This downloadable document is a very detailed description of each major project in CI 2300 and is counted as the Final Exam. You can click the link in the gray "here" part of the title to go directly to the Google Doc, or download the Word Doc from the file button (smith_d_b_ci_2300-105_final-exam_reflections.docx).
Brief Thoughts on My Experience in the Teaching in the Digital Age course
CI 2300 is Learning and Teaching in the Digital Age. In a time when everyone has a mobile device, be it phone, tablet, laptop, or other awesome gizmo, the desires and need for entertainment, information, and communications are instantaneously met with the aid of the internet. CI 2300 helped me to deeply consider the pros and cons of such an easily accessed form of meda in today's society.
Since the mass distribution of the iPhone in 2007 almost every young person and adult had easy access to a small device capable of meeting communication and entertainment needs on a massive scale. Social networking sites became even more popular. People of all ages and backgrounds began to become more reliant on keeping up with others on social media, playing games within a social network, and gathering quick information through search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, to name a few.
It would seem that with the easy access of the internet for the great majority of people their quality of life would greatly improve. For some, it did, while others found themselves having sleep deprivation, anxiety, and depression. This could be from a feeling of obligation to stay up playing social games, talk with friends, or pulling an all-nighter to get a project done. During the course I was exposed to several videos and articles on how media can be used to teach and influence, and how to analyze media with the nine aspects of media literacy: 1. Know the Author, 2. Purpose and Effect, 3. Audience, 4. Overt Message, 5. Covert Message, 6. Message Meaning, 7. Representation vs. Reality, 8. Context, and 9. Credibility of the source.
As a K-12 Visual Arts Education major I was able to relate these analytical tactics to the way artists are supposed to analyze works: 1. Time Period, 2. Style, 3. Subject Matter, 4. Patron, and 5. Artist. I made a lesson plan using both tactics to analyze Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait. I found that I could relate many skills and the knowledge I had accumulated over the years regarding art and design to the CI 2300 course and Media Literacy.
There are so many ways to communicate besides talking and writing. Visual Media has such a deep impact on our society. It is all around us in the form of television, movies, websites, commercials, cartoons, and other forms of visual art. I have gained a better appreciation understanding for media as a form of art and communications and now feel that I have the confidence to apply my experience in CI 2300 to my own classroom.