembly why you are interested in sharing student images online.

Share with a messenger tool

Once you’ve created your class website share the link with a parent communication tool. Remind and ClassTag are two popular options for messaging. If you plan to update your site regularly (like every other Monday) you can schedule messages to make sure families remember to check the class website.

Connect to a QR code

You might decide to turn the link that takes users to your class website into a QR code. If you print the QR code onto labels you can attach it to a student’s folder or planner. Another option is to attach the label to a magnet so families can put the QR code on their refrigerator to scan for easy updates.

Attach other Spark Pages

If you’ve created multiple Spark Pages over the school year, like one highlighting a field trip or another showing off pictures of student work from a special project, you can link them all to your class website. The easiest way to do this is to copy and paste the link from each of these special Spark Page creations to make a button of the page. This is an easy way to keep lots of resources in one place.

Stay consistent

In order to make your class website most useful for students and families have a schedule for updating and adding new content. This doesn’t mean you have to post new updates everyday. You might add new resources during the first week of each month or upload pictures on the last day of each quarter.

Get started by visiting Adobe Spark’s website! Want to try out the Spark tools with your students? Click here to download planning pages to support the creation process.

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

Share a Tip

Spark Post is an awesome graphic design tool. You can create your own meme, share a tip from a summer conference or an idea you have for next year. Imagine you’re at an EdCamp, reading a blog post or catching up with a fellow educator over a cup of coffee. Capture your takeaway by summing it up in one sentence and create a Spark Post to tweet, post on Facebook or save for later. Here’s one example and here’s another example.

About Me

Whether you are on your smartphone or sitting in front of a computer, Spark Video is a fantastic, super easy-to-use tool for making movies. Creating an About Me video is perfect for back-to-school. You can share it with students or parents – even try posting it on your Google Classroom “About” page. This is a great chance to practice using the graphic organizers I created for Spark Video too!

Welcome Page

I’ve spent time this year working with teachers to help them create newsletters with Spark Page. This website creation tool lets you make your own website by combining different types of media like text, images, and links. Create a welcome page for families using this tool so they know what to expect the first few weeks of school.

Professional Portfolio

Spark Page is also a great tool for creating a professional portfolio. You can snap pictures of artifacts from the school year like bulletin boards, unit plans, you name it. Spark Page makes it easy to upload your own photos (or search for others). When you finish compiling the resources you’ll have a page with a link you can share with anyone.

Update Slides

If you’ve seen me present this school year either at a conference, school visit or webinar you may have noticed that my slide decks are all “created with Spark Post.” I love how easy Spark Post is to use and I always use it for my slides. If you are putting together a presentation for back-to-school night to welcome students you’ll definitely want to check this out.

Share Favorites

The first few weeks of school are often a time when we’re sharing lots of resources with students and families. Spark Page lets you add all of these links in one place so it’s a terrific choice for curating favorite back-to-school resources. Here’s some simple steps for getting started with Spark Page.

Collect Quotes

Reading a great book this summer? Did a sentence in a blog post resonate with you? Create a quote card with Spark Post. You can create a dozen of these quote cards and look back at them during the school year for inspiration.

Click here to access all three free Adobe Spark tools on the web and to find the links to download the iOS apps for iPad and iPhone.

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

Publishing for an audience

Whether your students are creating a movie on an ecosystem to share with classmates or a webpage to share with the world, you can have conversations as a class on publishing for audience. Ask students to think about who will see their work and how they can best reach them. If students are posting their work online, discuss when it is appropriate to share personal information and how their published work will influence their digital footprint.

Giving credit

When students include images, icons or music in a creation it’s important they give credit to the person who snapped the picture they used on their website or composed the music they’ve included in their video. The Adobe Spark tools let students search for images, icons and music to share in their creations. It evens adds credits to the end of the video students create or the bottom of the website they make. Having discussions on giving credit can help students understand the importance of citing sources.

Providing feedback

It can be challenging for students to understand how to navigate online spaces if they haven’t had a chance to apply these skills. Students can practice how to comment and respond to someone’s work by leaving feedback on their digital creations. You might ask students to post a link to the website they created with Spark Page into an LMS like Schoology. Students can look at the website made by a classmate and leave a “glow” and “grow” comment that shares a positive takeaway and constructive criticism.

Using keywords

Conducting an online search is a skill that requires practice. Students need to think of what they are looking for and type in keywords to help them locate information. Since the Adobe Spark tools let users search for icons and images to add to their creations, students can practice brainstorming keywords to help with their search. For example, if they are looking for images of a rainforest for a video on threats to the Amazon, they can brainstorm keywords that will help them locate the perfect images for their Spark Video creation.

How are you helping students cultivate digital citizenship skills? Share your tips, strategies and lesson ideas in the comments below!

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Premiere Pro, Adobe is launching Make the Cut, a global editing competition in partnership with Imagine Dragons and featuring a panel of video and entertainment industry luminaries.

The competition grants fans access to uncut footage from the official music video of Imagine Dragons’ hit song “Believer.” Using these clips and Premiere Pro, aspiring video creators can cut their own original version, and the winner can claim a grand prize of $25,000.

Bonus prizes of $1,000 each and a year-long Creative Cloud subscription for four special categories will also be awarded:

• Best Young Creator: The best up and coming editor under 25 years old
• Best Short Form: The most impressive video that’s 30-60 seconds long
• Fan Favorite: The most liked video by fans on the Adobe Creative Cloud YouTube channel
• Most Unexpected: Surprise the judges

One special prize of $2,500, a year-long subscription to Creative Cloud and 25 Adobe Stock credits, will go to the music video with the best use of supplied Adobe Stock clips.

In advance of Bett, Europe’s largest exhibition for technology in education, Adobe today announced the forthcoming release of updated Android applications optimized for select Chromebooks.

School administrators can approve and push Adobe apps on select managed Chromebooks by using the Google Admin console. Schools can expect an additional wave of Adobe apps to be launched later this year.

The family of applications launching in the coming weeks are:

· Photoshop Mix

· Lightroom Mobile

· Illustrator Draw

· Photoshop Sketch

· Adobe Comp CC

· Creative Cloud Mobile

Insights into how teachers and students view creativity were made evident through Adobe’s global study into GEN Z.

As part of major Creative Cloud updates surrounding Adobe MAX, the creativity conference, Adobe released a new exclusive feature for Adobe Spark.

