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New job title: Tech Integration Specialist

As many of my Concordian fellows know, I have come to a juncture in my road of education. I will be leaving Thailand in order to move on to Turkey. Doing so, I will also change job positions from a technology teacher for grades 6-10 in the MYP to a technology integration specialist for PYP.I look forward to the challenges it will bring working more closely with colleagues and getting back to the PYP.

One of my first jobs will be to gain to knowledge of many of the teachers I am working with right now. I will send out a survey to see what kinds of things technologies they are implementing in their classrooms now.

I will also talk with people from my ISTEC group here in Thailand, possibly leading me to talking with other integration specialists from NIST and other schools.

A subsequent approach to formative learning in my new school will be to do the same with my new colleagues. I am planning that it will prove positive in order to help guide my own working experience for the integration.

Ask an expert about photography

15 Dec

The other day I had the privilege to sit in an after school activity with Aloha Lavina about photography. It was an enlightening experience as she is a professional photographer and had a lot of immediate tips for a beginning photographer. Some of them I would like to share with you, plus add a few of my own.

Tip 1. Holding a camera:

Use your right hand to hold the right hand side of the camera. Use your index finger to press and release the shutter button.
The positioning of your left hand will sit underneath the camera or under/around a lens if you have a DSLR.
Tuck your elbows into your sides.
Have the camera close to your body if using the viewfinder which will add extra stability. If you’re using the LCD make sure you don’t hold your camera too far away from you.
Add extra stability by leaning against a solid object like a wall or a tree or by sitting or kneeling down.

Tip 2. Breath properly:

Before you take your shot take a gentle but deep breath, hold it, then take the shot and exhale. This is the most relaxed moment we can get and therefore also the steadiest.

Tip 3. Rules of Thirds:

Stop placing your subject matter directly into the center of the photo.
Place them in: top-right, bottom right, top-left or bottom-left corners.
See this website for more details.

Tip 4. Macros vs Landscape:

The macro setting is for super-close-up photos. The depth of field is narrow, which means that most things that are not directly focused upon will be out of focus.
The landscape setting will allow for total focus of everything within view.

Tip 5. Get in close:

For a close-up, get in close, and then get in a little closer again to your subject. You don’t need to be on macro settings, but beware of the focus and the composition.

Tip 6. Choose a different Angle:

Try shooting from an angle you wouldn’t normally shoot from. Get down on the ground for a worm’s eye-view or try standing on a chair to look down at the subject. The stand-point-and-shoot shot is very boring for the viewer.

Tip 7. Always put someone in the photo when traveling:

Unless the shots are meant to be printed out in large format for artistic purposes, put someone into the photos for reflection later. Most photos are less interesting for the audience when they are an assortment of nothing but landscape or cityscape shots. You and your friends as subjects make it more fun for everyone.

Tip 8: Using a Flash:

Distance? Don’t use a flash from more than 10-15 ft away from the subject.
Windows? Don’t use a flash. Be as steady as possible, ideally with a tripod to avoid camera shake.

Tip 9, 10, 11 and more: See this website for more tips about composition, panning, night and winter photography, lighting and other stuff.

Choosing a camera is another blog entry I talk about since many people ask me about it.

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Posted by Dr. Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org on December 15, 2010 in Design, Education

Tags: Education, Photography

Students are resources. Here are some reasons why.

07 Nov

To help develop this website and also to tap into the expertise and know-how of students, I asked them to view the site in progress in order to comment, blog, and make additions. I set up the class with a Microsoft One-Note* document available for all students to have access to. I created a few headings. In this case: good blogs, cool links, neat videos, music and games, and then let them to it.

I started with my grade 7 class and I think they had a lot of fun with the assignment. In doing this, I found out more about where they were coming from and they also found out a lot of cool things about their peers.

I feel the project worked so well I will have to try it out with other grades.

*One-Note is an excellent collaboration tool because it can be linked through a common server or LAN thus enabling multiple users to write and create on the same document simultaneously.

How to choose a camera

02 Sep

Being a tech teacher allots a considerable amount of questions when it comes to buying electronics. “Which computer to buy? Which external hard drive? Which phone? etc.” I neither profess nor even hint to the fact that I am not an expert on the latest gadgets available on the market at the time. However, I will always sit down with the person and have a good look at what the new and improved versions are of whichever gadget he or she is interested in. One of the questions I get asked a lot is, “Which camera should I buy?” In this article I am not going to mention any brand names and definitely not any models, but I will talk about some things that you might want to consider.

Think about how you want to use it? For example, do you want it at the ready all the time? If this is a factor, I would consider getting something small, that fits in your pocket and is probably a part of some phone or other multipurpose electronic equipment? Most phones these days have a pretty good built in camera with a high enough resolution to make the average user happy.
Are you serious about photography? If this is a primary concern then you will want to consider a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflect) camera with interchangeable lenses.
Most cameras on the market these days will take a fairly good photograph. It is only if you want to blow pictures up beyond an 8.5×11 that you need to start concerning yourself with how many megapixels the camera is.
Find one that suits your needs: underwater, stylish, durable, small, usb connection, etc. There are so many choices and there are many new things that cameras can do like red-eye flash, panorama shots, 3d photographs, geo-tracking, and more that you need to figure out what concerns you the most and then prioritize. Good websites to compare would be: