This week we will take a peek at Tech TEKS 2A. Here is the “official” verbiage.
(1) Creativity and innovation. The student uses creative thinking and innovative processes to construct knowledge, generate new ideas, and create products. The student is expected to:
(A) identify, create, and use files in various formats such as text, raster and vector graphics, video, and audio files;
A great way to assess students on what they know is to allow them to create a digital product. It allows them to think outside the box, and it forces them to do more than just mark a multiple choice answer. This gets the students sharing from a deeper level. In order for them to be successful in digital content creation, they need to have a grasp on different ways to effectively present their information. That is where the Technology TEKS come into play.
Text Options
There are some general rules students should follow when adding text to their projects.
- In most cases, less is more. Do not overwhelm your audience with a screen full of text. Hit the highlights and be ready to explain further along with your presentation.
- Your font choice should be something that is easy to read. Using a “fancy font” only makes it harder to read your content.
- Ensure your font is not too small. Never use anything smaller than 24 for a presentation. Something along the lines of 36 would be better.
Graphic Options
There are 2 graphic types that students need to be aware of, raster and vector graphics. Understanding the difference between the 2 will help when they are searching for and adding graphics to a presentation.
- Raster graphics- the most common type of raster graphic is a bitmap (.bmp, .jpg, .png) graphic. In a raster graphic, each pixel stands alone as its own entity within the graphic. While this creates amazing images with a lot of detail in the size they are meant to be, trying to enlarge this type of image will cause it to pixelate, or become blurred. This type of image is best left alone and should not be resized.
- Vector graphics (.pdf, .svg, .swf) are created with mathematical formulas instead of individual colored blocks. This allows you to change the size of the image without it pixelating and becoming blurry. If you are looking to really blow up the size of an image you will need to look into vector graphics.
This image, taken from modassicmarketing.com, is a great visual for the difference in graphic options.
Formatting Resources
Below are two different posters that have been created to help better understand file types and file conversions, as well as give some helpful tips when looking into using graphics in projects. Feel free to download and print these posters so they can be hung in your room or around your school.
LCISD Digital Learning 6-8 