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Man using computer AEE 526 - Information Technologies in
Agricultural and Extension Education
Module C:
Icon of filing cabinet drawer 		Images and Sound
Introduction:
Magnifying glass image
 		There has been considerable research that says the use of humor while teaching results in greater student learning. This does not mean that you have to be a stand-up comedian while presenting information, but you should look for ways to liven up the old lecture. One way to liven lectures is by using sound clips in PowerPoint. There are all types of witty and funny sounds available over the Internet. In this lesson we will learn more about finding and manipulating sound files. (did you know you can insert sound clips in word documents. Just doubleclick them to play them).

The old saying "One picture is worth a thousand words" is certainly true in agricultural and extension education. Many of the people we teach learn best when they see an image that illustrates a point. We use images on web sites, in PowerPoint presentations and in Word documents. In this lesson we will explore how to find and obtain images.

Depending upon which modules you select to complete you may be required to use sounds or images in the various assignments. That is the reason for this lesson.

Learning Objectives:
Icon of a signpost 		bullet Identify five sources of images on the World Wide Web.
bullet Efficiently search the web for images and download them.
bullet Differentiate between vector and raster graphics.
bullet Identify various sound file formats.
bullet Retrieve an audio file from the World Wide Web.
bullet Insert an audio clip into a PowerPoint presentation.
bullet Realize that sound files can be edited using programs such as Audacity.
 
 
Instructional
Activities:
Icon of a computer 		bullet There are four major sources of images for use in web page design (and for use in PowerPoint, Word projects, etc.). They are:
  • Digital Photographs (there will be a module later on this, so we will not disuss this in detail in this lesson)
  • Scanned Cocuments
  • Clip Art CD's
  • World Wide Web Sites
bullet View a PowerPoint presentation about imagesandsounds.ppt

bullet Click on the links below to learn more about the various topics and to explore these sites.

bullet   Scanner Basics - Read a basic overview of how to operate a scanner at http://www.scantips.com/begin.html.

bullet  For several years I was editor of the Cary High School PTSA newsletter. This newsletter was very popular. One of the reaons it was popular was because I used a lot of graphics in it. These graphics came off several different CD collections of Clip Art. There are a number of companies that produce CD compilations of photgraphs and clip art. Even though these are not as popular as they once were (because of the availablity of images on the web), one should be familiar with them. If you are working on a project in your cabin in the mountains, and don't have access to the Internet, these clip art collections can be great. They don't cost a whole lot, so this is something you might put on a Christmas list some year.You can also be on the lookout for sales. They are very easy to insert into nearly any type of project. You don't have to install them or anything like that. You typically just go to Insert, Image, and then select the letter of your CD drive to find the image you want (several CD clip art collections have a catalog showing the images)  Which clip art program is the best. Go to this site to read reviews and comparisons of the leading products. http://clip-art-review.toptenreviews.com/

bullet There are a number of free sources of digital images on the World Wide Web. All you have to do is find the image you want right click on your mouse and choose "Save Image As" in Netscape or "Save Picture As" in Explorer.This will save the image to a location on your computer you specify.  Before you download many images, you will probably want to create a folder on your hard drive in which to download the files. A big mistake some people make is to download the images without making a note of where they are being saved; then they can't find them. Here are several sites I often use to find images:
  • www.comstock.com - I love this site. Register for free and you can download larger image sizes. After you download the image it is easy to take the image into an editing program and crop it (more about that later).
  • http://www.farmphoto.com/fpv2/forum.aspx- agricultural images, quality varies
  • www.freefoto.com - a variety of pretty good images
  • http://www.freestockphotos.com/ - this site has links to numerous other free photograph sites.
  • The Library of Congress American Memory project has historical photos.
  • If you can't find what you want, go to http://images.google.com/, and then do a search. This is a quick and easy way to find an image quickly as long as you just need something to illustrate a point. If you want to find a perfect picture, you may need to check out the other sites.
bullet Which is best--vector or raster graphics? (read the first two pages)

bullet Study the different file formats for graphics. There are many more than these, but these are the major ones.

bullet Read what Microsoft says about common raster graphics file types.

bullet Visit the following web sites and explore the different types of online images that are available.
http://www.clip-art.com/
http://www.clipart.co.uk/
http://www.free-clip-art.com/
http://www.clip-art-center.com/

bullet Visit the following web sites and explore the diffent types of sound files that are available.
bullet  Search for on-line sound by typing the probably name of the sound (turkey, gobble, etc.) into a search engine then add a .wav or .au to the word (turkey.wav,gobble.wav). Then search.

bullet A comprehensive libarary of sounds can be found at http://www.findsounds.com/types.html.

bullet  Would you believe their is a sound search engine for the web?

bullet There are times when you may want edit a sound file. Sometimes I will want to shorten a sound clip. Audacity is a free sound editor program. So is WavePad. There is a good tutorial on how to edit sound files at http://www.blazeaudio.com/howto/edit-introduction.html.
Lagniappe:
Icon of a wrapped gift 		After completing the module C assignment you will have experienced a number of funny sound clips. So that is the Lagniappe for this lesson.
Assignments:
Icon of note pad 		The Module C assignment consists of finding and inserting sounds and images into a Powerpoint presentation. Open jazz.ppt and follow the directions.                                                                                                          



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