High school students in Utah are invited to submit innovative business ideas to the High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge for a chance to win $20,000 in cash and scholarship prizes. [Read more…] about Now Registering: High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge
Student Resources
Now Registering: Code to Success Summer Coding Camp
Granite School District is once again hosting Code to Success in the summer of 2018! This is an absolutely free summer coding camp open to all junior high and high school students in Granite School District. [Read more…] about Now Registering: Code to Success Summer Coding Camp
Technology Tip: Greenscreen Videos With Chromebooks and WeVideo
Why write a report on the Great Wall of China or the Egyptian Pyramids when you can be there as a news reporter telling about it?
You can do that with the magic of green screen video effects! Meteorologists use green screen effects when reporting on the weather. You and your students can create green screen videos using a few simple things.
Items Needed
- A green bed sheet, fabric or thin blanket will work for the green screen (most any solid color you won’t be wearing will also work)
- Chromebook or other computer
- Any device you can record video with such as a smartphone, iPod, iPad, digital camera or other tablet
- WeVideo App for Chrome
- Optional: keepvid.com is a free and easy web tool if you want to convert Youtube videos to .mp4 to add ready made special effects into your videos
Process
- Hang your green screen background in a place where you want to film (even lighting is best where it won’t cast shadows)
- Set up your device to record your video in front of the green screen or have someone do the recording (I set the iPad on a chair in front of me to record)
- Record your video and then load it by USB onto your Chromebook or computer. I used a Chromebook and loaded it into my Google Drive.
- Use the WeVideo app or website to edit your video (see tutorial)
- You can add other background pictures or videos to create special effects. The dinosaur and scenery were two that I found on Youtube.
- You can use keepvid to convert Youtube videos to .mp4 files that work in WeVideo
- Render the video when your editing is complete. I uploaded the final movie to Youtube to easily share it on this web page.
Other
- There is also an iPad app called do ink that can be used to create green screen videos.
Tutorials
Post created by Teresa Bruin, district educational technology specialist and team leader, originally appearing in our November 2017 Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter for Teachers.
2017 Computer Science Education Week and Hour of Code Coming Soon
Computer Science Education Week is December 4-10, 2017. Many schools, educators, and students participate in an Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week.
Hour of Code
Last year, students at Farnsworth Elementary and Woodstock Elementary tried out computer programming by participating in Hour of Code activities. In the video above, a few of these students share their work and their thoughts about the coding activities with Joell Wilkins, school technology specialist.
Hour of Code is a worldwide initiative to introduce young people to the basics of coding and computer science through 1-hour coding activities. These activities are especially promoted during Computer Science Education Week, but can be done at any time throughout the year. If you are interested in hosting an Hour of Code event, these how-to guides provide assistance for activities ranging from school-wide events to at-home family coding activities.
Check out these awesome Pleasant Green Elementary students learning to code during their Coding Club. Thanks to Jayanne Unander, school technology specialist, for sharing!
@PleasantGreenEl Code club #kidswhocode #girlswhocode @junander #GSDEdTech #code.orgexpress pic.twitter.com/WMpd4YaXPO
— junander (@junander) October 23, 2017
If you host a coding activity please share it with us! You can leave a comment below or share pictures via social media including Twitter or Instagram, using the hashtags #gsdedtech and #HourOfCode.
About Computer Science Education Week
Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) is an annual program dedicated to inspiring K-12 students to take interest in computer science.
Originally conceived by the Computing in the Core coalition, Code.org® organizes CSEdWeek as a grassroots campaign supported by 350 partners and 100,000 educators worldwide.
CSEdWeek is held in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906).
–from “About CSEdWeek” (https://csedweek.org/about)
Why Learn to Code?
See what the developers of Microsoft, Dropbox, Twitter, Facebook and others have to say about learning to code.
Post created by Teresa Bruin, district educational technology specialist and team leader. originally appearing in our November 2017 Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter for Teachers. Hour of Code spotlight video created by Joell Wilkins, school technology specialist at Farnsworth Elementary and Woodstock Elementary, and originally featured on this blog last year.
Featured Resource: AutoDraw
AutoDraw is a drawing tool that determines what you are drawing and offers image enhancement suggestions from a library of simple illustrations. With AutoDraw you can quickly create a polished-looking visual from rough sketches.
Created by Google Creative Lab and hosted in the Chrome Experiments collection, AutoDraw is web-based and can be used from any modern computer web browser, Chromebook, phone or tablet.
Students can use AutoDraw to illustrate a story or create a diagram. There are some additional built-in features to add color and detail to your selected drawings. When your drawing is complete, there are options to download it, email it, or get a unique URL for it that can be shared.
Give it a try! It’s lots of fun.
Post created by Teresa Bruin, District Educational Technology Specialist. This post originally appeared as the monthly Website Gem in our August-September 2017 Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter for Teachers.
Featured Resources: Easy Links for Elementary Students
Elementary students using Chromebooks in Granite School District now have easy access to many excellent web sites and digital tools curated on the GSD Ed Tech K-2 Links and GSD Ed Tech 3-6 Links web sites. [Read more…] about Featured Resources: Easy Links for Elementary Students
Summer Reading and Learning 2017
Looking for great resources for summer reading and summer learning? In this post we round up programs and resources from Granite School District, our friends at the Salt Lake County Library and Salt Lake City Public Library systems, and other resources from the web in general. [Read more…] about Summer Reading and Learning 2017
Featured Resource: Lynda.com (via Salt Lake County Library System)
Lynda.com is an online learning platform with a library of over 5,000 courses on skills in business, software, technology, and design. [Read more…] about Featured Resource: Lynda.com (via Salt Lake County Library System)
Hour of Code at Farnsworth Elementary and Woodstock Elementary
Students at Farnsworth Elementary and Woodstock Elementary recently tried out computer programming by participating in Hour of Code activities. In this video a few of these students share their work and their thoughts about the coding activities with Joell Wilkins, school technology specialist.
Hour of Code is a worldwide initiative to introduce young people to the basics of coding and computer science through 1-hour coding activities. These activities are especially promoted during Computer Science Education Week (December 5-11, 2016) but can be done at any time throughout the year. If you are interested in hosting an Hour of Code event, these how-to guides provide assistance for activities ranging from school-wide events to at-home family coding activities.
Because of the overwhelming variety of beginning coding activities available at Code.org, Ms. Wilkins selected a few of the activities and curated them in a clickable slideshow for her students, from which they could choose a grade appropriate activity.
If you host a coding activity please share it with us! You can leave a comment below or share pictures via social media including Twitter or Instagram, using the hashtags #gsdedtech and #HourOfCode.
Spotlight video created by Joell Wilkins, School Technology Specialist at Farnsworth Elementary and Woodstock Elementary.
Featured Resource: Canva
Canva is a free and easy online graphic design tool. Teachers and students can use Canva to design images and infographics for posters, presentations, websites, social media posts, documents, and any other print or digital place that would look better with an image. [Read more…] about Featured Resource: Canva
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