Powerpoint and Web Readability

I spent a little time walking through the sites I go to most often, and I started to notice some elements that make a site easier to read than others. The elements I found most useful included: *Color schemes that weren't distracting (too loud or busy) *Sites that had SOME color--not just black and white *Tabs and menus that remain the same throughout browsing *Information set up with headings, bullets, etc (not just chunks of text) *Tone of voice appropriate to the site and its audience After reflecting on these sites and their design elements, I returned to the two sites that I manage and changed some of the layouts! I think both of my sites are much better having thought through these issues.


Powerpoint thoughts: I have used Powerpoint or some kind of presentation software for a very long time. I used it in my teaching as well, but I tried to avoid the death-by-powerpoint approach. To be honest, I still had plenty of slides that were very dry, too big, too many bullet points, and too much one sided information. Over time, I worked on including more stopping points and handouts that had gaps for students to complete. When our school got Activ boards (interactive whiteboards), I used their presentation software everyday. Built in their software is an interactive quizzing program. You are able to embed questions into the presentation and have students respond with remote 'clickers.' You are able to ask them to respond with T/F, ABCD, Rank, type a response, and Use numbers. Our interactive presentations improved a GREAT DEAL after we had that program. Now that I no longer teach there, I will need to continually focus on what PP has to offer and how to keep things interesting. Along this journey, I found the "Prezi" program listed on our class Ning. I LOVE this program! For me, it makes a lot of sense for teaching that concepts are connected and interrelated. It was a lot of fun to make the presentation that I made. I focused on the word "therm"--teaching a word part is the idea of the presentation. I will use this program when I get my own classroom again one day and will include it on my final project website. I wanted to really get a feel for it, so I signed up for a 1 year membership.

Comics

What fun! I had a really good time playing around with the different platforms for comics this week. I struggled with a couple of the platforms and trying to decide what I would focus on, but if someone had an idea, any of the 3 would be good.

I have some students who have limited English skills, and encouraging them to tell a story however they can is a great way to start working toward printed English. I will play with these programs and share them with my students in the future as well!

I ended up making a one page comic about my sister and I. If I were creating a comic story, I would try to take more 'action shots.' Since I just wanted to use pictures I already had, I decided to stick with something where posed pictures are okay. I would ask my students to use pictures that help forward their story.

Fun activity and lots of possibilities!

Christmas Podcast

For my podcast, I've decided to create a narrative of a Christmas list. In my family, we always send Christmas lists by the first week of November. It never fails that people wish they could have been more descriptive (to reduce how many exchanges they have to negotiate). So...since I was working on our family lists, I decided to narrate them and send the audio file instead of a typed description. It was fun to work with Audacity. I will play around with it more to do some layering and other fun things.

My experiences with Skype have been all positive. My husband and I used Skype while he was deployed overseas. It was pretty reliable, and he is tech-challenged, so the plug-and-play aspect was very helpful.

For my students, I would likely use podcasts as a brainstorming mechninism as well as the ability for me to give feedback to individual students. Since my students cannot receive audio files (deaf), I would need to keep my responses in video format for podcasts, but the practice working with audio files got me thinking about other ways to use these programs. This Christmas list practice session might lead me into snipits of information for my other websites and sending my voice for particularly special e-mails (rather than lifeless words on a screen).

I couldn't get the autoplay to stop happening (even when changing the code), so here's the link: http://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/embedqt/50093

My Cruise Video

I was trying to come up with something really creative, but I ended up just using still shots focusing on my 2009 cruise. Since I don't have access to iMovie, I went with Movie Maker. I was pretty impressed by my classmate's ideas and use of imovie, so hopefully that's a program I will get to spend some time with in the future.

I have done lots of video and photo editing with my former students. I even taught a TV broadcasting class. We didn't have enough computers when we were working on projects, but it was always wonderful to see how creative and unique their productions turned out to be.

I would like to learn more about hypertexts embedded in videos--that isn't something I know anything about. Digital storytelling is an accessible way for low language students to tell a story and then expand to writing or another kind of literacy skill.

Here is a short video of photos taken on my cruise last August. I couldn't get the embed code from Media Mill, so I went to YouTube to get the embed code.

I overlooked this reflection assignment, but here are some thoughts about the role play about Google on Ocotober 20.

My role was one of ‘conflict’—questioning the use of these technologies for our youth yet using them at the same time. I found an image that had a fun/wild feeling to it (Fraggle Rock Character) and used her as my image. My general tone was not too far off of how I actually felt; looking back on how others handled it—I could have stretched my character a bit more. I think I missed the boat on the fun of the role play and running with an identity.

Initially I wasn’t challenging anyone. I made posts with my positions regarding the weakened face-to-face abilities I truly do see today. After reading posts by others, I found myself questioning them. My approach was to ask a question that challenged their point then offer some thoughts/solutions on that question. I cited other work only minimally. It was a dialogue centered experience for me, and I didn’t focus too much on ‘proving’ what I was saying. Again, I think that was all part of my flawed character. My character was too much of me, and I wasn’t able to step out and try a different perspective in a way that I could have.

I believe the most effective voices were extreme/caricatures of ‘old business men’ or ‘young teens.’ Their tone was very strong and consistent leading to a concrete point of view. Additionally, frequency of posting was another contributing factor to ‘effective vs non effective’ roles. The roles that were memorable and effective also answered points directly by using people’s names (roles) and going point for point through their ideas. I usually went with the bigger picture of what I thought they were getting at and didn’t pick point for point as much.

