Camstudio is a free program that is very useful for making your own video tutorials. I use it for an assignment in my Instructional Design class. This makes a great assignment for students in a computer lab. The website says CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs). Its absolutely great. Check out Camstudio for yourself.

There is an exceptionally good media player called VLC Media Player. Here is the description from the website here.

VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, …) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

It will play just about anything you can throw at it. It is my favorite media player. Check it out, it will amaze you.

I have recently found an interesting 2D animation program called Pencil.  It is still in relatively early development but is quite usable.  This program allows the user to create cell animation the old fashioned way on the computer.  There are some nice features in the program including onion skinning and flash export. I would recommend using a graphics tablet for the drawing part unless you are comfortable drawing with a mouse.

This program is quite easy to use and would be very good for the classroom and it runs on many types of computers (Windows, Mac, Linux).  It would be an excellent addition to an art or animation class.  Pencil is free and open source so there are no legal or budgeting issues.

Here is the website.

What are flash drives?

Flash drives are a relatively new technology and they are extremely convenient to have around.  Flash drives are small devices that plug into your computer’s USB port so you can store data on them.  The data is stored in a special kind of memory called “flash memory”, hence the name.  They are the modern version of the floppy disk and they hold much, much more data.  Most of them are about the size of your thumb and they are also known as “thumb drives”.  They are very inexpensive and can hold large amounts of data.  They are handy because you can transfer and use data on different computers.  This is why they are also called “Jump Drives”.  The prices can range from around $10 to $100 depending on the type and size of storage and can be purchased from most department stores or online.

What can you do with them?

The most important use is make your data portable.  I carry one constantly with me so that I can access my files and programs in class when a teachable moment arises.  You can store data as well as programs.  You can also run some operatings systems from them.   I like to use my web brower on my flash drive so all my bookmarks will go with me wherever I am.  I have many programs on my flashdrive as well as lesson plans, computer lab exercises.  Not all programs will run off of a flash drive.  They have to be modified so that all the data that is needed by the program is on the flashdrive.  Most open source software will run off the flash drive and this makes it very convenient for students and teachers.  One of my favorite sites for portable flash drive programs is found here.

Conclusion

If you don’t have a flash drive, get one.  They are almost a necessity for educators, especially if you teach in a computer lab.  They are an inexpensive tool that will help you in many ways.  I have several flash drives so I can backup my data just in case I lose one.  Let me know if I forgot any other uses for a flash drive.

One of the best open source programs that I have found is Blender. It is a 3D Modeling and Animation Studio comparable to Maya and 3DS Max. These programs cost thousands of dollars, but Blender can be used for free. Some of its features include modeling, rigging, animating, UV textures, lighting, particle system, game engine, hair and cloth systems, composting and many others. It is by far the most advanced open source software I have seen so far. I teach 3D modeling and animation in school and this program has all the features I need. This is a complex program so it will take a while to master so do not be intimidated by the interface. There is an excellent website for learning the software. These quality video tutorials are extremely helpful.  Another great video tutorial website for Blender is the blender underground.  There is a blender art magazine website here.  Also, don’t forget to check the new blender cookie site. Check it out.

There are two main types of computer graphics in use today.  They are vector and raster graphics.  The difference is the way the graphics are made by the computer.  Vector graphics are generated by the computer using mathematical equations.  This allows vector graphics to be sharp at any resolution.  Raster graphics are made by using little dots called pixels to make up the graphic.  These are not sharp when blown up to a larger size.

Photoshop is probably the best known raster graphic editor.  Illustrator is probably the best known vector graphics editor on the market.  However, there is a program that is open-source called Inkscape.  Inkscape is a vector graphics editor comparable to Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw.  It has many features like layers, drop-shadows, blur, masks, and many others.  Check it out and tell me what you think.

Adobe Photoshop is arguably the most popular image editing software in the world.  It is a very mature and complete product.  However, the down-side to the software is its price tag of around $500.  This is out of the reach of most schools.  I use an alternative in my computer lab called GNU Image Manipulation Program or “GIMP” for short.  It has most of the features of Photoshop and it’s free for anyone to use.  You can download it at www.gimp.org.  It runs on many platforms, so download the version for your particular operating system.  GIMP runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.  I teach a Photoshop class and one of my students used GIMP to do all the assignments because they wanted to work at home.  The results and concepts were the same.  Take some digital photos and give GIMP a try.  There are some video tutorials on www.designyourownweb.com and Amazon sells book about the program.  Let me know what you think.

Sun Microsystems has a wonderful open-source office suite of programs that anyone can use for free.  It is called OpenOffice.  It is release under the GPL license and it is available for download at www.openoffice.org.  This package includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, drawing program and database.  It can also read and write Microsoft Office files.  Every student can now have a professional grade office suite for free.  This is definitely worth checking out.

Windows Vista is new operating system by Microsoft.  An operating system is a program that tells the computer how to communicate with all of its parts.  Vista can cost around $200.  A copy must be bought for each computer.  This is too expensive for most school budgets.  Vista also requires the latest hardware in order to operate.  This means that older computer labs cannot run Windows Vista.  However, there is a solution to this problem of running a modern operating system on older computers.  Old or donated computers can still be used effectively in the classroom if the proper operating system and software is used.

The answer to our operating system dilemma is to use a different operating system.  What if we could use a free, powerful operating system with thousands of free programs?  I am using Linux right now to post this article.  Wouldn’t this be cost-effective for our schools?  What if this allowed us to do all the tasks that we do using Windows? We can.  The solution is to use an operating system called Linux.  LInux can be downloaded from the Internet for free and used in the classroom.  It is a unix-like operating system that functions extremely well.  There are many different versions of Linux that can be used based upon particular needs.

So what tasks can be done with Linux and open source software?  For starters, one can surf the Internet using various web browsers, manage e-mail, use word processors, spreadsheets, data bases, create and modify graphics, create and post websites, networking, games, educational simulations and the list goes on and on.  Did I say that this costs nothing and it is perfectly legal?

Linux can be run live off of a CD.  This allows you to try it without even installing on your computers.  Just download a Linux image file, burn it to a cd and boot your computer.  That’s it.  There are instructions all over the Internet explaining how to do this.  These types of Linux versions are called live CD’s.  There are several available.  A great website to use to learn and get started is www.distrowatch.com. This site contains many distributions (versions) of Linux that can be downloaded.  There are also descriptions and ratings available for each type.

My favorite versions to use are Ubuntu Linux, Linux Mint, OpenSUSE, and PCLinuxOS.  These are very easy to use for people who are used to using the Windows operating system.  Any of these are absolutely great operating systems to use in the classroom.  Try them out and see which one meets your needs.

What is an Open Source Educator?  An educator who uses open source software and “open source ideas” in the classroom.  What is open source software?  Basically, it is software that has been donated by programmers from around the world to be used free of charge.  “Open Source” means that the source code of the program is available to use or modify as one wishes.  Most of this type of software is released under the GPL license.  These programs cannot be sold, they are free to use.  “Open Source Ideas and Methods” are used to allow educators from all over the world to share their expertise and knowledge freely for the betterment of humanity.  This is a helpful and positive concept in the field of education.