5366 - Web Conference #2

7-24-12 - 5:30 pm
Dr. Cummings began the discussion asking for any questions pertaining to week 1 which we just finished. There were no questions so she moved forward.


Week two is logo design and week four website group formation. She stated that is students do not have a group to contact our IA and try to get 5-6 people in the group. She discussed "Self-Branding and how everything students put online is a "brand" and how the logo represents who we are. She opened the floor to questions. She answered yes to the question about using wordl and introduced "tuxedo". She also made sure we knew that we were going to need a logo for the website. She answered other questions about the logo and helped people understand what they are needed for. She suggested making our logo into either a .jpeg or .pdf to help with scalability and how to avoid distortion by using the shift key while making changes.


With the website the ultimate goal is to be a resource to use with other teachers in our schools as a technology facilitator. She described the uses for each of the six pages and how they can help the different departments in the schools. Dr. Cummings is going to send us resources that we can use on our websites to help us in the development of the websites. She reminded us to document the course embedded internship hours as well as the campus supervise hours for our internships and let us know she is a co-coordinator for the internship. She also gathered information from us about our field supervisors, whether or not we have had contact with them. I have not only had contact but I have finished my three required meetings with him. 
One student asked about a newsletter, but there is not to be a newsletter in this course.


She clarified other questions that people had about the website and internship, and our action research projects.She gave us the website to the EdTech wiki so we have access to our correct forms for our documentation hours.


She ended by making sure we know to get in touch with her for anything we may need. Meeting ended at 6:01

5366 - Reflection

EDLD 5366 was a lot of fun. When I started the class I was dreading it a little because I have taken Microsoft classes ranging from all of Office in one semester to one semester of each of them (PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Access) and Cisco I and II for networking. I have also taken Microcomputer Application I, II and Advanced so I was thinking it was going to be like those classes. BUT as I started my assignments I realized that they would be more fun and I was going to be learning some newer things, which excited me. The readings provided were very informative and easy to understand.

I had worked with animations on my daughter's LeapPad so this was not that new, but the website STYKZ made it so easy and I kept finding myself playing with it and making more animations. I know I have so much more to learn and I can see that my students will also have a lot of fun making little animations. 

To complete the assignments I found that all the information provided by the professor kept me on track. I could easily read the articles and then go back to the assignment and try out what I had learned. I also liked that there were tutorials that I could find on YouTube to also assist me in what I was learning. Learning about the new Digital version of Bloom's Taxonomy was interesting and helped me see a fresher look at something I have seen all through my education and career. 

Learning about personal branding was also helpful I was not aware that this was even a term used when looking at and thinking about online activities As stated in the article “Authentic Personal Branding”, Marshall Goldsmith points out that having a brand that is strong and relevant helps people associate this brand with the person, remembering them when it is important. (Goldsmith, 2009). “The Art of Self-Branding: Part One” (Alcantara, 2012) is helpful for a person to define who they are. Gathering the information from others can clarify what a person thinks as well as introduce new thought and ideas about a person to explore further.

When building the website as a group we spent a lot of time sending emails back and forth trying to make sure we all had what we needed to make the website the best it could be. We worked well as a group and everyone was reliable. I have learned that working with a group is not as bad as I expected. My past groups in under grad courses gave me a bad taste of group work, but working with real professionals who also wanted to get the work done early if not on time was a dream. 

            Working in a K-12 classroom I would implement the use of websites with my students as learning tools. In our school each student is going to be issued an iPad in the Fall, and I look forward to using apps on them, but I also see how using websites like AAA Math or Spelling City to handle some of the activities and practice.

Alcantara, L. (2012). The Art of Self-Branding. Retrieved 7 18, 2012, from lealea's blog: http://www.lealea.net/blog/comments/the-art-of-self-branding-part-one/

Churches, A. (2008, April 1). Bloom's Taxaonomy Blooms Digitally. Retrieved July 18, 2012, from Tech & Learning: http://www.techlearning.com/article/blooms-taxonomy-blooms-digitally/44988

Goldsmith, M. (2009). Authentic Personal Branding. Retrieved June 18, 2012, from Bloomberg Businessweek: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/sep2009/ca20090929_228578.htm

5366 - Another Animation

I was having fun making animations with STYKZ and made this one. Although there is more to learn, I really thought this one was pretty funny.

