Feeling more confident with GIMP, I decided to research whether this application could be used for the animations I want to make.
I’m working on a very simple concept, so I don’t need anything fancy here.
This video tutorial gave some brief but specific instructions on how I might use GIMP to create a simple animation:
I also watched this one, which offers some step by step creative instruction around building layers for the purpose of animation. (It was better than the first video). Key information about how to save a file as a GIF can be found at 9:26 (and he really identifies the specifics and detail in how to save this file and what to watch for).
What I found is that each video gave me a different set of tools, and ultimately would lead me to a different skill in creating an animation.
I decided to create a test animation.
One of the first things I found was I was having trouble with text editing. I’d used text before, but only as one text layer on my file. And for this purpose I am duplicating the layers and then adding to each layer (kind of like cells in traditional animation). But I was struggling with how I was editing the text in a few different ways, including ending up with multiple layers that I didn’t want.
It is much harder (for me) to READ about how to do something with screen shots and a written description, opposed to watching a video. I could barely focus and follow this written explanation.
It took a lot of problem solving and I rewatched a couple sections of videos up to 10 times, but I finally created the ‘foundation’ for a GIF.
However…. still lots of mistakes!
I couldn’t export it properly because of a few errors. Watched some more videos, did some troubleshooting – but eventually felt I’d hit a wall and will need to start over with a new project to see if I can avoid errors along the way (and learn a few more tools around combining backgrounds to layers).
So for this week – I’ve got a video of my animation (not a proper GIF yet)…but we are on our way.
The struggles I’m feeling with learning this tricky set of skills is really teaching me a lot about patience, perseverance, and reminding me what kids go through when learning things that don’t come easy. A very good reminder.
Next week…..Lets see if we can actually get a GIF!
At the start of the year I sit with them and we read through the digital citizen contract the school sends home to be signed. But once they are in class – I get the sense that critical, or at least mindful, engagement on the internet really isn’t being taught.
The tools they use, like Google Classroom, are something they’re just expected to understand. I had to walk my own kid through using Google Drive after realizing she had assignments on there and had no idea how to use the application.
So what approach will I bring to my own future classroom?
I know for certain that I want to approach thoughtful engagement online through doing. I want my students to be participating, contributing, and critically thinking about how they navigate online, accuracy of digital research sources, the opportunities and drawbacks of AI, and how they can use technology to support their learning journey.
I plan to build digital citizenship and Ribble’s Nine Elements of Digital CitizenshipINTO my lessons across the curriculum is key to consistent immersive learning. In our everyday lives, in work and entertainment, digital technologies are embedded in our experience of the world. So building awareness of etiquette, fluency, rights and responsibilities needs to be ingrained in our everyday classroom exchanges and learning.
What does that look like in the classroom?
It may include carefully crafting the use of AI into research assignments or creative writing, providing spaces for critical reflection and conversations about digital responsibility and misinformation (hallucinations) within the lessons. Or, incorporating digital health and safety into Health Ed units that explore identity, body image, ethics and wellbeing.
Sometimes it might be more overt, so that what they are learning can be applied more broadly at home and in the classroom. This CBC article is relevant and references lateral reading techniques, and initiatives like the Teen Fact Checking Network and the digital literacy resource CTRL-F (resources that I’ll be digging into myself to build my own capacity in teaching digital citizenship).
As a community-engaged artist, what I find exciting is considering the possibilities. How can opportunities to practice digital citizenship be merged with material and relational explorations and hands-on learning? How can we teach digital collaboration through lessons that also connect us to communities that broaden kids’ perspectives and world views? How can conversations about AI also draw attention to environmental implications of technology, encouraging sustainable and responsible use of these tools.
A Personal Anecdote
During the pandemic I was the artistic director for a community arts organization. One of our programs was specific to working in long term care facilities. An exciting pandemic adaptation I helped to lead was the integration of school kids into this program. Students were partnered with a senior at the home. Seniors worked with staff to write short stories about their lives and record memories. These stories were shared with the students, who then created miniature ‘diaromas’ representing the senior’s stories. As part of this process, seniors and students met online and students asked questions to get more details for their artworks. These conversations didn’t just teach the students about etiquette or about the history and importance of older members of the community. They also learned about how the technology aided or hindered the seniors’ access. Could those with hearing impairment manage to communicate or did it cause frustration? Did seeing kids from their community support their wellness during isolation? Layers of learning were gained through using this tool as part of the project.
Cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch’s lecture An anthropological introduction to YouTube (2008), speaks to the internet’s potential as a participatory tool, “allowing us to connect in ways we’ve never connected before.” Not only to connect, but to be part of creating new networks that drive and fuel connection.
How can we use the expansive community that the internet offers as an education opportunity for our learning environments? I think the answer is: as generative participants rather than passive consumers.
As a parent, I see my own children (grades 4 and 6) using the internet in the classroom as a source of research and knowledge gathering.
But what about the potential to be gathering knowledge through participatory models that allow students, globally, to be learning with and from each other?
Instead of reading a wikipedia definition of the climate in Greece, why not interview another student who lives there? What happens when students are able to exchange personal experiences and knowledge, sharing real cultural and geopolitical perspectives.
Online global pen pal applications are an example of this. You can find a few examples in this article.
Better yet, media scholar Henry Jenkins’ identifies in this 2013 interview, how students can critically engage in the systems of knowledge that they are accessing on the internet. Jenkins’ talks about having students make changes to Wikipedia entries, engaging in the process of defending those entries, and the value of contributing to a permanent record in that way.
Digital engagement in the classroom should not just be passive, consumptive learning.
It is through the process of generative participation, in creation of online content and community, that educational potential exists in the digital realm.
For Wesch, the word Media refers to “mediating human relationships. And as media changes – human relationships change.” And it’s no coincidence that he regularly uses the word celebrate when talking about this form of mediated engagement with each other. He is drawing our attention to the joyous possibility within digital creative networks. And this is something that is important to hold onto as we think about media in learning environments.
TikTok has become the top social media platform among teenagers. So, what does the application offer young people, in terms of generative engagement and community, that we can apply to our models of learning and teaching? I don’t know the answer to this. I do know that rather than dismissing social platforms, we need to at least begin with this question.
As an older adult and parent, my instincts continue to observe caution when it comes to social media, mindful of the impacts on young people’s mental wellness. But I am becoming aware of the need to embrace the possibility and benefits of digital networking.
My major takeaway from this course, and Wesch’s lecture, is that as teachers, we need to be continuously building our own literacy and expertise in digital pedagogy.
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free cross-platform image editor. After all my searches for a cost-free application, I ended up choosing the one that I already had on my laptop. I didn’t choose GIMP to begin with because I was looking for an app that could also offer digital animation opportunities. But for the purposes of this first learning goal – GIMP meets the requirements.
This said, GIMP is a raster based editor, and in my last post I noted that I needed to work with vectors. Some IRL chats have me thinking I might be OK using raster files for the purposes of my project. So, I’m going ahead with GIMP and I’ll learn by doing!
I began with this How To Use Gimp (Beginners Guide) video.
I’m going to be working on collaging a few different images together.
These are the images I’m starting with:
I found that the video got me started in creating my project, setting a background, adding layers, and uploading images I wanted to use.
But that was as far as this video got me. It didn’t offer the steps needed to edit my images in the way I wanted.
I watched a few more videos. But they only provided simple overviews OR went way over my head.
I had questions and searching through videos was taking too long.
Here is where learning a new skill online can be frustrating and time consuming. Searching for the learning tool that is going to help you with the specific path or trouble shooting issue can take a lot longer than just being in the same room as someone to answer direct questions and show you things in real life.
I asked my partner to sit with me and answer a few questions. In half an hourI was able to get quick and direct instruction on some specific actions I wanted to know how to do, including:
Transforming an image
Creating transparency and fill options
Specifics around how to work with the layers
How to use a layer I create for other slides I’m building
Saving my work in progress and specific finished slides
Here’s what I created with the help of someone sitting beside me while I learned.
It was the fasted part of this whole learning process so far.
Is it because I’m such a beginner at this that searching for the learning tools involves a layer of learning in itself?
Is it that online learning lacks the ability for immediate and direct questions to be answered along the way?
What have you found in your online learning experiences?
What does this tell us about the role of teachers in the classroom and where/how we embed technology in our students’ learning journey?
And then there are the things I’m learning BY DOING. Like, the importance of saving your work along the way….which I learned the hard way as I was trying to save my final image and GIMP stalled out. But that also reminded me how much we learn through repetition…and when I had to redo everything I’d just been taught – I realized there were a lot of things I’d already forgotten. Another good take away as an educator! Learning by doing….and then doing AGAIN!
