Task Analysis: Remove Image Background in PS

My analysis of a video tutorial on the knowledge and skills needed to remove the background of an image in Photoshop. The video is about 6 minutes in length and available to view below (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6hvuUf2Smw).

To complete this task students need to identify three tools located in the Photoshop palette and their function.

1. Quick Selection Tool: used to select portions of an image and looks to be done through a selection of similar colors in a given area.
2. Polygon Lasso Tool: Another way to select an area of an image by creating a polygon shape.
3. Erase Tool: used to remove/clean up the edges of the image after it was cut out.

Skills:

1. User needs to know how to use the quick selection tool. From the video this was done through demonstration by selecting the tool in the palette to turn it on and then using the mouse to select specific portions to cut out. The user also needs to know to use the subtract function of this tool, which was used to remove additional excess areas.
2. Using the polygon lasso tool. This is done by selecting the tool and then using the mouse pointer to direct where the tool should draw the next edge of the polygon. Selecting a point where two edges meet will close the shape. In the video the subtract function was used to cut out specific portions inside the selected image.
3. User needs to know how to take the selected image and move to a transparent background. This meant to create a new file and modifying the settings so that the background was transparent. User then moves the selected image onto the transparent background by clicking and dragging it.
4. User needs to know how to save the image. (This topic was not covered in the video.)
5. User needs to know how to place the saved image onto a new background. (Not covered in the video.)

Converting a Standard Project to Responsive

I wanted to see what it would be like to convert a standard project to responsive. I used one of the sample files provided in LinkedIn Learning. When you save the file into responsive, the image size and placement gets screwed up, even if you select the option suggest fluid boxes in the properties panel. For example in the the image in the background gets sandwich as you switch into smaller screen sizes. To make the changes within the current project would be laborious than creating a new responsive project using either the fluid boxes or the second option of using breakpoints.

To see this converted using fluid boxes, log in as guest and use the pw 1234: https://unlockextraordinary.moodlecloud.com/course/view.php?id=4

Sample CP Project in Moodle Cloud

Admiration for Moodle for moving education forward! The LMS program is available on the cloud, and the look and feel is identical to the downloadable version. There is both a free version and a paid service. Educators from all backgrounds can utilize the service and participate in the global learning movement.

The first course I created was Captivate Sample Projects and it’s primarily there to showcase my work using Adobe Captivate. The course is set up so that each topic will have a sample project. The first one is a three-slide project called Foodie Adventures. Images and description are from the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods.

To log in as a guest, click the guest log in button and use the password: 1234

https://unlockextraordinary.moodlecloud.com/login/index.php

Turn On an Object after 3 Buttons have been Clicked

You can set up this action when users are not allowed to move forward until they have viewed all the contents on the current slide.

The explanation has been divided into two parts to deconstruct the advanced action. The first part will explain how the next button appears only after three other buttons have been clicked. The second part will connect additional objects to each button so that a message will appear to the corresponding button while hiding the other messages.

Turn on Next Button

1. Create 3 variables for the buttons and give each one of them a value of 0.
2. Create the advanced action. Name the first action Click button 1. This action will have 2 decisions.
   1. Decision 1: create action: Assign variable button 1 to value of 1.
   2. Decision 2: conditional action: If variable button 1 equals 1 and variable button 2 equals 1 and variable button 3 equals 1, then show next button.
   3. Create new advanced action for the name Click button 2.
   4. Create new advanced action for the name Click button 3.

Add Message to each Button

Modify each of the advanced action by showing a message corresponding to each button. The next button will still appear after clicking all three buttons.

1. Create 3 simple messages using the text boxes. Hide each of these in the properties tab.
2. Modify the action for Click button 1.
   1. Decision 2: modify action: If buttons 1, 2, and 3 equal 1
   2. Show the next button, show message 1, hide message 2, and hide message 3
   3. Else: Show message 1, hide message 2, and hide message 3.
3. Repeat the steps for the other two advanced actions.

Note: To make the updated actions to work properly you may need to change to the button’s action to something else and then reselect execute advanced action.

