Blog #7

Blog #7: Reflection 

How can the principles of design guide your decision making as you continually evaluate your multimedia montage project?

The principles of design determine my decision making for  my MMP. For example, any videos that I add to support students in their learning will require adherence to a lot of the principles to appeal to my students as I present this material to them. The Addie model played heavily in my planning in helping me decide what objectives  to focus on in my project as well as the steps to build my project so far. I especially took into account the analysis questions presented in the video about the addie model in week 2 readings. I weighed heavily on the idea of who my audience was, what their learning style might be, and the characteristics of the learning environment. I decided to focus on students in early elementary because the topic I chose is rarely introduced to such a young age of learners. Also, I took into account the various learning styles by presenting different learning experiences in my classroom for students to really explore the topic of discussion which is coding.  I also took into account the e-learning environment that I was creating. Since it is  heavily dependent on students, I had to really consider how to engage them in the media. A lot of the presentation of the information is heavily dependent on the rules of design which was presented in week 3. I found that I had to consider color across the classroom so my students would be engaged. Since my target audience is early elementary, I focused on heavily on how important color is for them. I restricted the website to colors that would appeal to a younger audience.  

What were some of the most interesting discoveries I made while working on this project? About the problem? About myself? About others?

I learned so much about the representation of coding in the classroom and how to present it to such a younger audience. A lot of the challenges that I faced were breaking down the material found in scratch for younger learners. I learned a lot about myself as an future educator especially with regards to the content and how I present it to younger learners. I learned so much about the way to reach learners in an online environment from a lot of the community discussions that I participated in. I found how to reach students with interdisciplinary content as well as how to tailor this to ELL students who might be in the classroom as well. It really helped me learn about how to change the approach depending upon the student and how to meet the learners needs while introducing them to coding. It also allowed me to evaluate literacy quite closely.  

How do I feel my solution relates to real-world situations and problems? What most got in the way of my progress, if anything?

I think this relates quite closely to the elementary school dilemma which is how to introduce everything in such a short amount of time. Most of the time students only get exposure to literacy or math only. Rarely do they get any exposure to coding or technology unless they are given a class that introduces them to it. In some cases, technology, science, and social studies are always the first that are cut when time is needed for something else. I recall in my student teaching, the school I was at had a technology teacher for a week who then quit leaving the students with no technology. A substitute was placed in his place that rarely appeared to teach the material. So students never got the exposure to technology especially since my cooperating teacher was afraid of technology. This platform that I am creating will help teachers introduce technology in the classroom while teaching main concepts such as literacy and math. It is a great opportunity for educators to incorporate technology, specifically coding, into the classroom without the constant struggle for time.  The only thing that I found got in my way was looking for resources for the younger age group that I chose to focus on. A lot of the content is too advanced for such young learners, so I really had to hunt for material that could support such younger learners.