Wednesday Wondering

So another three hour workshop I attended was a Pixie workshop: Digital Storytelling for Beginners. presented by Katy Hammack and Laura Spencer from Santee School District in California on Monday, June 29, 2009 4:30 – 7:30 PM. On Tuesday I attended a 30 minute mini-session at the Tech4Learning booth so I could get five free copies of software, including Pixie 2. The mini-session was basically an overview of how teachers have used the program in student projects. The workshop was learning the program.

I find that Pixie 2 is a lot like KidPix but with elements of Powerpoint. For example, the student can create a series of slides with simple draw tools, stickers and text, then turn the series into a podcast or movie. An added feature is that sound can be inserted or recorded with each slide.

The main drawbacks for me are that graphics cannot be easily altered and all the slides can only transition at the same rate.

The exhibits were a lot of fun the last two days, and I have several ideas to pass along to various colleagues--on writing, free online tutoring and comic book creation, products and solutions for the Director of Technology to consider. I was also able to speak with a few vendors about the products of theirs I use or would like to use:

• How the server version of Micrograms purchased for my campus is not working well; and
• Has Verizon considered dialoguing with Apple? (The answer is, yes, and wait a year or so.)

That has been a great opportunity: To discuss with vendors how the product has worked or hasn't worked for me--or to encourage collaboration with other vendors.