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Goochland’s Innovation Team

Archives for January 2020

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Creating Animations in Keynote

Moving Beyond Slide Transitions and Presenting Bullets, One-by-One

When creating presentations in Keynote, adding transitions between slides can break up information, and adding builds to text and images can help with pace and structure. Our students know how to add these, but do they consider why, when, and how they should be used?

We won’t be answering that in this post—but you will learn how to use builds to create animated graphics.

Animating with Shapes and Graphics

We could continue to discuss the importance of having students consider their audience when presenting and how they are designing and animating their lessons. But what if we show them when they add in all the builds and transitions, they can create some really impressive animations. Yes, they could code these in a program like Scratch. But creating an animation in Keynote is another way to develop computational thinking, and with Keynote’s drawing tools there are more ways to personalize.

I started creating an animation in Keynote about the water cycle…

animation of storm

My initial animation was pretty simple, just a series of builds & actions all triggered by the previous one:

  • Add the shapes (raindrops, lightning bolts, water and clouds)
  • Resize & color the shapes as needed
  • Place the raindrops in initial location
  • Assign the lightning bolts the “pulse” action.
  • Assign each raindrop the “move” action and make the lines go straight down
  • The puddle is the water shape with a “wipe” build in.
  • The raindrops use the “diffuse” build out to fade away.

Once I got that far, I started having fun and spent 15 minutes improving it. My goals were:

  • Demonstrate that moisture in the air creates the clouds
  • Have a second wave of raindrops fall

If you want to see my 15 minutes of work sped up to under 2 minutes… click here!

My final (for now!) of the rainfall during the water cycle looked like this:

Why should students do this?

Creating animation helps develop computational thinking as students (or anyone) try to problem solve to get their animation to display how they would like and show the information they are intending. Breaking down the steps necessary develops a student’s logic and problem-solving, two skills that are likewise involved in coding.

Once you start, it becomes something fun to tinker with. I imagine I will always keep adding to my Water Cycle/Storm animation because there is something addicting about continually working on it.

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Keynote can record audio!

Introduction

You may already know that Keynote is a powerful type of slideware. And here in Goochland, we have versions of Keynote on iPad and on our Macs. The animation, drawing and graphic features inside Keynote allow for a wide range of usage. In this post you will learn how adding sound and utilizing the voice over feature in Keynote can enhance projects and presentations.

For example, students are focusing on vocabulary words. The student could insert an image or word in a large font and then voice over the slide with the definition or example. Students could also use voice recordings to practice for a presentation to the class. Recorded sessions can even be exported as movies and shared. See below for more on making movies in Keynote.

Getting Started

Now, how does one add a voice recording? I’ll share how to do this on your iPad. Once Keynote is open, on the slide you wish to add the recording, touch the plus icon and select the far right option with the picture. Here you can add photos, videos, the camera tool, or record audio. This is also the same place you can add a drawing. Once you select, record audio, you can then record your audio, stop and then preview or edit. You can resume and add to the recording for a slide. Once you are ready, select Insert to add the audio. You will see a sound icon appear on your screen. If that icon is selected, you can select the format tool (paint brush), and audio to determine when the audio clip will play.  

In the following example, we have created a Keynote template. Students can then duplicate the slides to put in vocabulary words. As the presentation is run, the English translation of bajar is revealed and another click starts the audio recording. As in the example above, we added the audio of bajar by going to Insert > Record Audio. By right-clicking on the play button, you can also trim your recording.

Screenshot of Keynote Slide

trim view in Keynote
Use the scissors to trim your clip after dragging the blue bars around the start and end of your audio.

In the example provided, the sound plays when the user clicks the slide or advances the slide with the arrow keys. But you can also have the audio play automatically when the slide loads. Under Format, visit the Audio section and un-check “start audio on click” after selecting your audio clip on the slide.

audio sidebar for formatting

Using Voice Recordings in Multiple Subjects

What are some ways I can use this feature with my students? How about interviews? Students can create interview questions and then record the answers. Making recordings of students reading can help them develop fluency and to reinforce hearing their own voice. This would be a beneficial practice for early readers and ELL students. Students could also narrate a story so teachers can read the invented print. With a little shift in design thinking, students can become creative experts within Keynote.  

And with the example linked above, Keynote’s audio support allows students to record vocabulary words, math facts that are drawn, and more.

