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This week's task, linked above, was made with the learningapps tool. The quiz rests on the basis that it would be played in a conversational environment, which is to say that students would be encouraged to discuss ideas together and with the teacher. The data entered to describe the image is admittedly obscure; this was done quite quickly in class. However, I purposefully chose other works of art to 'describe' the central painting. But it is clear that opting for comparison, for link-building, rather than straightforward naming of aspects of this painting, forms part of the previously mentioned obscurity. I would argue that in order for students' work to be truly critical, and for them to be pushed to think about interpretation and what makes something 'literal' (especially in visual media lacking the 'letter' part of 'literal'), perhaps they should be trusted to do this kind of work. This would not be a graded exercise, but perhaps bonus points could be assigned for outstanding participation. One goal of doing this kind of work is training to do research with minimal pressure beyond their own guiding interest, to improvise and work through being wrong, and, most importantly, to be forced not to rely on a search button and an immediate right/wrong answer with little to no further development short term.

In addition to doing the quiz together in class, each student would be required to write a sentence or two (or more) at every choice of image, text, sound, or video they make. They would be expected either to justify this or argue for a different association than the 'correct' one (meaning, the one I entered into a learningapps quiz).

Perhaps with some good preparation, a quiz like this one might be used, then, less as an evaluative tool than as a teaching tool. More generally, Learningapps was easy and free to use. As mentioned above, the linked quiz was made in less than ten minutes. While it may not be a particularly good example of all that can be done on Learningapps, it does demonstrate that a teaching tool can be generated with minimal time and even without preparation (keeping in mind that there will most likely be at least a little more than ten minutes to prepare for teaching a class most of the time).

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Week 8 - Task 8.2: Fake social media post

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Week 8 - Task 8.2: Fake social media post

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Prankmenot was used for this inner dialogue/conversation between two out of three Witchspears on their birthday. I copied and pasted the first lines of Macbeth from the Folger website and downloaded images of Shakespeare looking in opposite directions. This was very easy to do and looks satisfyingly neat. Since a longer conversation might be necessary for a tâche finale or intermédiaire, a different tool might be preferred to Prankmenot.

This fake chat tool might let a teacher help students think of plays and literature more generally as language able to be 'brought back to life', created collectively centuries ago and today by various actors' embodiment (see 'conversation' above) and by the author alone (see 'inner dialogue' above)... But Shakespeare is sometimes taught as early as the 3ème grade (which is the last collège year), where this tool may be funny but not as useful as it could be in, e.g., Terminale, for example, where it might be fun and interesting, too.

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Framindmap was used to make this mind map. Would not use this particular tool again to make a digital mind map, as some hickups throughout, unless, for whatever reason, it is the only one available. Useful enough but took much longer to make than it should have. As far as I can tell no way to save a decent image quickly without using a screenshot (which is fine). Limited options in regard to shapes and ways of drawing links. The above map is a little awkward to read (right to left). Mind maps are meant to be very accessible; to maximise readability...

An interesting aspect of making digital data visualisations is seeing how much choosing aspects of the visual production can direct reading. It is a similar frame of mind to choosing how to respond to a question from a student: trying to convey ideas whilst keeping in mind not only that data presentation is key, but also that compromises on, or manipulations of scientific accuracy are often necessary to respond in a reasonably satisfying way.

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Week 7: Lesson planning and Generative AI

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Week 7: Lesson planning and Generative AI

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The DuckDuckGo AI chat/Open AI was used for this. I used 2 prompts; they are included in the above Pdf document. What seems most useful about the AI generated lesson plan is less the content, which is not particularly interesting as it gave me more or less what I expected content-wise, and more so the structure which could be copied and pasted into a Word doc and filled out properly, with much more specific documents, instructions and goals. I do not find this Generative AI tool useful for drawing up a lesson plan.

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Two very short sequences from a National Geographic documentary on Thunderstorms (from Youtube) were cut and pasted back to back (see 0:15, and compare with youtube.com/watch?v=zUNEFefftt8).

Images were pasted before and after. A relevant piece of music was added to play throughout. I used Open shot on campus and Canva later on to cut the clip down to 43 seconds (it was slightly longer). I would use these tools again.

I love this! Specifically the ability to juxtapose sound, video and different kinds of images. I would use Open shot for class for sure! I like the idea of setting down some habits with a group of students, like opening every new chapter with a montage. It would be a nice final task, too. Depending on the video(s) and other files used, it would allow for lots of space to experiment and be creative if one is so inclined. I would opt for individual work (rather than group work) for this specific task and the cognitive work that it opens up (the same would be true in most cases, I think, for a mind map task, where students seem to like discussing ideas together but end up working individually). Montage and collage tasks can really show a teacher what all the chapter's work looks like from students' perspectives. There are right answers but, unless a student veers too far off topic, there are probably no wrong answers.

