Digital+Graphics+and+Desktop+Publishing+Course+Overview

If there was a class where I would say I had fun and really got to be creative, I would say this was the class. Coming into this class I was more interested about the assignments than the actual information that I learned being that this was a class that I teach on my school’s campus. However this view quickly changed as I read and learned about Self-Branding, //Blooms Digital Taxonomy// and so on. One of the readings that really stood out was from //Horizon’s Report// on Game-based learning. It was interesting to see the correlation that they found between video games and developing problem solving stills. In ISTE's Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards, it points out that: "today's students not only desire but need engaging, media-rich learning experiences to maximize their learning potential." (Williamson & Redish, 2009, p. 59) One of the activities that I really enjoyed was creating a logo that represented me and I must confess that after it was completed, I used it as wallpaper for my computer and showed it off to my students. I enjoyed that assignment so much that I tweaked it and gave it to my students to do as well. Another assignment that we had to do was to create a newsletter. This was somewhat difficult for me because I never used desktop publishing software before and to complete this assignment I decided to use //Adobe Indesign//. That experience can be best describe as a learning on the fly as I had to use some of that time just to learn how to use this software and then while I was learning I had to create the newsletter that I needed. I must saw that at the conclusion of that week, I was able to create a pretty good looking piece of work and incorporate the design principles that were taught effectively. Each assignment required some form of brainstorming and a vision of what I wanted the end result to look like. All of these assignments allowed me to express myself in other forms than just writing. I was able to place myself in my students' position of experiencing the joys of a successful creative process.

Brainard, S. (2006). A Design Manuel (4th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall

Johnson, L., Smith, R., & Haywood, K.. (2010). 2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium

Williamson, J & Redish, T. (2009). ISTE's Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology Education.