Available today, Creative Cloud subscribers now have the ability to remove all Spark branding from their Spark Post, Spark Page and Spark Video projects that are published from the Spark web app. For a limited time until the end of the year, Adobe is also offering a complimentary sneak peek of this feature to all Spark users as well.

Telling your school’s story is a must for educators in any learning environment. You have the opportunity to share all of the wonderful things happening in your classroom, school and district. Technology tools make it easier than ever to tell your school’s stories.

Last May I shared the fantastic creation tool Adobe Spark. I’m a huge fan of this free platform now available on the web or through individual iOS apps. Teachers, students, anyone, can use Adobe Spark to tell their school’s story. Since you know I love creation tools that are free and easy to use, you can only imagine how excited I am about a tool available for both iPad and Chromebook users.

Adobe Spark is a collection of three creation tools. Spark Page lets you create dynamic sites hosted on the web. Spark Video is a tool to create short movie clips using voice and media. Spark Post is perfect for making posters, flyers, or images to share on school social media platforms.

I want to share with you five ways you can use Adobe Spark to tell your school’s story. These are not the only ways to use Adobe Spark – a terrific option for helping students connect with authentic audiences. I hope you’ll see this list as inspiration for getting started with sharing the great things happening at your school.

1. Use Spark Video to tell the community about a special event coming up at your school. Think of it as a commercial to get families and community members excited about your next school play or concert.
2. Create a Spark Page to show off pictures from a class field trip. You can include quotes from different students and images they snapped using mobile devices during a trip to a local zoo or a nature walk.
3. Design an image in Spark Post to share on school social media platforms like a PTA Facebook page or a principal Twitter feed. This could include a information for a clothing drive, charity car wash, or call for donations.
4. Use any of the Spark tools to spotlight a staff member each month. You might choose to create a Spark Page that includes an interview conducted by a student.
5. Have each class create a Spark Video to document something special they’ve accomplished each month. This could include photos of student work and narration by each student in the class.

Check out Adobe Spark on the web or on iOS.

How could you use Adobe Spark to share school stories? Leave a comment below with your ideas!

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

Adobe has announced the availability of Adobe Post 2.0.

Key new features in Adobe Post 2.0 include:

• Multiple Sizes Support - Start designing for any custom size. T
• Auto Resize - In a single tap, resize graphics to any custom size; text is automatically adjusted.
• Filters Improvements - Multiple taps on the same filter will now give variations.

Adobe Post 2.0 is now available in the App Store.

Other recently updated features in Adobe Post include:

• Line Break Support – Control how text flows and highlight specific words
• Right to left language support – Support added for Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, etc.

For more information, visit the Adobe Post blog here.

Adobe Voice and Adobe Slate are two of my favorite creation tools to share when leading workshops of K-12 teachers. They are both easy to use and very student friendly. Post is the new addition to this trio of powerful Adobe apps. Adobe Post lets users add text to images and create posters straight from their iOS device.

Here are three Adobe Post activities to incorporate in your next lesson:

1) Use Adobe Post to add text to a Primary Source document. Students can create captions or add labels to important parts of the image.

2) Create a meme that corresponds to a persuasive piece of writing. This visual can connect to the main argument or call to action.

3) Make a poster using a quote from a favorite character. Decide what background images, patterns and colors communicate the mood of the quote.

Check out Adobe Post on the Apple App Store!

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

Creation tools empower students to tell their own stories and demonstrate their understanding. I’m a big fan of Adobe Slate which is available on the web and on iOS devices. This powerful tool lets users create their own visual presentations hosted on the web. Students combine images, text, and links and choose from multiple themes.

Adobe Slate creations are connected to a link making it easy to share a final project with teachers, peers, and family. Adobe Slate can be used on the web or through their app for iPads. It’s a free tool that gives students the power to tell stories and show what they know – straight from their mobile device or laptop.

Visit Adobe Slate’s website to learn more!

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

Adobe today announced the introduction of Adobe Captivate Prime, a new self-service Learning Management System (LMS) that allows educators to set up, deliver and track any form of learning.

Features include:

• The new Fluidic Player allows learners to play videos and access PDFs, PPTs, DOCX, SCORM and AICC-compliant packages, without having to download plugins.
• A personal dashboard indicates courses completed or pending, recommended courses, skills attained, badges received and information on activities that can earn them more badges and points.
• The Adobe Captivate Prime app downloads learning content onto a tablet, makes it available for offline access and auto syncs when the learner is back online.
• Organizations can now get actionable insights by tracking all online, offline and certification training taught to their employees or external partners.

Introducing Adobe Captivate 9
Adobe Captivate 9 allows educators and instructional designers to create virtually any kind of eLearning content for both desktops and mobile devices.

Captivate 9 now extends authoring capabilities to mobile devices through the new storyboarding app Adobe Captivate Draft. When used in tandem with Captivate 9, Captivate Draft automates the process of converting ideas into storyboards complete with more complex eLearning elements, such as content and question slides and branching logic.

Courses created in Captivate 9 can be enhanced using SVG graphics or by selecting content from a new library of more than 25,000 exclusive eLearning assets, such as games, interactions, scenarios, characters and more.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Captivate Prime is priced at US$48 per year per registered user and is exclusively available in the English language.

Adobe Captivate 9 is now available worldwide. Updates from Captivate 8 and Captivate 7 (and earlier) are US$499 and US$1099, respectively. Captivate 9 is also available for US$29.99 per month as an annual subscription.

www.adobe.com/ and https://mix.office.com/ • Retail Price: Free

Project-based learning for K-12 students has received a boost with Adobe Voice and Office Mix, two new storytelling applications from Adobe and Microsoft. Both products are available at no charge. Both applets offer rich collections of artwork elements to create and edit a short multimedia-rich project. These tools will help you simplify document sharing by providing cloud space for posting on the Web.

Quality and Effectiveness;: If you already work with PowerPoint, Office Mix provides additional ribbon tools. These new tools enhance presentation delivery with options that make slides interactive by mixing in audio recordings, quizzes, polls, and video clips. Users can record themselves giving the presentation, reposition and resize slide elements, re-record a slide, and write on a slide for emphasis. Office Mix also offers special analytical assessment tools, enabling those who create an Office Mix-enhanced presentation to see who watched the show, determine how well viewers did on the quizzes, and note how long they viewed a particular slide.