5366 - My Animation

We had to create an animation and I chose to use the website Stykz.

It was fun to make the "styk" figure fall out of the sky.

Hope you enjoy!!!

5366 - My Personal Logo

    I believe I achieved what I was looking for. Of course it is hard to know if other can look at it and see what I am trying to say. I feel that I created a heart that is colorful and gives an idea who I am. I like my name and the colors I used to express my name. I feel that the goal of showing a sweet, colorful and simple version of me is shown in the symbol.

    I used the principals of contrast with my color pallet and I used alignment by making sure everything is aligned and finally I feel that the proximity of each item is in a position that is pleasing and understandable. I also used repetition in the two sides of the heart.

    I feel that this logo shows my personality. I feel it is simple, but yet colorful and happy. Those are great ways to describe me. I am usually a very happy person. I like to lead a colorful life and I also enjoy the simple things in life. I hope that the person who sees this will feel happy and think that I feel happy too. This logo does a great job in identifying my personality.

5366 - Web Conference #1

July 17, 2012. 5:30 pm.

Dr. Cummings went through some of the questions that she had been receiving during the week. She discussed the first assignment, the "Teaching Tool" and then opened the floor for any other questions that might be arising.

She told us that the reflections on the ancient manuscript needs to be in the wiki but I have decided to put it in both places. It is easy, just cut/paste!

She discussed assignment 1.4 - identifying members for our group project that will be done in week 4.

She told us to divide the group to develop the pages. We will need to get our group together and think about planning for the website. She suggested we look at the assignments ahead of time to give us an idea what is coming up. She is allowing people to work outside of our section, which seemed to make others happy. So far I have nancy and Dawn and I am waiting to hear from Turkessa and Laura.

She discussed what we are going to be doing each week and emphasized that everything is to be incorporated into the web design. She said that we will probably like this course.

Dr. Cummings made sure we had her email address for any questions we may have.
DON"T PANIC - Her Montra

There were not many questions so the meeting went pretty quick.

5366 - Ancient Manuscript

The manuscript website I chose to evaluate was "Manuscripts & Manuscript Copying Timeline". I chose this website because it has a lot of wonderful information and so many different manuscripts to look at.
My first impression of the ancient works on this webpage was nothing more than being in awe. I have always found Egypt to be an interesting place and to see some of the manuscripts that are there, being uncovered and translated has always sparked my interests. I find it so amazing that even way back in the early days people used pictures to tell their stories. As far as design elements go, I assumed that the manuscripts would not really have much design in them, but I was quite intrigued as I looked further to see that there are actually some versions of design in the earlier manuscripts.

• Contrast
• Contrast was used many times. They did not have as many colors as we do, but there were many manuscripts that used black for some words/pictures and red for other. An example is The Oldest Surgical Treatise Circa 1,600 BCE which discusses the earliest of surgical procedures. It has red text as well as black text.

• Repetition:
• When I looked at some of the early Egyptian manuscripts found, they use a lot of symbols for their words. These symbols would be repeated over and over. there are also a lot of repeated symbols on other manuscripts that I viewed. I realize that these symbols stand for certain words and are repeated to give a understanding of what is being discussed.

• Alignment:
• Many of the manuscripts use the element of alignment. In fact, for the most part the manuscripts that I viewed were each using this element. The pictures, or old script always seemed to be aligned. I do not know if they were being read left to right, right to left or top to bottom, but they definitely were in alignment. I never thought of it before, but studying these elements really made it noticeable for me.

• Proximity:
• These manuscripts almost always used the elements of proximity. Every word went with the next. Every symbol was used in a group with like symbols. There was no confusions with what went together and what did not belong. 