Drag and Drop: Multiple Combinations into Placeholders

This feature allows you to place multiple items into more than one category. For example, there are two baskets – one for the beach and the other for hiking. The item sunscreen could fit either baskets. To create this kind of interaction, you have to write out the multiple combinations of the items that correspond to the basket.

1. The first combination used the normal the three step process of creating a drag and drop interaction. Here is the first combination: (Sunscreen and bathing suit > beach basket) and (boots > hiking basket).
2. Create the second combination. Click the hiking basket placeholder. Click Options and then > the button Set Correct Answers. This will open a mini-window.
3. Click the button Add New Answer to create a new combination.
4. Click the button (+) to increase the number of variables to the combination. For my example I had three variables for each combination.
5. Create a second combination. (Sunscreen and boots > hiking basket) and (bathing suit > beach basket).
6. Click OK to finish.

Multiple Quiz Attempts with Randomized Qs

This quiz is designed to give users multiple attempts and with questions that are randomized after each attempt. This is done by using variables and conditional actions. The basic directions come to this. For additional info on this check out LinkedIn Learning Captivate 9 with McCune.

1. You create variable to hold the quiz score data.
2. Then an action is used to adjust the score after each question.
3. At the end, a conditional action is used to calculate the total score and options for what decisions to perform. The conditional action is written so that if it equals a certain value, the user is taken to a success slide. If not, the user is taken to different slide for a second attempt.

The quiz results page will need to be changed because it will calculate all attempts in the final score. As a result the value of each question is changed to zero and in its place a variable was created.

Practice creating this quiz. It will have two attempts and a total of 2 questions in each attempt. Using the random feature, we will create question pools and place two questions into each pool.

1. Make quiz questions. I made a total of 4 questions. (The first 2 will go into pool 1 and the second 2 into pool 2.)
2. Select the quiz questions and duplicate them. I have now a total of 8 questions in the filmstrip.
3. In quiz properties, change the value of each question to 0.
4. Create pools = 4.
5. Place the first 2 questions in pool 1, second 2 in pool 2, third 2 in pool 3, and the last 2 in pool 4.  Go to quiz properties and set the point value to 0.
6. Create 2 variables: V_quizAttemptscore1 and V_quizAttemptscore2. Place the value 0 for each one.
7. Add random question slides (2). For each slide on success: Increment + Variable#1 by 1.
8. Insert a content slide afterwards. This slide is used to calculate the score of attempt 1 and determine if the user was successful or not. Create sample text. You scored X out of 2. You need 2. Try again. Place variable#1 in X. Create a button with an action to continue to next slide.
9. Add random questions slides (2) for the second quiz. Add the action: Increment + Variable#2 by 1.
10. Insert another blank slide for the same purpose. Create same sample text but use variable#2. Create another button but since there are no more attempts the button should be to exit or go to the quiz results page.
11. Insert a content slide and create text to show that the user was successful on a quiz.

Setting up the advanced actions

1. Using the slide on step #8. Create advanced conditional action. Give a name: Check_quiz_attempt1. Condition: If Variable#1 is equal to 2, then Jump to (Success Slide). On slide enter: Execute advanced action: Quiz_attemp_check1.
2. Using set #10: do the same. Create second conditional action but change the name: Check_quiz_attempt2. Condition: If Variable#2 is equal to 2, then Jump to (Success slide). On slide enter: execute advanced action.

 

20 Facts About the Impact of E-Learning

The article was published on March 23, 2015 – little bit outdated but still with valuable stats. Article excerpt and link:

Online learning has become one of the fastest-growing industries in education technology, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.

The availability of mobile devices on campuses has drastically changed the playing field for e-learning. By 2020, the global mobile-learning market is on track to reach $37.8 billion, according to a new infographic from TalentLMS, a learning management system. By 2019, half of all college students will be enrolled in online courses.

“This means that the development costs of eLearning courses will diminish with time, boiling down to only the cost of the student. With the cheaper rates at which mobile broadband data is available, 74 percent of eLearners will be mobile learners,” according to a March 2 blog post from TalentLMS. Online learning is also changing the culture of learning itself.

Read rest of the article by D. Frank Smith.

What is your Burning Desire?

This activity is designed to identify your passion. I modified it from the course Bob Proctor Coaching. I rewrote the learning objective consisting of a condition, action, and standard. Also added questions to help with brainstorming and organizing ideas and bullet points for how assessment would be done.

