Building a Professional Newsletter

EDLD 5366 introduced me to a variety of graphic design options, but the centerpiece of the course was the professional newsletter.  Because I have had previous experience with Microsoft Publisher, I believed that this assignment would be essentially a review of previously acquired skills.  While I certainly did use my prior experiences, much of this assignment called for a completely new understanding of both design concepts and available applications.  To begin, the introduction into design principles drove me to rethink how I utilized visual impact in my work.  I realized how the concept of ‘less is more’ drove my designs into cleaner, more professional lines.   In the words of graphic designer Roger Parker, “Cluttered, hard to read newsletters, however, discourage readership -- no matter how good the ideas contained inside.” (Parker)   

     Included in the newsletter is a link to the animations that I created as another part of the coursework.  The animation was a fascinating, enjoyable project, but it actually brought me to one of my first hesitations in how I would utilize applications in the classroom.  In my weekly discussion, I described my ambivalence in this way: 

     Similarly, my own efforts at animation and other multimedia projects yield    

     widely varying results based on all manner of factors, including the

     subject matter, my experience with the content, my experience with the  

     software, and the appropriate integration of the technology in the lesson. I

     had a wonderful time plunking around on Scratch, but without a more

     functional working knowledge of trigonometry and operators, I am

     relegated to fairly elementary work at best. It is fun and interactive for me

     and for my fifth-graders, and as such I could work at making it fit into my

     lessons. And yet, at what point am I not truly supporting my curriculum,

     but rather tinkering with technology merely for its own sake? (online course  

     discussion thread) 

I kept these concerns present in my mind as I created my newsletter, in the hopes that I would develop a product that enhanced learning, which is in support of ISTE Standard V. C: “Design, develop, evaluate, and model products created using technology resources to improve and enhance their productivity and professional practice.” (Williamson & Redish, 2009)  While I had a variety of choices, I opted to create a newsletter that would serve a professional audience versus a parent/community stakeholder audience in order to take the assignment in a new direction from my classroom experiences.  I considered my professional audience as I created the various articles and features that would be available in the newsletter with an eye for future editions of the newsletter.  I hope to create at least one newsletter per semester as an exercise in building continuity between issues and in order to offer an ongoing, responsive resource to my faculty.  In that spirit, I plan to offer a survey to my faculty as mentioned by Annette Lamb in her guides to developing and maintaining effective newsletters. (Lamb, 2005)

Works Cited:
Lamb, A. (2005, June). Desktop publishing: evaluating newsletters. Retrieved December 9, 2010, from Eduscapes: http://eduscapes.com/sessions/publishing/evaluating.htm
Parker, R. (n.d.). 12 Most Common Newsletter Design Mistakes. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from Graphic Design & Publishing Center: http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG/Design/newsletter_mistakes/index.html
Williamson, J., & Redish, T. (2009). ISTE's Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What Every K-12 Leader Should Know and Be Able to Do. Washington: International Society for Technology in Education.

Blazing the Oregon Trail: Gaming in Education

Do you remember Oregon Trail?  Oh, how we loved Oregon Trail.  In my childhood, the Oregon Trail software was no less than revolutionary.  Teachers and students alike hailed it as one of the bright spots of educational technology.  When my younger brother was in elementary school, fifth graders across the district competed in an Oregon Trail tournament.  As late as 2001, when I would take my students for some “down time” in the computer lab (code for not keyboarding software or typing a paper on word processing), they would clamor for Oregon Trail.  But here was the dirty little secret of Oregon Trail:  no one was learning anything about the history of the Oregon Trail from the game.  I conducted some VERY informal studies on Oregon Trail during my time teaching fourth grade in the late nineties and early 2000’s to determine how much historical content students gleaned from playing the game.  I administered a pre- and post-test on the material that might have been learned from game play, and my results were quite definitive:  students scored no better as a whole after playing the game for six weeks than they had prior to doing so.  Now, this could have been attributed to design flaws in the game format, a lack of support for the content in my classroom, a mindset of students that the game had no educational value, or a combination of the three.   However, the fact remains that simply offering a gaming environment for curriculum content is inadequate.  Halverson frames the challenge in this way:
      

Simply manipulating the game model to simultaneously develop resources, trade, and defense involves impressive dexterity and cognitive complexity. However, from a schooling perspective, learning to play the game successfully is a different question than what can be learned from the game. Here the question arises about the "real-world" conclusions players can draw from gameplay. Can recognizing the modeled relationships among game variables transfer to insights about theories of socio-cultural interaction?
                

