[senit] Easy multimedia programming

Hi Sean

I would recommend SwitchIt Maker 2 from Inclusive. It's totally different to
Scratch - not a programming tool at all, more like a very simplified version
of PowerPoint. It's also a 1000 times better than SwitchIt Maker, if you are
familiar with that.

You can add pictures, videos, text and sound (either mp3, wav or record
directly into the programme).

It is incredibly simple to use for staff and children, instructions are
supported by symbols and it literally walks you through the process of
putting together a presentation. It can be accessed by a switch, touch
screen or mouse.

It has 101 uses from creating simple cause and effect presentations to
producing a dramatisation of a story with video, text, pictures and sound
effects.

It has its own microsite:

http://www.switchitmaker2.com/about/aboutcreatingactivities.htm

This page has lots of screen shots of the process of making a presentation.

And its available for Mac!

Claire Barnes
Willow Dene School

-----Original Message-----
From: senit-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senit-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Sean O'Sullivan
Sent: 15 May 2007 19:21
To: senit at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: Re: [senit] Easy multimedia programming - 'Scratch'

Thanks for this David,

it looks like it has promise, but it's still heavily text based,  
despite its drag and drop sense of use and the graphical look of the  
blocks of text. So for many users who have learning difficulties it  
may still be somewhat off the mark. It would be really nice to see a  
mutimedia programme that went much much further in terms of visual  
operation - my old favourite HyperStudio had some token areas that  
helped in this, but MediaBlender, which has partly stepped into the  
gap, seems to have dropped rather than improved this.

I know there are people on the list who highly recommend PowerPoint  
for multimedia work, but what I'm getting at is how actually creating  
the document itself is done using visual tools, not that what has  
been made is visually interactive.
Apple's Keynote isn't too bad for visually showing you photos and  
movies that you might want to add to a slide, and listing audio that  
you can listen to before deciding whether to add it, and things like  
transitions give you visual previews, but there's still a lot of text  
to work with. At the moment I feel it's an adequate option, but  
things like non-linear links require text ability to create the  
navigation, and it hasn't been designed to give detailed control of  
audio such as for individual elements on a slide.

Is anyone aware of anything of this sort?

Sean O'Sullivan
sean.frankwise at easynet.co.uk
Deputy Headteacher
Frank Wise School, Banbury
http://www.frankwise.oxon.sch.uk

http://www.parkroadict.co.uk

On 15 May 2007, at 09:49, David Lane wrote:

>
>
>
>   I thought that the following might be of interest to some readers  
> of this group - this item on the BBC website describes a free bit  
> of software that is intended to provide an easy way to create  
> programmed animations etc - the video is well worth watching.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6647011.stm
>
> cheers
>
> Dave
> -- 
> Xavier Educational Software Ltd
> Special software for special needs
> http://xavier.bangor.ac.uk