Final Reflection: MEDT 7490

Sarah James

Contact information: james.sarah@fcboe.org

July 12, 2022

I feel as though I learned so many things throughout this course. The concept of digital literacy is so fascinating to me. I learned technical terminology such as dual coding. This concept is something that I was utilizing in my classroom without even realizing it. However, now that I know the science behind how the brain processes visual information, I am going to be a stronger teacher so that I can implement these strategies into all of the things that I create for my students. I also have a new respect for visual and media literacy specialists. The assignments that dealt with photography, analyzing photos, and sequencing photos really made an impact on me. I had always utilized photo analysis in my classroom, but these assignments allowed me to go more in depth. Now, when I am watching a commercial or viewing a photograph, I think about all of the concepts that are shown in the media.

The issues I have discovered about visual and media literacy is that there are so many copyright issues that are being dealt with in our world. With everything so accessible, I feel as though users forget to give credit when credit is due. I also have discovered the issue that white space is indeed, not my enemy. So often, things that are created for school use or professional use, I notice are very busy and not aligned to the principles we have learned in this class.

I hope to apply the elements and principles of design in all of my creations. I now have more intentionality when I make something for student use. I also hope to apply de-coding images in my classroom. I want to allow students to create their own sequence and have their peers decode the story that is being portrayed through the photographs. Lastly, I hope to apply the concept of working with colleagues as a helper. The last assignment really allowed me to assist a coworker with her needs. I enjoyed being able to listen to her students’ struggles and create something that could potentially benefit her and her classroom. Moving forward, I would like to do that more often.

From my initial perspective to my final perspective, the importance differences I notice are that I had no clue how scientific images truly were. When I read the course name, I was excited because this topic has always interested me. I also knew that we would be creating a lot of things because I had taken a class with you before this. The main difference was that we not only were allowed to create our own products, but we were also able to read and view other people’s work so that we could identify the things that we were currently studying.

The most challenging issue with this course was the final assignment during the summer session. I was very fortunate to have a colleague that was currently working with students at the moment. I know I could have created a packet for potential and future students, but it was easier when I knew specific students were struggling with the content. Having any course in the summer can be challenging, but overall, this course was very well paced and manageable.

I enjoyed the project-based abilities in this course. Your course structure always allows for creation. I learned best when I actually do something. For example, we read a lot of interesting texts and viewed interesting videos. However, you always gave us a chance to apply what we learned through the creation of something that I could use in my classroom. I really enjoyed going through previously designed course materials and re-designing them. When I was going through my Google Drive, I did not realize how badly some of my content needs to be re-created so that it is more appealing to my learners.

The only suggestion I have for this course to be better is for it to be required in an early semester in the program. I took it in the last semester of my program in which I was creating the portfolio. Due to the nature of this course, so many of my artifacts for my portfolio could have been used from assignments I completed in this class. Otherwise, I would change nothing about this course! I have fully enjoyed it and will continue to apply what I have learned in my professional experience.