Adobe Voice lacks both the interactive and analytic features of Microsoft Office Mix. But story creation is a simple procedure that proceeds without glitches. An uncluttered interface guides users through the process of creating multi-page, multimedia-rich stories. Voice recordings made with the iPad’s built-in microphone and music can be inserted on every page. Users can also add graphic icons, photos, and other artwork for visual impact.

Ease of Use: Working with Adobe Voice is a very intuitive process. Simply launch the app, tap “Create a New Story,” enter a title for the video, and choose a particular story structure (e.g., follow a hero’s journey, teach a lesson, or share a growth moment). This feature also includes a Guided Instruction tutorial to help you get started.

Working with Office Mix is a bit problematic because of the technical hiccups, but it is well worth the effort. If you already know PowerPoint, you won’t find it difficult to explore the new options on the Mix ribbon bar, but adding voice and interactive quizzes to PowerPoint slides is not as intuitive as creating a digital story in Adobe Voice. A few quick trips to the Office Mix online tutorial Web site will prove useful.

Creative Use of Technology: You can create a Mix presentation in the same way as a conventional PowerPoint slideshow, working with both the regular PowerPoint tools and the new tools available on the Office Mix ribbon. Similarly, Adobe Voice V1.1 comes with over 25,000 icons, 100,000 images, and a robust library of music clips and animations.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment: Both Adobe Voice and Office Mix support instruction aligned with the new Common Core standards for communication. Two “anchor standards” for Speaking and Listening in the English Language Arts section specifically address the importance of communication through listening, speaking, and writing.

TOP FEATURES

• Both programs are available at no charge if your school has compatible hardware and software.
• Both tools help students develop presentation and communication skills.
• Users can share content easily with others by posting their work online.

OVERALL RATING: Both Adobe Voice and Office Mix can help strengthen student communication skills, reinforce classroom instruction, and address student interests in engaging ways.

By Carol S. Holzberg

Product: Adobe Voice and Office Mix (http://www.adobe.com/; https://mix.office.com/)

Retail Price: free

Project-based learning for K-12 students received a boost with two new story-telling applications from Adobe and Microsoft. Both products are available at no charge. Adobe Voice can be downloaded from the iTunes store for iPad 2 or later running iOS 7 or higher.

Adobe Voice

Microsoft Office Mix is available as a PowerPoint add-in from Microsoft for any device running Windows 7 or later, Office 2013 (or Office 365). Both applets offer rich collections of artwork elements to create and edit a short multimedia-rich project. Both simplify document sharing by providing cloud space for posting on the Web.

Microsoft Office Mix

Quality and Effectiveness
If you already work with PowerPoint, Office Mix provides additional Ribbon tools (see MixRibbon Tools) to enhance presentation delivery with options that make slides interactive, mixing in audio recordings, quizzes, polls, and video clips to demonstrate a point. Users can record themselves giving the presentation, reposition and resize slide elements, re-record a slide until it’s perfect, and write on a slide for emphasis. Office Mix also offers special analytical assessment tools, enabling those who create a Mix-enhanced presentation to see who watched the show, how well viewers did on the quizzes, and how long they viewed a particular slide.

MixRibbonTools

The Office Mix Add-in is still a beta product with glitches. For example, clicking the Insert Quizzes and Video Apps option on the Mix Ribbon brought up an error messages telling me I could not connect to the App Store Catalog. As a workaround, I had to click Store on the Ribbon’s Insert tab, search for free Quizzes and Polls and download each one individually (see Lab Apps for Office below). Additionally, it’s important to create a blank slide before adding a quiz or poll so as not to cover up content on an existing slide. Finally, during project creation, pressing Continue to advance to the next slide works with all slides except the slide with a quiz or poll. “Continue” is currently supported only when the project is published to Office Mix. If you use Office Mix on a desktop computer, keep a microphone and Webcam ready for voice recording and to insert a picture-in-slide video of the presenter.

Lab Apps for Office

Adobe Voice lacks both the interactive and analytic features of Microsoft Office Mix. But story creation is a simple procedure that proceeds without glitches. An uncluttered interface guides users through the process of creating multi-page multimedia rich stories. Voiced recordings made with the iPad’s built-in microphone and music can be inserted on every page. Users can also add graphic icons, photos, and other artwork for visual impact.

Ease of Use
Teachers can incorporate Adobe Voice and Office Mix into K-12 core curriculum instruction. Schools that have the required hardware and software (iPads and iOS7 for Adobe Voice; Windows 7 or higher with Office 2013 or Office 365 for Office Mix) can download and install either application. You must sign in to the Microsoft Office Mix site with a Microsoft individual or organizational account or a Google or Facebook account before downloading and installing Office Mix. Adobe Voice downloads through the iTunes Store with an Apple ID.

Web tutorials are available for both applets. For Office Mix, visit https://mix.office.com/WatchList/HowTo to learn how to create a basic recording, insert a Multiple Choice, True/False or Free Response quiz (complete with hints and feedback), insert a Multiple Response Poll, upload and share finished presentations, and view quiz analytics. Adobe Voice offers a “getting started” instructional video right in the app on the iPad to explain what the app does and how to make a short video. First-time users of Adobe Voice can also visit Adobe Education Exchange for a Quick Tour and a free workshop.

Working with Adobe Voice is a very intuitive process. Simply launch the app, tap Create a New Story, enter a title for the video (optional), and choose a particular story structure (e.g., follow a hero’s journey, teach a lesson, or share a growth moment). Guided instruction helps you get started. App prompts instruct you to press the Record button to record the first line of your story. Talk for a few seconds, then press Stop. Listen to your recording and re-record, if necessary. Next, select an image or icon for the idea just recorded. If you don’t want to use your own visual you can select one from the many Adobe provides. When you’re ready to move on to the next page, swipe to the left and repeat the process. Select a layout and some music for background, then let the app complete the project, weaving all of your page recordings into a dynamic story for sharing online. Sharing choices include Public or Private, Facebook, Twitter, Email, Message, or Copy Link to share with only the people who know the URL (see below).

Working with Office Mix is a bit problematic because of the technical hiccups, but well worth the effort. If you already know PowerPoint, you won’t find it difficult to explore the new options on the Mix ribbon bar, but Adding voice and interactive quizzes to PowerPoint slides is not as intuitive as creating a digital story in Adobe Voice. A few quick trips to the Office Mix online tutorial Web site will prove useful.

