General Sites
Webopedia: Online Computer Dictionary for Computer and Internet Terms
A general IT dictionary sponsored by internet.com
Answers.com
Online dictionary, encyclopedia and much more. Some people consider this site to be an alternative to Wikipedia.
Common Craft
Clever explanations of technology and other topics, presented as brief videos with animation.
Free Software
Audacity
A highly recommended free open source sound editor.
Acid Express
This free downloadable PC software is similar to GarageBand and is available from AcidPlanet.com.
Gimp
The GNU Image Manipulation Program (gimp) is free open source program for creating graphics.
Google Sketchup
This free 3D sketching software allows you to design, create and share illustrations from floor layout plans to modeled images. Have students use it to draw out the parts of a motherboard, for example. Requires download and installation of the free program.
animation package available.
Tutorials
Tudvid.com
This site has some nice tutorials on Adobe projects.
Audio/Podcasting
About Podcasting
About.com's page on podcasting - what it is, how to do it.
Educause: 7 Things You Should Know About Podcasting
A good overview of what podcasting can do in an educational environment.
Common Craft: Podcasting
An entertaining 'plain English' explanation of podcasting.
Video
Adobe Premiere Tutorials
A set of free how-to videos is available at this page from tutorialized.com.
Adding a Video to YouTube
This how-to from How Stuff Works shows the instructions for adding video to YouTube. Don't try this at school. :) There's also an interesting interview about 'people-driven browsers' with YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley.
Video Editing
An introduction to the video editing process from How Stuff Works.
YouTube Reporters' Center
It may be blocked at your school, but this YouTube channel focuses on the journalistic aspects of video production and digital media. It's one thing to have the technical skills to shoot and edit digital video. it's another thing entirely to be able to tell an effective and credible story. This site includes numerous videos about developing, producing and presenting a credible news story. Paying attention to these concepts and principles will set you apart from the crowd.
Graphics
Graphics (Webopedia)
Graphics and applications defined in Webopedia.
Internet Graphics Formats
What's the difference between a JPG, a GIF and a PNG? Find out here.
Multimedia and Hypermedia
Collections of audio files, clip art, maps and video.
Matching Fonts with Personality
Advice on choosing fonts for a website or presentation.
Animation
Adobe Flash Tutorials
A set of free how-to videos is available at this page from tutorialized.com.
Flash Introduction & Vocabulary
Created by Flash expert and Digital Media teacher Tommy Hodges for ExplorNet/QTL, this 13-minute video covers the basics of Flash and gives students a visual connection to multiple CA2 ES3 vocabulary terms.
Web Development
Getting Started with Your Own Website
This section from about.com gives an overview and advice on building your own website.
Building Your Own Website
The Site Wizard outlines the steps in creating your own website, from obtaining a domain name to picking a web host and then building and uploading your site, testing it and promoting it. The web development community is inclined to share ideas and resources, so you may find other sites like this one through a Google search of your own. (A word of caution: some are created by web hosts who mainly want you to use their services. Make sure you investigate several options if you are really considering building a website of your own.)
HTML Tutorial
this tutorial from w3schools begins with a tutorial but then includes numerous samples that you can play with.
HTML Code Reference
A quick list of key html tags.
Webmonkey HTML Cheat Sheet
Another quick reference site for the most important html tags.
Adobe Dreamweaver Tutorials
A set of free how-to videos is available at this page from tutorialized.com.
14 Steps to Divs
A great tutorial from tutvid.com that explains how Div Tags work and how you insert them. This tutorial will also help you understand how CSS controls how the pages in a web site are designed and laid out.
Web Development Workflow
This web section from WebAssist may be of interest to Level 2 students. It includes a look at the steps of building an advanced e-commerce website, and a checklist of tasks within each stage (planning, software setup, business setup, design & production, development, quality assurance & deployment). There is a pdf checklist that is free to download. WebAssist sells Dreamweaver extensions, so be aware that their checklist includes a lot of optional steps that their products might automate, but that would not be needed in a basic website (creating forms, generating email, registering users).
Browser Statistics
When building a website, seeing how it works in different browsers is critical. But which browseres are the most important and used the most widely? That changes over time. This site from w3schools has the latest statistics.
Careers & Certification
Junior Achievement: Careers in Interactive Media
This site examines career options in the Interactive Media career pathway.
SkillSet Interactive
This British web site has a wealth of information on jobs in Interactive or Digital Media and the skills needed to get those positions.
Futures for Kids
The non-profit Futures for Kids pairs students with mentors in their career field for online discussions and career planning advice. After registering and taking a quick assessment, students get a list of job fields related to their goals, then get access to information about those career fields. They can also participate in monitored online discussion boards with adult mentors. This is a FREE site, but the mentoring service is only available in some parts of North Carolina.
Online Safety
LearnIT-TeachIT Online Safety Section
This section of the non-profit website LearnIT-TeachIT features several videos on subjects such as passwords, cookies, malware, etc. Learn to protect yourself online!
Leadership, Communications and Ethics
Student Press Law Center: Copyright Law
This online PowerPoint presentation from the Student Press Law Center presents an overview of the most important aspects of copyright law.
Internet Ethics
This webpage from thinkquest.org lists links to numerous web pages focused on Internet Ethics, from privacy and security to intellectual property and copyright law.
Computer Ethics (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia's explanation of computer ethics.
Why are Illegal Music Downloads Illegal?
This Webopedia article examines the legal ramifications of downloading and copying'free' music that's not meant to be free.
FAQs about Fair Use of Music
Does it surprise you to know that just because you bought a song on iTunes, that doesn't give you the right to use it in a video that you create for school? That surprising fact and more are part of this FAQ page at the Soundzabound website. Soundzabound licenses music tracks for educational institutions, and the information here is written to explain to educators why they might need that service. But amid the selling points you will find a lot of good information about legal and fair use of music and other resources when creating multimedia presentations.
What is Software Piracy?
Webopedia's page on copyright protection and software piracy includes a definition and numerous links.
Microsoft Piracy Page
The leading software maker has a wealth of background and information on software piracy.
Good Character
This website has teacher strategies to teaching teen goal setting. Included is a section on how to set goals, discussion questions, activities, and writing assignments.
Soft Skills (Wikipedia)
A simple definition and examples of interpersonal skills.
Competitions
Imagine Cup
A competition for individuals or pairs who create videos or multimedia experiences, "communicating, explaining, and touching the global society via the Internet."
ThinkQuest NYC
Only NYC students can submit entries, but the site has some decent ideas for projects.
MacArthur Foundation
This website has a variety of projects and opportunities around digital media.
Hastac
Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory - operates Digital Media and Learning Competition in collaboration with The MacArthur Foundation.
Miscellaneous
What is Digital?
From The Futures Channel: The information revolution is based on one idea: that all information -- numbers, text, sound, pictures, and videos -- can be translated into a string of 1's and 0's. Of course, in some cases, it takes a LOT of 1's and 0's.
What is Interactive Media? (Wikipedia)
The definition of Interactive Media may differ depending on who you ask. This is the definition from Wikipedia.