The authors/artists gave many examples of what the manuscripts meant and how they are translated. They also gave us links to click on that go further into detail about the manuscript, the author of the manuscript and other things that were discussed in the manuscript. I was able to learn a deeper meaning about how these manuscripts were discovered, where they were discovered, who translated it, and what was being said in the manuscripts.

Norman, J. (2012). Manuscripts & Manuscript Copying Timeline. Retrieved July 7, 2012, from Jerry Norman's From Cave Painting to the Internet. Chronological and Thematic Studies on the History of Information and Media: http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?category=Manuscripts+%26+Manuscript+Copying

5363- Course Reflection

     Boy oh boy was this course a doozie. Not in a bad way though. There was so much to learn and do using technology and I loved every second of it.

Before this class started I had some experience with making videos and voice-over recordings. I had used GarageBand, and iMovie. Mostly I used them for the fun of it, creating small movies for my family or just to have for myself.

     This class has really opened my eyes to so many more options and I have learned so much!

First we made a digital video over anything we wanted. I made mine over my educational journey. I chose this topic because I did not take the usual track. You can view it on previous versions of my blog. I learned a little more about how to use a different software than I had used before, Stupeflix, which I picked because I liked the name. however, I was disappointed to find out that in order to make more movies I would have to enroll friends and gain "points". Luckily I got "points" for enrolling and that gave me enough to make and share one video.

     Next I made a short podcast, a tutorial about how to edit videos in Microsoft Movie maker. This was as much of a learning experience as it was a teaching one. I was able to learn about and use Creative Commons, and am so glad I know about this website. Creative commons helps you label your creations with copyright so you can upload them and share them without worrying that they will be used without your permission. My podcast was cute and quick, and it gave me some great experience on creating podcasts using Audacity.

     The final and biggest project was the team video. We had to find 2-3 other classmates and spend time creating a team video. I am not the biggest fan of group work because in the past all of my groups have involved people who don't do their work and either I end up doing it or if the credit is given individually for the work each member does instead of an overall group, the end project is not good and sometimes not even complete. Well, this was different. my group was definitely full of go-getting overachievers who like to finish ahead of time as much as I di. We each had strengths and were able to combine these strengths to put together a video for students on Photosynthesis. It took a lot of work from everyine, but in the end we pulled it off...and early!!!

     I can certainly see using everything I learned with my students and I look forward to seeing what they come up with. I hope to start a video library of units, using my students, that can be shared and can help mine, and other students learn.

5363 - Team Video

The ScienceQuad Team Video 

 Photosynthesis 

5363 Web Conference #4

The first thing discussed is credits given from IA and she wants to know who does not have credit for both the script and the video. There is a possibility that she cannot see the video and we are going to get full credit as long as it is given to her. She clarified that as long as we communicate with her then we will always have a chance to get the credits due. Sometimes it may be after the course is over so not to worry,. She wants us all to be successful and she will make sure we are. Especially since this is a team effort, the whole team should get the same credits. Also if we are having trouble getting email from our IA to let her know and she will make sure she takes care of it.

She clarified about the work that is turned in, just to update the work we are supposed to be doing and show the updated work on the assignment forms.
She also stressed the using the Creative Commons to ensure that we always get credit if someone uses our work. Also, don't forget the citations that are necessary for giving credit for using other people's work. 
She wants to make sure we are doing the collaboration document so that our IA and our Professor can see our collaboration with our group. My group is using google docs, which I like because we can use the google drive to pass information, photos, videos too.

Also she discussed the length of the video. She stated that she likes 90 seconds but will allow for 2 minutes. She does not want them to be too long and wants us to practice condensing them. The reason for this is for her convenience, she and the IA will have lots of videos to view. Also, to ensure that the audience keeps their interest. An audience member, especially a student does not want to sit too long to view any videos. Students must get the information quickly and be done. Plus a lot of the places that videos are uploaded only allow for very short videos.