Thinking About An Audience

With Keynote, an entire slide presentation can be recorded and exported (as Keynote files, or as movies). These could be used as podcast episodes or just as recorded practice. For instance, a band student could screenshot music into a slide then record themselves playing the music depicted in the slide. Or, teachers could record a slide presentation with audio for review, shared with the class within Schoology as a movie.

Go to Play > Record Slideshow to record audio over the entire presentation. Once you’ve recorded, you can then export your presentation as a movie. Go to File > Export then choose the movie option.

Your movie can then be placed within your learning management system, Google Drive, or even uploaded to YouTube.

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Keynote Enhanced with Drawing Tools

Keynote is a powerful tool both adults and students can use to create memorable and creative presentations. However, often times the power of this tool is underutilized. Students can use many of the features built into Keynote to bring a creative spark to notes, projects, presentations, movies, animations, and more. If you haven’t discovered the drawing tool you are missing out! 

Apple’s own productivity apps received recent updates that enhanced many of their features. With this update came a new drawing tool that students can use to create their own drawings on slides, instead of having to switch to another application. The drawing feature works best when using iPad so students can enhance their drawings using a stylus or Apple Pencil. How can this tool help enhance learning and allow students an opportunity to embrace their creativity? 

 

While I know everyone may not feel they have a high capacity for artwork or drawing, the creation of original drawings to describe a process or to tell a story can engage students’ brains at the upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. And not every idea a student has is so easily transmitted through typed words.  A popular notetaking method called sketchnoting is also a possibility with Keynote’s drawing tools on iPad. 

How do you locate the drawing tool in Keynote you ask?

Click on the + icon, push the image square, tap drawing, and then the drawing tools will be accessible. Tapping each tool twice will allow you to customize the size and color opacity of the drawing medium. The color circle allows for you to choose from multiple color options. Swiping over will allow you access to the color wheel and it provides a dropper you can use to match colors within images you can already see on screen.

Why use this new feature?

First, there are multiple ways for us to communicate. Drawing is a new feature that opens up new possibilities with the generous screen size of iPad. When students are drawing pictures of content or newly acquired information they are having to synthesize this information in order to make sense of the material. They may also be  creating new knowledge with concepts they are trying to understand, which takes them to the highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. A great example is when we’ve taught students how to use techniques like sketchnoting.

As you may have now discovered, Keynote is not just a presentation tool! With the enhancement of this new drawing feature the walls have been widened to allow the end user an opportunity to add their own creative flare to presentations, notes, animations, and more! Check out this video of how one teacher uses drawing in Keynote to animate graphics.

 

 

Use the “line draw” build in, to bring drawings to life like in the Earth & Moon drawing featured below.

Math teachers! You can even easily make videos of yourself teaching!

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Scaling Blooms with Keynote*

(*) Or PowerPoint, Google Slides, etc.

For many years now, I’ve seen a similar lesson plan in action across classrooms at all grade levels. It’s not a bad lesson, but with some modifications to the basic ideas, we just might be able to improve it. Improve it, you ask? Maybe we can embed some deeper learning opportunities. Maybe you’ve tried this lesson before? The basic idea goes like this:

You need to know x. I’d like you to create a presentation on x. And, here are some websites you can use to learn more about x. Good luck!

In the best possible scenario, students will critically look at the information from other sources (web, books, magazines, etc.) and create slides that capture the most important information about their topic. They will have sifted through a lot of information, pulling out important details, and condensing all that information into cogent summaries about the topic. The slides will reflect the student’s understanding about the topic. They get to engage with the content and start to make it their own.

And even while this all sounds good—is it personal? We’ll get to personal later. How might we design things so we get a result like the one described above?

A rubric is more than a grading tool. It can be used to set the expectations for success with learning. We wrote about rubrics earlier.

The description above may not be the way it turns out. The rubric would be good, at least for setting an expectation for what we’d like to see, or what the students should learn. We could specify that we want to see summaries. Or, has the information been synthesized by the student, rather than copy and pasted from a webpage? And is there a part of the assignment spelled out specifically so that the creation of those slides will help students what we need/want/hope they know about x?

Another way to look at this plan is to think about the skills required. What skills are required in this scenario?

First, let’s consider a basic submission. Copy and pasted facts plus a photograph.

  • Reading,
  • minor evaluation,
  • copy,
  • paste.

