Media Challenge

Yesterday, I received the following email from TED-ED, a new off-shoot of the famous conference organisation that produces all those amazing filmed talks that are so inspirational. I forwarded the email to Mr Hawes and he suggested that the Creative Tallis group should respond to the challenge. Here's the email:

We’ve listened, we’ve noodled, and now we’re ready to go! Today we’re launching our global search for new best of breed educational videos. We’re inviting content submissions for 10 video series--and here they are:

1. Math in real life
2. Creativity in Action
3. Inventions That Shaped History
4. How and Why?
5. Questions no one (yet) knows the answer to
6. Mindshifting stories
7. Playing with language
8. Same - and different
9. Things they don’t teach you in school
10. The five minute aha

Click here to see a detailed description of each of the series.

These series, based on ideas received from you, our Brain Trust, have been chosen to cover a wide range of exciting content in a way that can catalyze curiosity and make learning fun. Most series cover multiple subject areas. These TED-ED videos will be less than ten minutes long (perhaps as short as one minute), and they may be identified or created by anyone.

To be clear, we are asking visionary teachers, students, organizations & TEDsters to help us:
1. Identify pre-existing educational videos that can be re-purposed, enhanced & amplified through TED-ED
2. Create & submit original content for the TED-ED initiative.

What video format should submissions assume?
Users may submit pre-existing educational videos. We also accept content that is created explicitly for TED-ED. Original videos may assume a variety of creative formats which include:
-Audio submissions
-Animations
-Micro-docs
-Presentations
-Clips from video & film

What do we mean by Audio Submissions?
We understand that there are many experts in our experts who do not have the resources, time or skill-sets to produce high quality video. The capacity to record high quality audio, however, has become a relatively ubiquitous technology. For these reasons, we have decided to encourage and accept audio submissions.

An audio submission may be comprised solely of audio, or it may be accompanied by rudimentary visuals that help communicate the creators point. Think of them as a “work in progress.”

If the audio message is appropriate and of high enough caliber for eventual placement on TED-ED, we will work to pair the recording with one of our professional or volunteer visualization artists (ie: animators, presentation specialists, documentarians, etc.). The visualization artist will work to create imagery that brings the creator's message to life, making it more persuasive, more educational and more likely to be shared. If and when the collaboration succeeds, the finalized video will be syndicated on TED-ED. You can learn more about the "Audio Only" process by viewing the TED-ED workflow diagram.

What parameters must all submissions meet?
Users may submit pre-existing educational videos, or original content designed specifically for TED-ED.

Pre-existing audio or video submissions are defined as videos that have already been published and syndicated on the web. They also must:
- Be shorter than ten minutes
- Come with a link to the content
- Credit the original creator of the content

Original audio or video content is defined as audio or video content that is created to be "premiered" on TED-ED. They also must be:
- Shorter than ten minutes
- Submitted via a private YouTube link to the content
- Created by you or your team

Visit the TED-ED website to learn more.

What do you think?

Vuvox

I've just discovered this fantastic new online slideshow creation site called Vuvox. It's free to create an account and there are several ways to publish content featuring photos and video. The above presentation took about 5 minutes to make (pictures were accessed directly from my Flickr pages) but there are plenty of creative editing options not featured here that I hope to experiment with in the near future. There are helpful video demonstrations to show you how to use the various features and site navigation was very intuitive. This is what the creators say about the Collage feature in Vuvox:

This dynamic media creation suite enables everyone to easily turn their photos, videos, text and audio clips into interactive stories.

A COLLAGE can be published, embedded, and syndicated into any website, blog or social networking site.

Whether you're a photojournalist, photoblogger, or a student who wants to share your world.... COLLAGE will become your multimedia expression space!

Features include:

• Image Cut-out and Masking tools
• Layer positioning and Compositing
• Interactive 'Hot-spots', providing links to media, text or other websites
• Ability to add rich media details
• Text and Soundtrack

It would be great to see what you can make using the site.

Year 7 Cross-Curricular Learning Day

This short film was made by the 30 strong multimedia team as a creative, students' eye view of the Year 7 cross-curricular learning day on Wednesday 1st April. We divided the group into four teams: sound, animation, video and photography. The task was to re-present the day's activities using each of these media, to explore the connections between them and to reflect the theme of Healthy Lifestyles. Interestingly, the group had the whole day to create their content and learn new skills. This extended period of time was invaluable and provided a real opportunity for most students to engage in deep learning. I would like to thank the students and the superb team of staff members who helped them. It was a lot of fun!

Deaf Create

Deaf Create is a new blog set up by Mr Hawes. Here is his description of what it's all about:

"So what is 'Deaf Create'? Deaf Create is a blog forum for interested parties and participants in a new scheme set up by Greenwich Deaf Advisory Service. The Deaf Support Centre at Thomas Tallis School have, over the past year , been experimenting with using new media technologies to support their deaf students, and it seemed a good idea to share their experiences and knowhow with other schools and units across the borough that support deaf students. To make this happen three primary schools, a secondary school and a post-16 college have been included in the plan to create a pathway for using new media from early years education to post-16. I hope that this blog will allow all the different participants to share their work, technical difficulties, solutions and successes, as well as creating an archive of examples of new media in action."

Head on over to the blog to check it out. Don't forget to leave a comment or two.

The new economy

In his book "The Creative Economy", John Howkins ends the penultimate chapter with the following statement:"At the start of the twentieth century, Lenin said, "Communism is soviet organisation plus electricity." At the start of the twenty-first, I suggest, "The new economy is creativity plus electronics." It seems to me that media literacy and the use of new tools for learning should be important areas of development for us as a School of Creativity. How do we exploit the fact that computers are more like paintbrushes than televisions? How do we make sure that students from year 7 upwards have access to and are excited by the latest technologies in the service of their creativity?