Artifact
Description of Artifact
The individual assignments for the Flash Interactive Class scaffolded the skills needed to create an interactive learning system. The topic for the interactive project was up to the student. I chose motion as a topic because I am a science teacher and wanted something that I could use in class. The project shows my ability to control sound, create motion, use quizzes and provide feedback to the user as they complete the motion investigation.
Explanation
This artifact demonstrates my competency in three of the four competency areas.
- Designing learning environments, including systems for direct instruction, constructivist learning, collaborative work, and performance support.
- Developing learning systems applications or components of applications.
- Systematically evaluating a selected artifact.
The purpose of the assignment is to design an interactive learning environment. My assignment follows the constructivist learning theory which is part of designing learning environments, including systems for direct instruction, constructivist learning, collaborative work, and performance support competency. The next competency supported is developing learning systems applications or components of applications. The project uses Adobe Flash CS3 for the animation, PowerPoint for the storyboard, and Microsoft Word for the evaluation reports. The last competency the project addresses is the systematic evaluation of a selected artifact. Each step had evaluation done by either peers in the class or outside users.
Process
The individual projects were accomplished through these steps:
Framework
We used Gagne's Nine Steps to Instruction as a framework to guide our projects.
Roles and Responsibilities
This project was completed as an individual. In this class, students helped each other often with coding and animation questions through the discussion board.
Applications and Programs
- Microsoft Word
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
- Adobe Flash CS3
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Sakai Discussion board
Formative and Summative Evaluation
My final grade in Flash Animation was above average. Dr. Joi Moore's evaluation of each step.
Reflection
My approach to this project was one of a teacher looking to find ways to incorporate Flash into her science classroom. While my focus was to learn Flash to design projects for my students to complete, I also wished to be able to design learning interactions for my students as well. I have a great deal of training in curriculum development and assessment which I tried to incorporate into this project. I felt that I “bit off more than I could chew”. While working on practicing good education pedagogy, I got bogged down in what I tried to accomplish with the project. Meaning, I wanted to do more than I was ready to do with my understanding of Flash. When I scaled back my expectations and re-designed my project to include only working elements, I was proud of the result.
If I had more time, I would attempt to scale up the project to include a section where students picked up objects and designed their own investigations instead of using pre-done movie clips. Plus I would either use a timer to develop a stopwatch for students to time the animation after setting the distance the object travels or reverse the situation for the student to decide how long the animation should run for with a user input and then use the side ruler to measure the distance. I would spend the time necessary to learn XML in order for students to input their data into the project instead of a worksheet and manipulate the data into a graph of their results. Lastly, there would be post questions for students to answer to measure their learning.