In the “best possible scenario,” the skills required are more complex. Especially around evaluation. Add to the list summarization.

In the end, however, why are we using slides and if slideware is meant to be an aid at making a presentation, who is the audience? I think of my eighth grade English teacher. Beyond some readings, we did a lot of writing and spelling tests. And she loved for us to write. At least she sold herself as a writing teacher. Writing requires us to fill in details, organize our thoughts, and to help the reader see a picture, or maybe, a series of pictures. And sometimes they come together to tell a story.

Are we choosing slideware because it’s simple? Because slides are more like index cards? Have you had students use slides as flashcards? If that’s our aim, there’s no shame in that. But if students are making slides that could potentially be used as an aid in a speech (read: presentation), then, we could be robbing them of that experience (and what can be learned by standing and presenting) by only creating the slides. Consider the difference when reading on.

Here are some other possible skills that could play a role in this assignment:

  • Speaking to an audience,
  • Responding to audience questions,
  • Visual literacy and design,
  • Creativity (creating new knowledge, separate from making slides look polished).

I’d wager there’s a level above “best possible.” Maybe “Better than Best.” Reserve it for the right-hand-most column of your rubric. And it’s only possible if we re-frame the assignment.

I used the image of a ladder on purpose. The learning associated with copying or typing facts into slides is pretty much at the bottom of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. Maybe you remember this from college? At the top rung is the create level. And we have to be careful—creating slides doesn’t count as creation. Creating new knowledge is what it’s about. Read on!

How about this?

You will become an expert on x. I know you probably know little to nothing about x right now, but understanding x will enable you to discuss x with confidence, be able to teach others all about the secrets of x, and I know you won’t believe me yet, but becoming an expert at x is going to make you feel good. Simply knowing so much about one thing is an awesome feeling. You’ll feel like you can never be stumped when it comes to x. And how is this going to work? I am going to give you time to explore x on your own and with some partners. Together, you will decide what x is all about, why it’s important, how x works, and what benefits x have for humankind. When, and only when, you feel there is no more to learn about x, you’ll come talk to me. You’ll share what you know and what questions you have. And you’ll go back. And you will be victorious in answering those questions. Then, and only then, you’ll be ready to share your expertise. ‘But how?’ It’s time to stand and deliver. You’re the resident expert on x. You know it better than anyone. You’ll use Keynote to create visuals that will help you tell your story to the rest of this class. You’ll integrate a STAR moment into your speech. “Something They will Always Remember.” Get creative. The sky’s the limit. Because you’re audience is important. Because at the end of the day, all good students want to spread their expertise to their peers. You’re gonna be awesome at it. Just you wait and see!

Beyond the dramatics in this reading of the assignment, all I have to say is that the emphasis isn’t on filling slides with facts. There’s a higher calling. An audience is named. And in the end, your students, to be successful, will have climbed the ladder of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy all the way to creation. Creating an experience, sharing their newfound expertise. Now that’s personal (and not Death by Powerpoint!).

Further Reading:

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Should students learn how to code?

Introduction

My name is John and I have worked in a public school district (division in Virginia speak) for over 20 years. I learned to program in my second computer language by the third grade (first Logo, then BASIC) although it did not persist as a passion of mine past high school. In my middle years, I learned 6502 Assembler. And in high school I learned to code HyperCard stacks on the Mac (and sold some of my software). I may have advanced into other languages. In college I took a course in Pascal. While my coding seemed to decrease over time, I nevertheless continued to enjoy computers and by the time I graduated, I taught myself creative design programs like Photoshop and Illustrator.

In college I learned how to code webpages in HTML.

I share this for you understanding my position and potential biases in answering the question: Should students learn how to code?

What is coding?

Coding means different things to different people. I use it as a generic term. Writing HTML code to make a webpage is coding—you are using a language with a unique syntax to format the presentation of text and graphics onto a webpage. But HTML isn’t a programming language. Javascript, which can appear within a webpage, is a programming language. Specifically, a scripted language. Dragging around blocks of commands in a graphical environment doesn’t require typing out a unique language, but I’d still qualify block-based programming as coding. I do not think there is any debate about writing, say, Java or Python code. That’s programming and can also be considered coding.

