Alex's Outdoor Photography

Welcome to my outdoor blog!

Category: EDCI 336 (Page 2 of 3)

This is a category for the EdTech course. Please add this category in addition to the relevant edtech assignment category(ies).

Inquiry Post Number 4

October 16, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Welcome back! Time for another post, This previous week was a very busy for me and I didn’t manage to get too much time out in the wilderness. That being said, I did get a quick opportunity on my way to school late last week down at Esquimalt lagoon. I had my scope with me and had seen some ducks have migrated back into the area and snuck in a little video of a young mallard drake (male). Who was just growing in its adult feathers, at first glance you would almost say its a female but after inspecting the beak and wing pattern you are able to identify it as a young drake.

Alright after trying to get this video to upload for far too long I finally got it to upload. Here is the young drake video I got before school last week. I really like how stable this video was, It’s the first time I’ve had a video stay both stable and in focus for whole time. as I said a little earlier this was a difficult bird to identify, I found this website that is, as the name states “All About Birds”! It was a super helpful website for this video anyways. The page I linked covers only mallards, but the website has hundreds upon hundreds of different bird species. The website does a really good job of having an assortment of visuals like images and videos. It has a bunch of readings and studies and all around is useful for anyone trying to identify birds.

Mallard Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Next up I took this video of this bull elk in the Cowichan valley roughly a week ago. I had troubles with my tripod for this video and realized my tripod leg had actually become loose and while taking the video. The wind never helps either, if you take a close look at the bushes near the elk you can see just how windy it was this day. something cool about this bull is that I found a shed last year which was really similar in size and structure of this animal. For anyone that doesn’t know what a shed is I’ll give you a quick explanation. Antlered Ungulates such as deer, elk, moose, etc. grow a new set of antlers each spring-summer. after this growing period they keep their antlers on for only a handful of months typically anywhere from 5-6 months. After that period of time they loose their antlers through a process called “shedding” when an animal sheds their antlers a common term for them are “sheds” or shed antler.

Now that I gave you a very brief understanding, here is the shed I found last year. if you end up watching the video above closely you can see the bull has 5 points on each antler. exactly the same as the shed I found, meaning the animal that shed this antler would have been similar in age/maturity as the bull I have a video of above. Just a cool little coincidence…

Anyways, That’s going to conclude this post. I look forward to sharing with you next week. Thanks for reading, ~ Alex.

Weekly Reflection, Multimedia with Rich McCue

October 16, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I really liked how the day was opened with a funny check-in with the Guiney pigs. It’s a good way to quickly get the class engaged and is a fun way to ask students how they are doing.

Something I found surprising early in the presentation was the fact that on a PowerPoint slide show as an example, a slide with a block of text vs a slide with an image and a speaker narrating. The slide with an image and narration will be much easier to retain and remember the information. Where as the block of text will be tougher to retain the information.

“Flipping the classroom” was a cool concept. My understanding on this topic was you essentially get the student to learn and research a topic at home, either with parent help or on their own. They then come back into the classroom to do work (what used to be homework) in teams with assistance from the teacher. After this they go back home and review the topic and make sure they understand it. With this teaching strategy it would definitely be better in the upper grade levels. For myself wanting to teach within the grade 3-4 range I think it would be difficult to get students to go research on their own. Getting them to go home and learn a totally new topic to them then coming back to class hoping they did essentially their “Homework” is just unrealistic. In Highschool this is for sure a concept that could be used, older students are more capable of setting off and learning/researching something.

https://watch.screencastify.com/v/2KFyrrggpoRZean41Vmp

Above is my Screencastify video, It is a snip of me playing the game Red Ball which you can find on Cool Math Games – Free Online Games for Learning and Fun

Inquiry project, Week 3

October 2, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Welcome back!

Another week down and I’m back again with a bit of photography. This week was a little tougher for me personally between other commitments and terrible weather when I did finally get the chance to go out my photos aren’t the greatest. I did improvise a little bit and played with some time-lapse (which you’ll see soon).

Now first up I did manage to take a video of this younger bear. Judging by the size of his head compared to the body I’d say it is a young boar (male). I messed around with the video a little bit in Microsoft Clipchamp. I used its software to keep the bear central frame and enlarged the video as well so it fills in the majority of the frame. I played with it forever trying to stabilize the video but it must be a ‘Premium’ feature because I don’t think I had access to do this. Me and my friend spotted this bear from about 265 yards, (~800 feet) and I captured this video through my binoculars hence the shakiness

Alright, Next up like I promised here is my little time-lapse clip I captured over the weekend. I know the content doesn’t entirely fit my topic of outdoor photography but in a sense it does a bit. This previous weekend was the first official full moon of fall. Thankfully we had a super clear sky that evening and I was able to take this footage off by deck. I had a tough time getting my phone to focus and stay focused in this video. This was about my 8th attempt taking a video of the moon. even in this video (which by far was the best), I still had troubles with keeping a clear image. Towards the end the sheer brightness of the moon overwhelms the camera as it tried to stay focused and it unfortunately blurs it out.

