From the Desk of Mr Daniel

2010-09-16T11:36:00.000+08:00

Microsoft released the first beta of Internet Explorer 9 on 15 September 2010. The new browser brings a streamlined user interface and a core that is more standards-compliant and faster than any previous version of Internet Explorer. With Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft is imploring us to "unlock the beauty of the web," and indeed, IE9 is a fast and attractive Web browser.

Some improvements in IE9

Simple User Interface: Site-centric, ensuring that the focus is on the site, not the browser.
Combined Address & Search Bar with options to enable search-as-you-type.
New Tab Page showing most frequently used pages with frequency indicator.
Leverage on Windows 7's Aero Snap feature for torn-off tabs to continue to show updates on web pages.
Improved notification.
Pinned sites support Windows 7's Jump Lists
Download Manager
Better Security and Web Technologies Support

Everyone in the browser business seems to take the cue from Chrome browser's simplicity in UI

IE 9

Firefox 4

Chrome

Opera

Do not upgrade iPhone 3G to iOS4

2010-07-24T22:35:00.000+08:00

Fujitsu LIFEBOOK T900 Convertible Tablet PC

2010-07-20T09:21:00.000+08:00

My Journey in Technology

2010-07-20T08:00:00.057+08:00

2010	Upgrade to Windows 7 Upgrade to Adobe CS5
2009	Upgraded to Adobe CS4 Complete degree in Media Arts
2008	Pursue a degree in Media Arts Start Multimedia Training to a secondary school Manage LMS for a secondary school
2007	Purchased my 2nd laptop from NEC, installed with Windows Vista. Upgraded to Adobe CS3 Create my first commercial artwork. Switch my personal website to Joomla! CMS
2006	Create my first corporate website. Switch my personal website hosting to ReadySpace
2005	Graduate from my Multimedia Diploma. Create my first corporate marketing materials. Start using NucleusCMS for my personal website.
2004	Got my first laptop from Acer Started my Multimedia Development Diploma - Understand what is Multimedia. First contact with LMS from my Multimedia Diploma. Switch my personal website hosting to NewMedia Express First contact with Wordpress Blog. Switch my personal website from HTML to Wordpress. First contact with CMS
2003	Upgrade to Office 2003 Upgrade to Macromedia MX 2004 Upgrade to Adobe CS Got my first broadband Internet connection from Starhub My first personal website from IWI
2002	Start using Macromedia MX Upgraded to Photoshop 7 Got my first mobile phone from Starhub
2001	Obtained new computer with Windows XP Upgraded to Office XP
2000	Installed Windows ME. Upgraded to Office 2000 Upgraded to Adobe Photoshop 6 Switch to Starhub's Free Dialup Internet
1999	First contact with Javascripts and Dynamic HTML Upgraded to Windows 98 but downgrade back to Windows 95 due to Win98's instability. Start using Adobe Photoshop 4
1998	Come in contact with Freeware and Shareware. First contact with Software CDs. First Microsoft software: Office 97 & Frontpage 97 Home connected to the Internet using Pacific Internet Create my first personal website at Geocities. Join my first online community.
1997	Got my first computer running Windows 95. First contact with the Internet and Email at Temasek Polytechnic. Start using Winzip First contact with Graphic Editing Software: Paint Shop Pro

The Machine is Us/ing Us

2010-07-19T12:57:00.000+08:00

Using e-Learning To Facilitate 21st Century Learning

2010-07-18T21:56:00.000+08:00

Making eLearning Work

2010-07-18T21:46:00.002+08:00

Learning in the age of New Media

2010-07-18T21:38:00.002+08:00

The Age of New Media

Each new technology creates a new environment and opportunity. With the evolution of the Internet from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, this has revolutionize the way we use the internet and change the way we learn. Since the beginning of the wide-spread usage of the internet until 2004, the internet was used for reading ad receiving content for research. After 2004, the Internet evolved into Web 2.0, with many social media websites and tools that allow the Internet users to create, contribute and collaborate contents online. Web 2.0 have also create a culture of openness, participation and contribution. The wisdom of the group now replace the expert.

This resulted in the explosion of information, the world getting smaller and social learning moving to the center stage. Learning has changed. Hence, education will need to change to keep up. Customization, Creation and Collaboration is now the new educational model. With the change, students now need teachers more than ever as teachers now becomes the facilitators of information.

The New Concept of Learning

Social media engages and motivates students to learn. It also creates many possibilities for teaching and learning. Learning is no passively constrained to a classroom or based on learning objects. Rather, learning is centered around the interest of a learner and is owned by the learner. (Personalized Learning) Students learn by involving themselves to the tasks. (Immersive Learning) Using a Computer, Laptop or Mobile Phones as a device, learning occurs through connection with other learners based on conversation and interaction. (Connected Learning)

For the first time, we are preparing students for a future we cannot fully describe. (David Warlick) Eric Hoffer mentioned that in times of rapid change, learners inherited Earth while the learned find themselves equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. Educators are encouraged not to limit the students to their own mode of learning as they are born in another era.

Embracing Learning in the Age of New Media

To start off, educators can:

Learn about Web 2.0
Understand the concept of Web 2.0 and how it can impact learning.
Lurk / Participate
Try out new social media tools. Lurk around to familiarize yourself before participating.
Experiment with different Web 2.0 tools
Not all social media tools are suitable in all teaching and learning environment. Review the learning needs and the objective carefully before deciding of the tools can help you achieve the learning needs and objectives.
Make education a Public Discussion
As learning is now immersive and connected, educators are encouraged to create a learning community in the class where knowledge emerge from conversations.
Teach Content Production
Introduced various tools to the students and get them to create content through engaging activities.
Guidance on Assessing the Right Content
Offer guidance and advise on selecting the appropriate contents and how to deal with unappropriated contents.

References:

Social learning (social pedagogy). (2010, March 14). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:30, July 18, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_learning_(social_pedagogy)

Open & Collaborative Learning. (2010, April). Slideshare. Retrieved 21:30, July 18, 2010, from http://www.slideshare.net/courosa/open-collaborative-learning

Collaborative and Co-operative Learning. (2010, June). Slideshare. Retrieved 21:30, July 18, 2010, from http://www.slideshare.net/timbuckteeth/collaborative-and-cooperative-learning-the-how-and-the-why

Trends and Impacts of E-Learning 2.0. (2010, March). Slideshare. Retrieved 21:30, July 18, 2010, from http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/trends-and-impacts-of-elearning-20

E-Learning 2.0 - Why the New Tools. (2010, March). Slideshare. Retrieved 21:30, July 18, 2010, from http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/elearning-20-why-the-new-tools

Windows 8 Concept

2010-07-18T16:54:00.002+08:00

Microsoft has changed its approach to naming operating systems (e.g XP, Vista) and is using an internal numbering system. The current Windows Operating System, Windows 7, is the 7th release. Hence the replacement for Windows 7 is expected to be called Windows 8. Microsoft normally release a new OS every 3 years, so Windows 8 should be launched in 20011/12, approximately 3 years after Windows 7.

Many Windows Fans are already creating concept videos on how the interface and user experience will be like. Take a look and vote which concept do you like by using the commenting system below.

Copenhagen Concept:

Windows Energy Concept:

Windows 2013 Concept:

Windows 8 Concept:

Nexus One - New Android Phone from Google

2010-07-18T15:32:00.000+08:00

The Facebook Movie - "The Social Network"

2010-07-18T13:22:00.000+08:00

Office 2010 Product Launch (Singapore)

2010-06-15T02:24:00.003+08:00

I attended the product launch of Microsoft Office 2010 on Monday evening (14 June) at *Scape Youth Park after my training at Kaplan. The event started at 6pm with Office 2010 demonstration competition, followed by the product launch at 2010hrs. After the launch, there is a prize presentation ceremony for the competition held earlier. There are also a of Jamming session and some games along the way and the event ended with a luck draw.

Had a wonderful time but I actually hope to see more product demonstration to showcase how Office 2010 can be used innovatively. Discount vouchers could have been included in our goodie bag for the purchase of Office 2010.

Office 2010 Professional version is available to all students studying at MOE schools at an attractive price of SG$128.40 from Singpost. The retail value is SG$758. So hurry get your student pass and purchase the latest version of Microsoft Office today!

Be a part of the online activity by visiting this website and join the Facebook page and Twitter.

iPhone 4 – my next mobile phone

2010-06-08T23:26:00.001+08:00

In 2007, the iPhone reinvented the phone. In 2008 the iPhone 3G brought faster 3G networking and a revolutionary App store. In 2009, iPhone 3Gs is twice as fast and brought up new features like video recording. In 2010, the iPhone 4 is the biggest leap forward since the release of iPhone.