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AI image generated using the Craiyon tool. AI image then uploaded to the remove dot bg website, a tool to remove elements of an image or the whole background. An alternative background can be put in instead of the original one; this is what I did here.

I typed the name of a specific (small, less documented in photography online) city in Switzerland with specific types of birds into the image generation tool. It is a useful tool for creating improbable or totally impossible scenarios (see below for more on this). And so it seems pointless to debate the accuracy of the result here. The main drawback seems to be the ease with which ecological pollution can be generated using current AI technology. It seems urgent to avoid creating additional waste when that is possible...

The background removal tool was easy to use. It can be used to juxtapose, or embed parts of open access images (downloaded from unsplash dot com for example) to gradually create the desired image, however strange or impossible. This tool is likely to be useful for pedagogical purposes.

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Windows + Shift + S were pressed to take a picture of the screen. Here, since the point was to make a screenshot of the page where a grammatical point was made in an interesting way without the rest of the computer screen in the picture, the .png image follows the outline of the article's first page. The screenshot tool is easy to use: a double-click on the pop-up dedicated to screenshots on the bottom right hand side of the screen (which appears after a picture of the screen is taken on a current Windows computer) lets users annotate the image and save it to a different location on the device. It is also possible to change image formats.

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Windows + Shift + S were pressed to take a picture of the screen. Here, since the point was to make a screenshot of the page where a grammatical point was made in an interesting way without the rest of the computer screen in the picture, the .png image follows the outline of the article's first page. The screenshot tool is easy to use: a double-click on the pop-up dedicated to screenshots on the bottom right hand side of the screen (which appears after a picture of the screen is taken on a current Windows computer) lets users annotate the image and save it to a different location on the device. It is also possible to change image formats.

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This video file was downloaded from Youtube (from the Channel 4 Youtube channel) via the ssyoutube dot net website with an mp4 file extension. A very quick Google search led to freeconvert dot com which was used to change the video format (.wmv) and download the converted file. The first website took 10 to 15 seconds to load up the 'real' (free) download button at every attempt made to use it. But in the end, the process was very easy. I would use the same tools in the future.

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Website used: birdsdessines.fr/editeur

This comic-making tool has limited features and encourages concision. There is an interesting range of elements to pick from, though, and the small space really would work to use over a couple of classes (more than two hours on a single strip would be excessive...). Birdsdessines is free to use and does not absolutely require users to have an account to download the file, which is an advantage over Storyboardthat.

The comic above could be used in class as students may not often encounter these specific idioms and turns of phrase (see esp. panel 2). It might be interesting, to some extent, to expose students to idioms and to these in particular, then. But it is more so contradiction/absurdity encapsulated in the brief space offered of fictional dialogue as a tool that would be valuable to teach students to reflect on. Birdsdessines could also be used by/with collège students but not the above comic (or something like it, with different phrases), which could be employed at lycée level.

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Week 3 - Task 3.1: Manipulating Audio Files

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Week 3 - Task 3.1: Manipulating Audio Files

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The audio file was downloaded from Audio Lingua and uploaded to Audio Trimmer to be cropped in order to exclude one topic covered by the speaker. Then, after downloading the cropped file was uploaded onto mp3cut.net to increase speech speed.

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General comment on access

The interface is free to use for up to four pads (which seems like quite a reasonable number). Beside blank pads, there are also a number of interesting templates (these are part of the 'four-pad quota').

Some confusing bugs on trying to share the link for assessment but fixed once the pad was set to 'public'.

Aesthetics in relation to use

The blank pad here, on Padlet, suggests that it will be a usefully 'open' interface, as, for now, the screen is taken up by a blank space (which may suggest freedom or future work and creativity). Similarly, the search bar is a simple but handy part of the pad, and also suggests that so much work can be done on one of the latter that finding things will require not only scrolling through the page, but also some additional typing.

Some components are placed vertically on the right-hand side of the page. These are not distracting as that part of the screen is unlikely to be where the eyes of people who read most often from left to right will rest.

Use in class

It is arguable that Padlet is a tool which will not require excessive amounts of task adaptation to fit a specific format, on the part of a teacher who would wish to use it in class.

The ability given to Padlet users to post various types of documents, including scans, is useful. On the other hand, the ability to freely gather links here can be problematic, so that rules or guidelines may have to be given students by a teacher who chooses to use this tool. The last point is not specific to this platform, as a blog, for example, would present the same problem.