Anyways, I now have some specific questions that even my IRL tech support couldn’t answer – but I have a framework of understanding and some basic tools. I feel I can now search online for answers to some of the specific questions with a bit more ease!
Setting Goals: I’ve been feeling overwhelmed about getting started. So I’ve decided to set specific learning goals:
Collage separate digital images into one image
Draw and save a digital drawing that is high enough resolution to be used for projection.
Learn how to use basic ‘tweening’ to animate from a few drawings (if I get time).
Digital ‘Collage’ I’m working on a project with kids from Riffel HighSchool’s integrated theatre program, That’s Possible.
They have drawn separate images and I want to merge them into one image that will be used as the backdrop projection for the production.
A quick google suggests that if I want to resize my scanned images to collage together without getting pixelation or quality distortion – I need to convert my images to Vectors.
What is a Vector??? This quick video shed light on the different image files.
What I learned: JPG, PNG, GIF = Raster Files (pixelate when you resize them).
PDF, EPS, AI = Vector Files (maintain their sharpness when enlarged)
This leads me to ask : Can I just use PDF files to create my digital collage? After quite a bit of googling, I’m not fully confident in the answer I’ve come to…but I think I should stick with a TIFF if I can.
<<< One issue I’m having is that I don’t have the tech language and terminology to research what it is I want to do. I’m spending a lot of time trying to find an application that can teach me what I need…..in part because I’m so graphic design illiterate.>>>>
The search for a cost free application continues… Because Adobe suites are $$, I spent time looking for a free alternative. Adobe Express came up as a free option, but I spent nearly an hour looking at videos trying to figure out if I could create the 16×9 1080 resolution format I need for this projection project….. I never found the answer I was looking for.
I’ve decided to call in some NON-digital tech support so I can get things moving! My partner has GIMP on our laptop and I usually defer to him if I need small graphic created for social media or projection. The inter-web is just getting me tangled up, so I’ve decided to use GIMP for this project. This way, I’ve got some real human assistance as I get myself oriented.
What have I learned? When you are really just getting started with learning a new skill, it can be just as hard to find the online training and information you need as it is to learn the skill.
I’m interested in how technology can build engagement and support creative learning within the classroom. So this week, I tried my hand at VideoScribe, an animation app that creates whiteboard style animations.
The website says it’s quick, user-friendly, and for all skill levels; specifically promoting it as a tool to support student engagement within the classroom. Could this app be fun visual learning tool that both my middle years students AND this Gen X educator be able to use???
But first, I wanted to know whether I would be inclined to pay for this app if I really liked it. So before giving it a trial, I looked up the subscription fee.
$16.25/month for the basic plan.
It’s more than I’m inclined to pay for an app but my curiosity lured me in.
I gave VideoScribe a shot using their 7-Day free trial. To get the 7 day free trial you DO NOT need to put in a credit card or a lot of personal information. All you need is an email address and a password.
However, with the free trial all videos are watermarked (until you pay for a subscription).
HOT TIP:There are also ‘premium’ images within the application (identified by a little crown). If you use these, you won’t be able to download your animation. You CAN get a link to your animation, however – it is only good as long as the 7-Day free trial. After that ..bye bye.
As soon as you set up an account you are given the option to EXPLORE TEMPLATES or CREATE A BLANK PROJECT. For this review I chose to create from scratch.
Because apps aren’t generally intuitive for me (or maybe my brain just likes instructions), I liked that when I chose to Create A New Project, it immediately gave me the option of ‘getting tips as you go’ OR ‘watching a video to start’.
This video walks you through features – so you have a sense of what is available and where to find things. However, it doesn’t go into a lot of detail, nor does it demonstrate visually what some of the features actually look like – which isn’t very useful. I had to learn what features looked like through trial and error.
TIP: I recommend watching the VideoScribe Intro video in its entirety BEFORE starting a project. You can also access all the VideoScribe tutorial videos here.
I’d recommend watching an audio tutorial and an animations tutorial before starting as well. (I DID NOT – and probably took longer than necessary fussing to figure these things out)
I also used this tutorial from YouTube to supplement my learning. It helped give me an overview of features with a bit more detail that the VideoScribe Intro Tutorial.
From this tutorial I learned that there is a cloud-based version and desktop version of VideoScribe, and there are benefits and drawbacks to each.
