Week 12 - Technology Plan (Padlet-enabled)

           The technology plan consists of the software and apps that will be used to help students learn about visual and media literacy.  There is also a YouTube channel with tutorial videos about those tools, which will be a key component of the learning process. It provides visual stimulation, but there is also narration and music components to some of the examples. Therefore, students learn about visual literacy through visual literacy mediums.

            The initial inventory of tools originated from my process of trial and error during the multimedia critique process.  Also, as my confidence improved in using multimedia tools to create a variety of design projects, I identified additional tools that could provide a wide variety of effects and output.  I think this is a natural effect of these tech education courses in that the student and teacher has a newer experience with Web 2.0 that they can reflect on when they are introduced to new concepts.

•      I like that the creation of technology plans begins with a planning committee where stakeholders from the different aspects of the program discuss their needs. I think my desire to create a pre-course survey relates to this step. I provide an initial listing, but there is flexibility for students to add more apps. I strove to provide examples of apps that had some visual appeal in terms of color scheme, use of music, creatively displaying serious data or statistics, and support self-expression for a variety of personalities. The vision statement is akin to the identification of the learning standards.  It helps the instructional designer focused on the most relevant and supportive tools because there are many tools that can fit a single purpose. I think if the vision statement is clear, a mission and goals section is not necessary.

•        The next important step was evaluating content of tutorial videos. These tools are documented in the class demo column. The tutorials helped guide students through the discovery process with lecturing and reading.  This supported the motto “learn by doing”. The videos needed to be easy to understand because course is designed for students not experienced with research.  I wanted to avoid information overload. The videos focus on initial steps to retrieve software and start a file. I included the link to the software as well as examples videos or pictures I created using that tool.

•       The length and tone of the tutorial videos needed to suit teen end-users.  I rarely picked videos that were more than 10 minutes. I even picked a video that had no narration, because it was an excellent screencast of the important features, and it was supported by modern upbeat music.

•       Additional tools I included were Google forms which can be used for formative assessments to help ensure that students are learning and understand how to apply the concepts. Google sheets will also be considered to help track assignments and project management templates to document class output and deadlines. This supports risks and priorities.

Week 11 - MMP Update #2

          Since the last MMP update, I decided to focus on creating the detailed implementation/lesson plan and accompanying rubric, which was an activity I had for next week. I was feeling overwhelmed by the potential tutorial videos available, so I retraced the learning standards from the NJ Curriculum and ISTE standards for Students and Educators to the class outline I created to date. 

View my detailed update here: MMP Update # 2

           This helped me narrow my focus on the tools that I can use during the course. I pushed back the tasks of updating the tutorial tools to this week. Going forward, I will complete the detailed learning curriculum and rubric and the updates to the course site.

           The online communities provided insights about tools and frameworks for implementing technology tools. Some users provided links to online forums where various educators presented on an online conference about education technology. Some presentations included how to use media to improve literacy and engage students. For example, a really good article downloaded from TeachThought was “Are you teaching content or are you teaching thought” (July 2016,). This article helped me focus less on the volume of content and video examples, and more on facilitation techniques.

           When I shared the name of a specific tool I was planning to use for the course, I received more immediate feedback.  However, it wasn’t in the form of comments, rather a “like” statistic.

            I would like feedback about whether the course duration of six weeks is sufficient to help students create a media presentation after three weeks of research.  Also, would be appreciative of recommendations for a collaboration app that allows for the posting of images, videos or free-form drawing, typing, etc. 

https://sites.google.com/view/community-connections/home

Week 10 - MMP Progress Update

The following is the link to my progress update.  For this week's reading, I identified I was segmenting the media tools into distinct buckets and outlining the course accordingly, but I need to think about synergy. Specifically, the course should help students understand how the tools can be used together in different combinations to deliver the desired message.

MMP Progress Update - November 13

Week 9

               The goal of the instructional unit is to allow students to experiment with design, and use visual and audio cues to express their own unique views. It is important to teach students some of the fundamental elements and principles so that they can experiment effectively. The following elements and principles are fundamental to most visual images whether they are moving or still. In addition, these elements and principles might impact the student portal:

Design Elements	Purpose
Space	The space element is like drawing paper or a canvas for a picture.  The students will be able to design and organize the different visual components of their message (characters, background, colors, text, and font) when they understand the available space to compose their message.  Also, the impact of negative space (subtlety) vs. positive space (lively) will influence student images as well as the design of the student portal.  Too much data will appear cluttered and thus hard for the students to navigate within the portal.
Shape and Size	The prominence of an item within an image identifies the importance of the item in telling the story.  Therefore, the use of close-ups will be discussed. Also, use of a portrait vs. landscape frame also influences the size of an object in an image.  The shape and size of text and images used in the student portal will also provide examples of how to use some of the element. However, tutorial videos provide more comprehensive examples.
Value	The concept of light and dark plays a role in setting the mood or reinforcing an emotion.  Knowledge of this element allows students to experiment with color schemes, shading, etc.
Design Principles
Focal point	Like text communication, visual messages can contain extemporaneous information that don’t contribute to their message or story, so being able to focus the layout of the image or the moving image is important.
Perspective	The use of perspective can have an artistic effect desired if the student wants to communicate a sense of depth for effect or help the viewer focus on key elements.

I will also strive to use provide examples of these elements in the construction of the student portal. The use of Space, Focal Point, and possibly Rhythm could be explored in the portal to provide examples of creativity. However these elements need to be implemented in a way that is not to wrought with design effects because the goal of the site is to provide necessary data to ease the instruction of new concepts.  If there isn't a clear flow and order to the portal, the students might be lost. 

References

Golombisky, K., & Hagen, R. (2010). White Space is not Your Enemy: A Beginner’s Guide to

               Communicating Visually through Graphic, Web & Multimedia Design . Focal Press: New

               York, NY.

Krause, J. (2004). Design Basics Index: A Graphic Designer’s Guide to Designing Effective                               Compositions, Selecting Dynamic Components & Developing Creative Concepts . HOW 

               Design Books: Cincinnati, OH.