Introduction to Digital Media

Summary

Introduction to Digital Media was a hands-on course to develop skills using visual image, auditory, video applications. The final project required the creation of a portfolio that presented the projects and explain how the digital images, audio files and video files were edited.

Artifact

Digital Media Project Portfolio

Process

The final project of Introduction to Digital media required the development of an online portfolio to showcase the digital media projects we completed thoughout the semester.

Part One of the Digital Imaging project involved working with images to create a banner and an icon from images provided. We selected a background image and two images to use in the foreground from images provided by the instructor. The assignment required masking of both foreground images overlap and that they overlap. Another requirement was to use the gradient tool on one of the foreground images to create a transparency. Text was required and the final banner required a measurement 1000 by 400 pixels.

The icon was created using a portion of the banner. It had to measure 100 by 100 pixels, could only be 3 distinct colors and saved as a .gif or .png. Saving the image in this way allow for transparency so the icon could be place on a another image without concealing the background.

Part Two of the Digital Imaging assignment involved working with images that were self-generated and uploaded to the computer. The final image had to demonstrate the use of four techniques. In addition to cropping, masking and adding text, the spot healing brush and the content aware move tools were used to create the final image. The original image, the image as it was being created, and the final image can be seen below.

This video project was designed to use with a US Civics course. The audio file will be used in a module focusing on the executive branch of the federal. The process to complete the audio project required downloading Audacity and Lame software. After searching Creative Commons for "Hail to the Chief," the music was recorded on one of the mono channels. I wrote a script and recorded the voice on a second mono channel. Some steps used to achieve the final product included, removing silent pauses, removing music beyond the voice track. The project required fading out the music and adding sound effect. The 2 mono channels were then merged to produce a stereo track. The file was saved using a MP3 format.

The video project was one I enjoyed the most and required several steps to achieve the final product. First, a storyboard for the project to ensure a variety of shots in the final product. Video recording was done over several days and included more than enough video to use in the final product. When of the video files were uploaded into iMovie, I began cutting the lengths of various videos to make the final video less than 60 seconds. The project also required one cut, one transition, an opening title and closing credits. The project was shared with YouTube and saved as with a .MP4 tag.

Reflection

This course was fun; it required a lot of creativity. But in addition to the creative components, we studied copyright law and Fair Use standards. This was important because of the ease in which copyrighted digital files can be easily copied and distributed. Understanding and abiding by these standards are essential digital citizenship skills that most states require in their technology curriculum.

While the skills of digital media creation, manipulation, and editing are fundamental in the design of online and traditional products, I realized it is even more important to use these skills to provide accessibility to students with diverse learning needs. Additionally, teaching these skills to students can transform the types of learning assessments assigned by teachers. Flexibility in the ways in which students provide evidence in their learning follow the principals of Universal Design for Learning. This is especially evident in the Recognition Network in which perception; the ways to display information, the use of auditory information, and the use of visual information are adapted to the needs of the learner. In short, teaching these skills to students would allow them to disseminate what they have learned in the same format in which they learn best.

So, became not just a class in which I developed digital media skills and how to use them in instructional design, it became a template for the way I hope to teach these same skills to my students.