Week 7: Visual Literacy

During class this week I learned more about visual literacy and added on to the previous knowledge we gained the week before about Photoshop. In addition, we began to learn about digital storytelling and how a digital story can be created through software such as Powerpoint or websites like Animoto. Expanding last week’s lesson, I gained a greater understanding of the different types of visual literacy and how a story can be told simply through an image. There are several different types of visualization methods including data visualization, information visualization and concept visualization, to name a few. Data visualization refers to visual representations of quantitative data, visual representation refers to data that is transformed into an image, and concept visualization refers to the methods used to elaborate on concepts through ideas and plans. Digital storytelling is also becoming increasingly popular and can be seen being used by the British BBC news in order to circulate stories around the world. Digital storytelling refers to a short video that combines narrative with any type of digital content including images, sound and video. I also learned about the significance of digital storytelling and how it can be used to teach values and beliefs to others.

Visual literacy and digital storytelling are relevant to my field as an educator and are concepts and practices that I can definitely use in my classroom. As discussed last week, visual literacy can be used by a teacher to help students study, decode and analyze photographs that often have a cultural or historical significance. Digital storytelling can be used by teachers to recount historical events, learn about new scientific topic and discoveries or explore life in a community of society. Digital storytelling has the power to increase the information literacy of a student and allow that student to create his or her own stories to show learning and growth.

This attached video is relevant to the topic of digital storytelling and it expands on the significance and benefits of using digital storytelling in the classroom. In this short clip 8^th grade teacher Lynn Zalesak talks about digital storytelling and how she uses it in her classroom. I think it is important for teachers to understand different aspects of technology and I liked how Lynn talked about how she use to be technology challenged but now digital storytelling has become an essential part of her curriculum and teaching methods. Digital storytelling allows students to tell stories, learn the curriculum, and be creative and imaginative. This is just one of the many ways in which students can express themselves and it allows them to see a story being told.

Week 6: Media & Information Literacy

During Week 6 we learned about media and information literacy and how to use the Photoshop program. First, we learned and received an overview of visual literacy; visual literacy refers to the ability to interpret, negotiate and make meaning from information that is presented in the form of an image. It is essentially the idea that pictures can be “read” and a story can be told through these pictures. While learning about visual literacy, it is important to note that experiences and personal opinions affect how one understands and “reads” certain images. Our society is filled with visual signs—whether it is a stop sign, yield sign, traffic signals or Mcdonald’s sign. As humans we have learned to “read” signs and recognize the symbols that they stand for in society. In addition to learning about visual literacy, as a class we learned and gained new skills in Photoshop. From Photoshop I learned how to create different layers, colors and effects to certain images. I learned how to navigate this program, including locating different tools that allowed me to move items, create text, change colors, etc. Being able to create a story from four basic pictures showed me the power of Photoshop and visual literacy in society and in education.

Because we live in a world filled with visuals, it is important for educators to study photographs with their students so that they can better understand the world and its complexities. Visual literacy is extremely relevant to education and students can become visually literate through the practice of visual encoding (expressing ideas with visuals) and visual decoding (analyzing and understanding the meaning of images). Studying visuals and including this in a teacher’s curriculum can enable students to analyze photographs, develop and improve operational skills, and increase critical thinking skills. Visual literacy is also important to my field of education because photography is a powerful way to understand the past and analyze history. By utilizing primary photographs in their classroom, teachers can expose students to things from the past and make history come alive through objects from the period being studied.

The YouTube video I imbedded caught my eye because it is a video of an educator providing a workshop on the importance of visual literacy to his fellow colleagues. Seeing how visual literacy can be incorporated and analyzed and how teachers are taught to teach it was interesting to view. Frank Baker, the educator leading the workshop, brings up an image of President Obama surrounded by a group of doctors. It was interesting to see how the fellow teachers interpreted the image and how they determined the media was using the image to send out a certain message to Americans about health care; the doctors were all wearing white coats, which everyone determined was handed to them when they got to the White House. Baker then shows another image and stresses the importance of asking questions. He explained how the historical photo had been manipulated and how even way back in time people were changing photos in order to influence the opinions and thoughts of others. I thought this point was interesting and relevant especially since the media and the society we live in today definitely tries to portray certain images to its members.

