EDLD 5366 Week 5 Reflection

I was very nervous at the beginning of this class because I am not very creative and I am easily frustrated with technology.  I felt these constraints would work against me and I would be terribly unsuccessful.  However, each week I learned a new skill or about a concept, including the C.R.A.P. model, personal branding, Bloom’s digital taxonomy, and animation, which made designing the group website and completing this class a little less stressful.  Using the basic design principals of C.R.A.P. was a great starting point because it provided a creative outline for me and helped me make improvements along the way.  I am already applying those principles when creating things for my school, such as flyers and posters.  I now have a better understanding of and relationship with technology and I am excited about using it to enhance and improve my instruction. 

            I was responsible for completing the Cyber Ethics page for the group’s website.  I started by researching copyright laws and Internet safety and found a wealth of resources for both parents and educators.  Once I decided on my resources, it was much easier to design my page using the C.R.A.P. model.  As I worked, I checked the progress of my fellow members and made adjustments to my page to make the entire website align with the principles of C.R.A.P.  My group members and I communicated mostly through email to decide who would complete each page and get feedback and advice from each other.  They were very honest, supportive, and helpful throughout the project and I was satisfied with the final product. However, I think it would have been much better if we had worked more collaboratively on the home page to get a central design and then worked on our individual pages. 

         Honestly, I was unsure how this class was going to prepare me to be an effective educational leader.  However, the weekly assignments, readings, and videos have given me many tools that will help me lead others.  I am more comfortable with technology and have already started using it more in my instruction.  I learned that trying new things and taking risks can help me grow and will encourage others to do the same.  I experienced how the success of a group project is directly related to how the group members collaborate and communicate with each other.  I have also experienced the power of reflection and how it can be beneficial to teachers and students.  “The most powerful learning often happens when students self-monitor, or reflect.” (Gerstein, 2011).  I agree with this statement and plan to share this with my teachers to get them motivated to use reflection more regularly.  These are important skills that most of my students (and sadly some teachers) do not practice enough but will need to be successful life-long learners.  My challenge will be to expose my teachers and students to more group projects and reflection situations so they can develop these skills.

            Every teacher on my campus has a website, but most teachers use them for communication with parents and not instructionally.  I think teachers are missing out on a simple way to increase student engagement and reflective practices by not using their websites with their students.  Barrett (2005) suggests many classroom uses of websites from assessment to reflection for students of all ages.  Teachers could also use the websites to differentiate instruction for all of the levels of learners in their classes.  Since technology is and will continue to be a huge part of our students’ lives, I feel that teachers need to start implementing at least a few of these ideas in their classrooms.

Barrett, H., (2005). The reflect initiative. Researching electronic portfolios and learning engagement, collaboration, through technology. Retrieved 02/16/2014, from http://electronicportfolios.org/reflect/whitepaper.pdf

Gerstein, J. (2011, August 16). Where is reflection in the learning process? Retrieved 02/16/ 2014, from User Generated Education: http://www.usergeneratededucation.wordpress.

Williams, R. (2008). The Non-Designer’s Design Book. (Overview PPT) Third edition.

Ancient Manuscript Reflection

Alice's Adventure Under Ground 
Written and Illustrated by Lewis Carroll

I chose this piece of writing because I already know the story so I could focus on and apply the four principles of design we learned this week, contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity, when analyzing this work.  I immediately noticed the simplicity of the design as a whole, which allowed the author to make subtle changes that made powerful statements.  Examples of contrast from the work include using color when a new chapter started, changing from script fonts for narration and dialog to block letters and using all capital letters when reading signs or labels, and changing the direction of the text to show emphasis in the story.  Examples of repetition from the work include the illustrations and colors used at the start of each chapter, the page numbers in the top, outside corners of each page, and the use of the same script font and size for narration or dialog throughout the book.  Examples of alignment I noticed are mostly related to the illustrations in the book.  No matter where the illustration falls on the page, the text aligned to it either above, underneath, or wrapped around.  There were a few pages where the illustrations and the text were turned sideways so the reader can focus on what the author is sharing.  Examples of proximity include the placement of illustrations near the writing they depicted.  Some were small, others took up the entire margins, and a few took an entire page.  I think the placement of the illustrations in the book was used to help the reader through this journey and understand its importance to the author.