Photo editing using on-line softwares

This week's assignment is about design and photo editing. I usually use Photoshop for my editing or Picasa if I just want to do some quick adjustments. But for this assignment I get to review some on-line editing tools. We are to find two Creative Commons licenced photos on the internet and use on-line editing tools to make some simple changes. I chose Picnik and Sumo Paint.

The first image I am using isDon't ya think pigs can fly by be_khe on Flickr.

Love me, don't eat me. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.flickr.com

I used Picnik for this photo and applied the following steps:
1. Crop
2. Increased exposure and slightly decreased contrast
3. Applied Soften and Matte filters.
4. Applied text and Drop shadow for frame

Review: Picnik is free to use and very nice and simple for quick edits. If you pay for premium version you get access to additional filters and tools such as curves and levels but it's not really necessary. The nice thing with Picnik is that it integrates with several photo sharing or social networking sites such as Flickr, Picasa Web Album, Myspace, Facebook, etc. Picnik is great if you have a lot of images to edit for a slideshow presentation.

For the second image I chose one of my own image on Flickr

Spring is Here! by Lawrence Wong is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

I used Sumo Paint - claimed to be the "Web's Best Image Editor - Hands Down!"
1. Duplicated the image on a second layer
2. Desaturated the bottom layer
3. Erased the leaves from the top colour layer so the only colour left is on the flower.
4. Drew the bee and added text; added outer glow and stroke effects to the text.

Review: Sumo Paint is indeed powerful. It's a web based app that opens into a new browser window and has many tools offered by Photoshop. The interface is instantly familiar to Photoshop users. It's very flexible, allowing multiple layers, effects, brush shapes, and tools pallete very similar to the one in Photoshop. It does have some quirks, especially when choosing colours. Because it's a web based app, sometimes it's not as responsive.

CBC News - Consumer Life - The future of education: reboot required

CBC News - Consumer Life - The future of education: reboot required
This article seems appropriate after today's computer class which dealt with the use of social network technologies in the classroom. The article is an interview with Don Tapscott and a discussion on how the education system needs to change to be more student focused, engaging, collaborative, and adapting to the learning style of the multi-tasking net generation.

So far in my studies it has been emphasized repeatedly that teaching is about engaging students, encourage critical thinking, etc, etc, etc. I'm sure this has been taught in pedagogy courses for many years yet we still have teachers who lapse into lecture style of non-interactive teaching. Why is that? Is it because it's easier and takes less effort? How does technology fit into this? I'm a tech savvy person yet I sometimes still feel overwhelmed by technology because it brings in so much more information and I have to spend more time to filter through those extra information!

A Discussion on Educational Games

This weekend I participated in OrcaJam, a game development jam session where local independent developers gather and have 48 hours to work on whatever project they want to work on.

During a dinner discussion, I raised the topic of educational games and there was a consensus that most of them aren't fun. That is, many educational games that we've played lack creativity, variety, strategy, and replayability - qualities that bring players back for more. The only educational game that I have had a lot of fun with is Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Admittedly, I'm not familiar with the educational games scene so there might be gems out there that I just don't know about. So, please, if you know of an educational game that you've enjoyed please post it in the comment below!

Having never developed an educational game before, I can only guess at the challenges that make the games less fun than they could be. Perhaps there were more focus on the education aspect rather than the fun factor aspect; perhaps the institutions that provide the funding put limitations on the developers; perhaps there weren't enough funding and time to make the game both educational and fun.

In the mean time, I'll go and play SimCity and Civilizations - very fun games that are not educational in nature but have great inherent educational values.

Update: Melissa's blog post brought my attention to a Canadian history game project based on the Civilizations game that Queen's University has been working on. The first chapter of a planned three-chapter series is complete and is available for free at The History Game Canada website. The site begins with an entertaining short video introducing the history of Canada in early 1500's. The game covers the New France period of 1525 to 1763 and the player may choose to play as Ojibwe, Huron, Mohawk, Algonquin, Montagnais, Mi'kmaq, Abenaki, France, or England. The game is essentially Civilizations III, but with Canadian content! Thanks Melissa for the tip!

First Post

A new semester - a new blog. This is the beginning of my education blog as I embark on an exciting new journey of learning to become a teacher.

First, a little about myself: My name is Lawrence Wong and I am a vegetarian-gardener-photographer-gamer-educator. How's that for a hyphenated label? I have a Bachelor of Arts degree focusing in Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Victoria. I have lived in Japan as a participant of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, dabbled in the video game industry as a digital artist, and even worked as a landscaper. Now, I am enrolled in the Post Degree Professional Program in secondary social studies education at UVic. The decision to go into teaching social studies arose from my concern for the current state of the world and the environment. Through social studies I hope to engage students in thinking about how their actions and way of life affect the environment around them.

Because of my backgrounds in cultural studies and geeky hobbies, I am especially interested in the use of technology, mass media, pop culture, and games in education. I would also like to use gardening as a tool to teach about the environment and food security.

So, I hope you will join me on my journey;drop in from time to time and share with me your ideas and wisdom.

It's fascinating the way the camera captures both a sense of space and time