EDLD 5366 Course Embedded Reflection

Week 5 Assignment 1.3

Self-AssessmentCreating a newsletter seemed like a huge task to me. I had previously used many aspects of the newsletter design in other projects, but had not recently needed to put all these together into my own newsletter. New knowledge that I have gained creating a newsletter is mainly the use of graphic design techniques. I had never learned about content, proximity, repetition, and alignment as used in graphic design in any organized way.

Also, I had never studied about evaluating newsletters or thinking about planning a newsletter. In the online article, the newsletter evaluation criteria were very useful to me. It explains that to create a meaningful newsletter; we need to identify the audience, format, content, and layout. (Lamb, 2005) The article Planning Newsletters stated “Before investing the time in producing a newsletter, consider designing a survey to find out what parents want.” (Lamb, 2005) Although I do not have a group of parents to survey, I did email my mentor with different ideas for the newsletter. I hope some of the information in it will be useful to the school. My favorite part of my newsletter is the teacher dos and don’ts for Facebook.

Learn as a LearnerTo complete the assignment, I first determined that I would create a newsletter on the teacher use of social media and electronic communication with students. Because I wanted to make sure I came up with some good information, I had been keeping a watchful eye out for articles on this topic. The Chronicles of Higher Education emailed out an article on “de-friending” which I thought was useful (Perlmutter, 2010). Second, TEA released the new ethics code (TEA, 2010) for teacher use of texting which I received in a TASB blurb. I also received an evaluation of the new code, or rather of the process for updating the code, from ATPE. I chose not to use this article because it was really political and not informational. And third, I found some online posters by Edudemic on Facebook use by teachers that I thought were very smart. The title for the newsletter became “Digital Social Wisdom” and I was set to get it into the required format.

Our discussion forum did not require us to discuss or share our newsletters, but I did glean advice from my classmates on the mechanics of making the newsletter through Skype. I also received help from my high school senior who is extremely proficient in Word. My biggest fear was that I would not be able to get the text and graphics in the places that I wanted them. But the program was not difficult and I think it came out nice.

Lifelong Learning SkillsCreating a newsletter was a very useful task to me. Right now, I am involved in many clubs and church activities. Newsletters are a great way to publicize your ministry or event. Already, I have been asked to create a newsletter for a ministry that trains women in job skills. Hopefully, they will like the product! I also will make a family newsletter later this spring. Sending out Christmas newsletters seemed daunting to me, so it may be an Easter newsletter.

In the future, I would like to become more proficient at adding borders to the text that is included in the newsletters I create. Borders would be an added touch that would help the eye to focus on the different parts of the newsletter.

My Ed Tech cohort friends are the best. For sure, one of the blessings of this degree is the friends I have made.

Lamb, A. (2005). Evaluating newsletters. Retrieved from http://eduscapes.com/sessions/publishing/evaluating.htm

Lamb, A. (2005). Planning newsletters. Retrieved from http://eduscapes.com/sessions/publishing/planning.htm

Perlmutter, D. (2010). Knowing when to defriend. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Knowing-When-to-Defriend/125619/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Posters on Facebook use can be found at http://edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/fbteacher_fullsize.pdf

Field-Based Monthly Reflection for November 2010

This month I attended the school board meeting to hear the Instructional Technology director share with the board about 21st Century learning and skills. She spoke about the four C’s – creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. She also spoke about how the core subjects needed to be expounded upon with the help of technology to incorporate the life skills needed in our changing world. Students need to be taught responsible and accountable use of the internet. Students also need to have a good understanding of how to evaluate media as to whether the information received is accurate. Twenty first century learning also includes the use of technology to integrate global awareness which includes economic, financial, cultural and environmental literacy.

Several ways that teachers in our district are collaborating and communicating are through the use of wikis, creating podcasts, twittering, blogging and skyping. Some classrooms are also using Google docs.

Several students have shown interest in the new Texas Tech Engineering class that will be offered in the fall. The two high schools and one middle school have been recently given wireless capabilities so that students can use their iTouches, iPads, and phones for research in classrooms with limited technology resources.

The district is also experimenting with Exemplar Bundles that are a depository for lessons that teachers can share. Each teacher can have their own edublog which would include a rubric, lesson and student product.

One board member asked if there were any incentives to get teachers to put their work on the web. Another expressed appreciation of the addition of WiFi, so that more devices would be available for student use. A comment was made over whether providing internet to the poorer sections of the community could be done through a future bond election.

This month, I also had the opportunity to share a simulation website with a science teacher. The website is full of simulations that teachers can incorporate into lab work. The students can plug in the data to see the results of their experiments without the cost of the materials. This website is: http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/new.

Animation - Assignment 5366 Week 3

This was really fun to make! My boys will enjoy making their own. Merry Christmas!!