My personal beliefs were essentially what drove my role. I AM confused on the place of these technologies and their effect on our world today. That part of my role was not a stretch. My personal views didn’t really change as a result of this, but I was challenged to think through more specific aspects of the arguments as a result of having so many ‘perspectives’ in the discussion.

I think ‘hiding’ behind a role will provide some safety for hot button issues in the classroom. If I were addressing an issue that students would be motivated to respond to but wouldn’t want to be known, this would be a great way. I think I would use a role play as part of the school policy debates we often have. Students usually have pretty strong opinions about what should/shouldn’t change with school policy, but they have a hard time articulating it in front of their peers. They fear that agreeing with a rule will make them ‘brown nose’ people and be alienated by their peers. I would have to know my group fairly well to choose a topic that they would be both motivated by as well as willing to not know who is who for the roles.

Overall I enjoyed the experience, but I MUCH prefer a synchronous chat because I like the live give and take. I feel it is much more effective; keeping up with so many tails of conversations and forum links could get tremendously confusing!

Wikis and Collaborative Writing

I have some experience with Wikis, but not tons. Fortunately, my first experience with them was GREAT, so I'm open to working with their quirks and making things come together. My first experience was a collaborative final project with a grad class in the summer of 2008. We all were responsible for creating information, application, and resources for 4 different content literacy strategies. I still visit that site from time to time, but the experience of creating such a useful 'document' was great!


For my students, I like the idea of collaborative writing when we are doing pre-work and specific writing assignments for a text. My students often need a high degree of background knowledge to make reading successful, and to that end, allowing them to create resources for each other as well as asking them to become authors is a great exercise. For example, when we read Of Mice and Men or Holes, we would be able to create pages dedicated to each of the characters, the various locations, and I would likely work with them on bubbl.us to create a character map and embed that into our page.

Another area of writing that would lend itself is persuasive writing. If students are able to create a 'pro' or 'con' note on a wiki page and then find resources that support that point of view, they would have the makings of a very rich debate when the event moved from the Wiki to actual classroom performance/activity.

An area of concern I would have would be reliability (preteaching is a must to reduce these issues), as well as students feeling reluctant about working with hypertexts (as mentioned in Beach et al). For students who have to work hard to read a 'static' text, I think many would be less than thrilled with the idea of clicking through a text and making higher level decisions about where they go and how they read through the text. I do think there is great potential in 'freeing' them from the static way of reading, but it will take some convincing. Hypertexts will feel like extra work to them when actually they are reading 'aides' to any concept they might not quite understand.

I like collaborative writing overall if it has purpose (any writing assignment MUST have purpose) and if the students are guided through the process. It is a mistake to take 'group work' and put it online and call it collaborative writing. There needs to be a higher level of planning and use of the flexibility of the program/tool.

Many positive uses--hopefully I get back into a classroom before all of this changes too much and I have to start learning all over again! :)

For my Flickr slideshow, I decided to focus on Arlington National Cemetary. I have very special memories and a deep connection to Arlington. Although I don't know anyone who is buried there, I am a military wife, and I have been there five times. Each time, I am overwhelmed by a magical reverence that surrounds the entire grounds.

As I was selecting the pictures, I was purposeful in choosing ones without people's faces (very few are close enough to be seen). I made that decision because to me, Arlington is a place of individual majesty that is dedicated to those who are buried there. I am struck by the power of realizing the individual stories that each of those headstones represents. Every person buried there has an amazing story to tell--they are there because of their sacrifice. They may not have all died in battle or in a dramatic way, but they all gave something to this country. They have wives, husbands, children, parents, and friends.

I was also striving to find pictures from all the seasons. I have been to Arlington during all different times of the year--it is majestic anytime you go. I have a special affinity for springtime in Arlington because of a personal journey that found new understanding while I sat and reflected under a cherry blossom tree on one of the high hills at Arlington overlooking DC. There are up to twenty eight burials there each day--yes, up to 28 each day. I have been passed or witnessed 8 horse drawn caissons and cried when I saw each one even though I don't even know the names of those interred.

It is a place of dignity, majesty, and respect. The honor and pride I feel when I am there is captured in many of these photos--it makes me feel like part of the great story of our country to be among those fallen while also making me feel like one in a sea of many.




Below is my voice thread with pictures from my wedding. I shared a few stories about the day and how we got there. I enjoyed using the program and find it useful for hearing people. I am not sure how I could adapt this for deaf students since using any kind of video would mean layering or picture in picture--more complex than I know how to do. There are video comments, but since that can't really be layered, I think it is a little limiting for use with ASL.




I think both of these tools would be very strong story telling devices. I found myself very engrossed in how other people represented the words I typed into Flickr. I played around with different adjectives and was sucked into searching layer after layer of tags and photos. The quality of the pictures would also give students lots of creative ways to look at the stories in their lives. The ease of both Flickr and Voice Thread would be great tools for students to play with and use with brief tutorials. Photos can be so powerful, and with the ease of creating great slideshows with Flickr students could be challenged to tell a story without any words.

One project that would be interesting and challenging would be a 'year in pictures.' Students would need to reflect on their past year (or one year in their life). They would then need to find 12 pictures that convey the EMOTION or EXPERIENCE they had during that period of the year. They would first have to identify what they were looking for and then find images they see as portraying that feeling.

Fun assignments this week!