The whole Studio approach is still a bit daunting; it's been a lot of information to take in, especially since I had to miss last night's class because of Curriculum Night at school. I got the notes from a classmate, and it all seems to make sense. I am still overwhelmed, though, at the thought of this semester. I'm not quite sure what tools I need, what Lynda package I should sign up for, etc.
I do, however, have a lead on a project. While I initially wanted to create something I could use in my classroom, I decided to do a project that may serve as an artifact in a job interview for an LSTC position. I talked with my LSTC, and now I'm considering making tutorials for teachers on how to set up their school website. Last year, we launched teacher websites on OnMyCalendar, but over the course of the past year, I've spent hours helping teachers fix various parts of their site or teaching them how to upload documents. The OnMyCalendar site has some design issues, in my opinion, and tends to only be user-friendly if you want to only add text. As Kapor (1996) mentions, programmers need more experience in design to make programs more user-friendly (so you won't want to throw your computer out the window!), and OnMyCalendar seems to be an example of this. Teachers struggle with uploading important documents (homework, newsletters, etc), adding pictures, creating links, and using the calendar. Because I have had this experience of being in the field doing the actual work of the teachers with the websites (and because I've spent time trying to help many of them), I see Moggridge's (2007) point that the people are the important part of design, and taking time to do "observations" can help in the design process. Because I have done these observations and been a part of the field, I should be able to anticipate the needs and concerns of the staff. This type of project will be beneficial to the staff at my school, and I think it would also look great on my resume or in my portfolio in the future. Now I need to decide what program to use, where to host the videos, what videos to make. . . . . .
In other exciting news, my LSTC has invited me to join her at Gwinnett County's Technology Expo in 2 weeks. She knows I'm interested in technology integration (and she's a graduate of our program!), so she invited me to tag along. It'll be a great experience, and I'm so thankful that I have an LSTC so willing to help me advance in this field.
I'm looking forward to a semester full of learning opportunities!
Sarah
Kapor, M. (1996). A software design manifesto. In Winograd, T. (Ed.), Bringing Design to Software (pp. 1-9). New York: Addison-Wesley.
Moggridge, B. (2007). Designing interactions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