All-in-all I really enjoyed the little bit of time I did get to mess around with some photography this week. I put up a couple trail-cameras (motion activated camera) which I hope to capture a couple up close videos of some animals. hopefully in the next weeks post I’ll be able to share some of these. I did actually like my moon video, sure it has some areas for improvement. but it was my first time looking up through my scope so I am happy with it. Down the road I may try something like this again maybe a sunrise or moon rise once the mornings get later and later.

Once again thanks for viewing the blog, I hope to capture some more cool things to share with you guys soon! Take care and until next week

-Alex

Inquiry Project, Week 2

September 25, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Welcome to my first week of outdoor photography & videography!

A bit of a run down on what equipment I own and what tools/techniques I’ve experimented with. I personally own what’s called a spotting scope. A spotting scope is a large, high power optic similar to a telescope. In order to have a steady and clear image looking through the scope ( or videoing/photos),I then have a I-Phone adaptor which mounts my phone directly onto the scope. the scope must be mounted on a tripod and as stable as possible. This isn’t always the most simple task, a ton of factors come into place and the biggest one is straight up the terrane I’m in. Mainly I’m either on the side of a rocky uneven cliff face or in the middle of a logging slash with endless branches and brush impleading any flat spot I may be able to find. The next biggest is the weather. Weather never seems to end here on the west coast. between high speed winds and seemingly sideways rain someone trying to capture images never gets a break.

I previously spent the weekend a little north or Cowichan lake and spent the day looking for some animals. I managed to come across this cow elk grazing on some Salal ( A native ground bush here in BC). I had a couple problems taking this video which I will address later and focus a bit on how I’m going to improve throughout the year. This video was captured from roughly 440 yards away (1320 feet, or just shy of half a kilometer). so other than the darker streaks through the lenses and the shakiness I am quite impressed with how clear the image came out!

Here’s an image I captured on the previous weekend as well of a young blacktail deer. This image was actually through my binoculars rather than my spotting scope due to how close I managed to get to this guy. Keeping my phone and binoculars steady was the toughest part with this one. I took this image just after a fairly long hike and was definitely out of breath. I also don’t have a good way to stabilize my binoculars or hold my phone in a spot that it can use my binoculars like a lens. I also tend to run out of hands when I attempt to do this. Between holding my bino’s and my phone in just the right spot all the while the animal I’m trying to photograph is carrying on with its day. Nobody did say this was easy I guess….

Next up I want to just touch on a resource I found which I hope can make my imagery a little better for future posts. This is a super well known group of guys on social media, TV and their website which you can find here… https://outdoorsmans.com/blogs/spotting-scopes/digiscoping-tips-and-tricks

They are super passionate outdoorsman who have found a way through videography to make a living. They started with a fairly basic YouTube channel, and now own a great online store and have designed a large amount of different products which they sell nationwide. Anyways, I was reading up on their one blog which the link above will bring you too and it goes over some great things to watch for while attempting to ‘Digi-scope’ (attaching a phone/camera to an optic). In my future post I hope to touch on a few of their pointers and implement them into my photography!

Alright, That’s all for now. Thanks for veiwing

~Alex

Week 3, Jesse Miller

September 25, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This week we had a guest speaker join us via Zoom. Jesse Miller joined us and talked about online social media platforms, keeping youth safe/protected online and how these platforms also can be used as a benefit. One of his main points was how to keep our social networks separated. He covered a topic on ‘online safety’ where he told us examples of our possible online profile and how that could be cause for problems.

I really liked the topic where he discussed online gaming. He ran us through an example where maybe we are great in a professional setting, but possibly on the weekends we may be playing something like halo. while on this game we might be using cuss words, or calling people rude things, but we never know who that might be. Could be a future student, sibling of a current student, students parents. I found this a good example to help put perspective on “Hey, we never know who is listening or viewing what we put out there”. this definitely made me think about things a little more when I am online.

Another topic I enjoyed that Jesse went over was the possible good outcomes of being online. He talked about how video games like Fortnite, or Minecraft and how the social time talking and bonding with friends while trying to strategize and problem solve can be very beneficial. Jesse also covered talking with kids about how the adults around them use social media/phones, he gave examples of how maybe a students parent drives scary due to them being on the phone. or, how a father might play too many video games and this makes things around the house difficult because mom gets mad at it.

