julianc's blog

You can find me here!

2009-10-08T05:41:00.001-07:00

Holiday

2009-07-29T04:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't had one for a while so I'm quite excited.

Here's my poolside iMix

my iphone driven blog

2009-07-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

I've been using Tumblr on my iPhone and like the simple dashboard. I like simplicity and most blogging tools are pretty obvious to use but at times fiddly and annoying. Tumblr is pared down but easy to use esp on the iPhone. My digitalroadtrip blog will be the blog that supports my Apple RTC activities.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Leigh Academy ADEs train school and staff

2009-07-05T15:19:00.002-07:00

BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.

ADE's rock out at Leigh Academy!

This floats my blog/boat

2009-05-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my bro Jonny in the US of A for pointing this out to me - love it.....

BBC 21CC @Salford

2009-05-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some work at the relatively new BBC 21cc in Salford. The BBC brand is very exciting for pupils and teachers alike - so hopefully we'll be able to make some cool stuff. There's some high end cameras and mics as you'd expect. We are using iMovie and Final Cut for most of the editing.

One interesting piece of software we are going to use tomorrow is Boinx TV. This isn't cheap by any means, but enables a live TV programme with multiple camera's and text even RSS news feeds to be created and recorded and or streamed. Hopefully we'll get some examples made this week.

eTwinning Project Thessalonika 2009

2009-04-27T00:58:00.000-07:00

So here is a quick show reel of the students mini animations. Considering the language barrier and the 2.5 hrs to explain the process, figure out a story, make the models, animate and edit in iMovie I think the kids did a marvelous job!

eTwinning Project

2009-04-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

OK so here I am in Greece Day 1.

All my newplast clay has been lost by the courier so I've been taxi -ing around Thessalonika looking for modelling clay. Anyway I'm sorted now! I've two workshops to deliver and very few of the students speak "yorkshire" so should be interesting!

Here's my classroom.

Spotify saves my "Credit Crunched" Half term

2009-02-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

Well I was sitting at home "Credit crunched" for half term.

There are 2 or three albums I'd been contemplating from iTunes , Empire of the Sun being one. However I'd started to play with Spotify the Swedish music player - This has blown me away - why do I need to buy any Albums - OK I need to be on-line to use it and the iPhone version isn't yet there but the OSX version is fantastically simple (I do simple!).

iMovie 09 support for Flip Mino HD

2009-02-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

Maybe I've become a bit fixated with the Flip Mino HD - but it is a joy to use with the new iLife 09. In 08 it was a file and import job which meant that larger clips had to be imported in their entirety. Now as it is natively supported, parts of clips can be selected from the camera, so we are not filling the hard drive with unnecessary gubbins.

I've always been a fervent "do it properly" merchant when it comes to video using a tripod etc, but there are times now esp with Learning Platforms where informal video (like that shot on a mobile phone or Flip) has its place. The other things about the Flip over all of its competitors is its simplicity. No batteries, SD cards to lose, simple charging in the USB (albeit upside down!).

The fact it only does one thing and in the most simplistic way means that young learners have to focus on content creation and not be sidetracked by the functionality. Swiss army knives are loved by technicians but they don't help get the job done in the classroom.

In iMovie 09 - the Flip files import 4x faster than real time which is better than a lot other school priced hard disk based cameras. This is probably due to it being Mp4 - but speed is important in the classroom. The return of the effects is great - the most useful newcomer being "picture in picture" - this should be helpful for creating tutorials and learning materials.

iMovie 09's Image stabilization is slow (on a 2GHz Macbook Pro and 2.4Ghz Macbook) and a bit hit and miss. The precision editor is very good for teaching continuity editing as students can see both clips coming together - this is a real boon, but the time line (or lack of) is still frustrating.

Some informal footage shot on the Flip can be seen below - watch in high quality -

There is quite wide use in the US of Flip in the Classroom - see Educause 7 things you should Know

iPhone app resolves classroom management/behaviour issues

2009-02-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

Struggling with classroom control? Lost the attention/interest of your class.

This free app helps solve the problem of getting the attention of the whole class.

Simply "activate" and enjoy the "stunning" effect. See immediate improvement in student attention and feel truly empowered. It is advised that all staff wear ear buds for personal protection.

So there you have it - instant authority, control and respect, combined in the classroom management tool of the year - well done High Gloss Software. An obvious BETT 2010 innovation contender.

Digital imaging with iPhoto and iMovie

2009-01-29T06:01:00.001-08:00

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

Here are some images that (hopefully) show why we should digitally capture the great things that students create in schools. These amazing models were created by yr 9 History students.

The images were uploaded using the free iPhoto Bubbleshare application.

This clip was created in iMovie and iPhoto.

Busy Busy Busy

2009-01-25T09:39:00.000-08:00

Time is flying by and I haven't added anything to my blog for a while.

Projects that I'm involved in at the moment include some BSF for Apple in Stockton on Tees

I'm also supporting teachers working on digital Creativity projects in South Yorkshire schools.

Also just spent a fab day with the Havering LA ICT team working with Ayloff and Dunningford primary Schools.

I've also been using the Flip Camera quite a bit - and Apple's iLife 09 provides native support for this - so I'm looking forward to that - here's some family footage from Youtube shot on the flip Mino HD

The compression on Youtube is very brutal - the same clip looks much better on my mobileme websiste test space

4 Creativity apps for that help Mac based teachers (3 of them are free!)

2008-01-30T01:32:00.002-08:00

School managers often say that Macs are expensive. Well of course that isn't true anymore when you measure like for like. Software tools can be expensive but here's 4 great apps, 3 of which are free.

I've been using Pixelmator since Christmas as a cost effective alternative to Photoshop. It has slick very modern, intuitive interface that could only be created by OSX fanatics.