~ Greg Joswaik, VP iPhone Product Marketing.

With so much improvements to the interface, features and camera, this will be my next mobile phone (cum MP3 player!)

Microsoft Office 2010 review

2010-05-18T14:57:00.003+08:00

Firefox 4 - interface influenced by Chrome and Opera

2010-05-17T21:54:00.003+08:00

The upcoming Firefox 4, to be released in Oct 2010, took a few cue from Chrome and Opera. The interface has been simplified and greatly influenced by Chrome and Opera. Once again, Google is leading in web technologies

Something UI designers have known for a long time is that the simpler an interface looks, the faster it will seem. The less the user has to take in with their eye, the quicker they can process it and the quicker the entire application will seem. So we’re actually looking at making our interface faster by changing the way it looks.

~ Mike Beltzner, Firefox Director

Take a look and compare:

Firefox 4

Chrome

Opera

Content Aware Fill

2010-05-14T08:11:00.000+08:00

Part 1
Join Russell Brown as he shows you how to use Content Aware Fill, just one of the great new Photoshop features in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Part 2
Join Russell Brown as he continues to talk about the benefits of Adobe Photoshop CS5's new Content Aware Fill feature and how to get the best results from it.

Top 5 Dreamweaver & Flash CS5 Features

2010-04-17T14:00:00.002+08:00

Even tighter integration between Indesign CS5, Dreamweaver CS5 and Flash CS5. Dreamweaver now supports Wordpress Theme development and Flash now allows creation of iPhone Apps.

Microsoft Office 2010 Launching Soon

2010-04-17T10:34:00.001+08:00

Microsoft is wrapped up development work on the next version of the Office family, including Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010, and Project 2010. The products were release to computer manufacturers and Microsoft is holding a launch event on May 12 in New York. will Microsoft Office 2010 will hit store shelves in June. PC makers are also allowed to load a slimmed down Office Starter that users will get for free on new computers.

Among the biggest changes in the new version of Office is the fact that Microsoft will release separate browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Businesses will be able to host the Office Web Apps on a SharePoint server, while consumers will be able to get free access as part of Windows Live.

On the desktop side, Microsoft is adding the first 64-bit version of Office as well as other changes including video editing in PowerPoint, photo editing in Word, and an improved "paste preview" function.

As reported on CNet Beyond Binary

Content Aware Editing in Photoshop CS4

2010-03-25T06:39:00.000+08:00

One of the biggest requests we get of Photoshop is to make adding, removing, moving or repairing items faster and more seamless. One feature of Photoshop CS4 makes retouching photo painless.

Communicating with students using Facebook & Twitter

2010-02-21T12:41:00.010+08:00

Introduction

Social media websites like Facebook and micro-blogging services like Twitter have become apart of our daily online activities which some of us cannot do without. It gives us an opportunity to communicate with our friends and contacts either real-time or offline. These Web 2.0 tools have offered another alternative to communication and entertainment.

Most, in fact, all students, have a Facebook account. Since they are spending a bulk of their online time on Facebook, it makes sense to leverage on these Web 2.0 tools in teaching and learning. As the main purpose of Facebook and Twitter is to allow its users to communicate, it can be used in education by:

Understanding your students, their thoughts and ideas.
Release announcements related to lessons.
Giving instructions.
Connect with Alumni
School marketing / corporate communications needs.

Using Facebook & Twitter for Educational Activities

Here are two ways Facebook can be use in education:

Student-Teacher connection – accounts of students and teachers can be connected together when they add each other as friends. They will be able to see each other’s wall posting. This is useful for disseminating announcements or instructions.

By connecting to each other, teachers will be able to have an alternative communication channel with students. Students will also see another side of teachers and be able to understand each other better.
Facebook Groups or Facebook Pages – Create a online study group using Facebook Groups to build a community of students for a particular subject/CCA/Interest.

Facebook Pages can be used as a public profile to connect to all students & alumni to generate awareness.

More information: Facebook Page vs Group

Twitter can be use in education in the following ways:

Student-Teacher connection – accounts of students and teachers can be connected together when they follow each other’s accounts. They will be able to see each others’ tweets on their Twitter timeline. This is useful for disseminating announcements or instructions.

Like Facebook, Twitter can be use as an alternative communication channel between teachers and students.
Educational Twitter accounts - Twitter accounts like Dictionary.com, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, Channel News Asia offers information feeds on various topics like languages, geography, history and current affairs. These will be useful for students in their independent learning.
Subject specific discussion – Twitter accounts can be created for a specific subject for student. Such twitter account can be used by students to post their notes, findings and discussion when they are outside school on a fieldtrip. As students are restricted to a character limitation of 140 – 250 characters, they have to be precise and concise. This is perfect for mobile learning and independent learning activities.

Information posted will be quickly visible to your students once they login to their Facebook or Twitter account. As contents posted on these social media website are able to be shared by the users, your announcements and instructions can be easily reached out to your students when they re-shared or re-tweet the information to their peers.

Leveraging on the power of Facebook and Twitter

Both Facebook and Twitter have their strengths.

You can combine their usage together for convenience and ease of use – You only need to tweet to Twitter and the post can be reflected on Facebook Wall. See this post for more information. (Includes Blogger integration)
You can use Seesmic Desktop client to manage your Facebook and multiple Twitter accounts.

Conclusion

By embracing Facebook and Twitter to teaching and learning, we have an alternative mode of communication with our students. However, it is to note that Facebook and Twitter can be distracting and may rob student’s social, interpersonal and interaction skills. Hence, it can be use as one of the tools in education but not a sole learning platform.

This post is created using Windows Live Writer

Office 2010 coming your way!

2009-11-28T23:44:00.000+08:00

Microsoft Office 2010 beta is out. Microsoft Office 2010 brings more impact, energy and efficiency to every project. Download the Beta version today: http://bit.ly/gI7es

Web3.0 - it is all about entrepreneurship!

2009-11-26T07:11:00.002+08:00

First Web1.0 Then Web2.0 Very soon Web3.0!

Now everybody can make a living through creativity instantly!

More Web3.0 Presentation:

Busy 2009 EOY Holidays

2009-11-25T07:27:00.000+08:00

Xihao mentioned that my blog is dead. Actually, it isn't. This is my training blog so when it comes to EOY, there is no training hence naturally there is not much updates here :P LOL. Just to revived it a little, here are some updates to what is happening to me this EOY holiday:

~~EOY (last minute) IT purchases for the school to clear out the budget.~~
Plan 2010 Project Work (IT Components only)
Work with SH ICT on 2010 ICT Action Plan & ICT Direction for the school.
Attend Skills Enhancement Programme (SEP) conducted by my company.
Attend Training Workshop by Kaplan Singapore, sponsored by my company.
Prepare for company's D&D on 15 December.
Clearing my annual leave. (My HR indicated that no leave can be rolled over to next year :( )
Annual Final Year Report. (I haven't start! Arrrggg)

These items on the list is enough to keep me busy for the next 2-3 weeks.

Upgraded to Windows 7

2009-11-15T12:18:00.000+08:00

I went down to Sim Lim Square on Saturday to purchse Windows 7 and Norton Antivirus 2010. I spend the Saturday upgrading my BenQ Joybook S41 laptop. Started using the new OS and I like the experience!

Faster, Slimer and more Stable - Rewritten code and removed applications from Vista free up space and speed up and processing loading time. Features and applications can be choosen and added at your needs.

New OS Features - Taskbar Enhancements, improved Home Networking, Desktop Enhancements, Backup and Restore, Windows Touch... and many more!

New Web Browser - Web Ac celerators, Web Slices, more Secure.

There are many more enhancements that makes it much better than Windows Vista!

Singapore in 2015

2009-11-12T15:59:00.003+08:00

PowerPoint 2010 Animation Painter

2009-10-23T10:22:00.003+08:00

New in PowerPoint 2010, the Animation Painter helps you quickly apply useful motion effects. More details at http://blogs.msdn.com/powerpoint/

Project Work 2009 EOY Survey

2009-10-21T09:16:00.003+08:00

Dear Sec 2E students,

Your project work for this year has concluded. Your efforts and hardwork is appreciated. I am in the process of collating and selecting your projects for showcase.

Meanwhile, kindly login to the LMS (http://dmss.commontown.net/) and click on the survey link to access the survey.

