#EDUgif – Craig M Sheil

Screen Shot 2018-08-09 at 4.23.50 PM As indicated in an earlier post, I challenged myself to take an online course on how to create animated GIFs, with Jake Miller being the instructor. I have discovered that creating high quality GIFs sure take some thinking (and time – just like anything else when you first start learning). Prior to taking the course, I would use Snagit to record my screen. Then, with the click of one button, I could say create a GIF. Could I continue to do this? Sure. However, knowing what I know now, I really should keep my audience in mind. They don’t want to watch a GIF that is a minute or longer. Plus, there should me more details provided in the GIF to help the viewer out.

Continue reading “My Challenge This Summer”

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As my friend Mary Marotta says,

“Sure we have the ability to learn [insert particular tool here]. But you know what, it might be good to find someone who is an expert at [insert tool] to get a different perspective.”

I took her advice recently and decided to take Jake Miller’s #EduGif Academy course online this summer. I have been a big fan of Jake’s as he makes amazing GIFs. It seems as though every day he is sharing a new tip or trick via a GIF he made. (I am not sure how he has time to do all of these but he does GREAT work!)

For the past year, in some of the resources that I have created for teachers and students at the high school I work at, I have made GIFs. I find that GIFs can share the information that you need to in an efficient, quick way. However, I really did not take the time to plan out the GIFs. Instead, I would just record my screen and then convert the video into a GIF. At the end of June, I saw a post of Jake’s promoting his online course and thought, why not…it is time for me to be the student again.

I am writing this blog post half way through the course and could not be more thrilled that I took up this opportunity. Below are two videos that I have created thus far that I plan to use at the beginning of the school year for the students at the high school. You will notice that they are still videos. Jake wanted to make sure we knew the basics prior to moving into GIFs, and by basics…I really mean not basics as I am learning some cool tricks to making my videos that much better.

While these videos are not perfect, I hope you enjoy them. The most favorite feature of the videos you ask? It is the ability to zoom in an out of particular areas of the screen. I feel as though this not only helps the viewer but also makes it ‘look more professional’.