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.

Color Echo

Wow! These mini art assignments eat up a lot of time.  Part of the issue is my perfectionist need to get everything just right but a lot of time was taken up trying to learn the still image software.  I really liked Johanna's presentation on GIMP.  She warned us that it takes a lot of time to learn.  I, however, was cocky enough to think I could learn enough to use it for this assignment.  Three hours later, GIMP has proven me a chump.  I had to revert back to Pages but I was able to learn how to use GIMP enough to remove blemishes from my photo.

I really like muted colors and simple designs.  Yet, the simple designs force the designer to be more creative it terms of layout and color.  I found that a simple shift of a line or a large field of color really enhances the design.  I also chose to echo the star shape and the stripes as well as the color in the design.  I found that I really could not do one without the other if I wanted the design to create some interest.

Color

In my aimless earlier college days I managed to sneak in some art classes.  One of the classes I took was called Color Theory.  I could not imagine how you could talk and play with color for an entire semester but I soon found out that one could experiment with color for a lifetime.  I had to buy very expensive Color-Aid paper and we used it to analyze color, change colors, make color vibrate, and make color seem transparent.  We learned about hues and tints and how unequal tones in color create uneasiness and distraction.  We also learned how color can anchor other objects.  For example, dark furniture against stark, white walls can make the furniture small and appear to be floating in space.  However, with the appropriate color on the wall the furniture would appear more anchored to the floor.  Colors also have weight.  Our eyes prefer darker colors to be below lighter colors, however, the reverse causes interest and grabs attention.  So I was happy that one of our assignments encouraged us to play with color, but I was unsure how the color would come across on the screen.  The Color Aid paper I used long ago had a matte finish and the texture of a paint swatch.  The paper itself seemed to give the color some more depth.  I recreated a couple of the assignments I remembered from the class and they seem to have the same general affect.  However, working with the color on the screen was harder than the tactile paper though it was quicker to move from color to color.

This first design uses the red and the blue background to enhance the red and the blue in the purple and makes the purple look like it is two different colors even though it is the same exact color.  The reverse can also be done. You can take two different purples and use the red and the blue to drain the reds and blues out of the purple to create the illusion of one purple.  IF you squint your eyes the purples appear different below.

Here are those purple boxes side by side.

This is the same idea using a grayscale.  The grays in the figure below have different tints but placed on different backgrounds they can appear similar.

Here are the original grays.

Another interesting effect of color and design is how you can use color to make an image seem to vibrate.  Contrasting colors in close quarters tend to fight with one another in our eyes.  The result is this...

Finally, I love stripes.  I think there is a kind of serenity and order to striping.  Yet, I find random stripes with various widths to be more intriguing.  It is important to have some sort of harmony in tint, however.  Otherwise the colors may vibrate.

Fonting Around

As much as I like to think I pay attention to design, color, and layouts, fonts never really caught my interest.  I knew I preferred simple, elegant fonts to heavy, elaborate fonts.  However, I never really paid attention to the power a font can hold to convey meaning.  The activity in Design Basics Index (Krauss, 2004) open my eyes (so to speak) about the messages that can be conveyed through the use of a particular font.  What is interesting to me is how that meaning came to be.  In some instances meaning has been attached to a certain font because of its frequent use in particular situations.  For example, you'll notice below that the word "Marines" is in the Stencil font.  I have seen this font used often in the context of the armed forces and on all of my father's gear from his participation in the Marines.  Other fonts seem to draw meaning from their very shape.  I used a font called Cracked which displays its glyphs as crumbling to the ground.

I found this activity to be easier than I expected going into it.  As I looked through the list of fonts on my computer, many of them did not seem to inspire any words that would be amplified through the font.  Yet, once the I was able to come up with the first word it became easy to imagine situations where many of the fonts might be used.  Developing words that contrasted the font was an interesting exercise because you could imagine how the font could be used to create humor.  It also proves the importance of using a font that aligns to your message.  Enjoy the images below!

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

Repetition Exercise

Tight Alignment Version

First Ad for Design Basics Exercise

Here is the first attempt at the loose alignment ad for the exercise on page 87 in Jim Krause's Design Basics Index

Wow, just wow...

This is probably the worst deigned site I have ever seen.  Not only is it hard on the eye but most of it does not make sense.  Random links go to other garish pages.  See for yourself by clicking here.  In the screencast, I mention that I think the site is to sell video equipment.  It turns out the site is to "promote the free exchange of information" for videographers.

Community

During the Digital Tools class I participated in last semester, we were introduced to Thinkfinity.  As a result of that class and exploring Thinkfinity I joined Learning Math.  The group has two-hundred members and the organizer is a gentleman from NCTM Illuminations.  The group has many different discussions that involve online tools and general suggestions and ideas for teaching math.  I joined the group primarily to learn about ways others have been integrating technology into their instruction.  Our district recently acquired interactive white boards and we will soon be getting tablets but there has been little support in how to use these tools authentically.