Creative Use of Technology
You can create a Mix presentation the same way as a conventional PowerPoint slideshow, working with both the regular PowerPoint tools and the new tools available on the Office Mix ribbon. Start by selecting a presentation template. Then build the contents, one slide at a time. If you click Insert/Online Images to insert a Web-based image, Microsoft provides access to thousands of clip art images, royalty-free photos and illustrations from Office.Com. Similarly, Adobe Voice V1.1 comes with over 25,000 icons, over 100,000 images, plus a library of music clips and animations. Office Mix lets you add screen recordings and screenshots to a slide. Adobe Voice lets you add screenshots but not screen recordings. Voice also lets you add music selected from program offerings or your own collection. An Office Mix presentation cannot contain music (https://mix.office.com/watch/rp7oqeekhn6y). Both apps let you re-record spoken segments as often as necessary, even after publishing.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment
Both Adobe Voice and Office Mix support instruction aligned with the new Common Core standards for communication (English language arts). Two “anchor standards” for Speaking and Listening specifically address the importance of communication through listening, speaking, and writing:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 (http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/SL/4/)
  Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.5 (http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/SL/5/)
  Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

Adobe Voice and Office Mix can help students develop communication skills through activities that include reading aloud, reporting, presenting, and peer teaching. If you require students to provide feedback on the projects created, they will learn to "adapt their communication in relation to audience, task, purpose, and discipline." Ideas for using these apps with students include explaining the big idea of a primary source document or how to solve a real-world math problem (Jones, http://edex.adobe.com/discussion/64c98463/), recording a lesson for someone absent “flipped” instruction, or individualized learning, introducing rational exponents in Math, teaching about climate change or Ohm’s Law I Physics or promoting a social cause.

When Adobe Voice creates a presentation, it inserts media credits and source citations on the last page of the story. In Microsoft Mix, the person creating the presentation must cite sources manually.

OVERALL RATING
Both Adobe Voice and Office Mix can help strengthen student communication skills, reinforce classroom instruction, and address student interests in engaging ways. Each tool has useful content creation features and each app has tools the other lacks. Adobe Voice has a much more polished look and feel that takes advantage of the iPad microphone and Adobe media to facilitate project creation. Users create multimedia-rich stories with just a few simple taps and clicks. Finished stories with their pictures, voiced recording and music elements save to the Adobe Voice Web site. There are no options to save a story for viewing offline.

Office Mix leverages PowerPoint 2013 or Office 365 and supports the creation of multimedia interactive slideshows. When you upload a finished project to the Web, Microsoft prepares the presentation for video presentation, letting you know if any slides contain an unsupported element. After you fix the problem, Office Mix revalidates the presentation. If there are no further problems it will save your show to the Office Mix cloud. Before uploading users can check a box that directs the program to create a video version for offline viewing in addition to a presentation for online viewing. Like Adobe Voice, Mix users determine if the presentation is public, private, or shared with anyone who has the project’s Web URL.

Top features:

1. Available at no charge if your school has compatible hardware and software.

2. Both tools help students develop presentation and communication skills.

3. Users can share content easily with others by posting their work online.

About the Author: Carol S. Holzberg, PhD, cholzberg@gmail.com (Shutesbury, Massachusetts) is an educational technology specialist and anthropologist who writes for several publications and works as the District Technology Coordinator for the Greenfield Public Schools (Greenfield, Massachusetts). She teaches in the Licensure program at the Collaborative for Educational Services (Northampton, MA) and the School of Education at Capella University. As an experienced online instructor, course designer, and program director, Carol is responsible for developing and offering training programs and support for faculty and staff on technology for teaching and learning. Send comments or queries via email to: cholzberg@gmail.com.

Storytelling is a powerful way to inspire students, build community and give children a voice. There are a few great apps that help students of all ages write and tell their own stories (Shadow Puppet, Toontastic) and a new app that I absolutely love is Adobe Voice. This free iPad app is very user friendly and makes the storytelling process simple for children young and old. Kids can add pictures, text, and even choose from different icons to bring their stories to life. Adobe Voice has an easy recording feature for students to add their voice as narration. There is a music library and a selection of themes for users to pick out and include in their final product.

Adobe Voice lets you email a link to your storytelling video to share publicly or privately. Users will need a log in to share their finished piece and each can be viewed via a web link on any Internet browser.

Here is my first attempt with Adobe Voice – share yours in the comment section below or tweet the link!

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

Adobe has recently released a great app that we can all use for digital storytelling: Adobe Voice, a stunning app to create animated videos.

It’s a very user friendly app that we can use in all grades. You can upload your pictures, or use some pictures from the Adobe gallery on different slides. Then, you record your voice over each slide. As you can listen to yourself on each slide, if you would like to rerecord your voice, it’s the easiest thing to do. Just click on the record button. When you are done, you can preview your video, and then you can share it on different social media tools; also send it in an email.

This app is great for telling stories, doing presentations, creating advertisements or book trailers. Students can upload their own pictures and create their own stories with their own voices. Teachers can put the pictures of a field trip in a minute and create a sideshow to share it with parents.

This app is free and I think it’s been one of the best apps that I have ever used with my kids.

cross-posted at ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org

Özge Karaoğlu is an English teacher and educational consultant in teaching young learners and teaching with web-based technologies. She is the author of Minigon ELT book series, which aims to teach English to young learners through stories. Read more of her ideas about teaching English through technology and Web-based tools at ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org.

Learn the basics of working with Acrobat Pro files by watching this video.

PD Tips courtesy ofAtomic Learning

www.adobe.com Retail Price: $800 (Master Collection for Students and Teachers). Student and teacher editions of individual applications in the Master Collection range from $119 for Acrobat X Pro to $249 for Photoshop CS6 Extended.

Users already familiar with Adobe’s popular CS applications will find some welcome improvements in CS6 Master Collection, including faster launch times for many of the applications and added support for 64-bit processors.

Quality and Effectiveness: CS6 Master Collection, the latest iteration of Adobe’s arsenal of industry-standard digital tools, artfully provides a collection of tightly integrated applications used daily by design, photography, Web, and production professionals around the world. These are the “expert” tools that students should use to craft their many projects. Adobe CS6 Master Collection provides full access to nearly two dozen applications. All but Adobe Flash Builder and Acrobat Pro X have been updated. As with previous iterations of the suite, applications can be tailored to individual user needs.

