Makers need tools — but which ones?

The book course is a digital makerspace. Instead of a ready-made learning environment, participants will find flexible tools - what happens as the course progresses.

The selection of digital tools is like visiting a weekly market with its diverse offerings. As with a market that offers fruit, vegetables, baked goods and artisanal products, design-oriented media education should offer a wide range of products that serve different tastes and needs. The selection should be inexpensive, sustainable, up-to-date and safe, similar to fresh food on the market, which is appreciated for its quality and freshness. Each event has its own mix of techniques; every didactic recipe has a list of ingredients.

Edtech Books

EdTechBooks is an Open Educational Resources (OER) platform that provides students with free, high-quality textbooks. Teachers and students can publish OER books here and reach a wide audience. EdTechBooks was launched in 2012 by Royce Kimmons, a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU), and is a BYU Open Learning Network project. To date, EdTechBooks has published over 200 textbooks on a wide range of topics and is used by learners and educators around the world. EdTechBooks textbooks are designed to be interactive, with features such as embedded videos, practice tests, and discussion elements.

An iframe, short for “inline frame,” is an HTML element that makes it possible to seamlessly embed external content into a website, for example in an e-book or an online course. With the help of iframes, a wide variety of content can be inserted into EdTechBooks, such as videos, interactive maps, or widgets.

AI image generators

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) can create images in a variety of styles, including paintings, drawings, sketches, and collages. The AI tools are trained using large image data sets and can use this data to generate new images that are similar in style and content to training data.

• DALL-E2 — Open AI's generative art tool https://openai.com/dall-e-2/
• Midjourney — Discord community, very good output https://midjourney.com/
• NightCafe — AI art generator and online community https://creator.nightcafe.studio/
• Hotpot - Free image creation of up to 10 images per day https://hotpot.ai/
• Recommendation: Bing Image Creator - So far free tool, requires Microsoft Edge Browser, based on DALL-E https://www.bing.com/images/create/

AI-generated images raise questions about authenticity, artistic process, and copyright. Another problem in the educational context is freemium/premium access. What if the AI tool suddenly costs fees or students have used up their free trial access credits? In the seminar, AI images were used for cover design and visualization in the chapters.

Pictory.ai

Pictory.ai is an online tool designed to create short videos from longer content such as webinars, podcasts, or documents. It uses AI technology to automatically extract key highlights and turn them into appealing visual formats. This platform is particularly useful for educators who want to efficiently reuse existing content to create multimedia learning material.

In the book, several captitles use Pictory videos. Here are a few examples:

Heygen

HeyGen is an AI video generator that allows you to quickly and easily turn a script into a video using customizable AI avatars, including the ability to create a personalized AI avatar. HeyGen can also translate videos into multiple languages.

podcasting

Podcasting is a flexible format that makes learning content available on mobile and audio-visual devices. As a learning medium, ideal for students who learn at their own pace and at different locations — for example commuters. The smartphone in your pocket becomes a learning companion. In short, we experimented with podcasting tools.

Audacity

Audacity is free, open-source audio editing software. It allows podcasters to record live audio as well as import and edit pre-recorded sound files. The software is equipped with a range of features specifically useful for podcast production, such as noise reduction, equalizer, and the ability to seamlessly connect and mix different audio tracks.

Spotify

The Spotify for Podcasters website is a free Spotify platform that provides tools and resources for publishing and analyzing podcasts. It allows users to upload their podcasts directly to Spotify.

flip

Flip is a free educational platform for creating and sharing short video discussions. It is a versatile tool to encourage interactive discussions and encourage student participation. Conducting some discussions in the form of show-and-tell or video-based narratives supports the idea of offering multiple forms of action and expression, as postulated in the principles of Universal Design for Learning.

Padlet

Padlet is a web-based collaboration tool that allows users to create and share virtual bulletin boards called “padlets.” Padlets can be used to collect, organize, and present information from a variety of sources, including text, images, videos, files, and links. Padlets can be created publicly or privately and can be shared with others via a link or embedded in a website or blog post.

H5P

H5P is an open-source interaction tool for creating interactive learning activities. H5P content can be shared and reused, saving time and effort.

Brillial.ly

Genially is an online platform that provides interactive tools and templates for designing digital presentations and infographics. In the book, the tool is used in the Blended Learning chapter.

Microcredentials with Badgr

Microcredentials are digital certificates that validate skills or competencies and usually represent more detailed services than traditional degrees or certificates.

The Open Badge Standard is a universal specification for digital badges that ensures interoperability and allows badges to be shared and recognized across various platforms and systems.

The free, standards-compliant Badgr platform enables teachers, organizations, and individuals to design, issue, and manage verifiable digital badges.

And why? Badges are an option to show achievements and competencies that are outside the grade table — and the digital badge collection also motivates learners to stay on track when it comes to complicated topics.