Emma's Corner

Throughout the past semester in this class, I’ve been engaged in many assignments and lessons i’ve never experienced prior. I have learned many things from the large variety of online platforms to tell stories through video and images. These platforms i have never used, only being comfortable in Microsoft Office and Powerpoint. I know that if I were myself 5 months ago, I would be extremely nervous to record my voice on something others would watch. This fact that I knew beforehand I would need to become comfortable with, especially in the field of teaching. I would say this is my greatest growth, not being held back in my creativity in projects, showing my personality and how much potential I really have. What surprised me most, is that I never knew I could become so comfortable with editing and storytelling software as easily as I did. Coming into this class I was hesitant that I would struggle with the “technology”, especially the blog creation. Having no prior knowledge, being able to jump right into making everything exactly how I wanted it so quickly was revealing of my strengths.

When it comes to what caused me the most trouble, it would be coming up with new ideas for the continuous storytelling assignments. They all seemed very repetitive to me, so it felt like I couldn’t come up with news ways to make them different. Something that came easily to me in this class was navigating the softwares used for the assignments. I found that it only took me a couple minutes to become comfortable with how each one worked, and the limitation each one had and didn’t have.

In regard to my work, i’m conflicted on the idea if it improved or not. I definitely feel as though I went a little down hill during the past couple of weeks, and I would have to say I felt more confident in the beginning of the semester. However, I do know that I felt more comfortable in what the assignments were asking me to do. It’s not as though I didn’t try on the assignments, but if there was a cause for this feeling, it’s most likely the anticipation of the end of the semester, and wanting to just have the assignments be completed. This does make feel a little disappointed in myself, because I know that I have more potential to put myself completely in everything I do. I will definitely remember the beneficial programs we used, many of which I can see myself using in my classroom in the future.

This course type was a completely new experience, and I am very grateful to be exposed to the technologies and topics we covered, because I feel as though I learned a great deal about my potentials and strengths in creativity and thought.

https://spark.adobe.com/video/WRCmxwd9DxogE

I decided to create my final project on the issue of plagiarism and digital cheating. This topic is very important as many consequences involve severe legal decisions. I used Adobe Spark for the creation of my video, and found it to be a very simple, although long process. I had a lot of fun putting everything I learned throughout the semester into one last project, and I hope you enjoy!

https://spark.adobe.com/video/mPowSZkTGW0d3

https://www.powtoon.com/embed/c8TaJ7Z1wmH/

This infographic gives a brief description of the Bitcoin phenomena that is being used all around the world. To explain the basic function of Bitcoin and what purpose it serves, I outlined its benefits, and the features it includes that contrasts to any other currency currently being used. I went for a simple design that was straight to the point, and easy to read, but still allowed for the information included to be appropriate for the assignment.

After listening to a former USF student Emily’s story about her identity online being used, I reflected on the experience by answering these questions…

1. What are your reactions to her story?

During the video as Emily was telling her story, It wasn’t surprising to hear that something like what happened to her went on. I watch a lot of “Catfish” on MTV so these types of stories are very familiar to me. However, one thing that shocked me about Emily’s story, in particular, is the fact that “Courtney” was using cancer and chemotherapy to manipulate people she came across. I guess you just don’t think that there are people out there that would use such extreme stories and tactics to trick people, but stories such as this really shed light on the amount of manipulation there is online and in the world.   

  2. What did you learn from her story?

While I have already been aware of my use of Facebook and Instagram, and not sharing too much personal information that people can use, I have not been so smart when it comes to who I friend or let follow me. Hearing Emily explain who she befriends on these social media accounts opened my eyes to where from now on, I’m going to be more careful about who I friend and give access to. Her statement regarding how she will only friend those who she has conversations with in real life and not a stranger who she may happen to have a couple of mutual friends with is something that I will start following. I also learned from Emily’s story that this situation can happen to absolutely anyone. Emily said to herself that she never thought it would happen to her, but then her neighbor used her identity for 2 years!

3. How might you use this story to inform your life or that of others?

I am the older sister to twin 11-year-old girls and I am very protective of them. I find myself giving them advice about so many things regarding talking to strangers on the Xbox, or what to do if they get kidnapped, and other situations like that. It’s only recently that they are starting to get into the whole social media world with TikTok accounts and Instagrams. After hearing Emily’s story I feel like telling them what not to do online, and the amount of information they share would be very beneficial to help prevent something like this happening to them.

This weeks assignment was to paraphrase a given text using the CHoMp method. This method is a great way to eliminate any unintentional plagiarism. In this post is the final paraphrased version of the text.

Pedaste, M., Mäeots, M., Siiman, L.A., de Jong, T., van Riesen, S.A.N., Kamp, E.T., Manoli, C.C., Zacharia, Z.C., & Tsourlidaki, E. (2015). Phases of inquiry-based learning: Definitions and the inquiry cycle. Educational Research Review, 14, 47-61. doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2015.02.003.

The Inquiry Cycle is a popular teaching technique within schools, however, we are beginning to see it used in other areas of work. Because of this, the Inquiry Cycle is continuously improving with the technology developments that move it along. When it is used, there is a general “framework” that includes phases from the first step to the last step to make the cycle systematic. These phases include Orientation, Conceptualization, Investigation, Conclusion, and Discussion. Often times, these phases are organized deeper into sub-phases. Since the Inquiry Cycle is used in more ways other than teaching, there are many different frameworks that may or may not include each phase. Some of them may even be in a different order, however, the Discussion phase is most likely present at all times as it connects all of the other phases together.

Visit this link the view the Thinglink in full.

When creating my comic strip about the ARCS Model of Motivation, I wanted it to be something that introduces the model as a whole. Since the first step in the model is “Attention” I wanted my comic to revolve around that. The comic depicts a teacher overhearing two students discussing their disinterest in past lessons, and possibly the upcoming one. The teacher gets to thinking about what she can do to get the students motivated about fractions. In the end, she comes up with the idea to use chocolate bars as a model for fractions, to pique their interest with an object they like.

Having never used an online comic creator before, I think ToonDoo was a very simple tool. It did not take long for me to understand the mechanics and what everything does. However, unless I need to make a comic for another assignment in the future, or possibly use it in my classroom someday, I probably won’t use it again.

I think the usage of comics in the classroom is a fun way to get students attention. There are many ways to make them humorous and connect to what you want them to learn at the same time. I know that while I was in school, there was a teacher of mine who loved to used comics to convey a point that connected to our lesson, and it helped give new insight on the topic.