Inspiration (Week 5-6 Design)

This is one of the things that we have been doing for the last couple of days, in order to complete the design stage. First of all, we had to create a wikispaces account, so that we could begin the process. Our first task was to make up a plan for our digital portfolios. In order to do this, we needed to use a software, called Inspiration, so that our plans could be clear and easy to read. The plan basically looks like a mind map, and it represents all of the things that are going to be placed on the digital portfolio. First of all, I started off with a wikispace site, and I used the biggest circle to represent that since that is the most important part. After I explored on how to use the inspiration software, I found out that you could be creative and could use other pictures to represent the subject that you are trying to show. For example, for the community and service section I didnt use a boring old round box that was available on inspiration. I went onto the internet, and got a picture of the Earth, since that is what you could link to the subject of community and service. I also used smiley faces for the subjects that I am planning to lay out on my digital portfolio. These smiley faces made the mind map look more lively, and funny as well! After I completed my mindmap, I uploaded onto my wikispace, since that is what we will be using for the next couple of classes. I am happy that I completed this task in one lesson!

March 12th, 2008

Today we were asked to create our own wikispaces in class. This is the first step to creating our project. The computers were having some technical problems once again, so it took me some time to catch up with the class and create my own wikispace. The name of my wikispace is "xpolkdaotx". I usually use the same name for every account that I am making in IT because it gets quite confusing since we have so many different accounts in IT now. After creating our wikispace, we had to begin the task that was gievn to us. The task was to create a rubric that you could use when grading a digital portfolio. The different criteria were given to us by Mrs. Lindsay, where the lowest was "poor", middle "satisfactory", and the highest being "good". The rubric that I created consisted of 7 different criterias. I chose what I would use for my criterias. The different criterias I used were: Content, Organization, Font and colors, Page layout, Spelling and grammar, and Navigation. I made a table with all of these criterias, and then I wrote about how each criteria meant if it was in the, poor, middle, satisfactory, or good section. I described breifly how it could fit into each level. I completed this task on time, which was good because I got extra time to explore the wikispaces site.

March 5th, 2008

Today was another IT lesson with Mrs. Lindsay. Like everytime we learn something new, which we have to use later on for the future work. Today was a lesson where everyone had to catch up with the tasks that we had to complete because a lot of people were behind. I completed all the tasks that were asked to complete this class, so now I am not behind the class. Mrs. Lindsay taught us today how to Print+Screen a page. We basically just have to print screen the page and then add that information onto the web page that we wish to add it on to. After print screening the page, you have to open up a paint page and paste it on to there. Then you crop the picture out as much as you want it and then save it as a .jpg file. I tried using this new technique today on my blogger, however, it did not work out for some technical problems that the computers were having this class. I wished to add more detail onto some of my blogposts however the print screening did not work out. SInce it does not work at school, I will try to put in the extra detail at home for homework. Mrs. Lindsay told us that if we put screen shots onto our blogposts then the page will look more attractive and it will also be more interesting for the reader to read!

Task 2: Digitial Portfolio

- What are the three important features of a digital portfolio?

There are many important features of a digital porfolio. First of all, it is a goal-driven, organized collection of artefacts and reflections that are used to demonstrate a change of skills and knowledge over time. This is important because it shows the evidence of a students knowledge, and it also makes it easier for teachers to grade students work this way.

Another important feature of a digital portfolio is that it gives you a collection and series of a students work that they have completed over time. It is basically like a year book, telling you the students accomplishments throughout the task that was given. The porfolios also give you a wide range of their work. When you create your digital portfolio, the information that is given on it basically demonstrates the students learning skills, and what their understanding was like over time. Digital portfolios are not like the grades that you get in school and achieve, it is all about what you have learned and put onto your portfolio, and by the end of the process showing the teacher what you have achieved throughout this process.

Lastly, the portfolios allow teachers and your other classmates to see what you have learned and how you have improved your learning skills throughout the course. These digital portfolios are different from getting back test scores, because of the fact that it shows the teacher how you improve your learning skills almost everyday. Portfolios that have a lot of information on them shows the growth of a students knowledge and overall what knowledge they have gained by the end of it.

- List one advantage and one disadvantage of a digital portfolio.

There are many advantages when using a digital portfolio. One of these advantages are technology. This is because nowadays, technology is used the most to communicate. On digital protfolios, students can always include slideshows, and other multimedia videos through their portfolio. By using digital portfolios, this will also increase their knowledge on computers and technology which is very important these days because of the fact that most of the communication that is done with other people is used with technology. This will even improve your mistakes when using digital portfolios in the future because of everything that you learn in your first experience. This is just one of the advantages of using digital portfolios, there are many more!

