Final Post for Multimedia for Educators

I don't know if I have much new to add as to my opinions of these commercials as a result of what I have learned about design and using media, than I expressed in my first post.  I did think, however, that though there isn't much difference in accepted gender norms over the span of time between the two commercials, there is a difference in the sophistication of the production.  First the the dialog of the Palmolive commercial  is contrived and formal.  This commercial from a 21st century perspective, lacks the sophistication in dialog that audiences now expect.  It seems as though the dialog almost talks down to the viewers and expects to teach them something rather than assume the viewer has some background knowledge.  There current commercial does the exact opposite.  It makes almost grand assumptions of one's knowledge of popular culture using only music and popular images (Darth Vadar) to connect to the audience.  The production understands the sophistication of its viewers and builds on their background knowledge rather than creating it.  So, I guess the moral here is understanding your audience.  Whether choosing fonts, images, text, or dialog, it is important that you have the audience in mind as you do so to make your design as effective as possible.

CITEd

One of anxieties about the all of the resources that I come across online is that I fear that I will forget them or not be able to find them again.  I like this site (CITEd.org) because it is like a Refworks for all of the technology resource I come across.  I really like the idea of being able to create a toolkit and share it with my colleagues.  As I was browsing the resources, I found many that my colleagues who teach other content areas might be able to use and enjoy.  As a result I created a couple of content specific toolkits to share with my teammates.  They, too, were impressed with the site for a lot of the same reasons I mentioned.  It is possible that my team may be piloting a new one-to-one initiative where each of our students will have their own tablet.  They mentioned how useful this site would be in light of this possibility.

Many of the resources that I came across browsing around for math, I have seen before and was pleased that I could accumulate them together in one place.  In my toolkit I included, several virtual manipulative links.  Since the installation of interactive whiteboards this year, we have been strongly encouraged to use them frequently.  Though not the best way to integrate technology in the classroom, these manipulatives can provide some useful support to instruction.  I also think the resource in this toolkit are a good starting point for the math teacher that is beginning to try to integrate technology into the classroom.  And, simply providing them with one kit makes the task less overwhelming, especially for teachers who are inexperienced with these new technologies.

Learning Element

This Learning Element is for one part of the Dream Home project in which students will use smartblueprinter.com to design their dream homes.

Up until now students have completed a unit called Covering and Surrounding in CMP2.  They have will have begun drawing their dream homes by hand using the symbols and tools architects would have used prior to the advances in digital technology.  They will be creating a floor plan of their homes with minimal requirements in terms of design, however, the must include all necessary dimensions, follow a scale of one inch equaling four feet, and determine the quantity and cost of various materials.

The digital blueprints will have the same requirements.  Students will use either netbooks which are available on carts or, if scheduling allows, the school’s computer lab.

 Teacher Resource

1.)          Learning Focus: creating a digital blueprint

•    Knowledge Domain: Basic Geometry

•    Scope of Learning: Area, Perimeter, Scale, and Measurement

•    Learning Level: 6th Grade

•    Prior Knowledge: Basic knowledge of units of measure, basic home design and layout, computation skills in all operations involving decimals, area and perimeter of rectangles

•    Mode of Meaning: floor plans

2.) Knowledge Objectives

▪   Find the area and perimeter of appropriate aspects of a home.

▪   Determine the quantity of materials needed to decorate appropriate aspects of a home based on area or perimeter

▪   Determine the cost of materials

▪   Convert measures front one unit to another.

▪   Write reflections to describe student learning and real-world connections.

▪   Use technology to create floor plans and to publish, share, and comment on reflections

3.) Knowledge Processes

a) Experiencing the known: Using what students know about their own homes and experiences remodeling or redecorating, students will be able to develop a deeper understanding of area and perimeter and their potential uses.

b) Experiencing the new: Students will create a floor plan using common architectural symbols.  They will also need to develop a sense of space by comparing rooms in their own homes to the rooms they have designed in their new home.  Students will complete a packet that details the area and perimeter of each room, the cost and amount of flooring, walling covering, and baseboard trim.  They will be given costs of various materials in whole units and be expected to make the appropriate conversions to report their budgets.

c) Conceptualizing by naming: Students will list what they have learned about area and perimeter in their reflections.  They will be expected to discuss scale and explain how it is used in their designs.  They will also create and label interior and exterior dimensions for their homes 

d) Conceptualizing with theory: Students will create rooms and write about a sense of space.  For example students should come to realize the reasons why rooms are created in the particular sizes.  A extremely large kitchen makes the homeowner waste steps when cooking.  Doors and windows need to be placed in certain areas to allow for movement and light.

e) Analyzing functionally:  Students will create both a digital and hand-drawn floor plan and display chosen design features such as paint color and style of flooring.

f) Analyzing critically: Students will critically analyze their work through a written reflection that will be shared on Edmodo.  Students are expected to respond to their classmates at least two times during the assignment posting.  Responses will be expected to move the conversation forward and will not be simple affirmations or critiques. 