Gaming has come a very long way since the time of Oregon Trail, both in and out of the classroom.  The variety of options is enormous, and the sophistication of the games has increased exponentially.  And yet, the challenges remain the same:  are we picking games that include both engaging format and sound pedagogical standards?  Are we utilizing the game as a part of overall best practices in the classroom?  Are we showing students the curriculum connections?  Can we offer the gaming in a way that is accessible and practical to all students and classrooms?  Without real answers to these real questions gaming, like animation, will continue to be relegated to style over substance in the eyes of many.

Halverson, R. (2005). What can K-12 school leaders learn from video games and gaming? Retrieved from http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=81

The Oregon Trail (1971-1985).  Produced by MECC and distributed by Broderbund

Looking With New Eyes

I should start by informing you that I am not a Kindle person.  I love technology:  I think my choice of master’s degree speaks for itself in that regard.  However, I am addicted to the visceral experience of reading a cherished book:  the whisper of turning pages, the smell of a thousand hands before mine cradling the cover, the vibrancy of illustrations leaping out of imagination.  My computer, my books, and I are locked in a sort of sordid love triangle between love for the old and the new.  What a joy it was to me to find that my graduate coursework, a symbol of embracing the future of media, has asked me to return to the great media of the past to find inspiration.    I had the great pleasure of viewing some of the most spectacular pieces of our history on the British Library’s website, whose “Turning the Pages” program shines by honoring our past through a utilization of the tools of today.  I reviewed three texts: two ancient holy works and one beloved childhood memory. 

My first glimpse into graphic design of the past came in the form of the Lisbon Bible.  Dating from 1482 AD, it incorporates much of what we consider the four principles of design: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.  This classically illuminated Hebrew text features clear, delineated margins and outlines of the textual material highlighted by frontispieces.  Much of the commentary notations are written in what is known as micography, where minute text is used to create graphic designs.  This contrast of text highlights the differences in their purposes while adding visual interest.  The spectacular filigree work done in various colors and even gold work adds even more visual depth to the work.

Next I turned through the virtual pages of the Sultan Baybars’ Magnificent Qur’an, finished in 1306 AD, is an exquisitely lovely manuscript with breathtaking illustrations.  Even at such an early stage, the principles of design are evident in the embedding of text within the frontispiece work and the alignment of text on the pages.  The contrasting colors are used to guide the reader through pronunciation and syntax, and the vibrant illustrations contain repeating patterns which draw the eye. 

Finally, I reviewed one of my favorite stories from childhood, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, known in this original manuscript as “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground” by Lewis Carroll.  While not as vibrant in its style, this manuscript in my mind captures much of what I perceive as intuitive, sophisticated design.  Carroll’s ink illustrations give life to the images of his written words:  words and graphics collaborate, instead of compete as we so often see in modern print and digital media.  In the story of the mouse’s “tail”, Carroll uses a variation of the micography seen in the Lisbon text to create the “bends” and turns that Alice attempts, unsuccessfully, to follow.  Also, as with the other texts, despite having the text hand written, the margins on the text are justified to an astonishing degree of accuracy. 

Thanks to EDLD 5366 and the British Library, I am reminded again of the pure joy of a beautifully created text.  While the Library's application provides unbelievable access to otherwise untouchable artifacts of the past, I found myself craving the pleasure of turning those precious pages and feeling the draw of history.  I’m sorry, e-books:  I’ve fallen in love all over again.

Works Cited:

Alice’s Adventures Under Ground.  Written by Lewis Carroll, England, 1864

Lisbon Hebrew Bible. Calligraphy by Samuel ben Samuel Ibn Musa, Lisbon, Portugal, 1482

Sultan Baybars' Qur'an. Calligraphy by Muhammad ibn al-Wahid, illumination by Muhammad ibn Mubadir and Aydughdi ibn 'Abd Allah al-Badri, Cairo, 1304