Here is the direct link to the survey: http://dmss.commontown.net/cos/o.x?c=/cas2_dmss/survey&func=view&id=606

Your views and feedback is greatly appreciated and will help us improve Project Work in 2010.

Thank You

PS: For those who have yet to claim your USB Thumbdrive, please come and see me during recess time at the staff room or after school.

Sneak Peak at Adobe Photoshop CS5

2009-10-16T09:00:00.001+08:00

Adobe Photoshop is getting more and more powerful! According to reports, the CS5 suite is expected to be released April 10, 2010. Take a look at this video to experience the power!

EOY 2009

2009-10-04T22:59:00.001+08:00

All the best to everyone for your EOY! A song to motivate everyone. Enjoy!

Little Wonders (Rob Thomas)

let it go,
let it roll right off your shoulder
don't you know
the hardest part is over

let it in,
let your clarity define you
in the end
we will only just remember how it feels

our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours still remain

let it slide,
let your troubles fall behind you
let it shine
until you feel it all around you
and i don't mind
if it's me you need to turn to
we'll get by,
it's the heart that really matters in the end

our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours still remain

all of my regret
will wash away some how
but i can not forget
the way i feel right now

in these small hours
these little wonders
these twists & turns of fate
these twists & turns of fate

time falls away but these small hours
these small hours, still remain,
still remain
these little wonders
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away

but these small hours
these little wonders still remain

Web 2.0 in the Classroom

2009-10-04T18:04:00.000+08:00

Chinese Way of solving Math Multiplications

2009-09-28T22:40:00.002+08:00

Can math be this fun and interesting?

Closing of Sec 2E Project Work 2009

2009-09-27T14:33:00.004+08:00

Project Work 2009 is coming to an end soon. The project presentation have been ongoing for the past one week and will go on for the next 2 weeks. So far, 2E1, 2E3 and 2E4 have started their presentation. We have so far seen some good presentations from 2E1 and 2E3.

We will be looking for innovative ways you present your PW learning journey. Use a metaphore to represent your idea. One group uses the concept of treasure hunt on a treasure island. Another group uses rose petals. We have also one group uses 4 seasons. Be creative! :)

Please do not do the following in your presentation:

Slide full of text. We are here to see and hear you present. Not read from your notes.
Boring meaningless presentation. Get to the point. Do something with a purpose. Don't carry out an activity because we need you to use a metaphore.
Be your best and showcase your best. Choose your words and flow of ideas carefully to bring the best out from you and your project. Don't do or mention things that make you shot your own leg!
Do not bring down others. Alright, your groupmate left your group and leave a pile of sh*t for you to clear up. Life goes on! Recover and Re-organise yourselves and move on. No need to announce his name throughout your presentation. This may backfired and demerit your presentation and you as a presenter. (As indicated in the previous point, we should bring out and showcase the best in us.)

After your presentation, please hand up the following items to us:

Your Project Work Group File*
Your PowerPoint presentation slides.
Your finished product (Illustrator, Photoshop & JPEG files)

*For your group file, please have these items filed in and organised properly.

Cover Page: with Group Name & Members Name
Teamwork & Collaboration Handout (All tasks filled in)
Comic Script (Drafts & Final)
Photo/Image Researches
Thumbnails (Drafts & Final)
Panel Drawings (Drafts & Final)
Individual & Group Reflections

Good luck for your presentation and EOY!

Edited 28 Sept 2009: For singletons, you need to submit individual files. Above criteria for file still applys.

Use Office 2010 online!

2009-09-20T20:52:00.003+08:00

The Future of Technology

2009-09-20T14:29:00.005+08:00

Will our future be like this?

Giving Good Presentation

2009-09-11T22:19:00.006+08:00

Here are some tips for giving a good presentation:

Introduction:

When introducing your topic, smile and look at the audience, do not look down in fear. Maintain eye contact.
Start slowly, with your shoulders back and chin up and then gradually speed up.
Use a genuine opening like: “I am glad to be here today”; “I am happy to be talking to you about …”; “I am delighted to share with you…”
Recognize that you are the expert on the topic you are talking about. Do your research before beginning the presentation.
Always Smile and tell yourself how good you feel. Rehearse in front of your mirror, to see yourself and correct bad body language.
Dress nicely in professional looking clothes.

Don't speak like this!

Voice:

Make sure your audience can hear you, so practice projecting your voice as there is no excuse for not being loud enough.
Effective air intake (breathe) and appropriate pauses during your talk will help you control the volume of your voice.
Periodically change your speed, pitch and volume and do not mumble in a monotone (one tone). If you blank out, forget a word or choke, just smile! The audience will assume you know what you are doing.
Learn to listen to yourself talk so you can control your voice more easily because you are conscious of how you sound before you speak.
Avoid saying words when you stop, such as: “Um”, “Er”, “Like”, and “Totally”.

Avoid doing this in your presentation:

Body Language:

Smile: This is very important as your positive attitude rubs off on the audience.
Eye Contact: This builds trust with the audience.
Gestures: This means speaking with your hands. Try to make sure gestures are smooth and natural and do not use too many.
Keep your hands out of your pockets: Keep them visible and feel comfortable using them.
Shoulders: Can help convey confidence if straight, but if bent they can also make you appear tense and nervous. So, keep your shoulders straight!

Take note of the don'ts

Visual Aids:

Keep them simple: Put the main points on them only.
Minimize words: The audience wants to hear your presentation, not read the paper.
Use large fonts: Large fonts will let the back row of students see the presentation.
List key points: Makes them easier to remember.
Use color: The audience pays attention when they have to watch colorful images.
Prepare Handouts: This helps the audience remember your topic the next day, something they will thank you for, if they have to write a test or an exam.

Finally, prepare a good PowerPoint Slides!

Portable Windows Movie Maker

2009-09-10T09:51:00.001+08:00

Windows Movie Maker is a free Microsoft utility for Windows that lets you create and edit video files. But the recent version of Movie Maker lack essential features like timelines, adding text on videos, audio edits, the ability to capture video from external devices, have been removed from this new version to make the application simple and easy to use.
So one developer decided to create a portable version of Windows Movie Maker based on Movie Maker 2.1. Portable Windows Movie Maker not only lets you use the missing features on Vista and Windows 7 systems, but it includes the missing transitions and effects from Windows XP, as well as several additional features to boot.

You can use it when you need removed features, like analog capture, without messing with your current version of Windows Movie Maker. Portable Windows Movie Maker is freeware. You can run Portable Windows Movie Maker on any computer with Windows XP, Vista, or 7. And since it's portable, you can run it from a USB flash drive or a folder on your hard drive without installing it.

Download: Portable Windows Movie Maker

You may be interested in:
Windows Movie Maker 2.6
Windows Live Movie Maker

Download Illustrator 30 Days Trial

2009-09-09T15:05:00.002+08:00

If you need Adobe Illustrator for your project work and do not wish to purchase the student edition of CS4, you can download the 30 days trial from Adobe Website.

Click Here to download Adobe Illustrator CS4 Trial

Click Here to download Adobe Design Premium CS4 Trial

Open Access Lab Opening Hours (Sept 09)

2009-09-06T12:22:00.000+08:00

Open Access Lab opening hours will be as follows:

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: 9am - 4pm

Close on Tuesday.

Good luck to all on your PW projects!

A Day in the Gardens Award Presentation (2009)

2009-09-01T10:13:00.002+08:00

Immediately after the teachers' day concert, me and 6 students moved off to the Singapore Botanical Gardens for "A Day in the Gardens" eBook competition award presentation. Earlier this year, 6 students from Media Club came back during the June Holidays to produce their eBooks.

I am happy to announced that Aiman Faiz from 2E1 won 3rd in the secondary school category! Congratulations to Aiman! The rest of the students each received a merit award and a letter of participation.

Take a look at their work:

After the award presentation, we were given a tour to the cultivation lab, exhibition, library and the herbarium and then a small tea reception.The competition has concluded. Thank You for the participation and looking forward to more active participation next year!

More Photos:

Thank You for the Wonderful Gifts

2009-09-01T09:47:00.000+08:00

This year's teachers' day has been eventful for me. Have been assisting the Media Club students to produce the teachers' day video presentation. Have not been sleeping for the whole night in order to produce the video. zzz We need to improve the students' project management skills. :P

The video presentation has been smooth and successful (if not for the lousy projector in the hall) Thanks to Jasper for coming back to help out at backstage! Wonderful to be able to work with him (for the last time) We wish him a successful studies ahead @ NP.