The key features are that it has layers, and tools to enable meaningful digital compositing, a step up from iPhoto. It is integrated with iPhoto so finding and working on multiple files is easy. It has a tool box and keyboard short cuts that mirror the "daddy" of image editors.
I think a great tool to sit on the learning path between iPhoto and Photoshop. Now the Pixelmator guys need to sort out Edu licenses! It costs $59 and there's a downloadable demo.

Capturing student's creative journey's isn't always managed that effectively. I've always been an advocate of annotating screen shots as evidence. The company that created Comic life, PlasQ have a cool tool called Skitch.
The app allows the capturing of screen shots and then provides an alpha channel layer for adding text, annotations, drawings etc. It makes tracking of creative ideas, noting decisions onto screen shots of apps very slick and fun. If it's fun student's are more likely to do it!

This application makes it easier for creative students that can't cope with lengthy literary explanations to track their ideas, plans within digital creativity projects.
The app is currently free in beta format. I love it.

The next two apps of choice are really helpful for teachers trying to pull together resources. I like to use models and reference the real world whether it's web pages, sound/music or video and capturing web content has been a challenge.

For sound I've been using Soundflower made by Cycling 74. It is a free app that works like a virtual sound card. Once installed you can select it in your preferences> sound control panel.

Ths then enables you to stream any audio, from any app, DVD, CD, Game the web directly into Garageband! Obviously you have to record the incoming signal but it works beautifully.

In a similar fashion I've been using TubeTV for downloading flash video files from places such as Youtube.

This app works like web browser, has a google style search tool, you find the video you need and download it. The apps makes the Flash>M4v quicktime format for iTunes. So all clips play in your video iPod too! and it's free!

Resurface

2007-07-20T02:59:00.000-07:00

I've had a busy 3 months working between London and Manchester on a range of projects from music technology using GarageBand Logic and Ableton Live to video projects using Final Cut.

Hence I've totally ignored my blog and this will be resolved shortly.

The Digital Cre8or course is beginning to take off and it has been interesting to have been involved in some of the pilot work.

I'm about to go off to Spain to learn (by the pool) how to use my new digital SLR. The pictures below were taken @Salford Quays on my trusty 4MP Nikon what will I do with 8MP and interchangeable lenses? too many choices!

This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog

This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog

thanks to Boo for the bubbleshare!

Web2 made easy

2007-05-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

One of the best ways to explain Web 2.

GarageBand and freebies

2007-04-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a music project recently where being able to perform with software on a Laptop was a key issue. I was intrigued to try and do this in GarageBand. The Midi implementation is very cursory so being able to map USB midi keyboards and pads is a challenge if not impossible. It is easy to do in Cubase, Logic and Ableton.
So anyway I found a free synth called Remedy that work on PPC and intel Macs. It also allows you within GarageBand to map the CC controllers so that all of the knobs and sliders actions can be recorded into GarageBand performances.
This will enable far more control over soundscape and textures needed in KS3 school music projects- which is pretty cool.

Another cool free/demo piece of Software is addictive drums

This is fully functional although only has a bass, snare, hi hat and cymbal but it allows for full virtual recording studio effects. Most of these effect can be carried out in GarageBand but the GUI is very cool and a little more intuitive for kids. The effect in GB whilst good are very bare bones.

Finally my toy of the moment and not free - is my trigger finger.

I bought this for use with Ableton but I'm now starting to be able to use it in GarageBand which would be good for kids in schools that are not able to play a traditional instrument.

Cool Workshops

2007-03-01T03:21:00.000-08:00

Last week I went to a small but very interesting Creativity day run by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.
The event was held in a beautiful abbey nr Clitheroe in Lancashire. Two presentations really impressed me and I think anyone involved in creative media in schools should try to find time to see/work with these guys.

The first was by Paul Hurst - who I've met before @BETT but this was the first time I'd seen him in action. He was very entertaining and enthusiastic with some really interesting insights into the way the BBC work (as he free lances for them).
Paul is also involved in a mediabus project in Wigan.

Find Paul's blog @
http://paulhurst.blogspot.com/search/label/teaching

The other cool presentation was by Anthony Hall. I've seen a lot of preso's and attended workshops- but this really was different!

Anthony demolishes the barriers between Science, Music and Art. He had us making light sensitive music/sound generators and then we used them to make new kinds of noises and sounds. We played back the sounds through different materials liquids, flour etc and watched and recorded the effects- it was a fascinating session.

He had a beautiful iPhoto presentation of images of his work and workshop activities - and some truly stunning animation work.

http://www.variableg.org.uk/art_work/home.html

Mac/ipod fans should check out this too its very funny but it's also incredibly cool and inspirational!

http://www.variableg.org.uk/owlweb/Owl_home.htm

Goodbye and Hello

2007-02-19T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well 10+ years in the classroom/studio and now 5 years @Apple in the UK. No major masterplan, got myself a Macbook and will freelance for a while. Will be doing some developmental work for Synergy TV (Radio waves/ NUMU) of which I am very excited about!

Also keen to spend more time with Sarah and kids - make some music (noise) and edit some of the many hrs of dv footage and still images that have accrued over the past few years.

Big thanks to all in the mac education community, the Apple team, the ASE's, ADE's (esp the newbies) as well as long time friends in the education sector.

Passionate and as committed as ever - to learning through digital creativity.

best

Jules

If the following links strike a chord (no pun intended) then please do contact me!

The machine is us/ing us
NUMU watch the video - bottom of the page
http://www.radiowaves.co.uk/
http://web.mac.com/juliancoultas/iWeb/Site/home.html
my flickr
email -juliancoultas@mac.com
ichat as above
mob - (+44) (0)7970 323 255