Being very fond of creating multimedia, I have really enjoyed this class. It is gratifying as well to come away having worked very hard to create products I can actually use in my job. The WebQuest reviews and creation of my own WebQuest were the centerpiece of this class. I learned a lot about design principles and ways to create media that is universally accessible. I increased my knowledge about evaluating website hosts. I also learned to create WebQuests that are not just fact-hunting missions, but actually require students to evaluate information, apply strategies to solve problems and apply their learning to authentic situations.
In this class I created two other products I plan to share with my school, and perhaps my system technology committee. The first is the Copyright PowerPoint I created. Copyright training is a required in-service for every school in Georgia every year. Our system has had the same copyright video that teachers have to watch every year. I think my presentation would be a good supplement as if focuses on video and answers many questions that teachers and media specialists have about the legal use and duplication of moving media. The second project is my Emerging Technologies presentation. I chose to create a PowerPoint advocating the adoption of ePals in my school or system-wide. EPals offers students and teachers the opportunity to flatten their classrooms and communicate and collaborate with students, teachers, and researchers across the hall or across the globe. Adopting ePals moves our classrooms into true 21st Century centers of learning.
My field experience with a Student With Disabilities (SWD) deepened my knowledge and understand of the problems SWDs face in our school and in life. I discovered the many ways assistive technology can help these students succeed. The student I worked with is a 12th grader with issues in reading and writing. He pretty much can’t do anything beyond recognize letters. I introduced him to our Don Johnston “Read Outloud” and “Write Outloud” software which is available on all school computers and is now installed on his personal tablet. I also found many apps for his cell phone that help with reading, writing, and staying organized. My student faces cognitive overload when he tries to process the words and understand the content at the same time. I feel happy to have been able to introduce to him some tools that will reduce that overload and help him be more successful.
All-in-all, I learned a lot about media design and technology during this class. It has truly been one of the more useful classes I have taken.
In this class I created two other products I plan to share with my school, and perhaps my system technology committee. The first is the Copyright PowerPoint I created. Copyright training is a required in-service for every school in Georgia every year. Our system has had the same copyright video that teachers have to watch every year. I think my presentation would be a good supplement as if focuses on video and answers many questions that teachers and media specialists have about the legal use and duplication of moving media. The second project is my Emerging Technologies presentation. I chose to create a PowerPoint advocating the adoption of ePals in my school or system-wide. EPals offers students and teachers the opportunity to flatten their classrooms and communicate and collaborate with students, teachers, and researchers across the hall or across the globe. Adopting ePals moves our classrooms into true 21st Century centers of learning.
My field experience with a Student With Disabilities (SWD) deepened my knowledge and understand of the problems SWDs face in our school and in life. I discovered the many ways assistive technology can help these students succeed. The student I worked with is a 12th grader with issues in reading and writing. He pretty much can’t do anything beyond recognize letters. I introduced him to our Don Johnston “Read Outloud” and “Write Outloud” software which is available on all school computers and is now installed on his personal tablet. I also found many apps for his cell phone that help with reading, writing, and staying organized. My student faces cognitive overload when he tries to process the words and understand the content at the same time. I feel happy to have been able to introduce to him some tools that will reduce that overload and help him be more successful.
All-in-all, I learned a lot about media design and technology during this class. It has truly been one of the more useful classes I have taken.