EDLD 5366 Reflections

During EDLD 5366, our group developed a website that focused on providing teachers, parents and students with information regarding the inclusion of instructional technology into every classroom. While building this website, we learned to work together to create a visually appealing blueprint that included the key elements of design described by Robin Williams such as proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast. This multi-page website included topics such as an overview of the site, a page for parents, how-to demonstrations, special education information, and even a section on digital ethics and citizenship. Not only did I learn how to build the website itself, I also realized the importance of providing this information to teachers and parents. It is important to be an advocate of technology education and not only preach its effectiveness, but demonstrate ways to include it in everyday learning with free resources so that every student is able to take advantage of these 21^st century skills.

To make sure that I was receiving the most benefit from this assignment, I exercised self-reflection strategies to review my own learning. I would often reflect on what my responsibilities were as a group member and also as a learner. Dr. Jackie Gerstein’s words resonated with me. She explained that “without reflection, learning becomes only an activity . . . which was never meant to have meaning, only occupy time” (Gerstein, 2011). This is especially important and exhibits the dedication I have to my own education and educating others through my position in my district. I often take the things I have learned in this program and share them with my colleagues. As a technology specialist, I am expected to train teachers on these new developments in instructional technology so that they may provide unique and beneficial learning opportunities to their own students. Part of my self-reflection practices includes planning for future trainings and deciding what teachers or students will benefit most from a particular assignment or program.

For this particular assignment, I plan to help the digital graphics teacher on our campus design a lesson plan to incorporate many of the activities that I completed. This is her first year to teach this course and just recently learned of its addition to her schedule. She was very overwhelmed to learn that she was teaching it and a high stress level quickly followed. After providing some insight from my experience in EDLD 5366, we came up with a great outline of activities for her syllabus. The final project will be designing a website that will include all of the students’ digital graphics projects as an e-portfolio to showcase all of their hard work throughout the year. I am looking forward to learning more about web design and sharing all of my experiences with my colleagues and their students.

To sum up this entire experience, I recently came across a blog post that explained that being a life-long learner “means accepting that what you don’t know far outweighs what you do know . . .” (Betcher, 2007). And my friends,  do we ever have a lot to learn!

Betcher, C. (2007, May 28). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://betch.edublogs.org/2007/05/28/the-challenge-of-being-a-lifelong-learner/

Gerstein, J. (2011, August 16). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/where-is-reflection-in-the-learning-process/

Williams, R. (2008). The non-designer's design book. (3rd ed.). Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press.

EDLD 5366 Simple Animation Using Stykz

Manuscript/Book Graphic Design Review

After Elizabeth Blackwell’s cousin/husband’s financial woes lead him to debtors’ prison, she took it upon herself to provide for her family and erase her husband’s debts by undertaking the arduous task of creating “A Curious Herbal”, published from 1737-1739. This resourceful woman who had some background knowledge of medicinal herbs and plants, created a go-to herbal with botanical illustrations which included new plant species form the Americas. Along with drawing, engraving, and coloring the illustrations herself, she also included a description of the plants, their common names, scientific names, and their medicinal properties. She would eventually catalog 500 species, free her husband from debtors’ prison (even though he was later executed for political conspiracy), and provided for her family in a time of desperation. She may not be the most recognizable Elizabeth Blackwell (the first woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S.), she proved to be a pioneer and gave new meaning to the endearment “devoted wife”.

Concerning the four basic principles of graphic design, described by Robin Williams (no, not that one) in “The Non-Designer’s Design Book”, “A Curious Herbal” by Elizabeth Blackwell encompasses many qualities that prove functional and aesthetically pleasing. Though her work doesn’t provide much contrast and there is a lot of blank space on every page, its simplicity is what made this collection so popular. It was easy to find and identify the plants because her illustrations were not crowded or overbearing. The text was aligned in the same way on every page, divided by crisp clear lines and equal amounts of space and “type”. The proximity of the information presented was adequate, but predictable. The consistency and repetition is what made this collection functional and popular for centuries. Her keys and descriptions were easy to identify and provided the reader with the information necessary to make a quick decision in what was often a life or death situation.

What we’ve learned from this passage:

1. Men never learn.

2. Never underestimate a woman.

3. "A Curious Herbal” would look much different if held to the standards of Mr. Williams.

EDLD 5363 Group Multimedia Project

EDLD 5363 Review of Web Conferences

I participated in one web conference on Saturday, June 30th and viewed the conference videos from June 4th and 16th. I appreciated the fact that we were allowed to view the conferences at a later date because I often find it difficult to fit the conferences into my schedule. I love to take online classes because of the flexibility and the ease of watching the conferences at a later date really helped me get the most out of this course. I did need clarification as to what we were supposed to submit when there wasn’t an assigned section on the document. It was reassuring to see that I was not the only one confused! Web conferences are great for getting to know your fellow students, asking questions to clarify confusing topics, checking to make sure you are staying on track, and sometimes they are even good for a laugh or two! One thing that I find very frustrating is that some students tend to repeat questions that have already been answered and it seems as if they are not paying attention to what is being discussed. It ends up taking way too much time to answer questions and often it feels as if we do not get much accomplished because of this inconvenience. I value input from my fellow students and realize the importance of attending or viewing web conferences. Until next time!

Podcast: Intro to Windows Movie Maker 2.6

Here is a short podcast introducing windows Movie Maker 2 . 6. Windows Movie Maker is a wonderful program used to create videos using photos, video clips and audio from your computer or camera. There are many great features including clip transitions, narration, video effects, title and credit pages, and audio editing. Enjoy!

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Windows Movie Maker Tutorial by Tanya Henslee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Multimedia Project: Personal Story

I had so much fun making this video and the reaction from my family and friends was beyond amazing. I am honored to have been a part of this great community and have so many to call my family, friends and neighbors.