EDLD 5397 Web Conference Reflection Week 4

I was able to watch the recording of the conference. We are wrapping things up in the Internship course and this weeks conferences was highly informative. Dr. Mason and Dr. Martin discussed TK20 and what documents needed to be uploaded by August 20th. We also learned that we can add material to our week 3 assignment and put it on Week 4, and to differentiate between the two weeks.

EDLD 5397 Web Conference Reflection Week 3

In the Web Conference, many things about the action research project were clarified. We were informed that there was not a need to have a lot of quantitative data, that if we had more qualitative data, then that would be okay. We also learned that it could be more like a narrative/descriptive paper and could have charts and graphs to accompany it. After watching the web conference I was prepared to create my first draft of my action research plan.

EDLD 5397 Web Conference Reflection Week 2

I watched the web conference the day after the meeting. Because there are different cohorts taking this class, many of the questions that were asked were not relevant to technology leadership students. Many people had questions regarding their binder for the principal’s program, which is not of any importance to me or my fellow classmates that are in the technology Leadership program. I have been apprehensive about our final course where we have to write our final paper, I was relieved to find out through this web conference that there will be a form given to us to help us with this endeavor!

EDLD 5397 Web Conference Reflection Week 1

I was not able to attend the web conference due to a meeting that I already had scheduled. I was however able to watch and listen to the recording after it was put on Epic. Before watching the recording, I had a few questions regarding the week 1 assignment, but after watching I realized that I needed to find and adjust 8 pieces of my internship plan. I was glad to get the information to go ahead and contact my mentor so that I would have time to arrange a meeting for her to review my internship plan. Although there was some good information in the web conference, it was a bit confusing because of all of the different stages all of us students are all in-many of the questions that people had were not of any importance to me, and as usual there were several questions regarding TK20. It was good to hear from Dr. Martin as he clarified that this course is more “about thinking than writing”. Because the assignment could potentially be several pages or one page, it was also reassuring to get clarification on how much detail to go into on our responses. Although there were times during the conference that people were asking questions that did not pertain to ET cohorts, overall as usual, it was nice to hear from our professors and beneficial to get information right from the source(s)!

EDLD 5366 Reflections

Being an elementary education major and teacher, I have had no background in digital graphics. I was unsure of what to expect as I entered the course. The first week’s introduction of CRAP was very informative. I did not know these design principles existed. The article regarding CRAP that I found the most helpful as I created my own pieces of work was the article by John Yearwood, which he simply states in regards to the “Sweet Home Alabama” poster that, “you can bet nothing on the poster is accidental”. I had never taken a step back and looked at ads in that way, but after reading the articles I have a greater appreciation for all graphic designs. Understanding the design principles will be beneficial when I am creating visual pieces whether it is a presentation for fellow teachers or a newsletter for students and parents.
Another piece that was new to me was the personal branding. I had never heard of this concept before this class. As of all of the projects in this course, I enjoyed creating the brand, through a program called Picnik, but found myself thinking and planning and brainstorming more than I ever thought possible. I was surprised to discover how long it took to create all of the assignments in this course. Each project in this course reinforced my desktop publishing skills in addition to thinking and creating on a higher level. In the article by Andrew Church, he states that animating and creating are under the umbrella of analyzing which is the highest level in Bloom’s Taxonomy. Creating animations, the logo, and the newsletter are all things that I could see my students enjoying doing in the classroom. It is engaging as well as using higher order thinking skills. Creating the animation was enjoyable, I used the program Stykz. I found it easier to use than Scratch. As far as using Stykz (animation) in the classroom, we are planning on having our technology club students create PSA’s and share with others in the school. My animation was in regards to recycling. I will use it as a sample as we teach our students about Stykz.
I created a newsletter for my classroom, something that I hope to incorporate in my classroom in the future. “Newspapers, newsletters, and other documents are just a few of the many tools that can make parents and other members of the community feel a part of the school” (Lamb, 2005). I agree with this quote, and enjoyed making the newsletter, although it was trying at times since we were not allowed to use a template. I had never experimented so much with Microsoft Word, and I found things and applied items to my newsletter that I did not know I could do with Word!

Lamb, A. (2005). Evaluating newsletters. Retrieved from http://eduscapes.com/sessions/publishing/evaluating.htm.

Dr. John Yearwood, P. A. (2009). Basic design principles and some observations on how we see. Lamar University, Beaumont.

Churches, A. (2007, April). Bloom’s digital taxonomy. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/8760.

Logo for EDLD 5366

EDLD 5366 Animation Using Stykz