Weekly Report & Reflection Post #10

Welcome Back!

This week was an interesting week as we were introduced to Animoto and Creative Commons which I utilized to create a slideshow on the importance of copyright. Both of these tools are pertinent to copyright as Animoto is a presentation tool which allows you to remix templates others have created and Creative Commons is a search engine which finds images, media, music, and web items that are copyright free which means you can use them for your own use.

Retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/24/animoto-enterprise/

When exploring these tools I noticed just how many different variations there are for slideshows and presentation tools that can be utilized in the classroom for a myriad of reasons. With last week looking at VoiceThread and this week looking at Animoto, PhotoPeach, and Fotobabble I have learnt of these valuable tools that I can incorporate into my educational activities and how each of them have different aspects within them that makes them unique. With VoiceThread allowing you or viewers/contributors to add slides and comment on them (in video!) and Animoto having video templates that allows you slideshow to be video-like and visual appealing, each tool can be used for different reasons in different settings. 

After using Animoto and creating my slideshow, I had a better understanding of Animoto and how and when to use it. For myself educationally, I would utilize Animoto as an introduction to lead in to my topic of discussion for seminars or presentations. With it being a visually appealing tool, it catches the attention of the audience and creates interest in your presentation. I watched my own slideshow six different times just because of how unique the tool is! (and for how awesome my slideshow was of course). Creative Commons goes hand in hand with Animoto and is an additional tool I will make use of. It allows you to search Youtube, Google, Flickr and more for copyright free images, videos, music and more. With the education system being extremely stringent on plagiarism and copyright, this website saves the hassle of checking for copyright and presents you images you can quickly cite and use. This is something all student will benefit from and is something that should be pushed by faculty. 

Retrieved from: http://www.spring.org.uk/2016/03/study-tests-if-smartphones-may-be-making-us-depressed-and-anxious.php

To conclude this week, once again from my Feedly I wanted to share an article in light of spring and summer being just around the corner. The article is titled Study Tests if Smartphones May Be Making Us Depressed and Anxious and examines how individuals have elevated levels of anxiety and depression when being highly engaged or addicted to their phones. This is becoming a pervasive and predominant issue in our society and the cure is leaving the technology inside and getting out of the house. With the beautiful weather coming in, it is time for everyone to enjoy the fresh air and for me to finish this blog and get outside! Have a great day.

Cheers

Jason Wilson