I received some gifts from students today. Really touched. Thank you for the wonderful gifts. It is the toughts that count! :) It has been a wonderful experience to be able to teach and share my information with you guys!

Video Tutorial: Entering Text using Text Tool in Illustrator

2009-08-30T16:38:00.003+08:00

You can use the type tool to enter text into your comic strips' speech bubbles after you finished tracing and colouring. Follow the video tutorial below to input the text.

Video Tutorial: Drawing using Pen Tool in Illustrator

2009-08-30T15:22:00.002+08:00

Video Tutorial: Creating Gradient Colours in Illustrator

2009-08-30T15:19:00.001+08:00

Save your Illustrator CS4 file as CS3 version

2009-08-26T11:15:00.006+08:00

Dear students,

Damai Secondary School's Labs are equiped with Adobe Illustrator CS3. If you have purchased the latest version of Adobe CS4, you will need to save the files you have created using Illustrator CS4 as CS3 version before you can work on the files in school.

Follow the steps below to do that:

1. File > Save As

Type a file name and click Save.

2. In the next screen, change the version to Illustrator CS3

That's all! :)

File for Media Club Flash Animation

2009-08-24T15:22:00.003+08:00

Click here to download the Mascot in Illustrator format:

Cow.zip (134KB)

Search and Download Clipart for Project Work

2009-08-24T10:10:00.005+08:00

Microsoft Office Portal has a number of useful resources to help you with your studies and projects. Clipart is one of the resource you can used. You can use clipart in your assignments, presentations and even your projects. Standard referencing rules applies.

To start, go to: http://office.microsoft.com/clipart

Download the Handout for the rest of the steps:
Search and Download Clipart for Project Work.pdf (1.3MB)

Sec 2E PW Resources - Trees

2009-08-17T13:51:00.003+08:00

Here is the Trees Template for you to use. It is in EPS format, which can be opened with Adobe Illustrator.

Download the file and uncompress (unzip) it before opening it using Illustrator.Click to Download: Trees.zip (510KB)

Sec 2E PW Resources - Market

2009-08-17T12:41:00.006+08:00

Here is the Market Place Template for you to use. It is in EPS format, which can be opened with Adobe Illustrator.

Download the file and uncompress (unzip) it before opening it using Illustrator.
Click to Download: Market.zip (1.4MB)

Sec 2E PW Resources - Speech Bubbles

2009-08-17T12:32:00.004+08:00

Here is the Speech Bubble Template for you to use. It is in EPS format, which can be opened with Adobe Illustrator.

Download the file and uncompress (unzip) it before opening it using Illustrator.

Click to Download: speech_bubbles_v1.zip (276KB)

10 websites, 10 years ago

2009-08-17T08:16:00.003+08:00

This year is 2009. How was the internet like 10 years ago in 1999?

Click here to find out!

Free Music Clip & Soundfx

2009-08-10T10:44:00.006+08:00

When creating your multimedia project like video, flash animation or podcast, you will need to add in sound effects, music loops for enhancements. If you are using Mac, you can use Garage Band to create your music clips or sound effects. Alternatively you can also record your own music clip or sound effects. If you are using Windows, you can download and install Audacity, which is a free audio editing software.

You may also download free music clips and sound effects under the creative commons license for your projects. Here are two good websites to start off:

Free Sound Effects: http://www.freesound.org/
Free Broadcast Production Music: http://freeplaymusic.com/
Free Music Clips: http://ccmixter.org/

Have fun with music!

Singapore Lights Timelaps Video

2009-08-08T13:06:00.003+08:00

I ♥ Singapore! 9th August National Day is round the corner and Facebook is full of NDP news and activities.

I saw this video posted to Facebook on Uniquely Singapore Page. It is a wonderfully produced video shot for a couple months with an assortment of Canon DSLRs and EF lenses. Post production was achieved in Final Cut Pro 6 and Color was used for grading.

Enjoy the video!

Singapore Lights Timelapse from Weehan Yeo on Vimeo.

ZIP & UnZIP Files (Compressed Files) in Mac OS

2009-08-05T04:03:00.003+08:00

A few students who are using Mac approached me during ISPL Week and PW Lesson inquired on how to zip (Compress) and unzip (uncompress) files using Mac. Mac OS X has the ability to create ZIP compressed files from within the OS :

To zip, Control-click on the file and choose Create Archive. Or you can click on a file, then go to the Action menu (the button that looks like a gear up in the Finder window’s toolbar), and choose Create Archive from there.

You can also compress several different files (like three, for example) into one single archive file — just Command-click (or Shift-click contiguous files) on all the files you want included, then choose Create Archive of X Items from the Action menu. A file will be created named “Archive.zip”

If you need to open a ZIP file, don’t sweat it — just double-click it and Mac will automatically decompress it.

Information from:
http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/zip.html

Integrating Twitter, Blogger & Facebook together

2009-08-01T21:39:00.006+08:00

Twitter has been around for sometime. As our Principal is exploring the possibility of using new media as teaching and learning tools, I start exploring and using it on Friday.

Just for the sake of introduction, Twitter, a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read short messages (120 - 140 characters) known as tweets. Tweets can be displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers. Twitter is gaining popularity with the introduction of online services like Twitter.SG, SMSYO & SGBeat. Increasing number of students are using Twitter to communicate. Sending tweets is free but we have to bear the cost of SMSing. To save SMSing, we can integrate Twitter into Facebook and use services like TwitterMail to broadcast your messages. To increase exposure, Twitter can also be displayed at your blog.

Twitter can also be integrated to your Facebook by using Twitter's Facebook Application. Once enabled, you can send tweets using the application. Tweets will appear on your Facebook wall as well as your Twitter profile page.

You can also signup for TwitterMail, which allows you to send tweets using emails. The service supply you with a TwitterMail email address. If you send an email to that address, your email will be posted as tweets to your Twitter profile page.

Twitter can be shown on your blog by placing Twitter Widgets into your blogskin. Your blog readers will be able to see your tweets when they visit your blog. It also serves as an opportunity to allows your friends/readers to subscribe to and follow your Tweets to keep up with the updates in your life.

By integrating Twitter into Facebook and using services like TwitterMail, you can have more than one way to post your Tweets and communicate with your friends. Twitter is useful in sending short messages online while you are on the move. It is the SMS of the internet that allows busy friends to communicate with one another.

I will post about using Web 2.0 tools (which includes Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google Docs etc...) in education, teaching and learning once I finished my research.

Illustrator Lesson 1 Materials

2009-07-27T10:02:00.005+08:00

Dear students,

Here are the files required for the first lesson of Adobe Illustrator.

Download from LMS:

Practise Files (3.2MB)
Homework (1MB)

Mirror Download:

Practise Files (3.2MB)
Homework (1MB)

If the download is slow, try the mirror download. Please download the files before the lesson and bring along your thumbdrive to the lessons.

Microsoft Windows 7 and Office 2010

2009-07-25T23:52:00.003+08:00

The year 2010 brings some new applications to the PC computing! Windows 7 will be released in October this year. I am looking forward to new features such as Windows Touch, Jump List and performance and productivity enhancements like Aero Peek & Aero Shake. It is time to purchase a touch-screen & tablet PC along with the new operating system. I will be looking at either Fujitsu or Toshiba tablet.

Windows 7 is now faster, less bloated and more efficient. Together with Windows Live Essentials, the new operating system will be an ideal computing environment!

Office 2010 will also be release early next year. The latest version of Office 2010 will feature online collaboration capabilities, built-in screen capture tool, improved background removal tool and Office Backstage. Click Here for more details.

I have to save up on laptop and software purchase next year. Anyone interested in buying over my (licenced) copy of my Office 2007 Professional?

Windows Live Messenger is now 10!

2009-07-22T08:42:00.004+08:00

Windows Live Messenger has become a part of our Cyberlives. Whenever we are online, we need to launch the messenger to be connected to friends. With 330 million users, it has become the most widely used free instant messenger.

Besides using it to communicate with my friends, at work, I used it as one of the communication tools with my students and collegues. Messengers allows me to have a quick textual conversation, exchange and transfer files. (Other communication tools I used are Facebook and this Blog).

So let's recall how this product came about 10 years ago...

Media Club: Flash Training 2009

2009-07-21T04:58:00.004+08:00

For all Students of Media Club AV Track:

Multimedia Training will commence on the 27 July 2009.