All in all I really enjoyed Jesse’s presentation, I can tell he is very knowledgeable and has done a ton of research. I will definitely will see things online in a different way and will keep his points in mind going forward in my career.

Inquiry Project, week 1

September 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

As I touched on a bit in my “A little About Me” page of this website, I do a ton of outdoor activities. most of my time come the fall months are spent in the backroads, Previous seasons I have tried my hand at photographing animals out in the wild. I have juggled a couple different ideas on what my project might be about. But this one just seems to stick with me, I’ve never been very good at it. I usually get a couple of different things which I am going to work on, these include…..

  • Shakey videos resulting in trouble getting clear vision
  • Animals out of frame. My spotting scope is finicky on phone position so I am going to work on taking my time with it a bit more
  • Game camera photos, Game cameras have always been a fun way to get closer photos of animals in their natural habitat.

With these select things in mind I believe I can get better at photography this season. I hope to better share some of my experiences and some of the sights I get to see in my free time. I look forward to sharing with you guys!

Week 2, Most likely to succeed

September 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This week we were presented with a documentary which was published in 2015, And it covered the starting year of a brand new schooling system. This schooling system focused on classroom engagement and innovations, getting kids thinking outside the box and designing learning programs that work for them. I found this system to be a cool look into future learning, everything around us is evolving at a speed teachers can’t keep up with. So…. teaching students to learn, to think for themselves, and be proactive within the changing world around them.

I found this documentary pretty innovative in their formatting, I liked the way they showed the kids failing as well. How the kid with the classroom working on the gear system didn’t finish in time for the show night. but it didn’t stop him and he finished his goal through-out the course of the summer.

Week 1, Setting up my Website

September 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This week has been overwhelming all together. The start of 5 courses with all their individual needs and different assignments we had to begin took its toll. I’ve been out of the school game for a while now and thankfully I’ve got my mind back on the grind. The most challenging thing for me this previous week has been getting this website up and going, I battled with error codes and passwords and figuring out what was needed from me to get this going. But… after all the time silently cursing in front of my computer I believe I have got a very brief understanding of how this is going to work. That is, for the reflection side of things anyway. My blog is going to be a whole different story, I’ve been debating on what my topic should be. a few things that have stumped me include the following.

  • Time management – Am I able to try a whole new topic to me, or is this impossible due to other course loads?
  • Is the topics I am considering to cover easy to blog about?
  • are my topics relevant and fit within the criteria of this website project?

There are many other considerations but these were my main few. I hope in the coming weeks I have a better understanding of what my blog will go over.

image showing person walking in pre-painted footprints
Photo by Flickr user jfchenier under CC license: BY-NC 2.0

Welcome and Introduction

September 9, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Before proceeding with this first blog post, we expect you to consider your privacy preferences carefully and that you have considered the following options:

  1. Do you want to be online vs. offline?
  2. Do you want to use your name (or part thereof) vs. a pseudonym (e.g., West Coast Teacher)?
  3. Do you want to have your blog public vs. private? (Note, you can set individual blog posts private or password protected or have an entire blog set to private)
  4. Have you considered whether you are posting within or outside of Canada? This blog on opened.ca is hosted within Canada. That said, any public blog posts can have its content aggregated/curated onto social networks outside of Canada.

First tasks you might explore with your new blog:

  • Go into its admin panel found by adding /wp-admin at the end of your blog’s URL
  • Add new category or tags to organize your blog posts – found under “Posts” (but do not remove the pre-existing “EdTech” category or sub-categories, Free Inquiry and EdTech Inquiry). We have also pre-loaded the Teacher Education competencies as categories should you wish to use them to document your learning. If you would like to add more course categories, please do so (e.g., add EDCI 306A with no space for Music Ed, etc.)
  • See if your blog posts are appearing on the course website (you must have the course categories assigned to a post first and have provided your instructor with your blog URL)
  • Add pages
  • Embed images or set featured images and embed video in blog posts and pages (can be your own media or that found on the internet, but consider free or creative commons licensed works)
  • Under Appearance,
    • Select your preferred website theme and customize to your preferences (New title, etc.)
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  • Delete this starter post (or switch it to draft status if you want to keep for reference)

Do consider creating categories for each course that you take should you wish to document your learning (or from professional learning activities outside of formal courses). Keep note, however, that you may wish to use the course topic as the category as opposed to the course number as those outside of your program would not be familiar with the number (e.g., we use “EdTech” instead of “edci336).

Lastly, as always, be aware of the FIPPA as it relates to privacy and share only those names/images that you have consent to use or are otherwise public figures. When in doubt, ask us.

Please also review the resources from our course website for getting started with blogging:

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