While recently watching the movie "Friends with Benefits" starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that what I read about for this class was slightly touched on in the film. Timberlake plays a Web Art Designer for major magazine companies throughout the US. Although he focuses more on style, sports and where the pretty picture of the girl in the bikini should be placed, he still speaks about things such as proximity, font color and style, etc. There are certain websites that you visit and think "wow, this is really awesome", while others make you think, "this is pretty lackluster." But WHY? While reading Louise's blog and taking a look at the link she provided, this questions became more apparent to me. Certain aspects of web design can make or break a web page. For example, color contrasting between font and background are KEY to having a well managed and received website. Certain colors do not promote easy readability, and you must keep in mind colorblind people as well. Black on white is the easiest text to read, but this can get boring. Colors that contrast successfully include colors that do not add to perception problems, unlike red and blue, colors that have enough contrast- do not use light and dark blue, etc., and colors that are used often together, like black and yellow. Further, when posting pictures or videos, proximity is a key factor to relating the things you post to the text that you have placed with it. The closer the objects and text together, the more accented the relationship. Other prominent things to keep in mind when creating a website or a blog is alignment of the text AND visuals, as well as font size and word count. The above stated tips should be kept in mind during certain aspects of teaching as well.
When creating Powerpoint presentations for your class, keep in mind the details- font, proximity, alignment, etc. Also, keep in mind your students and their needs-i.e.- visually impaired students, color blind students, ESL students, ADD/ADHD students, etc. Having a student like this in your class should and will change the way in which you prepare your Powerpoint presentations. - Bigger font, different color combinations, less text, more visual stimulators, etc.
Also, when choosing websites to use within your classroom, be sure that they include the appropriate web design details so that both you and your students can get the most out of the website and the lesson.
Here are some links to web pages and videos that will help clarify good web design, for both adults and children sites:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/27/designing-websites-for-kids-trends-and-best-practices/
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/09/best-practices-for-designing-usable-websites-for-kids/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPO7lDZbcfA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP3IQZkeYkg&feature=related
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Reflection on Education- Blog 1
If anything, this class has helped open my eyes to just how important technology is to ehancing students' educational opportunities. Please let me know if you feel this way as well. To speak on the collaborative and communicable components of technology, in my opinion, is to be speaking on the MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF TECHNOLOGY in reference to its educational purposes. I feel as though the interactive and collaborative components of certain technologies, such as blogs, livejournals, video chats, even email, can be highly educational, effective, and beneficial to ones learning experience.
As stated in the following article ( http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0450.pdf ) blogging is considered one of the most beautiful tools in the world beacsue it provides us with and allows us to have the "most magical thing", communication with others. When you think about it, if we were not able to communicate with one another, no one would be able to learn ANYTHING. The technological advances of our time have allowed for an endless amount of communicable opportunities, both near and far. Now that these opportunities are being brought into the classroom, students will be able to use their knowledge of technology to explore concepts, state opinions, discuss ideas and further their education with their peers.
When I think back to my own educational experience, there was little inclusion of technology, with an even lesser emphasis on cooperative learning and communication. I believe that this has hindered me somewhat because I am not as tech savvy as I should be. Also, I feel as though I was out of the loop for quite sometimes with certain social networking sites. I also may go as far as to say that I never got a lot of practice with typing, and thus my words per minute score could use some work. Therefore, I think that technology should always try to be included in the classroom. This class has made me realize the imprtant factors that technology has to offer in an ecucational context. Using blogging as a way for students to reflect on a lesson, or as a mode of cooperative learning will most definitely be used in my classroom, and should be included in ALL classrooms. With all that technology has to offer, there is no reason that a capable educator should NOT be able to find a way to incorporate it into a majority of his or her lessons.
Check out these links for a laugh or two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIiZ6_yGm6M
http://cyn-thenutshell.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-funnies.html
And check this out for an awesome blogging lesson plan idea that I have actually used in a classroom and the kids love it!:
http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/12/27/blogging-lesson-plan-writing/
As stated in the following article ( http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0450.pdf ) blogging is considered one of the most beautiful tools in the world beacsue it provides us with and allows us to have the "most magical thing", communication with others. When you think about it, if we were not able to communicate with one another, no one would be able to learn ANYTHING. The technological advances of our time have allowed for an endless amount of communicable opportunities, both near and far. Now that these opportunities are being brought into the classroom, students will be able to use their knowledge of technology to explore concepts, state opinions, discuss ideas and further their education with their peers.
When I think back to my own educational experience, there was little inclusion of technology, with an even lesser emphasis on cooperative learning and communication. I believe that this has hindered me somewhat because I am not as tech savvy as I should be. Also, I feel as though I was out of the loop for quite sometimes with certain social networking sites. I also may go as far as to say that I never got a lot of practice with typing, and thus my words per minute score could use some work. Therefore, I think that technology should always try to be included in the classroom. This class has made me realize the imprtant factors that technology has to offer in an ecucational context. Using blogging as a way for students to reflect on a lesson, or as a mode of cooperative learning will most definitely be used in my classroom, and should be included in ALL classrooms. With all that technology has to offer, there is no reason that a capable educator should NOT be able to find a way to incorporate it into a majority of his or her lessons.
Check out these links for a laugh or two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIiZ6_yGm6M
http://cyn-thenutshell.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-funnies.html
And check this out for an awesome blogging lesson plan idea that I have actually used in a classroom and the kids love it!:
http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/12/27/blogging-lesson-plan-writing/
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