The details of the Training for Term 3 is as follows:

Course: Basic Animation with Adobe Flash & Illustrator
Training: Every Monday Afternoon
Time: 3pm - 5pm
Location: Computer Lab 4

Date	Activities	Teacher/Trainer
July 27, 2009	Flash Animation - Design Concepts	Mrs Milesi & Mr Daniel
August 03, 2009	Flash Animation - Illustrator	Mrs Milesi & Mr Daniel
August 17, 2009	Flash Animation - Flash Animation	Mrs Milesi & Mr Daniel
August 24, 2009	Flash Animation - Project Work	Mrs Milesi & Mr Daniel
August 31, 2009	Flash Animation - Project Showcase	Mrs Milesi & Mr Daniel

Please bring along your USB thumbdrive for the training and watch this blog for notice on when and where to download the course materials for the training.

To avoid network conjestions and delays, it is recommended that you download the materials the day before training.

You may also want to use Skydrive to store your project files in case your workspace has insufficient disk space.

Thank You and see you on Monday for the Training.

Post ISPL Week Survey

2009-07-21T04:41:00.002+08:00

Dear Lower Secondary Students,

ISPL Week is now over. We hope to receive your feedback on your experiences for improvements.

Please login to your LMS account and click on the link below to do the survey:
http://dmss.commontown.net/cos/o.x?c=/cas2_dmss/survey&func=view&id=585

Thank You for your time and effort! :)

Bring your USB Thumbdrive for Scanning this Week

2009-07-21T03:33:00.003+08:00

Dear Sec 2E students,

We are scanning your panel drawings this week. Next week onwards, we are commencing computer work on your comic strips. So please remember to bring your USB Thumbdrive to PW lesson from this week onwards.

This week, you should have finished all your panel drawings and have selected the best panels to be combined into your final set of panels. Boleh?

As we require all students to learn how to scan and we have only 1 scanner in the lab and 10 groups of students in a class, there is limited equipment to go around. Hence, during this week's PW lessons, you are required to scan only TWO of your panels. You are required to scan the rest of the panels either at home or after school.

In school, we are using Adobe Photoshop CS3 together with the scanner for scanning. If you do not have Adobe Photoshop CS3 at home, any other equivalent software or the scanning software that comes with your scanner will do.

Remember not to put all eggs into one basket! All group members each must have a copy of the scanned panels. Backup a copy of the scanned panels online on Skydrive with access given to all members.

All the best and looking forward to see your masterpieces!

iSports Media Challenge 2009 - We Came in FIRST!!!

2009-07-19T01:59:00.004+08:00

Yes, Damai Secondary School's Sports Channel came in FIRST!!! We beat Crescent Girls School (Second) and Serangoon Secondary School (Third)!

Congraturations to our participating students:

Chan Ziqi, Kirk Chew, Zhou Xihao, Tan Sheng Hock & Chia Xuewei (Not in Photo)

We put in our best effort in building the website, preparing and uploading the contents with the hope to bring out Damai's sporting culture. We did not expect to win (the first). During the award ceremony on the 17th July 2009, we were all nervous when the organisers reveal the results for the secondary school category. When the names of the school for the fifth and fourth places were announced, we though there is no nope. As the names of the schools for third and second place were announced, we though there is no hope of winning. Little did we know that we came in first! We were speechless! For a moment, we were stunned. After sometime, we recomposed ourselves to receive the trophy and prize.

We would like to thank the teachers of the Sports Group, all Damai Students for the support, expecially the Softball Boys, Rugby Boys and Canoeing Girls for their time and effort render in the video interviews. Special thanks also to Mr Victor Lam for the wonderful photographs.

We would not have done it without everyone's support and help!

A Day in the Gardens Submissions

2009-07-19T01:32:00.004+08:00

The following Media Club Students are participating in the Flash eBook Competition organised by ASKnLearn & National Parks.

Name	Class
Aiman Faiz	2E1
Cheong How Min	2E3
Daryl Wong	2E1
Sean Yeo	1E1
Tan Xue Wen	3E1
Teh Le Sze	2E3

Click on the image below to view their entries.

We wish them all the best and good luck! :)

ISPL Week 2009 - First Day

2009-07-08T04:58:00.004+08:00

ISPL starts this week! The school website was also updated to reflect the event:

The day starts with a technical glitch. We published the files using the wrong user account. This causes the files not to display at eLearning Week 2009 folders at 8am. The problem was discovered and retified at about 8.30am. Sincere apologies for those who wake up early in the morning to participate.

Since 8am in the morning, we see a huge number of support request (20 windows popup!) We were almost overwhelmed! There are some commly asked questions we observed

Could not locate Assessments
Could not locate Submission Trays
Upload to HBL Submission Trays
Cannot download documents
Cannot see the files
Assessment [START] button do not work

Here are the answers to these questions:

Click on the [Assessment] link and look for the subject in the title, or your teacher's name.
Click on [Submit] link and look for the subject & class in the title or your teacher's name.
Do not use HBL Submission Trays! If in doubt, ASK!
See this support webpage [GO]
Refresh your browser (CTRL + Refresh / CTRL + F5)
Certain functions of the LMS do not work if you use FireFox or Safari. Use IE instead.

We would like to assure all students that the school's ICT team is committed to bring a positive eLearning experience to everyone. This year, we have setup a support webpage for everyone. At the webpage, we cover: common issues like Opening of files for viewing and editing, configure your computer to read and type Chinese text, and other frequently asked questions. A copy of the timetable is also available there.

Tomorrow is 15th Anniversary Speech & Prize Giving Day

2009-07-03T23:15:00.003+08:00

This week has been a busy and hectic week. Besides lessons, we are busy prepring for tomorrow's speech day. My whole week has been occupied by lessons, mentoring and coaching my new trainer as well as a series of speech day video projects and Mural Launch PowerPoint.

Today is the final rehearsal. We still spot some mistakes in the video for corrections. Hopefully, tomorrow's afternoon event as well as evening's home-coming dinner will be a success!

BTW, do drop by our school's 15th Anniversary webpage for more details of the souveniors.

Request for extension of PW assignment deadline

2009-06-28T21:45:00.005+08:00

I know a number of you is unable to complete your holiday project tasks and assignments due to [Insert your reasons here].

I am offering you guys an chance to avoid penalty from us (PW Teachers & Trainer).

Download the following 2 documents and complete them before printing them out and submiting them to us the first thing during PW lessons. The two documents are:

1. Project Reflections:
Reflect why you are unable to meet the deadline. Provide reasons. List down the solutions to rectify the problem. Make a task list and deadline to complete the task. Propose a new deadline.

2. Request for Extension of Deadline.
Follow the format of the request. Change the details where necessary.

Both documents must be completed with the group members' names. All members must read, agree upon and sign the document before submiting to the PW Teacher & Trainer.

Download Documents:

Project Reflections

Request for Extension of Deadline

IMPORTANT: Extension will only be considered if the reflections and request are done first thing during the PW Lessons this week.

New Time-Table for Sec 2 Express PW Lessons

2009-06-24T21:21:00.001+08:00

The updated new time-table for secondary 2 express PW lessons is as follows:

2E1 - Friday (9.30am - 10.30am)
2E2 - Monday (10.30am - 11.30am)
2E3 - Wednesday (10.30am - 11.30am)
2E4 - Friday (10.30am - 11.30am)
2E5 - Monday (12.30pm - 1.30pm)

The new time-table for secondary 2 express PW lessons is out:

2E1 - Tuesday (10.30am - 11.30am)
2E2 - Monday (12.30pm - 1.30pm)
2E3 - Thursday (12.30pm - 1.30pm)
2E4 - Tuesday (12.30pm - 1.30pm)
2E5 - Friday (9.30am - 10.30am)

Get yourselves prepared and looking forward to meet you guys again! :)

School to re-open as usual... No Extension!

2009-06-22T21:16:00.003+08:00

Ok it is official. School will reopen as usual. No extension.

Schools to re-open on schedule dispite H1N1 situation.

But here at Damai Secondary, we are prepared for school closure anytime. So guys, better hurry up and finish all the holiday homework before school re-opens!

Meanwhile, please enjoy the H1N1 video ;)

Sec 2E PW Holiday Work (June 2009)

2009-06-22T01:45:00.003+08:00

This is week 4. Calling all sec 2E students, you should be finishing the Project Work holiday assignment by end of this week.

This holiday assignment, you will need to draw your actual comics and have it done by school reopen. Here is what you should have done:

1 panel on 1 A4 paper.
Draw at least 3 drafts
Week 1 & 2 practise on human figure & expressions (bald & naked)
Week 3 practise on human figure with hair and clothes. (draft 4 & 5)
Combined the best panels from draft 5 to create the final comic strip.