Ease of Use: Students and educators who have never experienced a CS Master Collection suite likely will feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of available applications, but each Adobe application has extensive Help files accessed from the Help menu.

Creative Use of Technology: In CS6 Master Collection, Adobe recognizes that users are probably creating content for multiple resolutions, aspect ratios, and digital devices. For example, when you create a flyer in InDesign, you can finesse the content at startup by indicating that you’re designing for Web, print, or digital publishing (i.e. iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire/ Nook, or Android 10).

Suitability for Use in a School Environment: Adobe CS6 Master Collection tools are not just for students. Teachers, administrators and staff can use the tightly integrated applications to produce flyers, newsletters, video clips, and photo collections. If teachers or office personnel manage a Web site, they can certainly use Dreamweaver to prepare pages for Web display.

Overall Rating: Whether you’re editing a gallery of photos for a year book, producing a video for a school Web site, or “publishing” a research project for display on multiple devices, several Adobe CS6 tools get high marks for helping you do your best work.

TOP FEATURES

• Integrates industry-standard realworld tools for creative design, video production and Web development.
• Increased support for HTML 5, CSS transitions, and multiple presentation formats.
• Improved support for 64-bit computing and GPU acceleration.

By Carol S. Holzberg

Product Title: Adobe CS6 Master Collection

Vendor: Adobe Corporation, 800.585.0774

Website: www.adobe.com

Retail Price: $800 (Master Collection for Students and Teachers). Student and teacher editions of individual applications in the Master Collection range from $119 for Acrobat X Pro to $249 for Photoshop CS6 Extended.

Student and teacher editions of CS6 bundles also available:

• Adobe Design Standard (combines Photoshop CS6, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, Acrobat X Pro), $349
• Design & Web Premium (combines Photoshop CS6 Extended, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, Dreamweaver CS6, Flash Professional CS6, Fireworks CS6, Acrobat X Pro, Bridge CS6, and Media Encoder CS6), $449
• Production Premium (combines Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, After Effects CS6, Photoshop CS6 Extended, Adobe Audition CS6, SpeedGrade CS6, Prelude CS6, Illustrator CS6 Encore CS6, Flash Professional CS6, Media Encoder CS6, and Bridge CS6), $449.

Volume licenses of all products are available. All Teacher and Student editions are identical to their commercial version counterparts. Creative Cloud membership for students and teachers: $30/month with a one-year commitment.

Users already familiar with Adobe’s popular CS applications will find some welcome improvements in CS6 Master Collection. Faster launch times for many of the applications and added support for 64-bit processors in Illustrator CS6 and Adobe Bridge CS6 are quite noticeable, as are new splash screens for all applications and a more streamlined charcoal-gray user interface in Photoshop CS6, Illustrator CS6, and Production Premium CS6. Old favorites are back, including: Photoshop CS6 Extended, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, Acrobat X Pro, Flash Professional CS6, Flash Builder 4.6 Premium Edition, Dreamweaver CS6, Fireworks CS6, Premiere Pro CS6, After Effects CS6, Adobe Audition CS6, Encore CS6, Bridge CS6, and Media Encoder CS6. Adobe Contribute, Device Central, Flash Catalyst, OnLocation, and Pixel Bender Toolkit have been removed. New additions, other than the 64-bit Bridge CS6 and Illustrator CS6, include Adobe SpeedGrade CS6 for video color work and Adobe Prelude CS6 for post-production work.

While Adobe Acrobat Pro X and Flash Builder 4.6 remain unchanged from CS5.5, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Flash Professional have undergone a refreshing performance boost, thanks to software acceleration provided by the new Mercury Graphics Engine, which Adobe fine-tuned for 64-bit, multicore systems. In keeping with increased popularity of smart phones, eBook readers, and tablets, Adobe has outfitted many CS6 Master Collection programs with features that enable users to repurpose existing digital content for smaller screen personal mobile devices. For example, InDesign CS6 offers alternate layouts and enhanced EPub creation tools. Flash Professional CS6 provides an Adobe AIR Mobile simulation tool for easier content testing on mobile devices. Illustrator CS6 has new document options for iPad and other handhelds (see below). Dreamweaver CS6 enables users to scale Web content to screens of virtually any size and offers direct integration with PhoneGap Build, an open source service solution for creating cross-platform mobile apps using standard HTML 5, JavaScript, or CSS.

Additionally, when Adobe released CS6, it also brought out Creative Cloud. This optional fee-based service gives subscribers full access to the suite of CS6 applications and 20GB of cloud storage for file sharing, collaboration and back up (much like Dropbox, SugarSync, or Microsoft SkyDrive). A subscription to Creative Cloud gives users access to the full complement of CS6 applications, any or all of which can be downloaded to a local computer so there’s no need to worry about applications performing slowly or not being available when needed. Adobe deeply discounts the Creative Cloud service for teachers and students.

Quality and Effectiveness
CS6 Master Collection, the latest iteration of Adobe’s arsenal of digital tools, artfully provides a collection of integrated applications used daily by design, photography, Web and production professionals around the world. These are the “expert” tools that students should use to craft their many projects.

Adobe CS6 Master Collection provides full access to nearly two-dozen applications. All but Adobe Flash Builder and Acrobat Pro X have been updated. Enhancements include performance boosts in Photoshop and Illustrator. Thanks to support for the Mercury Graphics Engine, response times are faster when editing images with Photoshop’s Crop, Puppet Warp, Liquify, Adaptive Wide Angle, and Lighting Effects Gallery tools or when applying special effect Gaussian blur, drop shadows, inner glows, and Bristle Brush strokes in Illustrator CS6.

As with previous iterations of the suite, applications can be tailored to individual user needs. For example, programs let you customize presets for particular projects or preferences. Users who do not like the dark charcoal gray appearance in CS6 versions of Photoshop, Illustrator and Fireworks, can lighten the interface look to approximate the color hue of previous versions.

Ease of Use
Students and educators who have never experienced a CS Master Collection suite likely will feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of available applications. Each one has more than enough features to keep users busy. Even Adobe aficionados should be prepared to spend some time learning how to use new tools and features.

