OK. here is draft 2. I also posted it in the general discussion forum in oncourse. Blogger makes my image tiny, even when I choose extra large, and if I choose actual size then it displays off the blog's layout and it looks horrible. So, I put a PDF in oncourse that will open at 8.5 x 11. Sorry for the inconvenience.

How to draw a 5 point star is better suited for a job aid than learning outcomes or authentic assessments :(

Ok, so after much thought I have come to the humbling realization that my original two ideas are just not well suited for a job aid. Creating authentic assessments, and how to write learning outcomes are tasks that require more depth of explanation, and a job aid is simply not the solution. For that reason I decided to do something more procedural in nature. Drawing a 5 point star does not require in depth  coverage since it is a simple procedure without much complexity.

I first learned how to do this about 20 years ago when I was perusing a book about "how to draw Islamic patterns". The procedure was so simple that it stuck with me for this long since all I need to remember is that 360 / 5  = 72 (3rd grade arithmetic!), and the rest is just common sense. Even though there are many software apps such as illustrator, inkscape, corel draw, etc., that have a star tool (and thus it is a one step process with software) I decided to do this, because everyone ought to know how to draw a 5 pointed star by hand. Right?  :)

Here is my draft. I remind you, that it is a D.R.A.F.T., but the steps of the procedure are pretty much done, but awaiting feedback for improvement :)

So, here:

Thank you in advance for any feedback!

ricardo

Books vs. video tutorials paradox

I have used Linda.com before and I am overall pleased with the quality of their tutorials. This semester I have used it mostly to brush up on my illustrator, and InDesign.

An exciting new (for me) software product is Adobe Captivate. This last week I spent almost 4 hours watching and re-watching the tutorials on Linda. I really like how the tutorials are structured, and explained, but I think that for any tool there is a moment when what one needs to learn can only be obtained by doing it. This software reminds me a lot of the old Macromedia Director. Going through this process of learning to use Captivate also reminds me of the days when I was learning to use Director. I have to say that I am feeling enthusiastic about this piece of software even though it creates Flash files I think I can get some work arounds to make them accessible (to students with disabilities), and to make the files compatible with iOS devices. I have ordered a couple of books on the subject to supplement the information from Linda. An interesting paradox about my learning behavior I realized this week is that I like to watch videos when I don't have the time to read a book, and alternatively I prefer to go directly to a book's page when I don't have time to watch a video!  :)

IST Conference 2013

It was great to meet everyone at the IST Conference this weekend. I think I speak for all the EdD students who were able to attend when I say that we got a lot out of the meeting with Dr. Brush and Dr. Glazewski. There were some interesting presentations, and it was really nice to meet a lot of the residential students as well. Unfortunatelly I missed the last 2 hours of the conference. I was a little ill (I was just recovering from the flu the day I flew out), and took a nap to sleep it off, and bummer I missed the basket raffle! But I won a mug! OK a scarf, but I traded it for a mug :)

It was also very nice to meet with Dr. Leftwich and Dr. Reigeluth (there were so many nice people to meet I can’t list them all).

Anyway; now that I have made the trip I know how to prepare better, so next time I come by I’ll be well nourished, better-slept, and definitely bring a better jacket  :)

I'm thinking either Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) or Authentic Assessment.

For the job aid I think I'm going to work on one of these two topics since I would end up  with something that would be practical for my work, even if I may have to go through a couple of iterations to get it just right. I actually think that I will eventually end up doing both since I really can use them to help myself explain those things to a few people.

Although knowing these things and how to do them should be bread and butter for those teaching at our college; the reality is that only a handful of faculty work semi-regularly on these things. A majority of faculty work on their SLOs just as the accreditation cycle is about to renew itself. As for assessments; there is a large number (that I am unable to quantify at this moment, but large) of faculty who use publisher's quizzes only to assess student work. To a lesser extent than for SLOs accreditation also seems to get them interested in exploring alternatives to quizzes. 

I am still tossing ideas in my mind about which of these is more feasible and practical to do first. I am also assessing to what extent of preciseness to go into without making it into a book. These concepts/themes are not simple, and therefore require depth of coverage, but I think that for training purposes a job aid could be used to scaffold upwards towards a more comprehensive training.

Any thoughts or comments are welcome and appreciated.

ricardo