In Plain English...

...in Plain English are a series of videos, available on YouTube, about pretty much anything that you may need to know about technology.  The video above focuses on Social Networking.  They are fantastic, each of the videos that you watch breakdown, what may originally seem like a complicated topic to explain into simple steps for understanding.  Your Nan doesn't understand what the world wide web is?  No problem!  The World Wide Web in Plain English will explain it all to her in a way that she can grasp.  Its not just for technophobes though, even the more technologically advanced people can benefit from the various videos out there that breakdown the more complex scenarios.

2 Animate - Apple doesn't fall far from the tree

 

During our session on 14 November 2013 we learnt how to create and upload animations to our blog using 2 Animate.  The programme is fairly basic and easy to get a grasp of.  The basic concept of 2animate is enabling you to reproduce images with minor alterations in each frame, thus creating an animation or moving picture, the extent of which is limited only by your artistict talant.  The session was an enjoyable experience and demonstrated the different aspects of the programme that we could use throughout different projects; ranging from basic to advanced.  I will definitely try to use the programme again during my studies and no doubt in my future teaching career.

 

 



 

Embedding Video

During our session with Mandy on 14/11/2013 I learnt how to embed a html link to my blog using code.  Embedding a video is a simple process, once you know how.  When on the website of the picture or video that you would like to embed there will be an option to either embed straight away, or a share option with an embed option within that.  Once you have selected embed a link will appear, copy this link ready for use in your blog.  When you are in your blog select the HTML tab and paste the link.  When you return to compose the picture or video will be there as a live link. 

Once I learnt how to do this I have been using it a great deal, as well as sharing with others the method.  The process is so simple but thelook of your blog will improve tenfold once embedding video or images as it will become increasingly visually appealing.

Mind Mapping

 

Returning to Experience

 

I have created a mind map using bubbl.us to visually document 'Reflection'.  This links in to my previous reflective post dated 11/11/2013 on models of reflection.  Mandy Peace uploaded a task to Moodle asking us to familiarise ourselves with virtual mind mapping and have a go at creating a mind map online.

 

 

Attending to Feelings

 

I found the tool extremely useful and easy to navigate.  I created a mind map on 'Reflective Learning'.  The site had clearly marked tabs to enable me, as a new user, to create this mind map with ease.  The colour coding gave the mind map clear differentiation between categories and I was able to display the mind map in a way that was appealing to me.

 

 

Evaluating the Experience

I will definitely be using bubbl.us for future mind maps as I thought it was a great programme.  In the past when I have created mind maps by hand I have found they are unorganised, hard to read and difficult to digest when returning to them.  The great thing I found with bubbl.us was that I could adjust the layout of the mind map if i wanted to go back and add another bubble, whereas by hand this could have resulted in there not being enough space on the page meaning that the bubble was in the wrong place.  All in all, great tool and I look forward to using it again throughout my studies.

Reflection 11/11/2013

Description:

Over the past couple of weeks I have learnt about 'blogging'; what a blog is, creating a blog and writing practice blog posts. 

I have been tasked with writing a reflective blog to form the assessment criteria for two modules; Visual Communications: Culture and Creativity and Caroline Lewis' assessment of 21^st Century Learning: Theories and Contexts.

I have also read 'Reflective Journals' and  'Reflective Learning' posted to Moodle by Mandy Peace to gain a greater understanding of reflection.  I already have a basic understanding of the Gibbs 1988 model so I will be including this model and comparing it to the other methods discussed in the document

Feelings:

As I have never written a blog before, let alone formally reflected, I have been finding the thought of a 'reflective blog' fairly daunting.  I am also excited to practice these methods and vary my reflective style throughout my degree.

Evaluation:

In my opinion the Dewey (1910, 1933) model over complicated the process of reflection by asking for a possible solution as the first point of the reflection.   Boud, Keogh and Walker's model of reflection is the most logical out of the models documented in 'Reflective Journals'.  I will explore this method in later reflections as I believe I would easily transition from Gibbs 1988 style to the Boud, Keogh and Walker model.  I felt that Kolb's model was less complicated than Dewey, however, the 'watching' element of the model would suggest that this may be a useful method to use when reflecting on an observation.

Analysis:

After reading the Reflective Journals document and considering all of the styles of reflection within the document, I found Gibbs model the easiest and most logical for my thought process in my first formal reflection.

Conclusion:

Although I had a prior knowledge of the Gibb model, I had never formally reflected before today.  I could have used one of the styles documented in the 'Reflection Journals' document for this blog which would have taken me further out of my comfort zone.

Action Plan:

When the opportunity arises again I will use one of the other models of reflection to blog; I may find that I prefer a different style for this type of reflective writing.  The models I will be experimenting with for reflections in the immediate future will include; Boud, Keogh and Walker's, and Kolb's models.