Each Adobe application has extensive Help files accessed from the Help menu. Many Help pages offer links to step-by-step videos for added visual reinforcement. Users can also access free video tutorials from Adobe TV (http://tv.adobe.com/), free year-long project-based Visual Design curriculum (http://edexchange.adobe.com/pages/f7d773471d), Digital Design curriculum (http://edexchange.adobe.com/pages/4cf2e47eca), and Digital Video Production Curriculum (http://edexchange.adobe.com/pages/0189ea5dcf), Adobe Digital School Collection teacher resources (http://edexchange.adobe.com/pages/d4178d15ff), sample video projects (http://edexchange.adobe.com/pages/7b114780ef ), and free tips on Facebook (e.g., http://www.facebook.com/indesign).

Some CS6 programs still have helpful welcome screens (e.g., Dreamweaver, InDesign, Fireworks, and Acrobat Pro X) (see below). These serve as a jumping off point for creating new content or opening existing content specific to the application. Finally, CS6 offers continued support for tight integration among applications. You can easily access your assets using Adobe Bridge from within each application, export paths to Illustrator from Photoshop, edit images in Fireworks or Photoshop directly in Dreamweaver, export Fireworks images directly to Dreamweaver, and more. Plus, application menus tend to have the same look from one application to the next.

Creative Use of Technology
In CS6 Master Collection, Adobe recognizes that users are probably creating content for multiple resolutions, aspect ratios, and digital devices. For example, when you create an advertisement or flyer in InDesign you can finesse the content at startup by indicating that you’re designing for Web, print, or digital publishing (i.e., iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire/Nook, or Android 10”). Alternate InDesign layout options let you create new layouts from an existing layout, and save all layouts together in a single document. With alternative layouts, you can produce one document that looks good in both portrait and landscape modes on a tablet device. Or, you can create the same advertisement or flyer tailored for different page size depending on the publication. Text in all linked alternative layouts automatically updates, when you change text in one layout. This is a real timesaver.

Similar timesavers are built into Dreamweaver. That application has “fluid grid layouts” that make it easier to adapt or repurpose existing content for different device types and screen sizes. Dreamweaver’s Multiscreen Preview gives you a sense of how your document will look when viewed on a variety of devices (see below).

New features in the various applications are so numerous, I can only mention some highlights. For example, with the new Content Aware Move tool in Photoshop CS6, you can select an object in an existing photo and move it a short distance up or down for a different perspective. Photoshop CS6 also has an enhanced Crop tool, a new Blur gallery, two new brush tips for added realism, plus several new settings options that appear after you create a new Shapes layer. Finally, new timesaving Photoshop CS6 Character Styles and Paragraph Styles panels enable users to save and reuse favorite text formatting styles. The 64-bit aware Illustrator CS6 has an enhanced image trace feature allowing users to convert raster images to editable vectors, thanks to the new tracing engine. Illustrator CS6 also features new pattern creation and editing tools and the ability to apply three types of gradients to a stroke.

Finally, speed improvements in several applications include an improved caching system in Adobe After Effects, support for OpenGL graphics (After Effects), better refresh rates in the Property Inspector when switching between objects in a Fireworks image on a Macintosh, improved use of memory on Windows 64-bit computers (also Fireworks), Photoshop’s enhanced speed when issuing processor intensive commands like Liquify, Warp, Puppet Warp, and Crop (as mentioned previously), and Photoshop’s new ability to Save in the background while you work.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment
Students, teachers, and educational administrators who want to use industry-standard software to create content for print, Web, and multiple devices will appreciate the robust collection of professional-quality tools in Adobe CS6 Master Collection. Although it is possible to use some CS6 programs with elementary school age students (I remember a very successful Georgia O’Keefe art project done with first graders and Photoshop’s Liquify tool), CS6 Master Collection applications are better suited to older students (grades 6-12) who can take advantage of the full complement of high-end tools available in the suite. For example, high school students can use Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign to produce class yearbooks in print, digital and ePub formats. If the school has a TV Studio, students can use the Master Collection production applications to capture and edit digital footage.

Adobe CS6 Master Collection tools are not just for students. Teachers, administrators and staff can use the applications to produce flyers, newsletters, video clips, and photo collections. A school or district central office can use Acrobat Pro X to convert materials to PDF format for sharing and document archiving. Or, they can use Acrobat’s Combine Files into a Single PDF to aggregate several stand-alone PDFs for easier distribution. If teachers or office personnel manage a Web site, they can use Dreamweaver to prepare pages for Web display.

OVERALL RATING
As far as expert digital tools are concerned, professionals anywhere in the world would be hard-pressed to create an Adobe-free list. Artists prefer the vector tools available in Illustrator because there’s no loss of design quality regardless of how big or small the illustration gets. We all know how difficult it is to find a published photo that hasn’t been “Photoshopped.” Similarly, there’s no better tool than Acrobat for creating PDF portfolios, online forms, and documents for digital sharing. CS6 Master Collection delivers speedier performance and new features that help users get their work done more efficiently. Whether you’re editing a gallery of photos for a year book, open house event, or school committee presentation, producing a video for a class or school Web site, compiling a host of important documents for sharing, or “publishing” a research project for display on multiple devices, several Adobe CS6 tools get high marks for helping you do your best work.

Top three reasons why this product’s overall features, functionality, and educational value make it a good value for schools.

1. Integrates industry-standard real-world tools for creative design, video production and Web development
2. Increased support for HTML 5, CSS transitions, and multiple presentation formats (e.g., computer, smart phones, and personal mobile iOS and Android devices)
3. Improved support for 64-bit computing and GPU (graphics processing unit) acceleration

Recommended Resources

• Adobe (2012). Adobe Photoshop CS6 Classroom in a Book. Peachpit Press (http://www.peachpit.com), $46.
• Snider, Lisa (2012). Photoshop CS6: The Missing Manual.O’Reilly (http://missingmanuals.com/), $50.

About the Author: Carol S. Holzberg, PhD, cholzberg@gmail.com (Shutesbury, Massachusetts) is an educational technology specialist and anthropologist who writes for several publications and works as the District Technology Coordinator for the Greenfield Public Schools (Greenfield, Massachusetts). She teaches in the Licensure program at the Collaborative for Educational Services (Northampton, MA) and the School of Education at Capella University. As an experienced online instructor, course designer, and program director, Carol is responsible for developing and offering training programs and support for faculty and staff on technology for teaching and learning. Send comments or queries via email to: cholzberg@gmail.com.

