Thus far, I have found many things useful in the MD 400 course. I enjoyed working with Inspiration, and Windows Movie maker the most. I was pleasantly suprised how easy the aforementioned two technology were to use. I however, do not like working with Photoshop at all. I find the Photoshop software to be too involved and I really do not think that most students at the elementary level will learn to master this product in the short amount of time they will probably have to use it. In other words, I wish theat we could have used the time spent on Photoshop for something else more useful to the classroom.
In addition, i think that all members of the class should be creating their websites in the same manner. I think it is grossly unfair to have some students use Google while others are to create the site from scratch. The whole class should have been allotted space on the university server so that all could upload their own pages as opposed to using a tool like Google Sites.
My hope for the remainder of the semester is that we use products that are easy for all levels of students to use, as I am in the Elem. Ed. program and I think a lot of students in this age range might have difficulty using some of the technologies we are dealing with this semester.
Suggestions for the instructor:
1-Have different sections of the class (one section for ED. Tech. majors and a different section for everyone else)
2- Cover less technologies and spend more time on each one studied.
3- Have all students create a website without using templates.
4- Provide university server space for all class members.
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Thank you for your suggestions. The university resources are outside of my control and the decision was made by CN&S to no longer support a web server for students at all since we now are able to create Google sites, but Ed Tech students will need to use their website throughout their program. It is important for Ed Tech students, especially those going into the school media certification area, to have the opportunity to have a class like this with the cross-disciplinary population they will be supporting in their future position.
ReplyDeleteSeveral of your classmates have requested more time on Photoshop, so if this is something you are not interested in we'll see if we can have some options for you. The previous GA was an elementary teacher who had great success with Photoshop with her young students, actually! You may have more use of it as a tool to create materials for your classroom rather than a student activity.
Glad you are enjoying Movie Maker, I am looking forward to seeing your digital story!