All resources in Nebraska Communication & Information Systems

Intro to Microsoft Word

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Do you want to learn the basics of how to use Microsoft word? This web site offers easy to understand video lessons. In addition to the audio lessons, the site offers supplement materials.

Material Type: Lecture, Lesson Plan, Student Guide

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Word Processing Simulation Using Project Management

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Students will correctly key specific documents that have previously been taught by using a simulation provided from a Computer Applications and Keyboarding textbook. This lesson is not specific to a particular textbook, however, the example provided is from the Century 21 Computer Applications and Keyboarding Textbook, 8th edition. Simulations give students a real-world practice and by adding project management techniques, students can practice working together to complete a long assignment. The class should be divided into teams of 3-4 students. They will choose a group leader and then complete the person responsible column on the provided pdf handout. Students should assess the qualities that each bring to the table and use that to their advantage. Once this has been done, they should decide on the due date for each job and list the date in the completed column and, finally, who will be editing/proofreading the document before the group leader submits for grading. Students are allowed to use their notes and the FBLA format guide, which can be found on the FBLA-PBL.org website, for this project.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson, Lesson Plan

Author: Dawn Friedrich

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Mail Merge - Graduation Labels

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One of the most common things I did during my work experience was making labels for a variety of reasons - mailing labels, shipping labels, name tags/badges, file folder labels, etc. In this lesson, students complete a mail merge with the teacher, then use addresses of family and friends to create labels that they could put on their graduation announcements.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson, Lesson Plan

Author: Tennille Allison

Introduction to Physical Computing (Grade 7)

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Developed by the NYCDOE CS education team, the Introduction to Physical Computing course is a 54-hour long introductory computer science course that guides students to explore fundamental CS concepts through tinkering with the micro:bit, a simple programmable computer device. Each unit of the course guides students through the learning process with three practices: analyzing computer applications around them based on a given issue; prototyping a project that reflects the result of the analysis plus their interest; and communicating about their projects, including the functionality of a project, a project development process, influence from other projects and their contribution to a project when working in a group. The curriculum and support sessions assist educators in discovering the most effective way of facilitating this course for their own classroom, while helping them to become comfortable with the main tool, the micro:bit.

Material Type: Full Course

Innovate with Green Screen!

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Chroma key composting, or chroma keying, is a special effects / post-production technique for composting (layering) two images or video streams together based on color hues (chroma range). The technique has been used heavily in many fields to remove a background from the subject of a photo or video – particularly the news casting, motion picture and video game industries. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production. This technique is also referred to as color keying, color-separation overlay (CSO; primarily by the BBC[2]), or by various terms for specific color-related variants such as green screen, and blue screen – chroma keying can be done with backgrounds of any color that are uniform and distinct, but green and blue backgrounds are more commonly used because they differ most distinctly in hue from most human skin colors. No part of the subject being filmed or photographed may duplicate a color used in the background.[3]

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Interactive, Lecture Notes, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Kay Williams

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Foley Art: The Art of Making Sounds

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Students will learn how to produce their own sounds to add to their video projects. This technique is called Foley Art. There are several excellent videos that can be shown during class or assigned as a flipped assignment. Either way, these videos should draw great discussion during class on how to capture homemade produced sounds. Some of the videos I use come from YouTube and are titled "The Magic of Making Sound," "This Artist Creates Sounds for Movies," "How the Sound Effects in 'A Quiet Place' Were Made," "Foley Artists: How Movie Sound effects are Made," and "The Hunger Games & Frozen Foley Artists Turn the Sound of Junk into Miracles--Art of Sound Ep. 3." Simply do a search for Foley Art. After the discussion, students will then select a movie trailer, convert the trailer into a file format that works with their video editing software. Once the file is uploaded into their software, students will remove/detach the audio and begin brainstorming appropriate sound effects and how these can be made for the video. Students should compile a list of at least 10 sound effects. After all students have their lists, divided the students into groups. I find that it is necessary to have more than one person in order to effectively produce the sounds. Once students are in their groups, combine their lists, and come up with 10 sounds they think they can personally produce. Students will need to brainstorm props that can be used to produce their sounds. Once the sounds have been created, each student will then add, trim, and edit the sounds and add to the movie trailer. After the last day of editing, the students will come back together with their group and show their video to the class. Students should explain how sounds were created.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment, Lesson, Lesson Plan

Author: Dawn Friedrich