Learning Outcome: Learners will have a clear idea of the burning desire that they want to achieve.

Learning Objective: In an environment free from distractions and through a process of self-reflection, the student will brainstorm, list, and filter the ideas by answering from a list of questions. At least 5 answers must be listed for each question.

Assessment: 

• Required items are listed for each question
• Top two choices were highlighted among the list for each category
• Burning desire is selected

Questions: 

1. What knowledge and skills are you good at?
2. What are things you wish to have in your ideal life?
3. What are things you want to do in your life?
4. What are things you truly enjoy that you would do for minimal or no pay?
5. What is your life’s purpose?

Directions: 

1. Brainstorm and list the ideas for each of the questions. Let go of any restrictions. Give each question serious thought because the decision will be a very important for your success. List at least five ideas for each question but more if you would like.
2. Review your list upon completion of step 1. For each question category, highlight the top two.
3. Among the highlighted choices, review, contemplate, and select your top choice.
4. Write out your burning desire.

Creating Discussion Objectives

An objective states what a student is expected to demonstrate as a result of instruction or learning experience. Air Force ISD categorizes into three parts: knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

The objective has three parts. First is what the students will learn. The second is the condition under which learning will be performed, which includes the situations and the tools provided. The final part is the standard of performance which means the evaluation of what is considered acceptable performance.

In a discussion you want students to demonstrate the learning through speaking or writing. This means the instructional designer should review with the subject matter expert and identify the components of the learning. These can include key principles, perspectives, examples, connections, inferences, important skills, and attitude.

The condition will focus on the resources that they can use to demonstrate their knowledge. In a course this will be the textbook, suggested resources, and external resources chosen by students, which may include the source.

The third consideration of a discussion is to determine the acceptable level of performance. A major online university will usually provide this through a rubric which will consider multiple standards and the levels of performance that will be measured. For example one standard would be the quality of the content:

Excellent : demonstrates and applies in-depth, accurate knowledge of the material.

Good: demonstrates and applies accurate knowledge of the material

Unacceptable: demonstrates limited or inaccurate knowledge or inability to apply the material.

Here is an example of discussion prompt that has the three constituting parts of an objective:

Using the information provided in chapters 7 & 8 on emotional intelligence, give your own example that illustrates at least three of the author’s main concepts.

 

Sources:

Air Force ISD: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/edref/afman36-2234.pdf

Examples of Good Discussion Questions: http://www.uwosh.edu/d2lfaq/teaching-resources/discussions/discussion-question-tips-and-pointers

Example Discussion Rubric: https://it.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Online%20Learning/Example%20of%20a%20Discussion%20Board%20Rubric.pdf

Example Discussion Prompt and Response: http://campustools.capella.edu/BBCourse_Production/PhD_Colloquia_CR3/Track_1/SOE/phd_t1_soe_u06a1_h03_evaldisc.html

Healthy Brain Optimize Learning: Turmeric

Research shows health benefits to the brain from curcumin, which is the key compound found in the plant turmeric. Benefits include a reduction or removal of depression, protects the brain from aging, and prevents Alzheimer disease. Researchers studying the compound think that curcumin increases the neurotransmitters for serotonin and dopamine to help with depression. Experiments showed that curcumin was as effective as a person taking SSRI medication. Curcumin protects the brain from aging in three ways. One is that it serves as an antioxidant for the brain to prevent it from free radical damage. It increases blood flow to the brain to help with memory and concentration. Finally, it increases a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which helps the brain create new brain cells.

All the more reasons to regularly add more curry into our diet! I searched for recipes and had good results with this one: Creamy Thai Sweet Curry. I slightly modified the recipe to fit my fridge and added chicken, kale, diced onion, and cinnamon. This could also work well as a vegetarian soup by removing the chicken and increasing coconut milk or regular milk.

References:
1. http://www.curcuminforhealth.com/the-difference-between-turmeric-and-curcumin/
2. https://bebrainfit.com/curcumin-supplements/
3. http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/turmeric-brain-health.html
4. https://pinchofyum.com/creamy-thai-sweet-potato-curry