This was the first time I ever completed a group website. I learned a lot from the other three ladies in my group. I think we made a great team in that we all had different insights and experiences in regards to technology and education. I thought creating a website would be pretty easy but I realized it really wasn’t as easy as I thought. I learned a lot from the first part of the course, which were the Visual Design Principles, also known as C.R.A.P. (Williams, 2008). This was because those were concepts new to me and I really had to keep them in mind when creating the website and the site pages along with my personal logo.
I definitely feel more confident in creating content on the web. As long as I keep the four Visual Design Principles (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity) in mind I feel I will be successful in future design projects. Research shows that students learn more by than just reading text and answering questions. They learn by actually doing project-based assignments more than anything. We definitely completed this project in accordance with The Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy (Churches, 2007). We created a website, evaluated the website by communicating with those in our group, analyzed by linking to other websites within our site, applied by uploading, sharing and editing, understood by categorizing our site and remembered by searching/Googling (Churches, 2007). The purpose of a website is for others to read and learn from the site. I feel if viewers can easily read and find information that we put out there, then we were successful in creating a beneficial educational technology website. Anytime technology is implemented in my learning, it benefits me. I learned so much from this course because we created logos, animation and a group website. We participated in web conferences and discussion forums. I learned the most when I’m able to discuss things with others.
Technology will continue to be the future. More schools are realizing this by going 1:1, bringing in their own devices and purchasing more mobile devices. Research show that students today learn by utilizing technology on a daily basis (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). I feel more confident in creating my own digital content, such as our monthly newsletter on our campus. Now that I know the Visual Design Principles, I can make our newsletter more pleasing to our staff. I know students need to know what websites out there are reputable and which ones contain false information. It’s the easiest for students to Google content that they’re learning in class and find information; however, that information may be false.
There are so many websites out there for classroom use that the list is endless! One of my favorites is Discovery Education where teachers can play snippets of videos for their classroom either when introducing a topic or remediating a concept. I also like websites where students can create animations or videos, such as Animoto, GoAnimate, PhotoStory, MovieMaker and Prezi. For teachers needing assistance with classroom management, ClassDojo is a fantastic site where students receive points for answering questions or participating in class. We live in a world where the web offers endless opportunities for educators….we need to take advantage of it!
Bibliography:
Churches, A. (2007, April). Blooms digital taxonomy. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/8670
U.S. Department of Education. (2010) Learning: Engage and Empower. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010/learning-engage-and-empower
Williams, Robin (2008). The Non-Designer’s Design Book. Berkeley: Peachpit Press.
