digital media

Digital Media Links

This page includes links of particular interest to Digital Media teachers. There are MANY MORE links for Digital Media students in our Student Links section, or you can view links generally useful to teachers (classroom tools, video sites, reference sites, etc) at our main Teacher Links page.

Software

Adobe Creative Suite
An overview of the bestselling suite of software most used for creating graphics, websites and other interactive media in the professional world.

Gimp
The GNU Image Manipulation Program (gimp) is free open source program for creating graphics. There's even an animation package available.

Inkscape
This open source vector graphics editor is a free option for those who don't have Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw or other commercial software for 'drawing' digital graphic images. It uses the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

Paint.net
This free program has the look and feel of Photoshop, though without some of the bells and whistles. According to some, it is laid out more like Photoshop than Gimp.

Alice.org
Described on its website as "educational software that teaches students computer programming in a 3D environment," this free 3D animation program from Carnige Mellon U comes in different versions for middle school or high school and college students.

Jing
Jing, a free tool from the makers of SnagIt and Camtasia, allows you to create visuals - like screen shots or video recordings of onscreen action.

Wink
Another free tool that lets you create tutorials and presentations.

Google Sketchup
This free 3D sketching software allows you to design, create and share illustrations from floor layout plans to modeled images. Have students use it to draw out the parts of a motherboard, for example. Requires download and installation of the free program.

Acid Express
Free audio software for the PC. You must register online before you can use it. Compared by some to Garageband for PCs. A good alternative which also allows you to mix music, some say better than with Audacity. Make your own royalty free music from pre-made loops.

Tutorials

Tudvid.com
This site has some nice tutorials on Adobe projects.

Free Resources

Royalty Free Music
Most music, being protected by copyright and licensing agreements, is illegal for use in student audio and video projects. This site is a good source of music that can be used without having to pay royalties.

Soundzabound
Another site, this one with music screened for educational use. Requires users to create an account, but has some free music for school use.

FreePlayMusic
Another site with music divided by category. The broadcast and sports categories may be especially helpful.

Digital Juice
This site has resources that you have to purchase, but which are then royalty free. Their VideoTrax libraries come highly recommended. They also have free tutorials and informational videos in a section called Digital Juice Television.

General Reference

Student Press Law Center: Copyright Law
This online PowerPoint presentation from the Student Press Law Center is an officially recommended resources for the 'legal issues' objective of Digital Media I. It presents an overview of the most important aspects of copyright law.

FAQs about Fair Use of Music
Does it surprise you to know that just because you bought a song on iTunes, that doesn't give you the right to use it in a video that you create for school? That surprising fact and more are part of this FAQ page at the Soundzabound website. Soundzabound licenses music tracks for educational institutions, and the information here is written to explain to educators why they might need that service. But amid the selling points you will find a lot of good information about legal and fair use of music and other resources when creating multimedia presentations.

Online Safety

LearnIT-TeachIT Online Safety Section
This section of the non-profit website LearnIT-TeachIT features several videos on subjects such as passwords, cookies, malware, etc. Help students learn to protect themselves online.

If you find information on these pages that is outdated or needs to be added or changed, please email us and we'll get it fixed.