 4.) Knowledge Outcomes

▪   Understanding of area and perimeter will be demonstrated through computations in the dream home packet and as described on student floor plans

▪   Reflections will allow students to display what they have learned through the process and how they may understand area and perimeter differently as well as their uses.

▪   Students will use a variety of new technologies to explore basic geometry concepts and display their learning

▪   Students have access to a website created solely for this project.  Rubrics, extensions, samples of student work are also available on the site.

5.) Learning Pathways

This project is a good lead into basic understanding of three-dimensional geometry.  It also develops practice with decimal operations and ratios & proportions which are topics that follow this unit.

6.) About this Learning Element

By creating hand-drawn and digital floor plands students will develop a deeper understanding of area, perimeter, and scale.  They will experiment with size and shape while getting a taste of some of the skills an architect or designer must possess.  Using various modes of technology students will be able to compare old and new ways of design. At the same time, students will have the opportunity to publish their thoughts on their learning and the process on a teacher-facilitated social networking site.

Video

So, if anything these mini-art projects are forcing me to use software that I have never used before.  Though I have iMovie and Garage Band on my Mac, I never really had the time or the interest to learn to use them.  I used both to construct this video.  Creating the video took me a few hours because I was learning the software but I can see that with a little more time and practice this assignment would have gone fairly quickly and smoothly.

The images from the video come mostly from Getty Images, however, some are from the multimedia sites themselves in the second part of the video.  I wanted to contrast the past against the present and show how technology has changed.  I also left out images of classrooms because I didn't feel like they conveyed the true power and potential of technology and learning.  Many of the images were similar to the vintage images I found of schools - in neat rows, working alone, except with a computer in front of the student.

Storyboard

I have to admit that I was not sure of the purpose of the storyboard activity in context of the MMP.  However, what I got from the assignment was the fact that you can manipulate perspectives and points of view to make the story more interesting or to draw attention to certain details.  I chose to infuse a bit of humor with the first picture to demonstrate how it feels sometimes to put together a substantial unit of study.  The storyboard also allows you to see what might be missing from a storyline or what could be eliminated.  I can see this being used as a pre-write exercise for struggling writers who often get bogged down with the mechanics of writing which limits content.  Perhaps if students are able to storyboard and "see" the content in an organized manner they may begin to understand how to elaborate and organize their own writing.

Cropping Exercise

I found this exercise to be the least time consuming of any we had this week.  I used the cropping tool on GIMP that allows you to move the margins around easily before you crop.  When I take photographs, I'm careful about what I am choosing to put in the frame, so when I was going through my photos, I had some difficulty choosing one that had enough interest to crop.  I chose this picture from a Greek island I visited in 2005.  The blues in the photo really intrigued me and I remember trying to fit the building in the frame and the boat passing by.  There were many ferries that came through that bay and I waited until I could get the front of the boat and the building.  I did not want to have the back of the boat in the frame.  I also remember having difficulty with this building because the shape is more square than rectangle, so to get the entire building I had to zoom out which is why the background with the boat was necessary.

When I was cropping the photo, I wanted to draw attention to a couple of things.  First I wanted to highlight the blue in the dome and the blue in the sky.  I also liked the curve of the dome and wanted to make that the focus.  Then I wanted to show the white of the building against the blue of the bench and show a serene and calming place to rest after a lot of walking and sightseeing.  Finally, I wanted to try to highlight the building itself without the background and the boat, but I am still not happy with the shape.  I find photographing buildings to be very difficult.  Often the best angles are not from the street but from places that one can not get to to be able able to shoot.

Logo Variations

For my dissertation, I will be researching how boys interact in an all male book club and what changes might occur in their attitudes toward reading.  So I decided to create a logo for our book club so we have something to identify with when the club is up and running.  I used what we have learned from the exercises involving fonts to try to convey a coolness and grittiness to the logo.  I wanted something that would be slightly edgy to contrast what people may normally think about a book club.  I also wanted to reflect the potential "dangerous" conversations we might have as a result of participating in the club.

I tried to use GIMP again and I was slightly more successful than I was with my previous attempt.  I am beginning to learn (little by little) how to use various tools.  I was able to cut the skull away from its initial background and change the background to red using GIMPs fill feature.  I am happy with the overall design of the logo but still feel limited in what I can do because of the limits of my learning of the software.