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.
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