Programming seems to be the more old fashioned term, but as my examples illustrate, it’s still useful in showing the differences between writing programs or applications and formatting the way things look or how they will appear. For instance, I can write code within Flash to make something animate a particular way. Or in HTML 5. It’s not necessarily a program, but it’s a thing, it’s a piece of media. I can write code within Minecraft or within a music application to control things within those environments. Think of these as windows to fine-tune an otherwise code-less environment. Just like your HVAC technician might turn a screw to adjust the amount of coolant that’s delivered in your heat pump.

In the end, when we talk about coding, we mean writing CSS code that will format content in a webpage. We’re talking about Javascript. We’re talking about programming languages like Lua and Swift and C++. But we’re also talking about Snap+ blocks and Arduinos, and coding Spheros and drones. We could even extend the concept of coding to writing a recipe in IFTT or within Apple’s iOS app, Shortcuts. And writing macros in Microsoft Excel.

What can be learned from learning to code

This kindergarten teacher believes in coding. If you don’t think too hard about anything she says, I think she sells it well. It sounds like a lot of positive things can come out of students learning to code. She uses buzzwords like STEM and creativity. She even claims that coding will help develop better writers. If coding was a vitamin, we might all be better off of getting a high dose each week. Maybe through a syringe.

I can’t really argue with her points, but I can’t wholesale agree, either. I can’t say without research if teaching kids to code makes them better writers. I could see the potential. Long ago, I ran into the argument that teaching kids music would help them in other subjects too. “Want better math students? Teach them music!”

Guess what? Better math wasn’t a good reason to teach music. I’m not discounting that you can use music to teach mathematical concepts, but music is a worthy enough subject on its own to teach. But in order to get better at math through music, you’d have to understand how to teach that way–to choose examples and activities that aligned with particular mathematical concepts. But hoping on its own that it’ll transfer is a tall order.

Which is my round about way to suggest that the reasons for teaching coding should have less to do with creativity, math, or writing skills; that there’s enough goodness within how to code by itself that makes it worth us spending the time and resources to ensure that kids learn how to code.

What are students going to learn when they code? They are going to learn how to code. How to take a language—either a set of vocabulary, usage, and syntax that’s very direct or one that’s abstract (like German)–and apply that to get a computer to do something. It can play a song. Scan a QR code. Or simplify the building of cubical houses in Minecraft.

Is coding then really just learning a language? I don’t believe that putting Java on the same shelf as German is fair. Yes, there are syntax rules on how to use each. And yes, there is a vocabulary germane to each language. After all, there’s a reason we call it a language. But German is about expressing ideas and communicating with other human beings. Java is about how to organize data structures, take input, and create new output. So if we’re willing to expand the concept of language, fine. But we don’t speak in Java. We write Java code that’s then converted by the computer into another layer before it gets pumped into the CPU of the computer to run.

To land the plane, what can be learned? Professional programmers know several languages. So programming is more than just learning the language. Programming is about the world of algorithms, variables and arrays, sequence, loops, and more. These are logical structures which go beyond any one language. And if we’re doing markup instead, let’s say XML or LaTEX, we’re using the language to give meaning to the data. Someone else wrote the interpreter that follows the rules of the language.

When we learn to program, we learn about a system that can be used to apply logical structures to data. We can draw spirals. We can control the lights in our home. We can have our personal device wake us up when something happens in the view of our internet-connected camera. If you see big object pass in front of front door camera between 11PM and 7AM, play alert.

students using iPad, Macbook and MakeyMakey

Are coding skills important?

I will side with folks who say the language isn’t as important as what we can do with code. But let’s talk about problem-solving. How might you explain “how to solve a problem” to a friend. There isn’t just one way. But compare your method to mine:

  1. Investigate – try and understand what the problem is.
  2. Try to identify the process without the problem – how is it supposed to work?
  3. Debug – look for ways to change the sequence or the steps involved that lead to the problem.
  4. Fail? Give up and try to re-write the program the way it’s supposed to work.
  • When your car putters and stops on the side of the road, you investigate. “What’s this red light on my dash?”
  • It’s the gas gauge. You’re on E. “When the car isn’t at E, it seems to run fine.”
  • Hmm. If the gas tank wasn’t empty, maybe the car would run. “That works!”
  • Hmm… car still won’t start. “Maybe I need a mechanic to take a look, search for leaks, or to see if I have water in my gas line…”

I am certain there are better problem-solving models out there. But this one is simple enough. I can use a process to work out solutions. That’s the skill that coding teaches us. It teaches us to think in logical steps. It gets us to think about an intended outcome and it gifts us the opportunity to tinker and try and figure out a solution. And yes, sometimes I can apply what I know from math. Or sometimes it will force me to be so organized. Maybe I can write a better outline in ELA. But beyond anything else, it gives us a look into the how these highly complex machines we’ve built work. How software works.

