Met with Dana Alexander (from Seattle area) and Rick Miller (from California) of Adobe, Inc. on March 18, 2013 with the Jason Neiffer of the Montana Digital Academy.  They came to Montana to meet with Montana State University (in Bozeman, MT) and the University of Montana (in Missoula). They also met with Missoula County Public Schools to discuss licensing with Adobe, Inc. for the Master Collection on Tuesday, March 19th. Had dinner with them at the Depot Restaurant along with Keith Graham, Associate Professor / Photojournalism & Multimedia of The University of Montana School of Journalism on the first night and again had dinner with the group the next night at the Pearl Restaurant.

What a great opportunity to teach at NCCE this year. I did a three hour workshop on Adobe InDesign using Linda Dickeson’s ClickStep book on InDesign. I forgot how much I really like teaching adults. It was a great experience and I hope to do more of these workshops.

Here is a link to all of the resources from the conference:

2013 NCCE Conference Materials

I was encouraged to apply to serve on the MCAT board last month. Missoula Community Access Television (MCAT) provides Missoula residents and organizations with the equipment, training, and channel time to produce TV programs based on their interests and concerns. These programs reflect Missoula's cultural, political, and intellectual diversity, and help foster a community dialogue about people and issues that might otherwise go unnoticed.

I did apply and had an interview on January 22, 2013. I am now serving on the MCAT board. They meet once a month on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. They televise the meetings. I am excited to serve on this board because I have worked with them for years and always felt they were “education friendly.” They are always willing to help students and teachers alike. Evidently there has been some talk of MCPS partnering with MCAT. I think that this would be a great idea. For instance, since I have had my computer lab filled with computers, I have no area for students to set up lighting or green screen work. If we partnered with MCAT, they have the equipment and knowledge to set up a great green screen room with lighting and even some audio bays. Their employees have been great to work with and I think it would be a great fit with Sentinel and MCPS. Other teachers would also have the ability to learn from employees and have their students work with them.

asked me to review 10% of the Adobe, Inc. video content randomly to see if any appropriate education specific language is used and to correlate the feature list of each product with the tutorial list to see what features may have been "not covered" by their training.  I am excited to do this as I have used Atomic Learning in the past for my classes.  I will spend about twenty hours reviewing their videos and giving them a report on my findings as it relates to their requirements.  Great opportunity for me to review Adobe product content!

http://www.atomiclearning.com/

Had the opportunity to judge the Flat Classroom 12-2 media for the World Wide Web group. There were 23 videos that three of us viewed and voted on.  Students were to address the following issues: 

How the World Wide Web Has Changed the World
The New Age of Connectivity - Flattener #2, p 60-77 of the Flat Classroom Book written by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsey.
This flattener is identified as our ability to not only author our own content, but to send it worldwide with the 1995 launch of the Internet. Netscape and the Web broadened the audience for the Internet from its roots as a communications medium used primarily by 'early adopters and geeks' to something that made the Internet accessible to everyone from five-year-olds to eighty-five-year olds. (8/9/1995)
Overview of topic

• Development of the Internet: low-cost global connectivity
• The emergence of the World Wide Web: Individuals able to post content for world viewing
• Spread of the commercial Web browser: Netscape and others, able to display WWW content on any computer, development of protocols enabling devices to talk to one another

Ideas related to this topic

• Global Perspective on Internet connectivity
• Digital divide issues
• Standards and policies for use of the Internet and the WWW: comparing differences between countries
• Development of eCommerce, dot-com boom and bust
• Development of social interaction and communication between individuals via the Internet

How the World Wide Web has Changed the World, ideas to get started

• Discuss the development of the WWW (Netscape etc) and associated protocols
• Provide a perspective from your country on WWW standards and issues
• Conduct a discussion about the use of the WWW in education and business (local and global perspectives)

http://fcp12-2.flatclassroomproject.org/home

NCCE 2013 - The Greatest Show on Earth

Well, I just found out that I am an "Incredible Featured Adobe Educator" at the NCCE 2-13 Conference held in Portland, Oregon, February 26 - March 1, 2013.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I submitted my proposals for Adobe InDesign and Adobe Dreamweaver.  I certainly didn't expect to be a "Featured.....Educator."  Not exactly sure what my schedule is yet, but it looks like I will be teaching an Introduction to Adobe InDesign on the morning of Wednesday, February 27th.

While I know I shouldn't be nervous because I have probably taught hundreds of classes to adults and teachers, but this does make me a little nervous, I have to admit.  I know I will do fine, it is just getting this kind of attention makes me nervous.  I am, however, really looking forward to it and plan to help out in the Adobe booth, which is always fun and a great learning experience.  If you are interested more in what this conference is about, check out the Advance Program - specifically check out page 15. I am excited to see that after all these years of attending workshops held by Joe Dockery, I am listed right beside him in the program.  This is quite an honor, I have to say. I have always admired his work and am always inspired by his workshops.  I hope to provide the same for the people that attend my workshop. 

This summer I attended ISTE 2012 in San Diego, CA. I attended Linda Dickeson's Adobe InDesign workshop.  She gave out books that she had written which I thought was great - because if I missed something in the workshop, I had a reference to go back to.  Linda recently updated her InDesign book to InDesign CS6.  I am hoping that I will be able to use her books at the NCCE conferece. I really like the idea of supporting a fellow AEL (Adobe Education Leader) and being able to provide a great resource for students.  More on this topic, as I learn more.  Have to say, I am very excited, even though a little nervous, about this endeavor.

Well I have some very motivated and talented students this year and feel that it is time to implement the Sentinel Design Academy.  I have thought about this for years, but never quite had the right situation.  This is the year.  I started out by thinking of it as a Design Lab. This Design Lab will be for students that want to go into the field of design, whether print, web or video.  I am thinking more of an Academy now.  These students will complete authentic projects for the the school and community. Since our design lab is under the Business Department, the hope is that we will turn this into a business with real-world experiences for students. These students must be taking a digital design class (graphic design, web design or digital film) and maintain an A in their class.  They should be studying for or passed the Adobe Certification Associate exam. They should be mentors for other students.