An example of visual communication in the classroom.

                                    Word as Image

This test proves that by combining vision with sounds, we can remember things better. Firstly, we were read the words and just listened to them. They were read at a relatively fast pace to match the video. 

We were then tested on how many we could remember. I remembered 11 from this test. 

After watching the video, we did the test again. I scored 23. Over double the amount i had the first time. This test determines if we are a visual learner/ thinker or not. The experiment was carried out as a class and as a result, 22 out of 23 students all had at least 5 more words than the first test. 

I also noticed that 'vampire' was the word i remembered the most, I think this is because it had the colour red in the animation as well as movement relating to the word. Either that or i'm just drawn to vampires!

By visually learning in the classroom using colourful and arty resources such as crayons, felts, paint, play dough and flash cards, Children independently explore the different ways in which they can present pictures and numbers. These tend to be colourful. With a hands on approach, they are developing their cognitive skills and becoming more aware of the different colours that make more of an impact to them.

Acquiring the knowledge of visual communication and how it is useful in your future career...

If you think of a situation where you might apply for a job in teaching, Visual communication can play a key part in how effectively you teach. Think of it as a creative flair swaying the interviewer in your favour as you provide an indulging and imaginative lesson to a class of children, making education fun to learn emotionally, physically but most importantly visually, given the fact our eyes use 70% of our sensory receptors. Visual Communication towards the children will provide a great understanding of the work being taught to them and allow them to remember a great deal more than they would without the added visual treats you add in!!

The use of colour and font in relation to visual communication in primary education...

Did you know that 70% of our sensory receptors in our bodies reside in our eyes. This means our eyes pay most attention things especially when they catch your attention straight away. We don't realise how much we depend on our eyes. We take for granted things that we notice almost instantly. For example, take this sign:

The first thing you will notice is the bold red outline of the triangle. This is because red is a sign of danger or warning so we are instantly drawn to the colour red. You will also notice the big bold exclamation mark which is central to the sign. Imagine if the exclamation mark wasn't bold but thin and italic? It would not stand out as much. This is why we influence primary education with as much big text and colour as possible to ensure the children instantly recognise what is being shown to them. This technique also allows the children to remember a larger capacity of information.

Wiki Spaces.

A Wiki is a useful space where you can share work and have group discussion  with as many people as you want. There is an administrator which determines who joins your group and then it can be used for research and for group discussions on things such as assignments. 

Things such as videos, pod casts, interviews and lots more can be posted on this site and shared immediately with your chosen audience. It is a brilliant way yo keep up to date with work, business plans and even work outside education when in need of your workplace's weekly rota for example.

Making Animations!

During the seminar, we explored the use of animation and discovered how easy it is to create a simple animation in a matter of minutes. Firstly we started with a face changing the shape of its mouth, it was simple and easy to follow so it introduced smoothly into the animation process. After being left to play around with the program a little while, we were given the task to create a catch phrase. Can you Guess mine? no? Thought not... I'm not the best artist in the world but i was aiming for 'Knocking on Heavens Door'.

They are so easy to do, apart from the drawing bit, and so much fun! you can do absolutely anything. Without visual communication we would not be able to do this let alone appreciate the existence of such a program.

Football Hatred.

I don’t like football. I think football players are rude and obnoxious. They are over-paid for what they do considering doctors and nurses are saving lives every day and football players just kick a ball about for fun. I do not consider them as celebrities. Football should be a hobby, not a profession. I also do not like the cannibalism that comes with an over rated game of football, the score is a number at the end of the day, nothing more and nothing less. It does not affect the way in which our lives work or run and it should not affect our relationships with each other. Talking from first-hand experience as a girlfriend of a football follower, it is not nice being second best to football as if takes over a man’s mind. I do however like the way in which WAGS are presented in the media. Being a fashion lover, I like to see how sophisticated they look when representing their husbands at games or social events. Especially WAGs of Liverpool players as they have a distinct fashionable look with amazing hair and makeup. This aspect I do not mind so much.

ABOUT ME.

 

My name is Imogen Lewis and I am 19years of age. I grew up in Llanelli and have practically lived there all my life starting in my first primary school, St Mary's RC primary school in Llanelli where i remained until the end of year 3. After this i attended Swiss Valley Primary School, also in Llanelli, where i stayed until the end of my primary years. I developed an understanding of technology from a young age, especially in my first primary school where we had allocated sessions from year 1 onwards at which we applied our ICT skills to simple tasks such as using Microsoft Paint. It was fun, easy and unforgettable!

I attended St John Lloyds RC comprehensive school for the whole of my time as a secondary school student. At this point, technology had grown again and we were sitting infront of white interactive boards in every classroom and enough computers for every pupil in the classroom. There is a massive difference of the impact of ICT skills in the curriculum between early years and secondary school. Im not sure whether this is based on the schools i attended having lack of resources but technology has grown even more since i lkeft secondary and will continue to keep growing!