Note that you should have label each panel that you draw for easier organisation:
PageX_PanelX_DraftX

What's going to happen when school reopens:

Scan your drawings into the computer using the scanner
Trace your drawings using Illustrator
Colour your comic strips using Photoshop

The above 3 activities will be carried out and to be done by end of term 3 (end August)

During the September holidays, you will be preparing the presentation slides and rehearse your presentation as we will have group presentation in term 4.

All the best and Good Luck to all! :)

Book Purchase @ Kinokuniya Books

2009-06-15T23:28:00.003+08:00

This afternoon, together with Miss Tay, Miss Wong, Miss Poh and Mr Ho, we went down to Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City to make book purchase for our school library.

Miss Wong bought some English Books while Miss Poh, Mandarin books. Mr Ho just tag along with us. Miss Tay purchase some fiction books while I aim for multimedia, comic production as well as photography books. Miss Tay say I may be the one who spend the most as these books I recommended were expensive (above $50++). Buying books at Kinokuniya for the library is so much fun. We just take a scanner and look for the books we want. Once we locate the books, we just scan the barcode. The bookstore will collate an excel spreadsheet and send to Miss Tay (the library teacher) for approval and the order will be delivered to the school library.

Later we all went for tea at Starbucks before returning home. We may be making another trip again if there are leftover funds. So guys, enjoy the new books!!!

Multimedia Educators' Conference

2009-06-09T05:42:00.005+08:00

I presented a topic on my company's Multimedia Educators' Conference yesterday. All preparation for this conference presentation paid off. All went well and feedbacks has been positive. :)

My Training Manager approached me to speak during the conference in Febuary. I was reluctant not because of stage fright but because I am new to the company and this job. (I was only 5 months to the job then). After his assurance and my Admin Manager's encouragement, I took it up.

The intense preparation started about a month ago when all speakers meet at HQ for a meeting then later at the conference location for a rehearse. The week before the conference, I am occupied with fine-tuning the slides and constant reherse. This was done on top of my busy schedule in school as well as my studies at UniSA.

The day before the conference, Sunday, I spend the whole full day studying at Kaplan City Campus. That night, I worked till 2am for final preparation. Waked up at 5am to prepare to go out as I need to meet the trainers for breakfast at 7am then reach the conference location at 8am. Finally, the conference started at 9am and I presented my topic at 11am.

Had a tiring day. By the time I reached home at 7pm, I am dead tired and fell asleep immediately after dinner. I did it!!! I have presented in a conference of 80 participants! It is an achievement!!! Gratefult to my Training Manager for the opportunity and my Admin Manager for the encouragement! :)

Here are the slides to my presentation:

Click to View the Slides

Very Touching Video

2009-06-05T19:49:00.001+08:00

We should not look down on others who are handicapped. More than often, they are more talented than us. For those who are less advantage, do not dispair. Work harder and excel in your life. Be brave and show others that you can live your life well!

mLearning

2009-06-04T23:41:00.002+08:00

First we have eLearning (ISPL). Now we have mLearning (Mobile Learning).

Just receive information from my HOD that we are going to explore and implement Mobile Learning in Damai Secondary School. So what exactly is Mobile Learning? It is about students takes advantage of learning opportunities offered by portable gadgets so that learning can take place across locations.

Which means to say, students coming to school with portable computers and devices such as an iPhone in hand to gather information on the web, getting their email, watching lectures to learn anytime and anywhere.

I am still in the progress of doing research and gathering data for proposal. Will update you guys on the details later! :)

Staff Retreat @ Orchid Country Club

2009-06-01T16:28:00.003+08:00

All Damai Secondary staffs (Teaching & Non-teaching) meet at Orchid Country Club for staff retreat. For this retreat, we are having a seminar on Balanced Scorecard to improve the operation of the school in areas of:

Cognitive
Social, Moral & Morale
Leadership
Aesthetics
Physical

By providing quality school programmes, develope character and sense of belonging, develope pupil leadership, develope aesthetics and physical domains for the students. In this way, Damai students will be a committed, competent and compassionate leaders, which are inline with the school's mission and vision.

All these are possible by improving the people and organisation (available resources):

Human Capital
Organisatioal Capital
Informational Capital

For me, together with other teachers involved in ICT department, we are involved in Informational Capital, which will provide the support for Quality School Programmes by using varied instruction and assessment modes for engaged learning.

Cheemiology right? *LOL* Anyway, in short, there will going to be a change in the school operation from this coming term 3 as well as from next year onwards. ;)

iSports Media Challenge - Competition Ends

2009-05-31T08:37:00.008+08:00

The 3 months long iSports Media Challenge has now come to an end. The Team would like to thank all CCA teachers and students for their support in contribution of contents and support of the channel. Without the support, the website would not be a success.

As we are competing against schools all over Singapore, winning would be a bonus. But we believe, it is the learning path that is important. With the exposure, the team members are now

better in handling video equipment.
experienced in photo & video editing.
more comfortable in conducting interviews.
exposed to time and project management.
able to understand Team Work and Team Synergy.

With the exposure and experiences gained, Media Club Members are set to ride the wave for bigger challenges and improvements! Congratulations to the Team for the job well done! :)

Although the competition has ended, the website will still be open. Feel free to continue to send us your sports contents (Stories, Photos & Videos) to be included into the website and continue your support at the website!

Visit Damai Sports Channel >>

About the Competition
iSports Media Challenge is organised in collaboration with the Media Development Authority. It aims to showcase the dynamism of youth sports in Singapore. Reaching out to all schools in Singapore, it is a window to the insider peek of students in sports actions. Its objectives are:
To integrate ICT into schools;

To promote a strong understanding of sports among the future leaders of Singapore;

To promote and increase the awareness of our sporting activities and events acrossall Singapore schools;

To educate and let the students of Singapore realise that they can play a part to contribute towards transforming Singapore into a global media city.

Who is in the Team
Chan Ziqi
Tan Sheng Hock
Zhou Xihao
Kirk Chew
Chia Xuewei

ISPL = Intelligent Smart Poised Learners

2009-05-29T22:27:00.003+08:00

May has been a busy month for me. From competitions, mid-year exams and preparation for Home-based Learning and ISPL Training. What a busy month! I am also involved in my company's Multimedia Educators' Conference on 8 June.

Fortunately, the one week preparation for Home-based Learning was done. We did planning, materials preparations as well as prepare the students for LMS and eLearning familiarisation as well as account maintainance. Life still goes on in school as usual. Now that the first case had occured and more people are diagnos with the flu virus. If the situation did not improve when school reopens, Home-based Learning may be executed with instructions form MOE. Until then, normal life still goes on.

This week as been one of the busiest week for me. With 3 days of Learning Week from Monday to Wednesday. There is only 30mins of rest in between periods. I am so drained that I fell asleep the moment after dinner. During the Learning Week, I am in charge of the ISPL Briefing together with the teachers. The students has been cooperative, apart from 2 classes being late for the briefing.

One of the class is cute. Initially, they call ISPL as "Irritating Stupid People Learning"... :O I was like... -_- Hey guys, you are the ones going through this activity loh! Does that suggest you guys are... *LOL! So after realising that, my student immedately change it to "Intelligent Smart and Poised Learners"!!!

BTW, ISPL stands for Independent Self-Paced Learning. It is a termed used at Damai Secondary School for eLearning. It is a anual event that runs for a week for lower secondary students. This activity aims to prepare the school to ensure that learning continues dispite school closure due to crisis.

Learning Week - May 2009

2009-05-25T00:53:00.003+08:00

Exams are over! Results are out!

I hope everyone has done well for their papers. For those who did well, keep up the good work! For those who did not do so well, do not be demoralised. Find out where did you go wrong and improve for the next exams! :)

This week we are having the post examination activities again. From 25 May - 27 May, there will be a series of activities going on. A number of interesting activities has been planned for you guys. So join in the learning fun!

Together with the ISPL comm. teachers, we will be involved in the ISPL briefing, which is one of the learning week activities. The purpose of this programme is to allow everyone to be familiarised with the LMS features, ISPL time-table as well as standard operating procedures.

So, looking forward to all your active participation!

School Cheers Contest - Support Damai Sec!

2009-05-05T22:38:00.004+08:00

Damai Secondary School has participated in the School Cheers Contest organised by Mediacorp TV. The cheerleading video was filmed and produced by the members of DMSS Media Club, who are also participating in the iSports Media Challenge 2009. (See the bottom of this post for the list of Team Members)

Support Damai and our team by casting your votes for our cheerleading video.

