HyperStudio
Roger Wagner
Publishing Inc.
Reviewed by
Kate Vanderhorst and Rod Rychliski
The new
generation of computers being introduced for
education is placing the power of computer-based
multimedia design into the hands of students,
teachers and administrators. It gives us the
potential to blend text, graphics, animation, video,
and sound into high-impact, interactive
presentations.
But there are a
limited number of classroom teachers who have a
multimedia background, leaving many curriculum
applications to be investigated.
The Ministry of
Education and Training is currently negotiating a
license for HyperStudio. This licensing will
open the door for all educators to introduce the
skills of multimedia into the classroom.
Roger Wagner, a
former classroom teacher, developed this multimedia
writing tool. He recognized that electronic
technology for writing is as essential a skill as
writing with pen and paper. These are students’
tools for the future as we move toward the next
century. HyperStudio was designed for the real
classroom, where students learn by doing. HyperStudio
is a multimedia authoring tool that lets one quickly
and effortlessly incorporate graphics, video,
animation and text in a project that may have
traditionally been created with pen and paper.
With this
software, students can access data on the Internet.
QuickTime movies can be easily created and edited. It
provides direct camera access for QuickTake, Kodak
DC-40 and video cameras. The software imports
virtually all file formats such as PICT, TIFF, EPS,
or JPEG, and it’s PC and Mac compatible.
An attractive
feature of HyperStudio is the "student use
home" disks that are provided with a
multiple-user license. Students can use these disks
for both PC and Mac platforms to work on projects at
home.
HyperStudio
doesn’t require the use of elaborate hardware.
Students can create dazzling projects on the most
basic machine. The software is minimalist and the
language is not technical, so teachers and students
can spend time using the program, rather than trying
to figure it out.
The advantage
of using HyperStudio in the classroom is that it
gives students the opportunity to become engaged
learners who have acquired authentic knowledge
because they have been actively involved in the
design, planning, creation and production of their
work. The traditional skills of reading, writing,
listening, viewing, and speaking can be seamlessly
interwoven throughout the school day with the use of
this exciting software.
Kate
Vanderhorst and Rod Rychliski teach Grades 4 and 1
respectively with Waterloo County Board of Education.
They incorporate computer technology into their
programs by instructing students, parents and
teachers in the use of multimedia. They were awarded
the 1997 ECOO (Educational Computing Organization of
Ontario) Award for their outstanding contributions in
promoting the integration of computers into the
classroom. Kate and Rod present workshops and
computer camps for school boards across Ontario. They
can be contacted by e-mail at kandr@hyperpeople.com . Visit their
website at www.hyperpeople.com.
| KidPix Broderbund
Software Inc.
Distributed by Core Curriculum
Technologies/Software Plus
|
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Reviewed
by Lilli Kenna
The new KidPix
software package licensed by the Ministry of
Education and Training is a fabulous paint program
for children of all ages. They love using it.
Children
quickly become comfortable with the KidPix toolbox Ð
which is always present on the screen - and enjoy
exploring the possibilities of the different tools.
Because the
tools are graphic, no reading is required for younger
children. KidPix is ready to use right away, and
children enjoy the many sound effects that go along
with the various tools.
KidPix allows
children to create their own pictures using the
toolbox or to alter pictures provided by the program.
They may choose to draw with the pencil that has
variable lead widths or to use the circle or the
rectangle tool. There is also an extensive colour
palette to choose from.
Students can
choose from three different sets of stamps. The stamp
editor allows them to change a stamp or to create
their own and teaches pixel editing, which may come
in handy with other programs.
The paint brush
paints rainbows, dice, trees, and much more. The
paint can fills in spaces with anything from a solid
colour to a texture or even flowered wallpaper. The
mixer allows users to add interesting effects - even
to animate.
KidPix allows
you to import other graphics or text done in
ClarisWorks Draw. You can import pictures taken with
a Quick Take camera. Once in KidPix, the children can
use the toolbox to alter the pictures by adding
features or changing the background. Imagine the fun
of changing a Quick Take picture of your face into an
endangered species!
