EDLD 5366, Week 4, Web Site Collaboration

During week four of EDLD Digital Graphics and Web Design, we had to work in collaborative groups to create an educational website. My group participants were phenomenal! We worked great together and accomplished a very useful website. Check it out!

EDLD 5366, Week 3 Assignment, Animation

This week we had to create an animation with at least 10 or more steps. I created mine using the open source animation software called Stykz. It was a lot of fun, but frustrating at times because it was the first time I had ever made an animation. Although it is a very short animation, I still hope you gain some enjoyment from viewing it.

EDLD 5366, Week 2 Assignment, A Logo Designed by Me!

This is a personal logo that I designed with an educational twist! This was made as a requirement for a technology class I have to have as part of my master's program. I plan on using it on my educational website!

EDLD 5366 Digital Graphics, Animation, and Web Design: A Post for Week 1 - Assignment 1.2

The manuscript that I selected was Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. My first impression of this manuscript was that it was beautifully written. The entire manuscript appeared to be bound in a leather cover with the title printed in gold. This could imply that it was held in high regards. All the print was uniformly written and the spacing was consistent throughout. It is one that I would love to add to my personal library!

I found all four principles of design represented within the works. An example of contrast could be found in the use of the printed page. The print looked like it was in calligraphy with black ink. The letters of the body text were uniform in size and color except for the titles of the chapters. The first letter in the word “chapter” and the number of the chapter were written in large, crimson red calligraphy print. The chapter titles were about ten times as big as the body text. An example of repetition could be seen in the uniform size of letters and they were written very straight horizontally as if a straightedge had been used. Another example of repetition was that a beautiful leaf vine was separating the chapter titles from the body text throughout the entire manuscript. Repetition was also shown in the pictures. They were all sketched in great detail. An alignment example would be that there was even spacing all around the page between the page edge and the print as well as the pictures. All of the smaller pictures were inside a square space along the edges of the page. There were no lines around the drawing, but it was as if someone had measured a square off to the side and the sketch was inside the square fitting perfectly. The print aligned perfectly up to the drawing for the length of the drawing until it could again go across the full width of the page. The example of proximity could be found with these sketches as well. The sketches were aligned to the right or left of the print that mentioned the happenings in the sketches. This gave the reader an ease of looking slightly right or left of the print to focus on the sketch. Another example of proximity was the use of the sketches that covered a whole page. Again, there was perfect alignment with the drawing being in the middle of the page with the exact same space between the drawing and the edge of the page. Except this time, the drawing had an outline in the shape of a rectangle. The sketch took up the entire space within the rectangle outline as if to bring closure to the sketch.

Sharing My Research Findings

At this point in my action research plan, I hope to share my action research plan with my interning principal, assistant principal and the teachers in my school. Sharing the findings of my action research with the teachers is something that I will need to confirm with my administrators on my building. Since this is my first action research project, and I feel very green with the process. My goal is to not only search and process the data that can answer my leading question of whether interactive science notebooks are effective with students’ learning, but to walk away from this experience with new knowledge of how the action research actually works and learning its’ process. This new knowledge is what I want to share with my administrators and teachers. If I can prove my research question with the supporting data that can answer the leading question of my research, then I can share that result with a sense of confidence that I have increased my knowledge and their knowledge as well, which will increase the success of the student. This is one of the most prevalent reasons educators should be conducting research; to help increase student success. On the other hand, if my research falls short of being able to answer the leading research question, then all of the processes and data gathered hopefully will bring about new questions and learning regarding my research. Either way, I am learning and growing as an educator. These shared new learnings might be just enough to intrigue the teachers to think about how and why they are using the interactive science notebooks, which will increase their knowledge and thus, lead to an increase in student success.

Another Action Research Update

I have reviewed the four critical tasks that I used in sharing my action research project, and I want to briefly explain why these tasks will be covered. According to Dana (2009), the first of the four critical tasks is “providing background information” (p.163). It will be important for me to share the background information so that I can tell others why I am intrigued by the topic I chose. I am curious how others feel about my action research topic and what I hope to gain from their insights. The second critical task is “sharing the design of the inquiry (procedures, data collection, and data analysis)” (p. 163). So that I don’t just reflect on what I did, I will include the systematic way of how I performed my action research, and why I chose the particular methods of what I did including the data collection and the analysis of that collection. The third critical task is dealing with “stating the learning and supporting the statements with data” (pg. 163). This is where I will prove my case or build my argument. I will need to support the findings by providing the evidence from my data. I will use as much data as possible so that I have a running record of evidence to support my statements from my learning. The more sources I have, the stronger my case becomes. The fourth and last critical task from Dana (2009) is “providing concluding thoughts” (p. 168). I will need to remember that after I complete my action plan, I may or may not have the answers to the initial questions or leading question of my research. All of my work will not be done in vain, as I will have answers to my questions, or now I will have additional questions and new areas for inquiry towards my research.

References

Dana, Nancy F. (2009). The travelogue: Sharing your work with others. Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher (pp. 135-170). Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin.

Rolling Along with My Action Research Plan (Progress Update)

As a reminder, by action research is researching the effectiveness of the use of student science journals towards student achievement. My action research plan is moving at a slower pace than my internship plan. I have logged many hours into my internship plan hoping to put it on the back burner, so that I could concentrate on my action research plan this summer. I am currently gathering the necessary data to complete my research. I want to do this while school is going on, so that if I run into a problem, I have the support of my school staff and administrators to help me. As I gather the data, I am formatting it into charts and graphs where the data can easily be compared. This summer, I will apply this data to my action research paper. I have established the selection of the bilingual and monolingual students that I will use in my research. I have already gathered the district benchmarks in science for the participating students from the school year 2011-2012. I have gathered the district benchmarks in science for this year 2012-2013 and am up to date with those results. I have copied the organizational skills used in the students science journals and will continue to gather more samples from this year towards the end of the year. I am researching on the web trying to find as much research as I can that pertains to my action research. I have found several good sources like foss.org and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) as a couple of examples. The NSTA has some great articles concerning the use of science notebooks and has documented some of the research that has been developed to study the use of the science notebooks. I have not ran into any obstacles yet, but I know that if I do, I can rely on my administrators, the staff and the professors to redirect me in the right direction.