INKSCAPE

INKSCAPE

INTRODUCTION ABOUT INKSCAPE

Inkscape is a professional-quality vector graphics program running on Windows, Mac OS X and GNU / Linux systems. It is used by design professionals and amateurs around the world, to create a wide range of graphics such as illustrations, symbols, logos, charts, maps, and web graphics. Open Inkscape SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) uses W3C as a native format and is free and open-source.

ITS FEATURES AND FUNCTION

Object creation

• ·         Drawing: pencil tool (free drawing with simple paths), pen tool (creating Bézier curves and straight lines), line tool (free drawing using filled paths representing linear lines)
• ·         Shape tools: rectangles (may have rounded corners), ellipses (including circles, arcs, sections), stars/polygons (can be rounded and/or random), spirals
• ·         Text tool (polyline text, full edit on canvas)
• ·         Embedded bitmaps (with the command to create and embed bitmaps for selected objects)
• ·         Copying (direct copying of objects), including a tool to create patterns and arrangements for copying

Object manipulation

• ·         Shifts (motion, scaling, rotation, knitting), interactively by setting precise numeric values
• ·         Z-order operations (lift and lower)
• ·         Group objects ("select in the group" without ungrouping, or "Enter group" making it a temporary layer)
• ·         Alignment and distribution orders

Fill and stroke

• ·         Color selector (RGB, HSL, CMYK, color wheel, CMS)
• ·         Color Picker tool
• ·         Copy / paste pattern
• ·         Gradient Editor is capable of multiple stop gradients
• ·         Fill out the form (bitmap/vector)
• ·         Intermittent beat, with many predefined dash patterns
• ·         Path markers (end, start, and/or start marks, such as arrowheads)

Operations on paths

• ·         Edit node: move nodes, bezier handles, align node, distribute, etc.
• ·         Convert to path (for text objects or shapes), including stroke conversion to path
• ·         Logical operations
• ·         Streamline track, with variable threshold
• ·         Insetting and out setting a path, including dynamic and connected displacement objects
• ·         Bitmap tracking (color and monochrome paths)

Text support

·         Multi-line text

·         Uses any installed external fonts, including right-to-left scripts

·         Spacing, character spacing, line spacing

·         Path text (text and path remain editable)

·         Text in shape (fill shape after stroke)

Rendering

• ·         Full anti-aliasing display
• ·         Support alpha transparency for viewing and exporting PNG
• ·         Complete During Drag, rendering objects during interactive conversions

File formats

• ·         Create and edit a fully compatible SVG file format
• ·         Live View and edit the document tree in XML editor
• ·         Export PNG, OpenDocument, DXF, sk1, PDF, EPS, PostScript and more
• ·         Export command-line options and conversions

HOW IT CAN HELP IN YOUR CLASSROOM

• ·         To teach students vector drawing.
• ·         To draw maps.
• ·         Teachers can use Inscape to make worksheets.
• ·         Teachers and students can edit photos for presentations and publications.
• ·         Story telling after editing pictures using Inkscape.
• ·         Students can make a logo for the school logo competition.

SCREENSHOTS OF THE TOOL

BASIC TERMS OF DIGITAL LITERACY

Digital Age:

The present time, when most information is in a digital form, especially when compared to the time when computers were not used.

The time period in which we live now where the Internet and email are available is an example of the digital age.

Information society:

An information society is a society where the creation, distribution, use, integration, and manipulation of information is a significant economic, political, and cultural activity.

Digital natives:

A person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and so familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age.

"The digital tools that are reshaping our economy make more sense to young digital natives than to members of older generations"

 Digital immigrants:

A person born or brought up before the widespread use of digital technology. The term digital immigrant may also apply to individuals who were born after the spread of digital technology and who were not exposed to it at an early age.

Digital Divide:

The digital divide is a term that refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology, and those that don't or have restricted access. This technology can include the telephone, television, personal computers and the Internet.

Digital Novice:

A person new to and inexperienced in information and communications technology.

Digital Literacy

1.   What is digital Literacy?

Digital literacy can be defined as: “The ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and create information using digital technology.” Digitally literate people can communicate and work more efficiently, especially with those who possess the same knowledge and skills.

Digital literacy is the ability to understand and use digital technologies effectively for everyday tasks

2.  Why is digital literacy important?

Digital literacy is as important a right for children today as reading and writing skills were at the inception of the Education Act in 1850.

·       writing and reading have been the cornerstones of literacy since modern education began, increasingly, digital technologies are superseding the manual process of writing, and reading is increasingly an activity carried out using digital facilities rather than paper resources.

·       Digital literacy is key to teaching in order to provide the skills, knowledge and understanding for young people to enter the workplace, further education and higher education.

·       digital literacy is becoming the primary form of information transfer and communication, taking over from letters, phone calls and even face-to-face interaction

·       Creative, collaborative and recordable communications techniques are essential for the next generation to interact in social, cultural, economic and intellectual careers and life.

·       Digital literacy involves using emerging technologies to communicate meaningfully across technology, language, social, cultural and intellectual barriers.

·       A variety of devices, platforms and web standards need to be incorporated into the educational experience to ensure pupils are fully literate in digital technology (not simply familiar or proficient.)

3.Situations where students would use digital literacy skill, at school and at home

Teaching pupils to use Photoshop is a worthwhile industry-standard skill which is not only useful for cross-curricular IT skills, but also for job and career prospects. In school, they may use digital literacy skills to make a presentation, etc. At home, they may use these digital literacy skills to enhance their own photos, websites, and social media profile pictures.

4.  Why is digital literacy important to teachers?

Ø Expanding Conceptions of the Digital World

While students may be adept at using digital tools, their understanding of what these tools can do is often limited.

For example, students use Instagram to post photos but don’t think to use the platform for art or history projects. They record themselves with a voice memo app but do not realize those apps could also be used for journalism projects or a historical narrative piece. Digitally literate teachers know how to inspire students to use today's technology as a powerful toolset to expand their learning opportunities. 

Ø Enabling Differentiation

Differentiation in the classroom is essential to meeting the needs of all learners, but it is time-consuming, especially for new teachers. Technology, when used creatively and correctly, can be used to mitigate those differences, such as in one-to-one classrooms. Teachers can lead the class through a lecture, while visual learners follow along with illustrations on their tablets and audio learners record the lecture for later review. Technology like this enables teachers to give their students choice in the kind of work they create for projects, such as a video, podcast or written story. Digital literacy is required in order to set the standards and boundaries for this kind of differentiation.

Digitally literate teachers also understand that it is less about the technology itself than it is about the tailored experience the technology can provide to each student. This is what drives differentiation and can make it powerful and highly targeted to students' individual needs.