KidPix allows
you to create slideshows. It is so easy! You can use
saved pictures, the wacky movies that come with the
program or even import Quicktime movies made with a
Quick Cam into the slideshow. There are transitions
to choose from as the slideshow goes from one picture
to the next. You can choose sound effects from the
program or record your own.
Children love
narrating their slideshows. The slideshows are good
for second language learning and can also be copied
onto video to send home for parents to see.
KidPix is a
program that can be incorporated into all areas of
the curriculum.
Some quick
ideas to get you started:
- use it for
mapping
- use the
stamp editor to teach flips, slides and turns
- stamp 100
objects for the 100th day of school
- teach
basic geometry shapes
- use stamps
for initial sound recognition
- use stamps
to create find-the-hidden-object books
- teach
foreground, middle ground and background
- create
shape poems using the alphabet tool
- create
animation using the slideshow, for example,
how a seed grows
- make a
slideshow of a research project.
The
Ministry’s licensing of KidPix was an excellent
choice because it allows all children access to a
fantastic program on all machines at all times. It is
such a versatile program. With KidPix, the sky is the
limit. Enjoy!
Lilli Kenna
has taught for 23 years with the Waterloo County
Board of Education and is currently teaching Grade 4
at Franklin Public School in Kitchener. She enjoys
using a variety of computer programs with her class.
Rethinking
Educational Change
with Heart and MindEdited by Andy Hargreaves
Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development 1997 ASCD Yearbook
|
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Reviewed
by Linda Grant
Teachers who
are wondering if they really do have the opportunity
to make a difference in the lives of their students
or who are asking themselves how they can grow as
educators will find support, encouragement Ñ and
some good ideas Ñ in Rethinking Educational Change
With Heart and Mind.
The book is
published by the Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development, which links educators
throughout the world. Although the issues the book
addresses are universal, Canadian teachers will be
pleased to find that the authors or co-authors of
three of the 11 articles are based in Ontario.
The editor is
Andy Hargreaves, Director of OISE/UT’s
International Centre for Educational Change and one
of Canada’s best-known writers on education. He
urges educators to rethink educational change by
going wider and deeper.
Hargreaves’s
message will strike home with teachers coping with
the overwhelming pace of change in our school system.
He begins with the premise that, ÒWe should be
concerned not with how teachers should commit to
other people’s changes, but with how we might
make schools into the kinds of places that stimulate
and support teachers to make changes themselves.Ó
Focusing on
students bring teachers together to talk about
learning - both their professional learning and
student learning. In their article, Rethinking
Assessment and Accountability, Canadian Lorna Earl
and Paul LeMahieu describe the extremely powerful
forms of professional learning that may evolve when
teachers collaborate in the context of student
assessment.
Each of the 11
articles reinforces, in a different context, both the
importance of professional learning and its link to
student learning. The contributing authors stress
that the driving force in teacher education reform
must be the teachers themselves.
As a group,
they write with passion about the need to pay
attention to the context in which teachers do their
work. To support professional learning in teaching,
we must begin from teachers’ real situations.
The teaching
profession for the 21st century must look very
different from the profession as we know it today.
Rethinking Educational Change With Heart and Mind
places the teacher at the core of educational reform
- complete with both heart and mind.
Ontario
teachers have the opportunity to shape our profession
as we move with our students into the 21st century.
This book offers support, encouragement, and focus
for self-directed professional learning.
To obtain
copies of the 1997 ASCD Yearbook, Rethinking
Educational Change With Heart and Mind:
- Call toll
free 1 800 933-2723 and press 2 for customer
service;
- fax 1 703
299-8631 "Attention Order
Processing";
- mail your
request to ASCD, 1250 North Pitt St.,
Alexandria, Virginia, USA 22314-1453.
ASCD will
accept Visa, Mastercard, purchase order or a personal
cheque made payable to ASCD. Price: ASCD Member
$19.95 US; Non-Member $23.95 US; Stock Number 197000.
Linda Grant
is Manager, Standards of Practice and Education in
the College’s Professional Affairs Department.
She is the former OPSTF executive assistant
responsible for co-ordinating the federation’s
Supervisory Officer’s Qualifications Program,
and PAR and Curriculum and Research Committees.