Adobe recently released a host of Adobe TouchApps - Photoshop Touch, Ideas, Collage, Debut, Kuler, Proto, and Carousel. Design, edit, and elegantly present your work using six new Adobe® Touch Apps designed for your tablet. Whether you use a stylus or just your fingertip, intuitive touchscreen features provide easy, precise control for a variety of creative tasks. Transfer files through Adobe Creative Cloud for refinement in Adobe Creative Suite® software — or to view, access, and share from almost anywhere.

I have been using Adobe Photoshop Touch for the last couple of weeks on a loaned iPad and a friend has it on his Android tablet. The Photoshop Touch app lets you quickly combine images, apply professional effects, share the results with friends and family through social networking sites like Facebook, and more. If you have used Photoshop, the Touch app will be a breeze for you. If you haven't used Photoshop, don't worry, the Touch app is easy to use, has interactive tutorials, and there are tons of help resources on Adobe's site and for educators on the Adobe Education Exchange, which is a resource site for educators who use Adobe products. Tips, instruction guides, videos, a community of users, lesson examples and much more are all available to help teachers and students using Adobe products.

Adobe's new Creative Cloud/Suite 6 for Students and Educators integrates the Photoshop Touch app so that you can work on your projects seamlessly from mobile to desktop.

The Photoshop Touch app was very easy to learn and get started with. I did use some of the tutorials, and had read a few posts on the education exchange site, but it was very intuitive. Features include layers, effects, filters, tone and edge editing, text, search for images, share images, wireless printing, and much more. The tools are all, literally at your fingertips on the app. Because it's not the full version of Photoshop, it's easier to find the tools that you use the most. It is probably the best image editing app for tablets around and still has all the really important and useful features from the full version of Photoshop. It's easy to bring in an image, edit and manipulate it, and the save it. It's only $9.99, which is super cheap for Photoshop and the Education Volume app store has it for $4.99, which makes it very affordable for education.

I had some fun playing with different pictures I took with the iPad, although the quality of them wasn't great using the iPad's camera, so I also brought in some other pictures and graphics files to play with. It was very easy to clean up images and there is even a gallery of styles and effects that you can look at and then see a step-by-step tutorial on how to achieve those effects.

This is a great app for education. It's inexpensive, easy to use, full featured, and a tool that students should learn to use as it will help them in college and careers.

Here are some screenshots from Adobe's site:

Adobe Announces Creative Cloud/Suite 6 for Students and Educators

Link to Photoshop Touch page on Adobe's site: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-touch.html

Original Announcement of app: Adobe PhotoShop Touch for iPad2 now available

Photoshop Touch for iOS. $9.99

Photoshop Touch for Android. $9.99

DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of the Adobe Photoshop Touch app to do this review. I have been using it, and the Adobe Education Exchange, as part of this review.

Adobe Reader for mobile has an update with some great new features. The new version for iOS and Android lets you sign PDF documents electronically, as well as annotate, comment, and fill out forms. The interface is also updated. You can electronically sign a document by simply drawing your signature with your finger on a touchscreen.

These updates add features that make it easier to go paperless. Signing forms electronically means no more print, scan, email and with the annotation and commenting features, teachers could have students turn in work in PDF form and then comment on it. PDF files are a great way to share files, so this makes them even more useful. Students can create electronic portfolios using Adobe's Digital Schools Collection (exporting as a PDF file) and then the PDF file can be viewed, annotated, and commented on using the mobile device. I can review and comment on their portfolios anywhere.

When you install the app (or update yours) it will open with a PDF document that will walk you through some of the new features and how to use the app.

I'm very excited to be able to do so much more electronically and with my mobile device.

Source:

Official Adobe Acrobat Blog: http://blogs.adobe.com/acrobat/2012/04/adobe-reader.html

Adobe Reader Mobile Page: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader-mobile.html

Related:

Adobe Acrobat Reader for Android

PDF - interesting infographic and lots of resources for using PDF Files

Android for Education Resources - apps, tips, resources, and more

Adobe Digital School Collection addresses 21st Century Skills for students

Cross posted atEducational Technology Guy and viaTwitter. David Andrade is a Physics Teacher and Educational Technology Specialist in Connecticut. He is the author of theEducational Technology Guy blog, where he reviews free educational technology resources for teachers, discusses ways to use technology to improve teaching and learning, and discusses other issues in education.
He is also a professional development trainer and presenter at conferences, helping educators learn new and innovative ways to educate students. He is also a Discovery Education STAR Educator and member of the CT DEN Leadership Council. Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of his employer.

www.adobe.com Retail Price: $99

The latest version of Photoshop elements includes many new photo-enhancing options and guided step-by-step tutorials that automate image editing and processing.

Quality and Effectiveness: Image editing tools in Photoshop elements 10 operate like their counterparts in Photoshop. any photo created or edited by elements 10 can be opened and edited by Photoshop (and vice versa). but Photoshop elements 10 has fewer tools and drop down menus than Photoshop, and its colorful workspace has a friendlier more inviting interface.

Ease of Use: Installation and setup proceed without a hitch. three simple options appear at launch: organize or edit your pictures, or sign in with your adobe id to register and get access to backup and sharing services. both the editor and the organizer user interfaces have an intuitive look. when you open a picture in the editor, three tabbed menus appear at the right: edit, create, and share.

Top Features: Two integrated but separate digitalimage applications work together so that users can easily edit their digital pictures; text on a shape or path, crop guides, new photos effects, and photo-fix tools give users an excellent tool kit; helpful guided edits and video tutorials provide step-by-step instructions.

Overall Rating: adobe elements 10 provides ordinary users with a variety of digital touch-up tools for adjusting a picture, adding a caption, changing a color, and fixing redeye while working in a Photoshop-like environment that’s not overwhelming.

Product: Adobe Photoshop Elements 10

Vendor: Adobe

Website: http://www.adobe.com

Retail Price: Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 & Adobe Premiere Elements 10 Student and Teacher Edition, $119; Adobe Photoshop Elements 10, $99

Every fall, as regular as the pumpkin harvest, Adobe releases an upgrade to Photoshop Elements, its consumer-oriented budget-friendly Photoshop spinoff. Although image-handling features in Elements are not as plentiful as in Adobe’s flagship Photoshop CS 5, the program has more than enough photo manipulation tools to meet the needs of most users. It even supports layers, a feature usually associated with professional quality photo editing. Like earlier versions, Photoshop Elements 10 consists of two separate but inter-connected workspaces, each with its own toolkit. There’s an Editor for creating, enhancing, and fixing images, plus an Organizer for finding, organizing and sharing pictures and albums.