There are also many disadvantages when it comes to using digital portoflios. One disadvntage of using a digital portfolio is plagiarism. This is because of the fact that anything you put onto the internet these days, could easily be copied and pasted onto another persons account. Since you put your information up in digital format, it is always eas to view this information on the internet, and can always get copied by another person using a digital portfolio. This is a big disadvantage because plagiarism is very common these days since a lot of information is so open on the internet. Students should always be careful with their digital portoflios and work, if they dont want it getting plagiarized by other people using the same websites and same type of digital portfolios. To be on the safe side when using digital portfolios, I think it is always a good idea to put yours on private, so that no one can view your portfolio, and this will prevent it from getting plagiarized.

- find a student digital portfolio that you like, hyperlink the URL and describe the strengths and weaknesses of this portfolio

I liked a digital portfolio by a student called Melissa Woodward. The hyperlink to her digital portfolio is is http://students.oswego.org/HOF/mwoodwar/. The digital portfolio overall, is very good and it is a great example for others to view when making their own digital porfolio. The digtial portfolio has many strengths, however there are many weaknesses as well. One of the strengths that she has is that the layout of the portfolio is very well set. This is because it is quite original and it is very eye catchy as well. The navigation buttons look like blobs of paint squirted out of a bottle which look really cool. One her homepage, her full name shows up. The font she has used is very uniqe and creative. This is because it is very different from the others because it blinks and flashes, rather than boring old text that is not attractive at all. When you enter the digital portfolio, you will find it really cool because her name first of all catches your attention, so that means that the rest of her digital portfolio would be amazing, since the homepage is just the beginning. The color of her font is nice as well. This is because it stands out and it isnt hidden. She has a good sense of choosing the right color, because it matches with the background which is black, and really stands out as well. As you click on the different navigation buttons, they take you to a diffrent page and give you a new set of information. When I will be making my digital portfolio, I now know that I should be original, because it looks very attractive for the viewers. With all these strengths, there are also many weaknesses that Melissa has on her digital portfolio. One of these weaknesses is that she doesnt display that much information about her project on her digital portfolio. Most of the pages are quite blank, and dont have that much information displayed on them. She should improve this because the point of a digital portfolio is to show others how you imporved over time when doing the project. By viewing this digital portfolio, I now have some tips that I will be sure to use for the future when creating my own portfolio.

My animoto video

The advantages of Animoto

This lesson, we were introduced to a new website called animoto. From this website I learned many things. I learned that this is a great website that can be used as a photoalbum basically, where you can put up your pictures, by simply uploading them. In order to create a video, you just have to upload some pictures, choose your music and let the website create your video! It is really easy to use, and fun as well. There were selections of music that were given to us, but we could also upload our own music, which would take a few extra minutes. Another thing that Mrs. Lindsay taught us about this website is that you can embed your video onto different wesites. The animoto video can even be added to your blogger, however, I havent done that yet, and Mrs. Lindsay hasnt told us to do so. Only a limited amount of pictures can be added onto the thirty second video, because if you end up adding too many, then it will automatically delete some,because in order to create longer videos, you have to payfor it when signing up. So I chose the pictures that were some of my favorites, and were random memories, and added them onto my animoto video. The advantages of using animoto when it comes to communication is that you can communicate with family and friends that might be living far away from you. This is because you just simply have to upload pictures, and the animoto website creates the video for you. This is an advantage because usually when you try emailing your family and freinds some photos it takes quite a long time to attach each file with the email. The animoto videos are also very creative and fun to watch! There are many effects that go on in the video when playing, and music also plays in the background. All these positive things can catch everyone's attention. These things can also make it more fun to look at, rather than just looking at pictures themselves. Usng animoto can also be an advantage for education. If we are doing a project in school where pictures are needed, then animoto can surely be used. For example, if you are doing a DT project, then you always need to have a few pictures for the process journal and the create stage. We can always refer back to the animoto website, upload our pictures here and use it for the project. From using this for projects, teachers will also be impressed with our knowledge of using creative websites for pictures.

Third IT lesson

Today was our third IT lesson. Today's class didn't go so well because everyone was having difficulties with wroking their computers. Nobody could access www.blogger.com or www.delicious.com, so we couldnt continue the investigation that we were doing, continue our work, or write a process journal for the day. The technician was trying to fix everyone's accounts, however, no luck! Since we couldnt get any work done, Mrs. Lindsay introduced us to a website called www.animoto.com. This website is where you can make slideshows of your pictures just by simply uploading them, and also adding music in the background. Mrs. Lindsay showed us a couple examples of her slideshows that she made, and they looked really cool. AFter showing us, she sent us back to our seats so that we could create an account on this website, and create one of our own slideshows with a maximum of 15 photos, as a starter. Mrs. Lindsay suggested us to create the 30 second slideshow, because if you decide to create a longer one, they charge you. So I went onto the website, and started creating my first slideshow on animoto. Since I didnt have any pictures on my account, I went onto facebook and got some from there. You simply just have to follow step by step in order to create your slide show. You first choose your pictures and upload them onto the website. Then you have to choose your music to go with it. The music I chose was quite nice. Then the next part takes a long time. You have to wait for the slideshow to actually get created. I ran out of time this class, so I didnt get to fully create my slideshow. Hopefully I will get a chance to next class.