Edld 5366 Digital Graphics Course Reflection

EDLD 5366 Week 5 assignment:  Course Reflection

            Before I began this class I had some preconceived notions about what a Digital Graphics class would be like.  I was overwhelmed and nervous about what might be expected of me.  As the class began and I read the syllabus, I was put at ease and knew that what the course entailed was not going to be as overwhelming as I had thought.   After reviewing the updated Bloom’s Taxonomy to include digital terms,  I was pleased to know that I have been able to move from just Remembering to Creating.  “You can’t understand a concept if you don’t first remember it, similarly you cannot apply knowledge and concepts if you don’t understand them.”  (Churches, 2007).

            The first assignment had us creating a layout that followed the CRAP design.  “The C.R.A.P. principles are good ways to double check your design work.” (Rundle, 2006).  I was not familiar with these design principles before the class.  As I began to create my assignment I noticed that the design principles were all around me, in my classroom, at my house and on my wiki that I had already made.  I had been using these principles and just didn’t realize it.  Now I am more conscience of them when I’m rearranging my web pages or arranging the pictures on my walls. 

            Creating the Logo was the second assignment and was a lot of fun.  I had not thought of branding myself or creating a logo for myself.  There were several different websites that helped me create a logo and I had made several that I just couldn’t decide between. “Simplicity is the key to logo design”.  (1stwebdesign, 2011).   I also worked with a group and we created a group logo.  This would be used on our group web site/wiki that we made.  On this assignment I also learned about putting the html code on the wiki for the logo to appear.  That wasn’t actually a part of the lesson it was something one of my group members showed me. 

            Lastly, I collaborated with the group to make a wiki that would work for a school or classroom.  There were five of us in the group, which worked well because there were five pages to create.  I was assigned the regular education page since I am a regular education teacher.

References:

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

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/awesome-rules-designing-perfect-logo/

Rundle, M.  (April, 2006).  How C.R.A.P. is your design cite? http://thinkvitamin.com/design/how-crap-is-your-site-design/

EDLD webconference reflection #3

These past few weeks have been so very busy that I have not actually had time to attend the webconferences so I have to watch the video when I can.  What I get from the webconferences is very useful in helping me realize that everyone else feels the same way I do.  I get confused by some of the assignments and I sometimes feel I am the only one feeling that way.  It is nice to know I am not in this alone.

Dr. Abernathy is real good about making us feel better and she tries to answer the questions the best she can.  I understand why she gets frustrated at us sometimes because we are all perfectionist.  We want to do our very best so we sometimes as redundant questions so we are sure of what we are supposed to do.  I get that way with my own students in the classroom.  I have enjoyed this class and getting to use Photostory 3 and seeing what all different free programs there are out there to use.

EDLD 5363 Mulitimedia Course Reflection

At the beginning of this course, I didn't know much about video and editing.  Our first assignment was to make a digital storybook.  I used Photostory 3 and it was really easy to use.  I chose pictures of my kids and I talked about how proud I am of my kids.  It was set to a soothing background music.  Photostory 3 is very user friendly with its step by step instructions. Everyone I showed it to was very impressed.

The second week we had to edit some video footage and use Audacity to record our voice.  Editing video footage was not very easy for me.  I tried to use Movie Maker and I didn't really think I did that good of a job.  I had recorded some footage of my daughter at a football game and I figured out how to play to video while I was recording on Audacity so I would make sure my words matched with the footage.

During weeks 3, 4 and 5 we were to get into groups and make a PSA video.  My group decided on the topic of getting vaccinated.  There is a new law for incoming freshman to get the Meninitis shot.  We met through Google Docs and did all of our collaboration there.  One of my members works at a high school and was able to use her AV students for the video.  I developed the script and the rest of my team tweaked it as necessary. 

I don't feel I helped a lot with the editing and I don't feel like I really learned a lot with editing.  I really think that is something that needs to be learned hands on.  With this type of course it is hard to learn a lot of hands on things.  This is totally an online course and I had to really figure things out for myself which is very time consuming.  I think the most beneficial thing I learned is Photostory 3 and I will definitely use that again.

EDLD 5363 webconference reflection #2

EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Technology has been quite a challenging class for me.  There have been several things that have changed and the only way to find out the changes is through the webconferences.  In one of the webconferences I watched, it only lasted about 8 minutes and Dr. Abernathy just gave a little pep talk.  I really think Dr. Abernathy is a great teacher I just feel that maybe this class has some design flaws that has a lot of people confused.

I usually find out a lot of information during the web conferences.  However, in the last few that have been for this class, the video feed is cutting in and out and it makes it really hard to follow the conversations and to understand what is going on.  At one point, everyone started typing they were sorry to Mrs. Abernathy and I must have missed what she said in the video because of it cutting in and out.

EDLD 5363 week 2 podcast

This is the script of my podcast

Today I am reviewing Windows Live Movie Maker.
It is laid out much like any Windows program like Word.
There are tabs across the top just like in Word.  There is the Home tab,
animations, visual effects, project, view and edit just like in Word.
It is laid out in a very sequential order and it has the same save button.
It also has the same undo button where you can undo the last thing you just did.
The tabs allow you to move back and forth without losing your work and
the screen is divided into two parts.  The left side allows you preview your work at anytime
and the right is where you actually manipulate the video.


I made my podcast with Audacity

EDLD 5363 Week 2 review

Okay, so I have to admit I don't know anything about making a video.  Last week, I made a digital story using Photostory 3 and thought that was the easiest program to use.  I liked the layout of it because it lead you through the process page by page.  This week, we were to edit a video that we imported.  I tried to use Windows Live Movie Maker.  I am still in the process of trying to figure it all out but it has reminded me of a regular Windows program.  All the tabs are across the top and sort of in the order that you can use it in.  To be honest, it was not as easy for me to figure out.  I probablly should have watched the tutorial.  I am figuring it out slowly but it wasn't as easy as Photostory 3.  I realize that the other is with pictures and not video.  I take more pictures than I do video anyway so I think in the future I would use Photostory 3 more often. 

As far as using this in my classroom.  I am a 2nd grade teacher and I am completely overwhelmed with the new curriculum my district has implemented that I do not have much down time to make a video to enhance a unit.  In the past, I would have had the creative freedom to do such a thing.  Now, we have a curriculum that it constantly changing and we can't even download six weeks in advance because it may have changed before we get to it.  Hopefully, the creators will settle down and stop making changes so that the teachers can get creative with it and make some enhancements to go along with it.