The latest version of Photoshop Elements includes many new photo-enhancing options and guided step-by-step tutorials that automate image editing and processing for classroom projects and homework assignments. An important Elements 10 Editor tool, for example, lets you lay out text on a shape, path or a selected portion of an image. Another improves the Editor’s crop tool by giving you a choice of three visual aid guide overlays (rule of thirds, grid, and golden ratio) to use when cropping. In this year’s upgrade, the Elements 10 Organizer adds several new visual search options including Object Search (see below) and the ability to find photos containing specific items. The updated Organizer also lets you take advantage of tagging already applied to photos of Friends on your Facebook account. While this Facebook feature might be a welcome addition for image and photo album work at home, most schools prevent students from accessing Facebook during school hours, so it’s not an enhancement that will likely see classroom use.

Quality and Effectiveness
Image editing tools in Photoshop Elements 10 operate like their counterparts in Photoshop, a world-class professional digital image-editing standard. The Editor saves files in Photoshop (PSD) format, while supporting several other file types including Photoshop RAW, EPS, TIFF and conventional GIF, JPEG and PNG. Any photo created or edited by Elements 10 can be opened and edited by Photoshop (and vice versa). But Photoshop Elements 10 has fewer tools and drop down menus than Photoshop, and its colorful workspace has a friendlier, more inviting interface (see below).

Ease of Use
Installation and setup proceed without a hitch. You can activate the product with your software license key on hand. If you choose not to activate, you can take advantage of all program features in demo mode for 30 days as you test tools and grow your skills.

Three simple choices present at first launch: Organize or Edit your pictures, or Sign In with your Adobe ID to register and enable backup and sharing services. Users without an Adobe ID are asked to create one at no charge. With this ID you get access to online product support and tutorials, automatic online backup, 2 GB of free “cloud” storage and the option to access your photos from most Web-enabled devices. An auto-sync feature will synchronize your photos on all computers.

Both the Editor and Organizer user interfaces have an intuitive look. When you open a picture in the Editor, three tabbed menus present at the right--Edit, Create, and Share. These tabs will be familiar to users upgrading from an earlier version, but their presentation in this way is also simple enough for new users to appreciate. Choose Edit and three additional options present: Full, Quick, and Guided. Guided Edits, complete with interactive sliders and instant preview, provide helpful illustrated instructions to step you through the process of applying special effect Depth of Field Blurs (see left),LomoandOrtoneffects and more. You can add attention-grabbing scrapbook looks to ordinary group shots using the new Picture Stack Effect to section a photo into as many as 12 parts (each with its own border) framed by a colorful background.

Creative Use of Technology
While each Elements workspace functions independently, a single button click in the Editor takes you directly to the Organizer workspace. Alternatively you can click the Share tab when a picture is open in the Editor and have Elements open the Organizer workspace so you share the image using a service like Flickr or Facebook. In Organizer, users can either use built-in workspace tools for image editing, or select Edit/Edit with Photoshop Elements Editor to make photo adjustments.

When manipulating a photo in the Editor workspace, you can easily adjust lighting, fix colors or use special tools like the Smart Brush to paint on more than 30 new patterns and special effects. There are several Smart Brush tool categories from which to choose, including Nature, Tint, Portrait, Artistic and Photographic. In Organizer there are tools to help you apply keyword tags, search for duplicate images, share images, create a PDF slideshow or online albums and more. The Windows version of Organizer even lets you create a digital slideshow of selected images with Pan & Zoom effects applied to all the slides.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment
Photoshop Elements 10 is suitable for use in classrooms, computer labs, library media centers and office settings. It’s affordable. It works on both Mac and PC computers and it combines picture editing, photo management and image sharing in one tightly integrated package. In addition to importing pictures from digital cameras or image files on the computer, Elements Organizer for Macintosh imports images directly from iPhoto while the Windows version supports importing from TWAIN-compliant scanners.

With Photoshop Elements 10 and its many tutorials, guided edit instructions and task-oriented projects, administrators can easily integrate timely photos in communications sent home to parents or pages posted on the Web. Similarly, teachers can work with digital images altered to support instruction. Students can focus on learning curriculum enhanced with images they’ve photographed or found online instead of using class time to master photo importing and editing.

OVERALL RATING
Elements 10 provides ordinary users with a variety of digital touch up tools to adjust a picture, add a caption, change a color, and fix some red eye while working in a Photoshop-like workspace without being overwhelmed. The latest version adds several new features and enhancements, including adding text on a line, painting special effects on designated areas of a photo, and management tools for organizing photo sets, tagging, finding duplicate photos and creating online photo albums. As with earlier versions, changes are incremental rather than overwhelming. If you don’t already have a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements for image editing and organization, it’s a worthwhile investment. If you own a copy of Elements 9, the new Elements 10 Text on a Shape tool enabling users to flow text on a rectangle, ellipse, polygon, heart, speech bubble or other shape is sufficient reason to upgrade.

Top three reasons why this product’s overall features, functionality, and educational value make it a good value for schools.

1. Two integrated but separate digital image applications work together so that users can easily edit their digital pictures in a Photoshop compatible workspace and manage their digital image collections with powerful organizing and photo sharing tools.
2. Text on a shape or path, crop guides, new photos effects and photo fix tools give users a high-quality toolkit to alter or enhance any digital image.
3. Helpful guided edits and video tutorials provide step-by-step instructions to show users how to work with program tools.

About the Author: Carol S. Holzberg, PhD, cholzberg@gmail.com (Shutesbury, Massachusetts) is an educational technology specialist and anthropologist who writes for several publications and works as the District Technology Coordinator for the Greenfield Public Schools (Greenfield, Massachusetts). She teaches in the Licensure program at the Collaborative for Educational Services (Northampton, MA) and the School of Education at Capella University. As an experienced online instructor, course designer, and program director, Carol is responsible for developing and offering training programs and support for faculty and staff on technology for teaching and learning. Send comments or queries via email to: cholzberg@gmail.com.

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