Tech Tool Thursday: Quick and free visual tools

Presented by Amy Harris, Michelle Folkman, & Beth Filar Williams

February 27, 2014

POLL

What do you think of when you hear “visual” tools?

Please type thoughts in the chat box.

AGENDA

• UDL overview• Infographics (easel.ly)• Jing • Pixlr• Color & fonts & UDL• Questions

Universal Design for Learning is an instructional design philosophy with a

focus on accessibility for students with learning differences.

UDL has 3 main principles:

● Multiple means of representation

● Multiple means of expression

● Multiple means of engagement

UDL

● Provide information in a variety of formats

● Online tutorials give students the opportunity to replay as needed (but

please caption them!)

● Illustrations and graphical representations (like infographics) can better

illustrate concepts than text

Multiple Means of Representation

● Providing students with the option to work in a variety of media

● Focus on composition, not just writing

● Does the media or the message matter more?

Multiple Means of Engagement

Have you created an infographic?

A. Yes using photoshop or from “scratch”B. Yes using a free online toolC. Not yet!D. I don’t even know what an infographic is?!

POLL

A graphical method for visually representing information, data or knowledge, with goal of showing complex information quickly & clearly.

More info & free tool options in our toolkit: http://bit.ly/1dtTCqK

Infographics

• Register/log in to wordpress to be able to create.

• Set of templates called Vthemes.

• Add objects, backgrounds, shapes, text or upload images.

• Share: download as jpg; a weblink to image, or embed code.• Your visual can be set to private (default) or public.

easelly

http://vimeo.com/37781587

http://www.easel.ly/

Let’s demo!

easelly

Jing

• FREE download - sits on your computer desktop• Must create account with Screencast.com • Use to capture what you see (a screenshot) • Allows basic markup on screenshot (text, arrows, highlight, colors)• Can also record video up to 5 min• Save on desktop OR on screencast.com (2 GB storage) • Share: email, weblink, embed, download

http://www.techsmith.com/jing-features.html

Let’s demo!

Jing

• FREE cloud based, image creator and editor tool.

• Can download o-matic• Flash based• Mobile app (iOS or Android)• Screen-grabbing tool (for FF or

Chrome) Pixlr Grabber • Share via imm.io is (a one-click

easy image sharer)

Pixlr

Three applications: http://pixlr.com/● Pixlr Editor - most used, like photoshop-lite, “photo editor”● Pixlr Express - for quick adjustments, effects, fun overlaps, “image express”● Pixlr-o-matic - vintage image effects, connects to FB, more most fun

Let’s demo!

Pixlr

Color Scheme Designer - http://colorschemedesigner.com/create sets of color

Google Fonts - http://www.google.com/fontshundreds of open source fonts

Color and fonts

Color Scheme Designer

Google Fonts

Google Fonts

Font Book (Mac) Control Panel - Fonts (Windows)

Consider students with low vision, colorblindness, and other vision

difficulties when choosing colors for videos or presentations.

● White or light yellow text on a dark background is the most visible

● Also consider space between lines (should be 25-30% of the font size)

If lines are too close together, it is difficult to find the beginning of a new

line

For more information, visit

http://www.lighthouse.org/accessibility/design/accessible-print-design/

making-text-legible/

UDL & Font

Questions?

By Tsahi Levent-Levi (CC by 2.0) http://www.flickr.com/photos/86979666@N00/7623744452/