Tuesday, February 11, 2014

EDLD 5366 Course Reflection Week 5

Week 5 Assignment
Course Embedded Assignment Reflection
EDLD 5366 Digital Graphics and Web Design

Self-Assessment

Having completed the EDLD 5366 I feel I grew as an educator.  The step by step process of learning the significance of branding and logos helped me to better understand my own self-reflection as well as having my students reflect to allow the students the opportunity to gain knowledge of themselves.  I gained understanding about the importance of self-branding in the Alcantra article.  The statement in the first article in week 2 really made sense to me.  Essentially, a brand is an idea and perceived value formed by its intended audience based on a company’s culture, product, and service.”  (Alcantra, 2009).  Each area within the campuses, either the classroom or the complete campus are identified by the perception of the students and community. What is perceived as the culture and attitude of the environment of the campus and classrooms identifies the brand of that school or class.

We are targeted at an early age by companies targeting children, my own children in the 80’s and 90’s were able to identify with My Buddy dolls and the Cabbage Patch dolls. Branding is everywhere even when the students are not aware of what brand they are creating for themselves using social media programs.

Self-reflection of the course impressed me, something I have started to require my own students. As our opinions and priorities change as we grow, the reflections on our successes and failures allows us to gain more understanding and allows for more growth.  

When I was assigned to give my opinion on what the Web will look like in 5 years I had to really stop and think. Having a history with using technology for the past 30 years I believe the possibilities are truly endless. I can see that the development of social media for an educational tool will happen, as it now is being used with programs such as Edmodo. In my opinion kids are learning from social media now and that is with or without adult supervision. It is our job to temper the inputs of what the kids are seeing and hearing, teaching the kids to decipher the value of the information they are accessing. Today it is so easy to get information the skill of deciphering value will and is necessary for all students.

Learn as a Learner

As a person who has passed the half century mark I decided to that I would take the approach in this course that I would keep an open mind.  I took some time and focused on trying to understand why branding is important in educating students, not just how it works.  I got the sense that some very intuitive educators had really reflected on the importance of students understanding why they learned the things presented.  My strategy worked in that I believe I have a better understanding of the different ways learners can learn.

“The most powerful learning often happens when students self-monitor, or reflect.” (Gerstein, 2011).  This statement made an impact on my relationship with my colleagues and students.  As I understood the concept I came to the realization that if it worked well for students it has to work for educators as well.  Since I pride myself on being a lifelong learner I have had to use reflections on both successful and failures in my life and career to gain knowledge about myself and how to improve my work performance.  I firmly believe to be a true leader; I should perform as I expect my students to perform.  I have to learn more about the reflection process and its use both for the students and myself. 

According to Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally, people who are creative are in the Higher Order of Thinking Skills that he revised in the 1990's.  (Churches, 2008).  As I continue my internship at Clear Creek ISD, and continue to assist with staff development, I think it is important to use Bloom's verbiage to the teachers and staff. As we transition to technology based instruction with the one to one tablet initiative it should be easier as we move along. I can see excitement and some apprehension in several of the teachers I interact with as new technology has been introduced along with the new tablets.  I believe the excitement is the result of previous successes with other programs. Our teachers have grown accustomed to recording grades in software programs and answering parent’s emails about their child as well as updating classroom websites. In regards to the training the simpler and less time consuming methods have proven to be effective. I think if we build on these and other successes, teachers will embrace higher thinking leading to higher learning. It is up to our district’s technology leaders to incorporate higher order thinking in teachers through training and demonstrations. Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Triangle will make it very easy to explain the process to teachers in the classroom.


Alcantara, Lea. (2008). The art of self branding. Retrieved from http://www.lealea.net/blog/comments/the-art-of-self-branding-part-one/. Retrieved 02/22/2012.
 Churches, A (2008) Bloom’s Taxonomy Blooms Digitally. Tech & Learning. Retrieved 02/22/2012 , fromhttp://www.techlearning.com/article /8670.  //


 Gerstein, J. (2011, August 16). Where is reflection in the learning process? Retrieved 02/22/ 2012, from User Generated Education: http://www.usergeneratededucation.wordpres

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Ancient Manuscript Reflection

Ancient Manuscript Reflection 

Contrast: - The ancient manuscript I chose to discuss is the Bible from Ethiopia. I am not able to read the text, but it seems to be easy to relate to the assignment. I was able to identify the writer as being artistic as well as methodical as he created this historical article. The vivid bright colors on the pale page shows great contrast, and even more contrast within the pictures which include more color with great details. The text being in red denotes it is important.
  
Throughout the borders of the drawings, repetition is shown in the pillars and arches with the details and the intricate artwork having similarities. The symmetrical alignment is simple but effective, with most of the works being centered on the page, which encourages the eye to flow as they should as the work is read.

 Different areas of the book show proximity, with the first page containing the title. We can follow that to what would come nest. Most of the pages containing the pictures have text to accompany them. I believe that the text would explain what appears in the picture itself.  

This historical manuscript presents itself as being regal, along with the vivid colors displayed it would suggest that the artifact is  designates as a work of  importance to those reading it. 

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Updated Practicum Hours for EDLD 5363 Dec 2013

I have been steadily working since last June to get many of my hours completed.  I have interviewed several key personal in the Central Offices of the Clear Creek ISD and on my campus.  I will have complete 60 hours as of January 6, 2014, after I instruct a staff development session at Bayside Intermediate.  In Feb. 2014, I have been selected to hold a session on Physics in the Classroom where I will co-present with a science teacher on my campus.  I know that in 10 Weeks I will need the 75 hours to be able to continue with my program and determined to have it done early.  No surprises for me.   

Video Conference Reflection for Multimedia Video Technology EDLD 5363

For EDLD 5363 I logged into the weekly video conference to understand what was needed from me. The assignments can be a little confusing with me not being sure what to submit and where.  I turned in an assignment late accidentally, because it was redundant to what I had put in the discussion area that week.  It cost me 5 points, not a lot in the total, but I expect more from myself.  Having the video conference is good, but it is mostly to clarify directions given in the assignments and not for enriching the class. Having directions for the assignments that are consistent and coherent for the assignments would allow the  video conference to be more beneficial to all of the students. I have to admit that the video conference is intimidating to ask questions in, as if can be frustrating for the Prof to have to respond in different manners to allow all students to understand, having the other students explain what they understood creates better understanding also.One of the things I would like to see, especially with TK20 submissions, is screenshots or sharing the desktop when explaining where and how to submit items. I did learn a lot in the class and appreciate the effort put into it, these suggestions are meant only to help the next set of students taking the class.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Reflection of Multimedia Video Technology - EDLD 5363

In Multimedia Video Technology, EDLD 5363 I have been immersed into the usage of video, audio, graphics and the combination of these to create original educational projects that are published via the Internet. The projects had to communicate to multiple types of audiences and be available in a variety of media types from podcast to an edited group video.

Each project we were required to produce meant time spent planning, communicating and executing skills that as a group we were building. We gained experience through using different programs. Each group member shared knowledge and skills with the group allowing for enhanced learning to occur.

The projects required us to understand the Creative Commons that protects our work while allowing for use of it to others as we desire.  Keeping the copyright laws in mind while allowing others to access the information and expand the subject matter.


The class required that we update our blog and upload our podcast and videos for public view. This was a new experience for me and I learned a great deal about the skills required to ensure a production that was useful for others.   

Monday, December 16, 2013

Thursday, November 21, 2013

I have posted my video for the first week of EDLD 5363. This was not an easy assignment, opening up to others is not something that I do well. Creative Commons License The Journey by Terry Conaway is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.