I have learned how twitter can actually be useful. When I first signed up for twitter when it was all the rave I thought it was cool. That quickly wore off and I stopped using twitter. I recently had to res-erect my twitter account for use in one of my courses in graduate school. We had to give a tour of a theorist of our choice through direct messaging a group twitter account that our instructor created. I thought twitter was just for stalking people without actually following them from place to place in real life. Silly me. Doing the tour was very fun in the end. It was difficult to cut down what I wanted to say in just 140 characters per tweet, but I manged after a few initial tries. It wasn’t easy for a wordy person like myself, but I am a better person for trying something new and learning how to sculpt a non-useful tool, in my mind, into a useful fun adventure. I not only learned something new about a tool, but I also learned a little about myself. I learned that I should give things a second chance, because you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, even though a lot of us do that every day of our lives.

I have been reading about Marc Prensky and his theories on how to reform education and the whole learning process. Marc Prensky wants to reform the learning process by creating digital learning tools such as video games and simulators to teach the current and future students. He wants to leave the slow, step-by-step procedures in the past and jump into the future with an all new way of learning, because the students of today are amerced in the light of technology and it should be helping them learn. While reading I found out that other people are also developing games to teach people about different subjects like math and engineering. The concept has also been implemented for learning new software like CAD. Before reading about Marc Prensky I didn’t think anything like this was possible. I am a very avid gamer on my XBOX 360 and love to play video games from first person shooters, rpgs and racing games for countless hours. Ever since the start of graduate school those hours have dropped significantly, but no sacrifice no reward I have heard. I love the idea of video games teaching students how to learn different aspects of life. I remember for me school was kind of boring. I caught on pretty quick to different subjects, more so than others. For the ones I did need help with playing a video game about it would make it actually fun to learn about. I already played video games, so why not video games that actually teach me something rather than just getting first in racing games or killing people in war type scenarios. I totally love the idea and can’t wait to amerce myself deeper into the theories of Marc Prensky and how he is going to change the world of education and how students learn.

On the elearnspace website they have an article named, “Reorganizing for the environment.” I was reading the article and I was so surprised when I finished it. I mean for me I take all my courses online and email countless things back and forth and use wikis and seem like BGSU is on the cutting edge. Then reading an article like this and seeing how many universities are lagging behind still actually mailing information to students is just crazy and out of this world!! I mean it is just so unreal that not every university and educator is adopting brand new technology that is not only fun and exciting to use, but also very beneficial to their students as well. I mean email vs mail is such a simple answer to most everyone. I mean there are some things that need to be mailed, like some products and such, but information is something that is needed now and should be emailed. Email is instant. Especially for the students, they needed the information to get online and start their class, but are able to, because someone has not adopted the beauty of email. It just goes to show you that some people are afraid to step into the light of technology. I know for me email is crucial. I wouldn’t be able to get by each day without countless emails I receive with crucial pieces of information. Technology is beautiful and very helpful and some people take it for granted sometimes. We need to stop and just take a minute to give technology a hand, because without it the world would be a boring and SLOW place to live in.

Evaluating Interactive Multimedia

The attributes I feel that are most crucial when evaluating a module would be ease of use and navigation, the overall look of the module or the aesthetics and the overall degree of content and quality. The most important aspect of a module for me would be ease of use and navigation. It doesn’t matter if you have a lot of content or minimal content. It doesn’t matter if the content is on English and Math or complex Biology and Microphysics. If users can’t get around the module they can’t learn from the material. If they can’t learn from the material they will not use the module. If they do not use the module then all that time and money creating the module was wasted. The users need to be able to get to the information they want as quickly and as effectively as they can. For me being able to navigate a module, a website or anything else is key to being a success.

DNA from the beginning Evaluation

The overall look of the module is very clean and simple. The module navigation was a little tricky to figure out in the beginning. At first I was stumped, because I thought the only navigation was at the bottom and wasn’t sure where the rest of the content was. I then noticed the links to the right and clicked on number two for the second chunk of data of genetics. I prefer my navigation to be all in one spot for easier access. Maybe have two more navigation buttons on the bottom on the page, one a left arrow and one a right arrow to scroll through the different chunks of data. I don’t feel that the user could get lost easily or trapped anywhere with all of the links to each page on the right.

