eZedia World e-Newsletter

1. eZedia Plug-ins Coming Soon!
With the recent release of eZediaMX 3.0, eZedia has laid the foundation and framework to incorporate eZedia Plug-ins. These plug-ins will enhance your eZedia software and provide expanded offline and online delivery options. 

eZeCapture™
Capture everything you see in eZedia Player including mouse movements, navigation and typing and save it as a QuickTime™ Movie file. eZeCapture is useful for creating instructional and training materials.
• Capture from eZedia Player to QuickTime™ Movie

eZeComposite™
Composite actions and events built in an eZediaMX document to a QuickTime™ Movie file. The result is the creation of a flat movie that automatically plays without the use of interaction. Just imagine how easy it now is to create video and audio sequences.
• Composite eZediaMX file to QuickTime™ Movie

eZeConvert™
Convert your eZediaMX document to an Interactive QuickTime™ Movie for expanded offline and online delivery methods.
• Convert eZediaMX file to Interactive QuickTime™ Movie

2. This is the House that PNG Built: A Guide to PNG Graphic Files
If you work with graphics, you may have heard the term PNG and wondered what it is. PNG is a graphic format used to store pictures digitally. eZediaMX 3.0 now supports PNG images because of two major advantages they bring to multimedia projects:

Alpha Transparency
PNG images can store not only color information (RGB) but alpha information. This allows you to set variable degrees of transparency within an image. GIF images have very simple transparency: a color can be either fully transparent or fully opaque. PNG images allow 254 levels of transparency between that. This allows you to create images with soft glows, anti-aliased edges, drop shadows and other effects. With PNG transparency, these graphics will look good on any background, whether patterned or colored.

Lossless Image Compression
When an image is saved, it is often compressed. When saving as a GIF or JPG, you will notice a difference in the quality of the image. GIF images reduce the number of colors in the image, while JPG images produce jagged or blocky areas known as artifacts. PNG images give the highest compression possible while maintaining the full quality of the image. That means small file sizes and perfect quality!

What does all this mean for you, the eZediaMX user? When you use a PNG graphic, you can layer it on top of anything and it will still look good. This image shows the sunflower graphic layered on a photographic background, and on a plain background. It also shows the graphic layered on top of itself. To try this out yourself, download the sunflower PNG to use in an eZediaMX document.


But what if you don't have an image editing tool, and can't create PNG's on your own? Never fear! Drag any image into eZediaMX, click the object's menu button and select "Edit Picture". This allows you to edit the transparency level for individual colors and/or the entire object.

So what's the best format to use when creating images for an eZediaMX project? It really doesn't matter! Any image brought into eZediaMX is internally converted and compressed to a PNG. The original file isn't changed because the new PNG image is stored in your eZediaMX document.

3. Twelve Reasons to Use Multimedia Projects in the Classroom
by Dr. Suzanne Cherry
Assistant Professor, School of Education
Francis Marion University

1. Multimedia projects motivate students to participate.
2. Multimedia projects integrate all the language arts -- reading, writing, listening, and speaking across curricular areas.
3. Multimedia projects build collaboration skills for students.
4. Multimedia projects create real reasons for reading, writing, and revising communication.
5. Multimedia projects give students a larger audience than the teacher and the classroom.
6. Multimedia projects require students to analyze sources and think about evidence in new ways.
7. Multimedia projects lead teachers to think about their students, classes, and lessons in new ways. Reflection and revision of teaching strategies naturally evolve with the projects.
8. Multimedia projects require higher order thinking and problem-solving skills. These projects promote non-linear thinking and give divergent learners a chance to shine in the classroom.
9. Multimedia projects move teachers from the role of lecturer and classroom authority and into the role of learning coach or facilitator. They create student-centered classrooms.
10. Multimedia projects increase students' literacy and prepares them for the technology-based communication skills required in the workplace today and tomorrow.
11. Multimedia projects let teachers address multiple intelligences and learning styles in the classroom.
12. Multimedia projects naturally employ the range of resources and approaches by which most students learn best.

About the Author
Dr. Suzanne Cherry is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Francis Marion University. She is also the Director of the Swamp Fox Writing Project, a National Writing Project site (http://www.writingproject.org/). Dr. Cherry is an accomplished presenter and incorporates technology in a variety of ways in the instructional process. The author has not received any financial remuneration for the article.

4. Multimedia Mania 2002 Contest
An Award for Classroom Excellence by HyperSIG Multimedia Special Interest Group of ISTE

This awards program is for students and teachers who use multimedia to teach and learn in a specific content area (e.g., math, science, social studies, language arts, art, music, physical education, ESL, etc.). Students are invited to share their work with an international audience by creating dynamic multimedia projects related to any class or coursework. Multimedia Mania winners usually come from classrooms in which technology is used as a tool to teach and learn any standard curriculum. Teachers may coach and advise, but work must be completed by students in grades K-12.

Participants are encouraged to incorporate 3-D design, video, animation, and any other multimedia techniques that may enhance the design of the project. Heavy emphasis will be placed on originality, alignment to curriculum or course content, project design, and proper use and documentation of resources.

The primary goal of Multimedia Mania is to find real, working models of the skillful integration of technology into a typical classroom setting in a specific content area.

USE to build your project!

The top 3 teams will be honored virtually in an exciting Web Cast at NECC and will later be transported to the National School Boards' Technology + Learning Conference, November 13-15, 2002, Dallas, TX. Winners will also receive copies of the top multimedia authoring software.

Register using the Multimedia Mania online registration form before the deadline of February 25, 2002 or visit eZedia's Zoom-ed web site for more information.

5. What's New at eZedia
Show Me!
eZedia's web site is filled with resources that not only tell you how to use eZediaMX, but show you.

Sit back, relax and learn how each tool in eZediaMX works with eZedia Show Me's.

Whether you need a little inspiration or just want to see how to build your own eZedia project, eZedia Showcase files are just the answer! Download the projects and view them with eZedia Player or drag them into eZediaMX to see how they've been built.

Use eZediaMX features like a pro with Tips & Tricks from eZedia's team of media gurus.

Online Opinion
Your opinion counts. In the bottom right hand corner of every page on the new eZedia web site, you will see a [+] icon. Click to rate the page, then fill out the comment card. Your feedback will help us further improve our eZedia web site and satisfy our users.

Events
Texas Computer Education Association 2002 Convention & Exposition (TCEA)
Austin Convention Center
Austin, Texas
February 4 - 8, 2002

QuickTime Live presented by Apple®
The Beverly Hilton Hotel
Beverly Hills, California
February 11 - 14, 2002

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Look for the next issue of eZedia World in March 2002.

eZedia World welcomes subscriber feedback, story ideas as well as editorial contributions to our monthly newsletter. Please e-mail us your ideas at ezediaworld@ezedia.ca.

© 2000-2002 eZedia Inc. All rights reserved. eZedia, the eZedia logo, and eZediaMX are registered trademarks or trademarks of eZedia Inc.