Google Acounts, Picasa and Uploading

You were all given a handout. Using this, you logged on to our Webjam. You created a new Google Account. You then confirmed this by clicking a link in your email.

It was then time to work with Picasa. You inserted a CD. The computer opens a new window. You will have seen the option - Copy Pictures to Your Computer and View Them with Picasa
Clicking this opens a Picasa import window. After a few seconds, all the photos appear. You can do a quick scan of your photos at this stage. You clicked Import All.

A new folder type window appears, showing thumbnails of the photos you imported. Double-click any photo and it opens it in the Picasa photo editor. Here you can edit the pictures, by cropping, straightening, red-eye removal and many more.

Finally, we uploaded the photos to our own Web Album. You have 1gb (gigabyte) of space for your photos. They can be listed in Public Album (everyone can see), Unlisted Albums (only people you invite can see) or by Sign-in (only registered users you choose can see).

You finished by submitting your feedback. Thanks gang.

Sam

Some technical problems

Sorry for the Bluetooth problems during class. We were trying to connect your mobiles to the computers. Only the Dell computers have Bluetooth. This slowed things at the beginning.

We went on to use Picasa. You can download this at home for free. We made some small edits to a few photos. We Cropped (to use only part of a photo), Straightened, Red-Eye, Added Text and worked on Fill Light. These are basic changes you can make.

Next week, bring in the cable for connecting your phone to the computer, please.

Using our Mobiles to the Max

What we did:

We showed web tools that you can use in class or at home. From here - www.webjam.com/digilight .

• You have an email address (click here to go there now).
  The Username, is 1st name (e.g. miriam) + 1st letter of 2nd name (g for gleeson) = miriamg@digitalhublearning.com - you made your own password or else it is still password321. Email me if you need the password changed.
  
  
• Calendar - what and when is class. We setup our mobiles for notifications. Click here to find out how to do this.
  
  
• Online Learning Zone - an online classroom. You can post comments, find links to stuff and loads more.
  
  
• The Learning Blog (here) - where I write up what we do in class. You also can write if you wish.

We walked around the block to take photos. Lookinf for our favourite colour.

We finished off by filling in the Feedback form.

7 said Yes - they enjoyed the class
7 said Yes - coming in next week.

6 out of 7 - enjoyed taking the photos.
1 - liked working on the laptops more.
1 - person found the class a little fast

Work for next week
Find or take 10 photos
- theme/idea of "Time With Your Friends".

Thank You. Comment below.

Getting Started

Well done on completing your first class. It was great to have such a good turnout. It was really enjoyable to teach you as a group. You were all very positive and gave great input. Here is an outline of what we did and what we have agreed to do.

We started by looking out how you might like the class to work over the upcoming months. We put it out to you, what did you think were the important things that are needed to make it work. You came up with the following words:

Calm, Patience, Punctual, Generous, Fun, Respect, Helpful, Quiet and Listen to Each Other.

After this we discussed the idea of creating a theme for the overall project over the next 6 months. This will be divided into 4 separate 5 week sessions , with a week break in between each one. The first session is to be around Photography and Imagery, the 2nd is Ringtones & Audio, the 3rd is about creating a Photostory with images and sounds and the final session will be Online Publishing in creating your own website that ties all the work you've done over the 6 months. This will be something you own and can continue to work on after you've left Elevate and the DigiLight project.

We brainstormed an idea and these are the ideas you came up with. We broke these down in to 6 categories and from this we got you to vote on which category you'd like to do the project on. It was decided, with a winning 10 votes that the project was to be around Socialising and Going Out. Family came in with a close 2nd with 6 votes and Community came in third with 5 votes.

You all went for break and when you came back we took photos of you to use as profile pics for you. These you can then use on the web. Our final part of the class was about logging into your new email addresses. I need to apologise at this stage. There were some issues with speed and this is were people got a little lost and annoyed. It was my fault in not being more clear about that the web address you need to go to was http://webmail.digitalhublearning.com - when you got here you log in with your username. For all of you, that is you first name, with the first letter of your surname e.g. my login for Sam Lyons is "saml" - the password on first login is "password321". You are then asked to change you password. You must type this in twice, to make sure you haven't made a mistake. You are then asked to type in a Captcha (an image of a blurred word) and then you must click "I agree" at the bottom of the page.

That was all we had time for. Thanks to Jennifer for being the Time Lord during class. She did a brilliant job. Sorry for keeping you in a bit late. I'll do my best to get you back by letting you out 5 mins early next week.

Oh, I nearly forgot, we asked you to do a project for next week. You were asked your favourite colour and to take a minimum of 5 photos. These are to have your colour and have something to do with your theme - Socialising & Going Out in them. An example of this for me might be the following photo - my fav colour is Purple. This one def has purple in it and its from the inside of a nightclub. Get the idea?


See ya soon. Add a comment to this post if you wish.

Sam