 

When we are producing essays and assignments on the computer, it is a useful website to use because it adds colour and fun to your work. It allows us to explore technology within education and make our work more interesting especially when trying to produce work to a younger audience.
Wordle is also a useful tool for scanning through essays because it pulls out the words you written the most so say for example you had written a title explaing you were focusing your study on that, and ended up going off topic which led you to write more about something else than your focused topic, you can see this by copying and pasting it into Wordle. This can be carried out not only by the student but the teacher also!
Another pro of this website is that is can summarise and let you view data which you can choose the layout of to help you visualise it in your preferred way. Its clear, easy to use and you can make it as bright or as plain as you'd like in order to fulfill your educational needs.
One last pro which i find would be useful in lectures is teachers using it as a creative and indulging way of getting students to pay moer attention when going through key words of a topic or things we need ro read/research for the next seminar/lecture.

Web 2 app:Pros and Cons of Instagram.

Instagram is a revolutionary applicatio which is gaining more and more popularity every day across the world. It is an app that you can operate on any device that connects to the internet bu it mostly downloaded from apple and android app stores. Starting with the pros of Instagram, It is easy to use, you can connect to your facebook and twitter accounts to 'Find Friends' and you can instantly upload photos and short video clips. Instagram has vastly developed since it was first introduced to the world of Social Networking. At first you could only upload photos and edit it them with very few pictire transformation options. Over time, Instagram has introduced new layout deisgns to keep it current, it had introduced more picture editing options such as crop, brightness change, contrast, and more transformation options than ever before, but the latest change it has made is the amazing option to record videos whilst being able to stop and start the video to record the only things you want e.g. certain parts of a song.
Some cons of this app is it is mainly designed for mobile phones rather than computers. You can still login and view pictures as well as your profile but you cannot search and you cannot upload on the computer which isnt that good considering not all people use their mobile phones for apps and pictures but still might want a photo sharing database to,l for example, view family living abroad.
Another con which annoys me the most is it forces you to crop your picture even if you dont want it to so you could be missing a head or some feet. Either way, Instagram is a growing necessity and is worth a lot of money so they must be doing something right!

Half an Hour: Blogs in Education

Half an Hour: Blogs in Education: Submission for a forthcoming STRIDE handbook for The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). See related handbooks here . What is...

I chose to review this blog because it contains useful information on blogs explaining what they are and how they are useful for education. He explains they are typically personal journals, which in a sense they are, depending on which way you look at it and what context you are implying in your writing. From reading his blog i have found out that such a thing as a 'blogosphere' which sounds cool. It is merely a connection between blogs where you can view and read lots of other people blogs and post them on your own.

Blogs are used to support teaching and learniing which is why they are so useful in education. THey can provide detailed information and opinions, some based on philosophers and pratitioners of the educational history of the world. As Stephen Downes importantly states, "Blogging also supports digital literacy as the student learns to critically assess and evaluate various online resources.

Stephen Downes, Author of blog.

TEDtalk

http://www.ted.com/talks/sally_kohn_let_s_try_emotional_correctness.html

Sally Kohn: Lets Try Emotional Correctness.
This blog inspired me to because Sally Kohn speaks out and makes a point that we should follow emotional correctness rather than political correctness. How does politics have the right to discriminate and verbally abuse people and victimise them because of their sexuality. These people were born that way, that's who they are and we should regard their emotions and feelings instead of bullying them into political correctness. Who is to say what is correct or incorrect?
Sally says that she get called names, she gets called a man because she has sort hair, people swear at her using vile words all because of political correctness. Its time people realise the emotional correctness in sexuality. Human rights are universal and are there for everybody regardless of their sexuality, race, gender or size.

Say it in seven: Finding a Solution.

 My family started off as normal and in my eyes continued to 'act' normal for about 17years until one day, my family wasn't a family anymore. My mother and father separated. just like that. In just on day my whole life was broken in half. Ripped away from me and I knew that I would never feel the same love again that I had felt over those 17 years. I went through days, months, years of feeling the exact same feeling. That broken feeling. Hoping that one day things might go back to normal. But they never did. I went through hurt, loneliness, depression and recklessness.

I started to miss university not realising my own potential, not focusing on something I've wanted since I was a little girl, following in the same footsteps as my mother. The one thing that got me along was the help and support of the university. They talked to me, helped me and make m understand that I have what it takes. Everyone goes through hurt in their lives, I'm still going through it but I've learnt that focusing your hurt on nothing is as pointless as not living. To live you need to dream and follow your aspirations and in my case, achieve. Its finding a solution that makes you a better person. Now I'm achieving and I have belief in myself and that's all I need.