A Creative Guide to Keeping in Touchthis Holiday Season A Free Gift from Atomic Learning

Holiday ConneCtions

www.AtomicLearning.com

Holiday ConneCtions

HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS ii www.AtomicLearning.comHOLIDAY CONNECTIONS ii Contents

Contents

Season’s Greetings .........................................iii

Across the Miles ...........................................1-2

From the Heart .............................................3-4

Making Memories .........................................5-6

Helping Others Connect ................................. 7

© Copyright Atomic Learning. All rights reserved.

Atomic Learning is focused on promoting the practical application of ICT in education by empowering educators with the training and resources needed to create contemporary learners. Thousands of schools, colleges and universities have made Atomic Learning an integral part of their continuing professional development, ICT integration and support initiatives.

Learn more at www.AtomicLearning.com

Skype™ is a trademark of Skype Limited.

Microsoft® Office and Windows® Movie Maker are registered trademarks of Microsoft Coporation.

Comic Life is a product of plasq.

GarageBand®, iMovie® and iDVD® are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.

Audacity® is a registered trademark of Dominic Mazzoni.

Adobe® Photoshop® is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc.

GIMP was developed by the GIMP Development Team.

flickr™ is a trademark of Yahoo! Inc.

I Can Animate is a product of Kudian Soft.

HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS ii HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS ii iii HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS Season’s Greetingswww.AtomicLearning.com

season’s GreetinGs

For many, the past year has been filled with both challenges and achievements. Many educational institutions struggled with funding issues that forced hard decions to be made, while others found success in new continuing professional development approaches and classroom practices.

No matter what your year entailed, Atomic Learning is honored to be a part of your institution’s success and is dedicated to the continued growth of our partnership in the new year.

To ensure a bright spot as the year draws to a close,

Atomic Learning is excited to share this year’s eCard: Holiday Connections. Packed with tips and ideas on how to spread the joy of the season with family and friends, the card is our gift to you. Please consider it a special thank you from all of us here at Atomic Learning for all that you do to ensure that children are provided a quality educational experience.

We hope you enjoy Holiday Connections, and wish you and yours all the happiness and joy this holiday season offers.

The Atomic Learning Family

HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 1 1 HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS Across the Mileswww.AtomicLearning.com

aCross the Miles

Whether your family is dispersed across the country

or around the world, sharing the joy of the season

has never been easier.

In this section, we’re sharing a few of our favourite

tools and ideas for spreading holiday cheer far and

wide, even when physical distance keeps you from

your loved ones.

Making a Special Delivery via mail-merge

Using the ever-popular Microsoft® Office Suite,

sending holiday cards and letters is simple.

Whether you want to personalise

letters or create mailing labels,

there are a variety of tools

to streamline seasonal

mailings, including

the mail-merge

functionality in

Microsoft® Word.

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s word 2003 - Mail MerGe workshop

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s word 2007 - Mail MerGe workshop

HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 2 Across the Miles (continued)www.AtomicLearning.comHOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 2

aCross the Miles (Continued)

Gathering Together with Skype™

A popular online tool, Skype™ is a free software pro-

gram that, when installed on your computer, works

with your Internet connection to

turn your computer into an

Internet phone. The program

allows you to make

free calls to other

Skype™

users, or low-cost calls to traditional or mobile phones

anywhere in the world.

Though a large part of the popularity of Skype™ stems

from the ability to make international calls for little

to no cost, it is not the only factor. Besides saving

money, Skype™ also includes video features, allowing

you to add up to nine people on a single video call.

Why be apart this season? There are tools available

to bring everyone together.

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s skype™ traininG series

HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 2 HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 2 3 HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS From the Heartwww.AtomicLearning.com

FroM the heart

Looking for creative gift ideas? Anyone using

technology today can probably describe some

unique project ideas they’ve had. There are a wide

array of software applications available today that,

with a little imagination, allow you to create one-of-a-

kind gifts that can be treasured for years to come.

Making the Holidays Fun with Comic Life

Comic Life is a software program that enables you

to transform your photographs into comics, picture

albums and more. Using simple drag-and-drop

design functionality, and complete with templates,

photo filters and special fonts, Comic Life provides

everything needed to make your photos come to

life.

Whether you are looking to create a unique family

portrait, re-tell a classic holiday story in a unique

way or just play with family photographs, you simply

upload or add pictures to your computer, personalise

with word bubbles and other effects, and print. It’s

quick and simple.

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s CoMiC liFe traininG series

HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 4 From the Heart (continued)www.AtomicLearning.comHOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 4

FroM the heart (Continued)

Capturing the Sounds of the SeasonRecording a personal greeting to send to family and friends or capturing a child’s rendition of festive songs and carols is a great way to spread holiday cheer. No matter what level of vocal talent you have, your family is sure to appreciate a gift that comes straight from the heart.

There are a variety of tools available that enable you to record and editvoice (or song), including Audacity®, GarageBand®, and numerous others. Simply pick a song, warm up your vocal chords, and you’re ready to go!

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s GaraGeBand® traininG series

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s audaCity® traininG series

HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 4 HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 4 5 HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS Making Memorieswww.AtomicLearning.com

MakinG MeMories

No matter how you spend your holiday season,

memories will be made. Capture the magic of family

gatherings and seasonal events using technology

to preserve and share those memories for years to

come.

Going Beyond the Photograph

Family gatherings and holiday events typically result

in a great number of photographs. With specialised

photo editing applications, like Adobe® Photoshop®,

or GIMP, you can quickly remove red-eye or make

other edits to preserve your memories.

Once you’ve made edits, rather than just storing your

photographs in a folder on your personal computer,

consider uploading them to flickr™ for quick and

simple sharing with family and friends. It takes no

more than a few simple clicks, and they are sure to

appreciate the gesture.

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s FliCkr™ traininG series

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s GiMp traininG series

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s photoshop® Cs5 traininG series

HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 6 Making Memories (continued)www.AtomicLearning.comHOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 6

MakinG MeMories (Continued)

Bringing Memories to Life with VideoWith all the new devices available today, home video has become commonplace. However, just because the technology is available, doesn’t mean everyone is able to shoot high-quality video.

If your cinematography skills cast a shadow over holiday events, plan on spicing up your videos with a video-editing program like iMovie® or iDVD® from Apple®, Windows® Movie Maker, I Can Animate and others. They all enable you to add a variety of effects and edits to enhance the record of seasonal events.

It’s also a great idea to keep these in mind if you are planning to give (or hoping to receive) a new video recorder or camcorder as a gift this year.

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s i Can aniMate traininG series

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s windows® Movie Maker traininG series

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s idvd® traininG series

learn More with atoMiC learninG’s iMovie® traininG series

HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 6 HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS 6 7 HOLIDAY CONNECTIONS Helping Others Connect www.AtomicLearning.com

helpinG others ConneCt

With technology, the creative possibilities for holiday

gatherings and projects are nearly endless. We’ve

shared just a few of our favourites, but know that

we’ve missed some great projects and ideas.

If you have an idea on how to connect this holiday

season, visit the Atomic Learning Conversations

Network and join our special project discussion.

We’re looking forward to hearing your great ideas.

While you’re there, check out the other conversations

and see what fellow educators are talking about.

join the disCussion on atoMiC learninG’s Conversations network