Reflections on EDLD 5366

I was involved with coursework for EDLD 5366 Digital Graphics in October and November of 2009. This course began with a brief examination of the history and development of graphic communication, and continued with scrutinizing ways to employ desktop computing to create a variety of publications and graphic designs in different formats and media. In this course I learned about the history of graphic communication being writing and drawing. I also learned and also how the current age is a continuation of 5000 years of human development in communication through graphics. I honed my skills in evaluating digital communication products.

While learning about design qualities we discussed the basic four principals implicitly abbreviated as “CRAP” which are contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity (Yearwood, 2009, pg. 8). Contrast refers to difference of size, shape, or color used in graphic elements. Repetition is not a positive aspect in text but with design elements repetition is a positive element. Alignment is a vital graphic component. Alignment is essential for the overall aesthetics of a product. Proximity is important so that the audience is not forced to seek important information within a final product. After learning about the four essentials of design qualities we learned about the importance of creating rubrics when assigning graphics for projects. Our final product for the course was newsletter and we needed to organize a rubric for which we were to be graded upon. It was difficult to create a rubric for a graphics class on a newsletter. I wanted to create a rubric similar to the ones I utilize with my students that focus on the content more than the aesthetics. While creating my rubric I could not bring myself to making content less than fifty percent of my grade. I decided to make the other fifty percent incumbent upon the graphics.

The newsletter was not a difficult assignment. I create newsletters for my teachers regularly. For this assignment I created a special personal logo. I ensured that all the design qualities we learned in the course were utilized. I used the newsletter as one of the means of communication that semester, also. I always appreciate when an assignment can be used with my teachers or my students.

Another part of EDLD 5366 was a lesson which helped build a basic understanding of animation. Our assignment utilized the online virtual world of Second Life. We were allocated to create our own avatar in Second Life. We had to utilize Linden scripting language. Our assignment that week was to create a simple script describing how we used the language to animate our avatar through the scripting portal. This was probably one of the hardest parts of the whole class. In the Animation and Serious Gaming lecture, Yearwood expressed"[Massive multi-player simulation] games will affect not only the educational process by conditioning students towards expectations for content delivery, but they will also affect serious areas such as global politics” (2009, pg.4). Before this class, I had only used Second Life a couple of times and had never tried scripting. Dr. Yearwood was savvy in giving us this difficult assignment. I had to dig into the scripting world and find ways to be successful in this assignment. It helped us gain the knowledge in searching out scripting language and to understand the level of difficulty involved in animation. We must consider the possibility of utilizing virtual distance with animation tools for as a possibility for the future of education. "Virtual distance is the perceived distance between two or more individuals, groups or organizations, when their primary method of communication and coordination is electronic" (Sobel-Lojewski, 2007, pg. 41). As educators, we have an obligation to stay abreast of current trends to help engage our students.  

References:

Sobel-Lojewski, K. (2007). The collapsing corporation and the rise of virtual distance. In Russell M. G. (Ed.), Building effective virtual teams: Tools, techniques, best practices and gotcha's from creating and leading distributed teams (pp. 1-71). Palo Alto, California: Media X at Stanford University.

Yearwood, J. (2009, October). Animation and Serious Gaming: Lecture 4.4. Lecture conducted from Lamar University, Beaumont, TX.

Yearwood, J. (2009, October). The Newsletter: Lecture 3.3. Lecture conducted from Lamar University, Beaumont, TX.