The information presented is just about the right size to be able to retain it successfully. There isn’t too much data where the audience will get information overload and not too little data where they will be asking for more. I like how they go more in-depth into each data chuck by going into different media rather than just more text. They provide animation, pictures, audio, video and also an interaction portion to keep the audience engaged the whole way through. All the graphics in the module are interesting to look at and relate to the topics at hand.

The overall aesthetics of the site are lacking. The module is crowded and just seems smashed together. The right navigation bar doesn’t even look to be part of the module. The colors are pretty drape and neutral for the most part. I would have expected more with all the colorful and interesting graphics through out the module.

MecMovies Evaluation

The content of this module wouldn’t be taught anywhere in K-12. The content of this module seems to be more geared towards possible trade schools and intro college courses for engineering or general education courses. It would be something that would be hard to learn, because there are a lot of variables in the content and a lot of different aspects to each variable. The content is pretty basic in retrospect and could defiantly lead into more advanced material. The module presents many different concepts and modules from stress to torsion and bending. The module seems to present the content fairly accurately from what I can tell scanning over each piece.

The module is very simple to use with minimal navigation and everything labeled very well and organized. Everything is laid out just like it should be and makes sense. I tried to get trapped and/or lost within the material and was not successful at all. The module is straightforward and doesn’t need anything else to go along with it, such as technical support or instructions. The content is presented correctly and valid, but not in a fun and exciting way. It is straightforward, which is good to understand it, but boring and would not keep the interest of the user. The module it’s self is not very attractive with the overall aesthetics lacking in beauty and refinement.

Neuroscience for Kids Evaluation

This module doesn’t seem like a module at all to me. It seems more like a website with modules put into it or a collection of modules you could say. There is a lot of content put into this collection. Most of it seems very valid and presents it in an educational way, but the size of the material in this website is very vast. Educators could make a year’s curriculum out of all the information easily if not two or three. The content is broken down into different sections so that they are not difficult to understand for the user. Most sections have visual graphics to help the user understand the data. There is a lot of core curriculum material in the site as well as more advanced material for users that want to go further and more in-depth into any given section. This site would be a huge benefit to any educators using it to enrich their learning assignments for students.

The site is very easy to use with the main navigation buttons on the left hand side of the site all grouped together. These buttons take you to different pages where you have more links to different activities and topics. Navigating pages is very easy and if you get lost they provide a helpful “you are here” navigational tool, so you can scroll back pages very easily so that getting lost is never an issue. During the experiments that I checked out there is not a lot of instructions to eat, everything is straightforward and very easy to figure out. The site spells everything out so no technical support is needed for using the modules.

The site overall is very appealing to look at with a lot of bright colors and cool graphical content. There are charts and diagrams through out the site, but even those are brightly colors and interested to look at. All of the multimedia on the different pages keeps the user hooked to continue on learning and reading more about the different topics that the site has to offer. I wouldn’t say that the site is beautiful, but the site would be considered cute.

For my first journal entry I would like to talk about technology that I am learning about in my courses that are making my life easier. Over the past several days I have been learning new and interesting technology through my studies. I have realized I have been surfing the web on the slow lane for the past few years when there has been tools at the edge of my fingers tips to help me all this time. I troll many technical, gaming, automotive, vector, photo and other websites always looking for new and exciting information and material. I frequently browse a select few of them every day. Every time I visit these sites there has always been a certain symbol or logo on them, that I have always overlooked. It is a small symbol, but bright in color so it does catch the eye every time. I was not totally oblivious to this symbol. I knew what it stood for, but I never knew how it could change my life in an instance.

I recently watched a video on RSS that was put up by my instructor.  After watching the video it was like turning a light on in my head. I had that “duh” moment in my life, where I knew I have been doing something wrong for so long it made me feel so stupid. I also realized in that split second other applications that I could use that one little symbol for. It would be a great tool to teach aspiring photographers, videographers, web designers, and graphic designers to just name a few I personally know that it would benefit. Take for instance the up and coming graphic designers. Teach them how to use RSS and how they can google say different web sites that have free hints, tips, tricks and techniques. They could subscribe to those sites and constantly get new information and material to help them learn to become better and better. This would be a very versatile tool to have in one’s toolbox. Like someone great said one point in time, “give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat forever…” or something like that. I think you get where I am trying to go with this. Here is the link to the video I watched on RSS. It is from a group called Common Craft. They do an excellent job with all their videos. I also just watched a video on Sharepoint, a piece of software I have heard before, but never knew what it did or what it was for. I do know now though thanks to these guys and gals.

http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english