The desktop version offers a royalty free music library.
The cloud-based version can sometimes be glitchy (YES – I did experience this too! Overall, I really liked this tutorial. It went into lots of detail and walked you through creating a project from scratch at a very accessible pace.
CREATING AN ANIMATION:
Here are a few key features to be aware of when you start.
1. The left toolbar offers options for images, text, objects, and audio features.
2. When an image/ text/ object is selected, the right toolbar offers you two modes to work in: Edit and Animation. Edit allows you to adjust the feature (colour, font, flip, crop, opacity, etc). Animation allows you to adjust how the feature is animated (ex: drawn by hand, slide on from the side, bounce), along with speed of the animation and length of pause caps the animation.
3. At the bottom of the screen, you have your Timeline.TIP: there is a – + bar on both the left side and top of the timeline. These allow you to scale your view of both the stacked frame layers AND the project. I found this really fussy. Started out ok – but the more content I got in the project the trickier it got.
4. Scenes: the left toolbar has a scenes icon. Once you click this – you’ll have the option to + more scenes.
TIP: When a scene is selected, you’ll find the option in the right toolbar to add a transition between it and the PREVIOUS scene. This includes eraser, bounce, slide, fade, etc.
QUICK, EASY, BEGINNER-FRIENDLY?
I found that using the text and simple images was pretty straightforward and I enjoyed the process. But once I wanted to add more images and transitions…it started to get finicky. But remember …. I’m really a beginner in using a tool like this.
The audio feature was cool, in that there was music you can add as background AND you can do a voice recording directly over your video as well.
TIP:don’t try to do any kind of voice over until the very end. If you end up editing your work after adding your voice over, you’ll likely end up with the voice audio out of synch and will have to adjust it to line up with your video again.
Here is the video I made to learn the processes ! It actually took me a couple hours…but I was learning along the way as I went.
Will I use this again? Ya, I think I will. I like the possibility and I’ve always liked white board animations. It would take a solid investment of time to watch the tutorials and get familiar with the app before I could build videos with ease.
Is this useful for the classroom? If I had a lesson I was really keen to use with classes over the years, then YES – I think it could offer an engaging way to share lessons. But for a one-off lesson, this is far too time consuming.
Would I offer it to students? I’m interested in giving it to my own kids (10 & 12) to try out. I’m aware that kids can be pretty savvy (and less precious) in using a tool like this. They may have more ease with it than I did.
Could this tool take learning to the next level? Yes, I think it has a lot of potential. Using the SAMR model, lets look at how this app might enhance opportunities for learning and teaching:
Substitution – VideoScribe offers teachers a way to pre-build a lesson they might have planned to share on a classroom whiteboard. So in the simplest application of this tool – it could be seen as a way teachers might carefully craft their lesson in advance and then share it as a video. But even this conversion actually acts to impact the students’ learning experience….
For example: by playing a video of a lesson being written out on a whiteboard rather than writing it in real time, two things change. Speed of the writing is impacted, so students might stay engaged longer. But more importantly, the teacher themselves is removed from the equation (visually)! And this is a big one. In a 2004 study, primary school students with dyslexia stated that it was helpful to their learning experience when they were able to see the board and the teacher wasn’t obstructing it!
Augmentation – The ability to adjust font, colour of both the font or background, speed of which text appears, images, and audio tracks means that this tool enhances both the student and teacher experience. Teachers can prebuild a lesson and present it at a quicker pace, enhancing it with music, voice over, images and charts. Colour and font choice provides students with more readable text, can be used to visually identify ideas, and can be again used in support to support reading fluency by using coloured background.
Modification – VideoScribe, being an animation program, allows for something similar to a powerpoint presentation but where the features are animated. Images and text can be animated and coordinated to provide a next-level storytelling experience (not matter the subject). It changes the way information is shared and potentially more efficiently.
Redefinition – Putting the tool into the hands of students, there is the potential to change the way students share their learning. By offering an image bank, audio voice over and a music, a variety of text options, and capacity for animation through scene-to-scene storytelling, VideoScribe offers students the ability to create multimodal texts. Overall, it can offer a more comprehensive, inclusive demonstration of student learning.
Final thoughts: While I’m not keen on the price tag, this app did get me excited to build whiteboard animations. My next step will be to try out the templates and look into whether I can pay monthly for shorter term project use.