How to Vote

Register as a member of Mediacorp TV website. Follow the registration and activation instructions.
Login to Mediacorp TV website
Visit the School Cheers Contest website and click on our video.
(Recognise the above video thumbnail. The video was uploaded by Daniel Tan)
At our video page, click on the [Vote] button.

About the Competition
The competition is organised together with The Schools National which is an exciting new sports programme that puts the local school sports scene on centre stage. It aims to get Singaporeans excited about school sports and the youths in sports.
Who is in the Team
Chan Ziqi
Tan Sheng Hock
Zhou Xihao
Kirk Chew
Chia Xuewei

A Day in the Gardens Competition

2009-05-05T09:07:00.007+08:00

Inviting All Sec 1-3 Media Club Members to participate!

Produce a Flash eBook about your experiences in using the parks and gardens of Singapore and stand a chance to win Adobe Web Premium CS4!!!

Rules & Regulations:

Individual Single Submission

6 - 10 Pages

Utilise the Flash Template provided

Contains multimedia elements: images, video, animation and sound.
Competition Deadline: 3rd July 2009
Registration Deadline: 15th May 2009

Prizes:
1st
A set of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium software
An NParks goodie bag worth $30
A Popular Bookstore Voucher worth $80
An ornamental plant sapling

2nd
A set of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium software
An Nparks goodie bag worth $30
A Popular Bookstore Voucher worth $50
An ornamental plant sapling

3rd
A set of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium software
An Nparks goodie bag worth $30
A Popular Bookstore Voucher worth $30
An ornamental plant sapling

Merit Awards X 10
1 set of Nparks Goodie Bags with a $10 Popular Voucher each

Interested members may approach Mr Daniel for details and participation before 15th May 2009.

Looking forward to all your active participation!

Cheerleading Competition 2009 Videos

2009-05-01T16:49:00.003+08:00

Mid-year exams are here. Good luck to all students :)

The HOD of PE/Aesthetics/CCA tasked me to create an exam announcement to be broadcast every morning. Mr Gabriel came the week before to do some voice recording and I took the weekend to edit the recording and add some music over. After a few listens by the HODs and modifications, the broadcast is ready. Unfortunately, the school's amplifiers are bad and many classes cannot hear the broadcast on the first day. We took the morning to retune the broadcast and the afternoon to hack the amplification system to get the sound level right.

Since it is exams period, I am free from training. I took the time to fine tune my student's videos for Mr Lee's approval. Along the way, I sliced the videos up into 4 segments and uploaded it to our school's sports channel website.

Here is the video of the winning cheerleading team for you guys to enjoy. Visit the website for more!

Damai Secondary School Rank No1 on Google Search!

2009-04-29T22:24:00.010+08:00

Was doing tech support for a teacher with regards to the LMS. She use Google Search to look for our school website and claimed that our school website beat Damai Spa on the search results!

I was curious and did a search myself using "Damai" as the keyword... And here are the results:

It is true. We are listed 1st above Damai Spa. Live Search and Yahoo! Singapore Search list our school as the 2nd. This shows the popularity of Damai Secondary School's website on the internet!

The new identity of DMSS Media Club

2009-04-24T21:23:00.004+08:00

Announcing the new identity of DMSS Media Club. To generate awareness in school and foster sense of pride among DMSS Media Club students with regards to their projects, a club identity is created. The logo can also be use for production branding, club t-shirt as well as publicity materials.

The first project to carry the club identity will be the upcoming sports video productions for iSports Media Challange.

Click Here to read the meaning of the logo and view how the logo will look like on a t-shirt.

UNSW Computer Skills Assessment

2009-04-22T22:30:00.003+08:00

This afternoon, we have a number of Sec 1 and 2 students coming in for the UNSW Computer Skills Assessments.

Students who have went through the Microsoft Office training during their PW lessons or remember what they have learnt during their primary school's ICT skills training will find the test easy. Most students are able to complete the test within 40 minutes.

Good luck to all students! :)

Comic panel drawing starts this week!

2009-04-20T23:16:00.004+08:00

Dear Sec 2E students,

In term 1 & 2, I have went through:

A comic drawing introduction
Comic scripting
Elements of Comics
(Speech balloon, letterings, sound fx & graphical reinforcements)
Paneling & Thumbnailing
Perspectives
Human figure
Human facial
Movements and positions

We are now at week 6 of term 2. You have done alot of practise on human figure drawing. This week, we will be moving on into the drawing of your comics based on your thumbnails.

Here are the instructions:
To help you with the production at a later stage, each panels are to be drawn on one A4 paper.
2 members in a group will work on one page.

As you work, remember the elements of comics, paneling concepts and perspectives. In addition, take note of the human figure proportion and facial proportion. Good luck with your drawings and Be Creative!

Open-access Lab Closure

2009-04-20T22:38:00.005+08:00

The open-access labs will be closed from 22 April 2009 - 19 May 2009 in lieu of the mid-year exams.

Good luck to all students and study hard for your exams!

Comic Sketches (Student Demo)

2009-04-17T20:16:00.005+08:00

Ouch ouch... Sunburnt from this morning's Dragon Boat Race filming assignment at Bedok Reservoir Park. I choose a good spot for filming and unfortunately, there is no shade. I only discovered my burnt skin after I came back home. I guess my tanned complexion hid the redness and the coolness of the office airconditioning system marks the pain. Luckily Kirk offer his umbrella for shading. If not I will confirm get a bad headache. Drank lots of H20 later that day to replenish the water lost.

In the afternoon, 2 students came to my office to show me their sketching practise. I gave them a sketching demo for human figure and facial drawing. Lately, I seems to be drawing a particular female look quite often... Hmmm... I wonder why... (LOL)

China Twinning 2009 Presentation Video

2009-04-15T22:43:00.004+08:00

I have been tasked by one of the teacher-in charge, Miss Lee SF to do up a video presentation of the recent China trip which took place during the March holidays. I have been busy with other duties and priorities for the past 2 weeks therefore am only able to work on the video on Monday.

Monday - 1st Draft (Too many photos, boring... need to add some videos)
Tuesday - 2nd Draft (Ok, must add captions later when free)
Wednesday morning - Edit the video (alert of typos and inappropiate photo)
Wednesday before noon - Render final video and rush to hall for assembly

I stayed at backstage throughout to help with the presentation and laptop switching. Glad that everyone like the photo/video presentation and the songs used. At the backstage me, Shenghock and Xuewen discussed about the usage of Windows Movie Maker and observed how the audience react.

The past 2 days was tiring and rushing but worthwhile. Here are some highlights of the video. I am not able to upload to Youtube due to copyright issues as well as it being a large video (8 mins, 2GB). Enjoy it!

Update School Website

2009-04-11T21:08:00.008+08:00

Got a request from Miss Poh on Thursday to restructure the website content and to feature Friends @ YOG section on the landing page. Wait until Saturday then do it as I took the day off during yesterday's Good Friday holidays.

Besides featuring Friends @ YOG section, I also took the opportunity to feature Damai Secondary School's Sports Channel (I will blog more about it in another day) and Students' Resources. I did two more extra features so that the website layout will be balanced and do not look wierd.

Project Work Lessons for Sec 2 Express

2009-04-10T12:40:00.006+08:00

Thursday morning's PW lesson is with Sec 2E4 and afternoon's PW lesson is with Sec 2E5.

Last week, I taught human facial drawing. The students have been introduced to human figure drawing the previous week before last. This week, the students are suppose to be undergoing drawing excercises but for Sec 2E4 and 2E5, they are still at human head drawing this week because they missed last week's lesson due to the school sports day. I can't finish the lesson for Sec 2E5 because Miss Tay wanted to conduct the literature test review for Sec 2E5 first. We will see how the students progress next week. Miss Tay wanted the students to be able to draw properly before they progress on to comic panel drawings.

Hopefully, after all the drawing practise, most students will be able to draw their comic panels decently. BTW, here is a photo of the class demonstration I did with Sec 2E4. I didn't add the mole there. The dot is due to a depression on the white board. Wonder what shall I name this character?

