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Course Reflection 02/22/12

EDLD 5366 Course Reflection

Over the span of this course, I have developed a strategic eye for educational aesthetics. The CRAP design technique caused me to critique more than the content of a visual, but also the effectiveness of the visual and its adherence to branding. As a learner, I learned effective instruction comes down to the choices I make regarding my instructional style (brand), implementation of technology, and even the setup of interactive lessons and websites, because as Robin Williams instructs, “Nothing should be placed on [a page] arbitrarily (The Non-Designer’s Design Book). It is comforting to know that using technology has been made simple through programs like Scratch and Glogster. These web 2.0 tools give teachers the flexibility to use their creativity in a realistic manner, and are manageable enough to be taught to students, which can change the face of the recursive learning process. As a learner I learn by doing and discussing; I feel comfortable with a subject if I am given the opportunity to play around with the material, and then discuss what that newfound information means to me. This learning style holds true with the statement made in the “Understanding Multimedia Learning” article that “Multimedia learning is more effective when it is in the control of the learner,” (2008). While completing assignment, I found myself eager to remain ahead of schedule, so I often read days in advance of the beginning of each week, and completed most of my assignments by focusing on what I’d read immediately thereafter. While interacting with colleagues via the discussion board and Google docs, I was able to apply new perspectives to the course material that I find valuable. My colleagues often thought of ways to implement technology that I would never have considered prior, which encouraged me to keep being creative. Something that I will take with me throughout life from this course is the idea that learning how we learn trickles down even to learning how we best learn using technology. For instance, I have dozens of students who are visual learners, but I still have to understand their needs as it relates to what types of visual technology I use for instruction or activities. Also, understanding a way to reach all learning styles is crucial for me to “hook” my students to my brand of teaching. I can do this best by adapting one of the many Bloom’s digital taxonomy levels such as creating blogs, or evaluating and networking in the creation of a presentation or video, (Churches, 2008). I’m hoping my past interactions and collaborations with colleagues will impact my future learning endeavors by causing me to challenge myself to gauge my depth of learning according to Bloom’s digital taxonomy. I want to become more comfortable with collaborating electronically through Google docs so that I gain more by sharing ideas rather than taking the lion’s share of an assignment. Overall, I plan to use web sites in my classroom in order to communicate better with students and parents, and give students an opportunity to demonstrate critical thinking through synthesizing, evaluating, and reflecting on the creation of their own websites or pages. This will help encourage technology’s presence in my classroom, and challenge students to use appropriate skills that will help them internalize the material.

Resources: Churches, A. (2007, April). Bloom’s digital taxonomy. Retrieved from [].

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

Understanding Multimedia Learning: Integrating Multimedia in the K12 Classroom. (2008, September). Retrieved from [].

Website Design 2/15/12

This week, three group members and I developed a functioning website under the brand titled "The Learning Curve". We developed a parent page, a teacher page, learning page, special education page, cyber ethics page, and even a how-to on Web 2.0 tools. We attempted to create a unique logo and style for the website, and included the logo listed below on each page. The link to the site is also below.

The Learning Curve

Bible from Ethiopia 1/18/2012

My first impression of the design of the Ethipian Bible was that it seemed primitive, but as I read the process of how the ink and paper were made and printed, I saw just how intricate and deliberate the process of these writings is. The contrast is red versus black lettering, drawing versus text only pages, and large title lettering to small lettering on the title pages. Yellow and red are the main colors repeated that signify glory and royalty. Repetition of pillars, emblems, and designs create regal borders for each page. Alignment on most pages is centered; the eye is drawn to the center of the page; most of the drawings have Christ or the subject figure in the center of the page. Proximity of text to text and image to image helps keep the writing organized, and reinforces the traditional, sanctified nature of the writing. The author does well in summarizing each page’s purpose and describing the art process so that the reader can see the meticulous decisions made on page of this Bible. I really like how each graphic tells the story of the book with which it corresponds.

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