I generally spend 6-8 hours each day working on my laptop. Most of this time is spent shifting between my professional work as a project coordinator and attending to my BEAD course work.
My habits for both are pretty similar. I predominantly use a Google Workspace for organizing and managing my projects and coursework and sharing content with collaborators. As someone who has spent most of my life living with ‘organized piles’ as a system, I’ve now become reliant on keeping carefully crafted folders and files for all my work in a google space. Scheduling is a necessity in my life! I’m generally working on 3 or more projects (usually with multiple community partners or collaborators). I’m now adding my BEAD course schedule and assignment deadlines to that. Add in two kids with nightly extracurriculars and daily school events, and a partner who also takes on contract work in the evenings/weekends…and it’s a lot to keep track of. My google calendar is a carefully crafted and colour-coded blueprint that holds all the details that my brain cannot. I appreciate that when I read an email about a new event from a teacher or book a meeting, that I can quickly just add it to my google calendar without hunting down a hard copy day planner. HOWEVER – I recently went back to carrying a day planner as well. Why? Because I like being able to see the whole month at a glance with all the event details visible at the same time. Google calendar is good for a week preview, but mostly I need to see what’s coming down the pipeline.
In school work and professional life I constantly am navigating between google docs, internet searches, and shared content sites like UR courses. I always have far too many tabs open and I never spend long in one place before I’m searching up a work or reviewing something I’ve forgotten. I look up almost everything I think of and am constantly bouncing between resources whether I’m writing a paper or working on a new art program or project.
For ongoing communication on work projects, I generally rely on email or text. I use Edsby on my phone for all communication with my kids school and teachers, and WhatsApp for recreational class threads.
I’ve come to rely on apps that provide me with ‘focus’ music or ‘flow’ audio to keep me from being distracted by the outside world when I plug in to work. But I also use these same apps for short meditations or brain breaks throughout my day and in the evening. Another app that I REALLY rely on is Google Maps. I have no sense of direction. Before cell phones, I used to regularly o stop at payphone booths to use the telephone book map. Finally I started carrying around a city map in my car … so Google Maps changed my life!
I don’t spend a lot of time on many other apps, and when I do it’s on my phone. I hit the CBC news app a couple times a day, for short 10-20 minutes updates. I sometimes listen to the radio via CBC Music app.
The only social media I get sucked into is Instagram.
I generally go to Instagram looking for local updates from friends, artists, or about events … but, often find I’ve lost half an hour getting sucked into mindless reels. This is the one place where I consciously watch my engagement and actively chose not to open it up during ‘work hours’. Sometimes I can get sucked into Pinterest in a similar way – which I occasionally open when doing creative research.
Other than that – I intentionally avoid TikTok. (I’ve opened it a couple times and within minutes have shut it off and deleted it. I just found it obnoxious and overstimulating off the bat – so I never gave it a chance). I’ll go to Youtube for specific research related things, but I’ve seen how addictive it can be with kids. I don’t let my kids have free access to it…and I’m aware that I need to model healthy online behaviour if I want them to respect my opinion on this topic. Productivity and intentional, responsible engagement in the world is something I want my kids to be learning as they grow up. My limited experience suggests that social media often leads kids (and adults) in the opposite direction.
My children learning to smudge and scrape buffalo hide with my friend, and Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, Joely BigEagle-Kequahtooway (2019)
I want to be comfortable with a program that will allow me to digitally manipulate images, draw, and possibly animate.
I’m pretty illiterate when it comes to using digital design programs. So to begin this learning process I need to begin with some really foundational research.
I started by asking:
What beginner-friendly programs exist.
What do they offer?
Will it align with the technology I currently have access to?
What is the cost involved?
Because I’m kinda keen to learn some basic animation, I began my research with beginner-friendly Animation Apps.
After some googling and skimming a few YouTube videos, this video on Brad Colbow’s youtube channel helped direct me.
It offered a really clear breakdown of what FREE apps work best to replace Adobe Animate, based on these criteria: ability to draw directly in the program, ability to import sound to do voice overs and sound effects, symbol library, and a timeline that allows tweening. I liked these criteria and like now straightforward this video review was.
However, what I took away from this video was that Adobe Animate is a tried and true application that does all of these things AND is a familiar program that is often used by organizations and businesses. As part of the Adobe family – this felt like a safe bet….If I’m going to learn a program, it makes sense to choose one that I might come across within future workplace & education sites.
Next task….