I have AAA.

So you could argue that I don’t need to know how to fix my car to survive. I could pay AAA a monthly fee and call them when the car breaks down. Maybe my friend is highly skilled at car repair. He changes his oil, puts on his own tires, and even hooks up a PC to his engine to try and tune it. But here’s the thing. I know enough about how cars work to know you shouldn’t put water in the tank. I know enough to know what the symbol for windshield fluid looks like. And I know enough to that my car is fuel-injected and doesn’t use a carburetor. So when the evil repairman says he has to replace the carburetor because I put oil in the windshield spout under the hood, I know enough to avoid getting taken.

Learning to code isn’t about creating an army to create the next generation of Microsoft Office. Sure, that will be a job in the future, and someone may want it. But when I ask should we teach coding, I’m really asking this: Does every kid need to learn how to code?

I didn’t ask if every kid should learn how to write games and apps. Or how to hand-code webpages. Or how to program a toaster with an Arduino. But the breadth of those examples points to the future. Technology is only growing more sophisticated and commonplace. But I do believe there is something to be gained by giving kids experiences in school to code, and specifically, to program. I am very certain that my exposure to coding, even though I didn’t pursue a career as a programmer, taught me to think logically. And even while I have forgotten much of the syntax of Pascal or Assembler, there’s a reason I can very easily construct a complex program using Scratch. I understand the concepts of sequence, memory storage, and subroutines.

And when someone asks me how to fix their computer, while I rarely just have the answer, my experience with coding has supplied me with just enough understanding of how to begin to solve the problem. It’s because I know how computer programs work.

I think providing our students anything less in the information age is selling them short. By teaching kids some of the skills behind coding, we open up some possibilities. Maybe some of them will love it. Maybe some will pursue a programming degree. Most won’t. And that’s okay. But code—that weird chameleon of a term-is everywhere. While I don’t think it’s practical to expect every kid to write and sell apps (someone has to play video games and make YouTube videos, after all), there’s something about having an appreciation for these incredible tools we carry around in our pockets, on our wrists, and place in our homes (today) that’s valuable. But what about tomorrow? Someone’s going to have to fix them, re-program them, and apply ethics in that code that doesn’t allow the rapidly-rising power of AI to wipe us all out. (I tried but gave up in finding the StarTrek: Next Generation episode that focuses upon an alien world that is controlled by a computer system that is all-knowing. By the time the computer malfunctions, the elders of the society hardly recognize it as a machine, and treat the computer more like a god. By themselves, they are ignorant on how to fix it, and need the Enterprise crew’s help.)

Recommended Reading

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Post Winter Break Reminders

Teachers,

First and foremost, welcome back. Our team hopes you had a good winter break, with ample opportunities to commune with friends and family. The purpose of this post is to recommend several best practices with students returning after break in connection with their 1:1 devices.

  • Take note of devices returning to school and being in good working order. We may need to call home if devices are forgotten, or to get help desk support if devices require repair.
  • Review your classroom rules related to the 1:1 device usage. In our elementary schools, this may be the iPad SMARTS rules, the green/yellow/red expectations, etc. They should include being ready to learn. If you’re unhappy with any rules used during the first semester, now is an excellent time to talk through your expectations with students and draft new rules.
  • Invite students to share helpful tips that demonstrate good digital citizenship or how to use their device. Reflecting upon past use may help students prepare for the ways in which they should be using devices upon their return.
  • Ask students what they’d like to know how to do with their device but don’t know how right now. This may open some doors for future lessons and collaboration with your technology coach.
  • In communications to families, you can include our guide on the iPad program. We prepared links to online resources for our families with students in grades 3-5.
  • For our high school students, our rules for loaner devices has changed in the learning commons. Please help support responsible student behavior by reinforcing the expectations that students come to school prepared with their MacBooks.

Being away from school for a couple of weeks often reminds us that students tend to forget some of the rules, procedures, and expectations we have at school. Spending a few moments to review those, especially in conjunction with our 1:1 technology, can help assuage some problems in the coming weeks.