Introduction to Digital Applications

Aims & Objectives: On completion students will: Understand the concept of information literacy Acquire an awareness of the range and types of authoring languages Appreciate the strength of authoring languages with respect to their design application and interaction Develop the ability to design simple educational software applications Be familiar with the tools required to publish interactive resources online Understand the issues involved in publishing graphics on the Web in terms of file size and download time Capture graphics from the Web or CD-Rom and edit on them locally on their PC Use a graphic package to develop their own images and save these files in the most appropriate format for the Web Syllabus Literacy for the Internet Age convergence of digital media Defining digital literacy, what makes the Internet unique from other media, locating content on the WWW, broadening the reading experience by incorporating moving video, hyperlinks, sound clips, discussion areas, supporting databases and related software. Locating existing graphics on the Web or CD-ROM. Developing new graphics using a scanner, digital camera, or other technologies. Editing digital files using a graphics package to remove red eye, colour correction techniques, Automatic colour and contrast correction. Rotating and resizing images, Adjusting image colour, brightness and contrast. Understanding colour, drawing and colour tools. File formats for the Web, Use of Tables and Frames and transparent gifs. Need to use lean files Cropping, resizing and thumbnails. File selection correct number of colours for Gif and compression of JPEG files. Creation of buttons, text graphics and navigation bars. History of authoring languages, differences between programming and authoring languages, Use of multimedia authoring package, design and implementation, use of multimedia Flow constructs, Interactivities, conditional branching, CDROM development Introduction to digital creation tools scanners, digital cameras, digital sound recorders, digital video recorders Prime Text/s: Gilster, P., 1997 Digital Literacy New York : Wiley Lori J. Davis, Andy Shafran, Andrew Bryce Shafran, Martin C. Brown (2000) Paint Shop Pro Web Graphics Muska and Lipman Publishing Other relevant texts: Kinkoph Sherry W., Wooldridge, M., Plumley, S. and Toot, M. Teach Yourself Visually Macromedia Web Collection: Flash, Dreamweaver Fireworks Wiley Bruner, C., and Talley, W. 1999 New Media Literacy Handbook Anchor Books Tyner, K. 1998 Literacy in a Digital World Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Online Resources A Primer to Digital Literacy, http://www.ibiblio.org/cisco/noc/primer.html A New Digital Literacy, Conversation with Paul Gilsner, http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/9711/pool.html A Digitally Driven Curriculum, http://www.ippr.org.uk/research/files/team25/project75/digital_curriculum.pdf Paint Shop Pro Users Group, http://www.pspug.org/ Paint Shop Pro Tutorial Links, ttp://www.psplinks.com/content/Animation.html Graphic Design Magazine Online Tutorials, http://www.tiemdesign.com/HOWTO/PSP.htm

Introduction to Digital Applications - Course Outline

Week 1: Week 2: Week 3: Week 4: Week 5: Week 6: Week 7: Week 8: Week 9: Week 10: Digital creation tools scanners, digital cameras, web Introduction to graphics package Manipulation of images Creation of navigation buttons and graphics Introduction to authoring using Illuminatus Opus Pro Adding interactivity Enhancing projects Use of multimedia flow constructs Introduction to sound using Adobe Audition CDROM development and publishing