Staff Trainings (2009)

2009-04-08T06:20:00.004+08:00

There are a few staff trainings ongoing on these 2 weeks:

LMS (Commontown) Training (for Lower Sec. Subject Teachers) [COMPLETED!]
This training is to prepare the subject teachers for ISPL (eLearning) week in July.
Staff ICT Enrichment Training (For all Teachers) [COMPLETED!]
This training introduces free/open-source applications (Google Docs, Microsoft Skydrive, Youtube Downloader & Freemind) to all teachers.
Staff ICT Needs Training (For interested Teachers)
I will be sharing Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 to the teachers because recently, they purchased the academic versions of Adobe Web Premium CS4

Temporary relief of PW Lessons

2009-04-08T06:04:00.003+08:00

Due to the departual of our ICT Executive, I have to take over his classes.

From this week onwards I will be involved in the Project Work lesson of the following classes until a new ICT Executive arrives.

Sec 1NA
Sec 1NT
Sec 2NA
Sec 2NT

Lesser time for other planning and work. :( Fortunately, my Sec 2E and Sec 3NT Project Work teachers are accodomating and offer to relieve me from 3 classes. We will see how things goes in the next few weeks.

Student, I really seek your understanding as I am not able to be with you all the time. Really need you guys to be more independant and take more initiatives.

Free Photos for your Assignments & Projects

2009-04-05T01:36:00.012+08:00

Need photos for your assignment or projects? Here are some websites that offers copyright-free photos that you can use.

Free Photos:
stock.xchng (http://www.sxc.hu/)
StockVault (http://www.stockvault.net/)
FreeFoto (http://www.freefoto.com/)
Image*After (http://www.imageafter.com/)
Photocase (http://www.photocase.de/en/
FreeImages (http://www.freeimages.co.uk/)
Piotr.Pix (http://www.piotrpix.com/)
Microsoft Office Clipart (http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/)

For web / graphic designers:
Vector Valley (http://www.vectorvalley.com/)
Free Vector Graphics (http://freevectorgraphics.net/)
Vecteezy (http://www.vecteezy.com/)

Remember: Do not use images that you obtain using Google Image Search. Most of these images are copyrighted and unsuitable for use in your school work.

Important: Referencing your Images - to reference your images, simply add the following to the end of your assignment/project report or immediately after your image.

Image Sources:
stock.xchng (http://www.sxc.hu/)

Image from: stock.xchng (http://www.sxc.hu/)

Internet Usage Survey

2009-04-04T23:21:00.005+08:00

This week, we started the Internet Usage Survey. I worked with Mr Lee KW last month on the survey questions together with the school counselor Mr Rahim. The survey was created on the LMS during March holidays and was activated this week.

The purpose of this survey is to find out if our Damaians's Internet Usage patterns and see if they show signs of Internet Addiction. The survey will run until the end of April and we will use the results for Cyberwellness Talk after the mid-year exams.

Anyway, for the fun of it... here is another Internet Quiz for you to try. I tried the quiz and guess what... I am 46% addicted!

You Are 46% Addicted to the Internet

You're somewhat addicted to the internet - but who isn't?

You can keep it under check, and you're by no means a hermit.

Thinkquest Website Competition Submission

2009-04-02T23:53:00.003+08:00

Received 2 submission for the Thinkquest Website Competition from Media Club Students. Spend the evening fine tuning their website and uploading them to Thinkquest Server.

Good luck to the participating students!

Team 1:
Sean Yeo
Lim Jun Sheng
Ashley Teo
Sebastian Wong
Stanley See
Kenny Yeo

Team 2:
Jonathan Mohan
Bilson Tan
Desmond Lee
Kian Wee
Micky Xu
Andi Johan

Sports Day 2009

2009-04-02T23:33:00.005+08:00

Today is Damai Secondary School's Sports Day. Two days and the day before, Media Club Members who are involved in the iSports Media Challenge 2009 drew filming equipment and temporary store in my workroom. Today we arranged to meet at 6.30am in school so that they can collect their filming equipment.

Later in the morning, Asrio (the TA) and myself installed 3 software in computer lab 1 & 2 for next week's staff training. We spend the whole morning installing and troubleshooting technical issues. I took the afternoon off to settle my university course fee at POSB bank in Tampines. At Tampines central, I met several of my students who were shopping and having lunch there after the sports meet.

Later, I took the opportunity to renew my mobile contract with Starhub. At the same time, I upgraded my mobile plan and handset. Got myself a cool golden copper Sony Ericsson C905 with 8.1 megapixel camera.

Busy Busy Week

2009-03-31T22:25:00.004+08:00

This week is a busy week for me. Apart from my usual project work lessons and lab duties, I am also involve in the students' competition. There is no lunch for me on Monday, as I need to attend to a last minute project work meeting. As the Thinkquest Website Competition is still ongoing, I have to divide my time between the last Photoshop training session and competition advising. I know this is a bad arrangement as it is diffucult to manage but I have no choice. I cannot be in two places at one time.

Today (Tuesday) is another packed day. Meetings with teachers and normal lessons are packed from morning to afternoon. I only have an hour in between to catch a breath. The Sec 3NT students are rather restless today. The Sec 4NT students are fine when I do a skill check with them and teach them new skills in audio editing using Audacity software. Immediately after my last lesson, I assist other group of students in iSports Media Challenge 2009 competition in their equipments.

The rest of the afternoon is dedicated to staff training. Around 40 staffs attended the training. This is my first time conducting a mass training for staff. Feedbacks were encouraging. Really appreciated my HOD's help and advise.

I felt bad as I feel that I am not able to support those website competition students well. But at the same time, I am glad that those who turned up are very independent and is able to coordinate well. The students definately picked up project coordinating & team management skills. On my side, I have also picked up competition management skills.

The busy days will soon arrive. There will be more training and project work lessons to handle. I am facing my oncoming responsibilities with pride and with stride!

Comic in Education Seminar

2009-03-29T01:51:00.005+08:00

I attended the Comic in Education Seminar at Ngee Ann Polytechnic organised by Dhoby Studios. The seminar gives us educators an overview of how comics can be used to effectively redefine teaching and learning.

We have a chance to listen to the experience of Mr Gary Goh of Doby Studios (Producer of 小白龙 comic series) as well as Mr Otto Fong of Ottonium (Author of Sir Fong 1 & 2 & Sir Fong's Adventures in Science) We also heard Tanjong Katong Secondary School's sharing on integrating Comics into Chinese Curiculum as well as Wacom product introduction and Comic Studio product demonstration.

Mr Otto Fong's passion in using comics in education left a deep impression in my mind. I was so impressed that I purchase 2 of his books (which costed $19 in total).

The missing link in Asian education is that we often forgot that in order to teach any subject, we need to relate it to passion. We do not remember facts and figures but actions and drama. The future belongs to an age of visual. If we wish to survive, we need techniques and passion. The minds of current students are constantly stimulated and conditioned visually by the internet, videos and games. They read less and watched more and write in SMS format. To engage them, we have to change our approach and methods of teaching.

Enjoy a video presentation by Mr Fong:

Upgrade to XML Layout

2009-03-28T03:03:00.006+08:00

I have upgraded my blog's 3 column HTML layout into XML Layout. As promised, this new XML layout is more powerful and easy to edit. Blogger has bring content management system into it's blogging platform.

Initially, the XML coding may be daunting. If you can invest sometime to understand the coding, it will be east to handle. Adding links, photos and other various functionalities (call Gadgets) become as easy as a single click! This time round, I added a flash-based tag cloud, which you can see on your right. Over the next few days, I will add more useful gadgets to this blog.

Let me know which widgets you would like to see on this blog!

China's Version of Facebook

2009-03-28T00:34:00.007+08:00

Saw this website from a friend's link [开心网] in Facebook. Wonder if this is the China version of Facebook?

Edited (31 Mar 2009):

Yes, this is the China's version of Facebook. In fact, China has a number of facebook-alike social websites! Attack of the facebook clones!!!

Useful Links for Damai Sec Students

2009-03-22T20:56:00.002+08:00

By request of the website committee, I have created a webpage of links that may be of useful to students of Damai Secondary. There, you can access to useful websites for your online research, resources like free images and sound clips, as well as other useful websites.

Access the webpage here.

(There is also a webpage of useful links for teachers and staffs)

Modify Rounders 2 Skin into 3 Column layout

2009-03-22T12:55:00.001+08:00

I always like 3 column layout. However, my favourite blogger layout is a 2 column layout. Hence, I decided to make some modificaton to turn it into a 3 column layout.

I googled around and saw this website and followed the instructions there. I uploaded the amended layout images to my Google Pages account and edited the CSS to link them to my skin. Next, I change the colour of the Blogger Navbar to silver and make it transparent so that it will merge into the gray background of my current skin design. Finally, I add advertisements from my Google Adsense account to make some money.

Invested the whole Sunday morning but it is worth the effort.