I need to learn a bit about Adobe (because while I’ve heard of it and my pdfs open up in Adobe Acrobat Reader….thats about ALL I know!
Searching Adobe, I quickly realized that I have in fact used photoshop before. Back in 2004, I was given a few key tips on how to scan a transparency/ photo slide (old school – pre digital photography styles). From what I remember, I was scanning, cropping, and adjusting the resolution. This was around the time that arts councils and granting bodies were beginning to accept digital images instead of submitting ACTUAL sheets of transparencies with an application.
Anyways – the point is, my exposure to Adobe suites is pretty archaic and was limited to digital image sizing. So, I went back to Brad to get his breakdown on the difference between Illustrator and Photoshop to help me understand which of these might offer the program capacity that I’m searching for.
I really like Brad’s videos because he clearly breaks things down right from the start of the video. You don’t need to listen to him talk for 5 minutes to find out where things are going. The videos are fast paced, animated (and engaging), and quickly identify what he’ll be reviewing and how. Also, he mentioned in an earlier video that he Does Not have an education in design and animation. Being self taught, he brings an awareness of the questions and frustrations he had as a learner and incorporates that experience into his approach to teaching.
My next step is take what I’ve learned, get myself set up with the software I’m going to start out with…and start learning!
Returning to postsecondary education after 20 years, I am highly aware of how the education landscape has been changed by technology and digital applications. To put it in perspective, it wasn’t until I’d completed graduate school that I first used Google.
As I settled into being a student again, I definitely feel the impact of being hardwired in an analog world. I feel I’m moving at a slower pace as I learn to communicate through technology that is less familiar to me.
However, I am also experiencing how the assistance of technology is supporting my ability to learn in areas that I once found challenging. Being able to take notes by typing on a laptop, quickly formatting content to make it more readable and digestible for my brain, and using text to speech applications has made my experience as a learner with ADHD far less challenging. Having access to slides, notes, and resource links for courses through UR Courses has been a game changer!
Seeing this impact on my own learning has me eager to gain fluency in educational technologies so that I can best support students in my future classroom.
This blog is my first experience in creating a personal site through which to connect with an online community. I’ve been reluctant to build a website due to a lack of knowledge. The task, and learning curve has simply felt too huge to begin. AND – I’m not someone who is comfortable with putting myself into a public sphere in this way. I generally like to be ‘behind the scenes’ and both a blog and a personal website feel like a public showcase that I’m not completely comfortable with. That said – this is exactly why I’m taking EDTC 300, diving into critically thinking about the applications, benefits, and opportunities of learning and community within a digital community.
Facilitation of Le Temps d’une Soupe, relational art project by Montreal’s ATSA (2019)
In art and learning, two things guide my practice: cross-disciplinary and collaborative approaches. I was first inspired by E.O. Wilson’s book, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge when I was an undergraduate studying biology (I ended up switching to visual arts where I could pursue interdisciplinary meaning making).
I have a BFA (University of Regina, 2001) and MFA (Concordia University, 2005) in Studio Arts. I studied and participated in an archeological dig in Jordon in 2001. And my arts practice and career in arts management has traversed the territories of installation – theatre – dance – and socially engaged art.
Using art as a tool for social change is embedded in my work in building youth programs that support access and inclusion.
I believe the arts play an important role in the practices of teaching and learning. I had the opportunity to see this embedded in the pedagogy of the Reggio Emilia Approach during a recent study tour in Italy with the Vancouver Reggio Association.
I’ve just begun my two year journey to completing a Bachelor of Education After Degree at the University of Regina. After years of working with schools and communities to share creative practices that support curriculum and foster social engagement, I’m excited to be learning the foundations and practices of the teaching profession. Thanks for joining me on this journey!
Bulyea Elementary School, Sk Arts Artist in School Project (2024)
But that also reminded me how much we learn through repetition…and when I had to redo everything I’d just been taught – I realized there were a lot of things I’d already forgotten. Another good take away as an educator! Learning by doing….and then doing AGAIN!
As someone who has spent most of my life living with ‘organized piles’ as a system, I’ve now become reliant on keeping carefully crafted folders and files for all my work in a google space. 
Another app that I REALLY rely on is Google Maps. I have no sense of direction. Before cell phones, I used to regularly o stop at payphone booths to use the telephone book map. Finally I started carrying around a city map in my car … so Google Maps changed my life!