I also joined Online Tools on Thinkfinity.  I browsed through the discussions of the groups and many of them seemed to pick up where Learning Math left off.  The discussions included tips and techniques for a multitude of online tools, some of which we will be using in this class.  Other discussions focus on managing the technology or finding constructive ways to use technology.  For example, one post explores the ways texting can be used in the classroom.  To be honest, I'm a little overwhelmed by the work other teachers and districts are doing with technology.  Though I teach in an upper-middle class district, it seems to be behind the curve with most of these tools and applications especially in exposing its teachers to the world beyond word processing and PowerPoint.

Finally, I joined Dr. Erica Bowling's group Using Multimedia for Communication and Education.  I became a member of this group when I had the opportunity to participate in a workshop that Dr. Bowling hosted a couple of months ago on web design.  This is where I became familiar with animoto and the possibilities of multimedia in the classroom beyond simple presentation software.  What I love about this group is that it is almost designed as a course instructed by Dr. Bowling.  Her discussions are clear and the resources are numerous and directly applicable to my needs as a teacher.

Designing The Force for How We View Families

"Critical thinking empowers Americans to assess the credibility, accuracy and value of information, analyze and evaluate information, make reasoned decisions and take purposeful action” (p. 10). Critical literacy or more specifically, critical media literacy is comprised of five major principles (Kellner & Share, 2005):

1.  All Media Messages are Constructions. Producers of media edit and tweak every component of their work, imbedding perspectives, interpretations, and messages within it.

2.  Media Messages are Representations of Social Reality. Representations of social reality are based on the perceptions of those individuals who are constructing the text. Because of this, representations of people, groups, experiences or events tend to be less accurate, thus resulting in distortions and stereotypes.

3.  Audiences as Well as Individuals Negotiate Meaning. Each individual interprets messages differently and draws different meaning from the same text.

4.  Media Messages have Economic, Political, Social, and Aesthetic Purposes. Media texts are embedded with messages that are based on the producer’s particular ideology or political position. The primary aim for many works is to make money by influencing consumers’ lifestyles.

5.  Each Media Text or Form of Communication has Unique Characteristics Relative to the Medium that Produces It. The manner in which a story is told and the medium used influences how we interpret the meanings embedded in the text.

I thought it would be interesting to post both of these videos to compare and contrast them in terms of audience, representation, and design.  The purpose of the first video (The Force) is to highlight the technology available in the Volkswagen Passat to families with children.  The second video is designed to demonstrate the mild nature of the dish soap to housewives who want  protect their hands from the damage traditional soap can cause with repeated use.  Though approximately 40 years spans the production of these videos, the are remarkably similar in terms of how the people are represented.

But first, let's discuss the intended audience of these commercials.  The Volkswagen commercial is intended for suburban families with children.  The use of the dog and the cut to the bedroom, clearly designed for a young girl, informs the viewer that this vehicle is designed with families in mind. Even the images of the exercise equipment and appliances demonstrate the daily routines of working families.  Showing both the mother and father of the young boy on screen tells the viewer that car is meant for both moms and dads.  Whereas the audience for the second video is targeted to stay-at-home young housewives who are concerned about maintaining their youth despite the hard work of housekeeping.  Madge is a mother figure who gives advice to a young women who is clearly married.  

In terms of design, both commercials use humor to create a memorable moment to connect to the product.  Both commercials use familiar almost universal images such as the kitchen and its sink, groceries, and suburban settings.  The Palmolive commercial has many close-up shots of smooth and perfectly manicured hands - seemingly manicures that would not be damaged by the product as well.  In contrast, the Volkswagen commercial does not show its product until the end of the commercial to capitalizing on the impact of our wondering what the outcome will be of this boys trying to move objects with mind control similar to Darth Vadar.   The main difference between the commercials is how they incorporate the media sophistication of their targeted audiences.  The Palmolive commercial relies heavily on slogan-like language to convince the audience of its usefulness, whereas the Volkswagen commercial counts on our knowledge of popular culture and trusts us to make the connections ourselves without the voiceover persuading us to use the product.  The use of the familiar Stars Wars soundtrack evokes nostalgia for thirty-somethings while emphasizing the power of the vehicle.

What I find most intriguing when comparing the two commercials is their representation of women and family.  Both commercials reinforce heavily stereotyped views of women as domestic.  This is perhaps expected from a forty year old Palmolive commercial.  It is interesting to note here that the voiceover in the Palmolive commercial is an authoritative male voice who supports Madge's statements, implying that because Madge is female she may be wrong. This view of women, however,  is somewhat surprising in a commercial from 2011.  In the Volkswagen commercial it is clear that the father is the breadwinner in the family who is coming home from work from his white collar job while the mother is responsible for providing lunch to the children.  We only see her in the kitchen.  Both commercials strikingly leave out many segments of American population.  Again, the narrowness of the Palmolive commercial may not surprise us but the Volkswagen commercial leaves out a multitude of other economic, ethnic, and sexual orientation family constructions.  This is to be expected in the world of advertising, I suppose, and companies play safe and typically do not disrupt social norms for fear of losing their market base.  However, it is important to teach children to critical analyze the media onslaught that surrounds them so that they may learn to make thoughtful decisions.