EDLD 5364- Week 1 Post Conference

This weeks chat was informational, however I was less than excited to notice there is more group work. I just watched the chat on Thursday and started emailing people in my section to find group mates.
Overall, though, it was a positive experience, great questions were asked, and everyone received excellent answers and feedback from our instructor. Despite the the element of group work, there were no technical and user issues.

EDLD 5366 Digital Graphics & Web Design Week 5 Reflection

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During EDLD 5366 I learned a wealth of knowledge from the week one through four readings and assignments. Throughout the course I had the opportunity to use my imagination coupled with creativity and the information embedded in the course to help me successfully complete the assignments. The information I learned could carry over into the classroom or any future leadership assignments.

            Week one I focused on using the CRAP model provided by Dr. Cummings to evaluate and describe the pieces provided in the assignment. Before this course I was aware that there was a method to designing a visually pleasing piece. After reading the week one readings, I discovered what the elements make up a balanced digital piece. After this assignment I became more aware of the contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity of pieces.

            With week two I was able to learn about branding, and created a logo. I was able to process the importance of creating a brand , and what elements to incorporate into it. I enjoyed brainstorming about my goals and words that describe me. I feel like the process of branding could be a student or staff activity. Branding can help one to focus on their goals and what it must take to achieve them. I could use this assignment in my history classroom by having student create a brand or logo for past presidents and historical figures that we study.

            Week three animations provided me the opportunity to experiment with movement and creating a animation with a stick figure. Before this course I had never heard of free tools like Stykz . After completing the week three assignment with this free software, I envisioned the different ways my eighth grade students would enjoy using this product. Animations are an engaging way to draw students into an assignment and instruction. During this assignment I learned new free ways to incorporate technology into my classroom.

            Week four was more about group work and collaborative assignments for me. I had a wonderful group, and we started working early on the website. Our goals was to create a visually enticing website that would deliver meaningful information while adhering to the rubric guidelines.  After the website was finished we were pleased with what we had created. I personally realized that a website could be used in education to benefit students, staff, and parents. I really like the idea of having a website that shares free web 2.0 tools for teachers to use in the classroom. I feel that if teachers have more resources or websites like this available, they would focus more on incorporating technology. Websites can also be used to post assignment guidelines or notes for students.

Resources

Churches, A. (2007, April). Bloom’s digital taxonomy. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/8670

Robin Williams: The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Third Edition.

Alcantara, L. (2009). The art of self-branding. Retrieved from http://www.lealea.net/blog/comments/the-art-of-self-branding-part-one/

EDLD 5366 Week 1 Reflection

The ancient manuscript I chose to discuss is the Bible from Ethiopia. I believe I chose it because it is easy to relate to this work, even though I cannot read the text. In the book I can see the writer was artistic, yet methodical in his creation of this piece of history. Contrast is shown in the vivid, bright colors he uses on the pale page. Within the pictures is even more contrast with color. The paintings are very detailed and crisp. In addition, some of the text is in red, indicating it may be more important. Repetition is apparent throughout in the borders of the drawings, the pillars and arches and their details, as well as the similarities in all the intricate artwork. Alignment is very simple and symmetrical, but affective. Most things are centered on the page, but it would make the eyes flow as they should when reading the text. Proximity seems to be represented in different areas of the book. The first page appears to contain a title, telling us what will be coming in the text. Most pages containing pictures have text to go along with them. I am sure the text would be an indicator of what appears in the picture itself. The book presents itself as being regal. This along with the vivid colors might designate its importance to those reading it.

EDLD 5363 Web Conference Reflection 3

I attended the 12/9/12 5 pm web conference for Lamar EDLD5363 Multimedia and Video Technology course.It is obvious that Dr. Abernathy wants to work with us and help us every step of the way, and I have no doubt that the skills I will derive from this class will have a profound impact on my job as a classroom teacher. I do, however, wish the timing of this class was better, as this is a crazy time during the the last few weeks of school, particularly when we have mid-terms and CCA's. Despite the shortness of time, I will apply myself and do my best to create meaningful work which I can be proud.

In this conference we discussed clarification on the week 3 assignment. We talked about the details for week four, and how we should submit weeks 4 and 5 at the same time. Dr. A also talked about graduation and the traditions for Masters in Education students. She indicated that it was a wonderful time to me out professors and cohort's and that we should plan to attend.

EDLD 5363 Web Conference Reflection 2

I attended the 12/1/12 10 AM web conference for Lamar EDLD5363 Multimedia and Video Technology course. There was not many classmates in attendance to this particular conference so Dr. A. was able to answer each persons very specific questions. There was mostly talk about Audacity and LAME. We talked about how to use them and mostly how to download them. It seems as though we have several MAC users in the class and a student named Travis was able to give us some pointers regarding downloads. We also talked about finding groupmates, and the expectations for group size. Dr. A introduced us to our fellow classmate Bonnie, and tried to assist her in finding For next week's assignment, we must try using two different audio/video editing software packages; while they can be packages we or our district own, it is suggested that we try open source editors. A great site, www.osalt.com, was mentioned that helps recommend open source replacements for common pay or shareware applications.

EDLD 5363 Web Conference Reflection 1

I attended the 11/26/12 web conference for Lamar EDLD5363 Multimedia and Video Technology course. Today, I participated in an Adobe Connect videoconference with my Professor, Dr. Abernathy, and about 6 of my classmates. The experience is always enjoyable and beneficial. I was bumped off and had to reconnect about ten minutes into the conference. Overall, though, the audio I received was generally of good quality, and my interactions with Dr. A. and my classmates solely through the keyboard proved adequate.

Several key questions regarding the expectations for this class were answered. The most important answers and information I derived through this conference are:

• It is OK to post our videos to a site such as YouTube and then link into our blog and/or wiki, but Dr. A. would prefer us to try to embed the story within our blog.
• We also talked about Audacity, and how to download the software to a MAC computer.
• We talked briefly about the creative commons, but Dr. A indicated that we would talk in greater detail at the next web conference.
• We reviewd the Creative Common expectations for this course.

EDLD 5363 Week 2 Reflections

Creating a Podcast was a new exciting task that I was eager to conquer. I had no experience with any of the software that we were using for week 2. I had to start by doing the readings, and watching all available tutorials for Podcast, Audacity, and LAME. I was off to a scary start when it came time to for all of the downloads. The challenge was ultimately that I needed to run some OS X software updates on my Macbook.
Once I successfully got the software on my computer is was easy sailing. I chose to do a tutorial on Apple's iMovie, because I am most familiar with it. I enjoyed recording my tutorial take after take. My personal dilemma was the sound of my voice. I had to practice my one and pitch, and disguising my strong Texas accent and draw.
I enjoyed the week 2 task, and will positively implement podcast tutorials into my social studies classroom. As a member of my campus tech team I will also try my hardest to persuade other to use this exciting technology. I think that podcast tutorials could be amazing with math and science.

If you want to check out my podcast on easy video editing with Apple iMovie visit the the below link.
http://jenniferwinston.podbean.com/