Week 5: Tech Tools for Critical Thinking

During Week 5 we learned about learning theories and styles, open source software and we explored and mastered sights Webspiration and Wordle. A learning theory is an attempt to understand how people learn. There are three main types of learning theories; behaviorism, information process theory and constructivism. Behaviorists look at cause and effect relationships and how they are observed through behavior. The information process theory views the mind as a computer and analyzes how it stores and processes relevant information. Constructivists believe that humans construct knowledge through their minds based upon experience. Learning styles refer to the conditions in which we learn best; there are three main types of learning styles including visual, auditory and tactile-kinesthetic.  In addition to learning styles and theories, we also learned about open source software and how to use an example like webspiration. Open source software refers to computer software that has an accessible source code form that allows users to change, study and often distribute software. As a result of open software, the famous free operating system Linux was created in 1984. I also gained new skills in week 5 through the use of webspiration and wordle. Webspiration is a sight that allows its users to create intricate concept maps that are easy to share and collaborate on. Wordle is a tool that creates a graphic representation of text in a word cloud that shows the main ideas of a piece of writing or text. Different learning styles and open source software expanded my technology knowledge and are definitely ideas and skills that will be useful to incorporate in my classroom.

Being aware of different learning styles and how to teach to each style is important for any educator. It is vital for me as a teacher to understand the different learning styles so that I can try to cater to each student’s needs in the classroom. A good teacher uses different instructional approaches and considers the audience, environment and topic before deciding what the best activities are to do. In addition to being aware of the varying learning styles, open source software is also an important aspect of technology that can be utilized in a classroom. For example, sites like webspiration are a great way for students to map out their ideas on a topic and it is an easy way for parents, other students and the teacher to collaborate and share ideas. Another tool that can be utilized in the classroom is Wordle. There are numerous ways in which a teacher can use wordle. Wordle is a great way for students to self reflect on essays and main ideas and to summarize other pieces of literature or work.

I found this Youtube video to be silly and creative but also informative about the different types of learning styles that we learned about this week. The video really emphasized the importance of catering to each learning style within a classroom setting; this is something all teachers have to try to accomplish when teaching a lesson. The auditory learner in the video was able to understand the calculus problem just by hearing the explanation from the teacher. The visual learner needed to see the problem worked out on the board and the kinesthetic learner was able to grasp the concept by working through an example problem on the board. These three different learning styles represent the diversity of individuals and how they learn which will definitely be present in a classroom setting.

Week 4: Copyright Law, Plagiarism, and Ethical Issues

During Week 4, we learned about the principles of designing instructional media, copyright laws and the ethical issues associated with technology. The four key principles for designing instructional media are contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity. It is important when putting together a presentation not to have too many contrasting colors or repeat the same things continuously. In addition, poor alignment can cause people to miss important information and if words are not close together it will cause the reader or student to lose focus and not concentrate on what they need to. The design of a media presentation is just as important as the content itself. We also learned about copyright in class this week; copyright refers to all creative works that are protected by the Title 17 of the US Code and allow the creator of a work to control how their work may be used. In contrast to copyright laws, there is the Fair Use Act and Creative Commons. The Fair Use Act allows limited use of copyrighted work with the consent from the author or creator; this limited use is mainly used by libraries or educators. Creative Commons allows a person to make his or her own rules and build a custom license with as many or as few restrictions as he or she wants on his or her work.  Beyond the main ideas of design and copyright, week four also presented material about hypermedia and multimedia. Hypermedia refers to the combination of hyperlinks and hypertexts in which audio, video and text combine to create a means of information. Multimedia refers to media and content that uses a variety of different forms and combinations. We also learned how to determine the authenticity of a website.

The information and content from this week are directly relevant to my field as an educator. It is important for me to understand how to design instructional material so that I can grab the attention of my students and have them learn the material they are supposed to be learning. Knowing how to put together and design a technological presentation as an educator is vital. In addition to knowing how to design instructional media, being aware of copyright laws and The Fair Use Act is important for educators. More educators are using technology to supplement material in class, and as a result it is important for me to know as teacher what published or online information I can use in my classroom.  For example, it would be okay for an educator to use a chapter from a published book, an article from a newspaper or a chart, graph or diagram from a book, periodical or newspaper because it is stated as legal in the Fair Use Guidelines for educators.

http://www.mediafestival.org/copyrightchart.html

I chose this webpage because I thought that it provided relevant supplemental material to The Fair Use Act and copyright laws presented in class. This webpage presents a chart that helps inform teachers of their rights under the copyright laws of the United States. The chart uses specific examples of material and lists the rights that teachers have and do not have in regard to this material. I found this site to be informative and I learned more detailed information about the rights that teachers have using articles, web images, videos, etc. in their classroom. For example, I did not know that teachers can only make a single copy of a chapter from a book or an article from a periodical for research and lesson plans. I also did not realize that broadcasts can be used for instruction. This site provided specific and relevant material to what was learned in class this week and helped me to understand the rights and restrictions that I will have as an educator when using material in my classroom to supplement learning.

Week 5 Concept Map

http://www.mywebspiration.com/view/773923a35930