A7.5: Week 7 Reflection

Aims and Objectives:

My goals for this week were:

• To learn more about using Powerpoint.  In my years using Powerpoint I have learned by trial and error so my goal is to learn how to use it better in order to accomplish my work.  I want to become a more efficient user and not take as much time to complete a presentation due to trying to figure out what works.
• To be creative.  I think of myself as an analytical thinker with some creativity but not a lot.  This week we had to write a poem for our MGRP so I wanted to make my poem creative.
• To learn more about photo-visual literacy.  One of our assignments this week was to find information on photo-visual literacy and talk about.  I wanted to express my views on the topic as well in this assignment so I had to attain some knowledge about the topic, in order to write about it.

Declarative Knowledge:

     This week I learned more about Powerpoint and how to use.  I think that I can now use the program with ease to create a presentation.  I learned more about my research project and more about poetry.  I chose an acrostic poem because I thought that it would be fun to do and it didn’t have to rhyme.  I learned that photo-visual literacy is a skill that develops on its own without any coaching but now it is become a part of curriculum.  I really think that this is awesome.  I learned more about my group members and how I could contribute more to our group conversations.

Procedural Knowledge:

   To begin this weeks assignments I went to the class webpage and read the readings.  I also went to my email and logged in to read more of the messages from my mailing list.  When creating my poem I searched the internet for different types of poems by going to Yahoo and typing in poems.  It was there I found a link to acrostic poetry and decided to create this type of poem for my project.  I then wrote down some facts about Broca’s aphasia.  I gathered my thoughts wrote my poem and then came to wordpress and logged in.  Once I logged in I clicked on my dashboard and went to write.  I clicked write page and typed my poem.  When I was finished I clicked post.  To complete the reflection on the group conversation, I went to my email and opened the transcript.  I then looked at the transcript and answered the questions that were given.  Once this was completed I posted it as I normally post.  To complete the photo-visual literacy project, I went to Yahoo and typed in the words.  I then analyzed the information that I found.  I gathered my thoughts and answered the questions.  I finished by posting it to my weblog.

Conditional Knowledge:

     Doing research for Broca’s aphasia is providing me with ample information that I can use as a student and in my future clinical work.  Reflecting on the group conversation really helped me determine how I may be more helpful in a conversation and how sometimes you may have to reread what has been typed in order to understand what a person meant in their comment.  There is no shame is asking for someone to repeat and being aware of what is being said.  This will definitely help me as a clinician.  I think all in all everything that I have learned this week will help me be a better student and a better clinician.

Question:

In our poem’s if we chose to write from the client’s perspective, should we write exactly how they would have written it?

A7.4: Photo-visual Literacy

     Until receiving this assignment I never thought that looking at a picture and understanding the meaning of the picture was a skill, but it is.  This skill is also known as photo-visual literacy.  There are several areas of cognition involved in understanding an image, which include but are not limited to: questioning, personal associations, categorizing, analyzing, speculating, and fact finding.  The complexity of the picture will vary so the cognitive skills involved in interpreting the meaning of the picture will change.  As young children developing this skill, we can only interpret concrete pictures, but as we get older our skill level increases and so do our interpretations.  For example, when I was a young child I saw a piece of interpretive sculpture and I really didn’t understand it, I just knew that it was art.  As an adult, I look back on that sculpture and realize that it was trying to show the world.  I think that it is amazing how much a skill can build over a few years, without any formal training.  Can you imagine what a person could do with this skill if it was worked on through various activities in school?  I bet it would be amazing.  One study as a matter of fact has broken down photo-visual literacy into five stages.  The first two stages can be compared to the pre-literate phase of reading.  The final three stages involve building upon the skills you have acquired. 

     Now that I have thought about the skill of photo-visual literacy, I can totally relate to the fact that there are certain skills involved.  I also realize that those skills have to be developed through experience.  I really think that is why as we grow and develop our skills improve. 

     How will photo-visual literacy change education?  I really don’t know the answer to that question, but I can tell you how I hope it will change education.  I hope that teachers will devote at least 30 minutes a week talking about art and helping the students develop their skills.  In middle school and high school, I think that several art classes should be offered, ranging from sculpture and painting to art history.  I know that in bigger schools this is probably already offered, but where I went to school we didn’t have a choice in what class we took, we just took art.  I also hope that there is a visual art requirement put into the criteria for a student to graduate from high school.  Learning the skill of photo-visual literacy is very important and I think that it should be developed so that students can take full advantage of the skill. 

Reference:

Yenawine, P. (1997). Handbook of Research on Teaching
          Visual Literacy through the Communicative and
          Visual Arts.  Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
          Associates, Inc.  Retrieved October 8, 2006, from
          http://www.vue.org/download/Thoughts_Visual_Literacy.pdf.

 

A7.3: Reflection on Discussion of 9/27/06

1. What was your primary contribution to the discussion?  My primary contribution was adding comments about plagarism and copyright infringement.  I also brought up the issue of free use.  When I was reading about copyright, I noticed that free use was not clear cut.  There is a lot of gray area in copyright laws regardless of the effort that has been made to make them more clear.  The group discussion also began speaking about formatting issues such as APA vs. MLA.  I contributed to this due to my experience.
2. What questions emerged from your group discussions?  We as a group wondered: Why are most students taught MLA instead of APA format in high school?  Why isn’t there a seminar on copyright infringement and plagarism for students?  How can we learn more?
3. What questions were answered for you in your group discussion?  We talked a lot about the guidelines for copyright and plagarism.  We decided as a group that in order to understand more about both that we need some guidance.  One question that was answered was : Do I need permission to use a picture from a different website?  The answer was that it depends on the site but it is always safe to ask for permission.
4. How will you apply what you learned in the readings and discussion to your own work?  I must say that I am now an advocate for a seminar on plagarism and copyright.  I think that it needs to be discussed and taught.  I will definitely be more aware of what I put into my work and give credit where credit is due.  I feel like I have gained a lot of knowledge on the issue and will be very aware of it.  I plan on using all that I have learned to insure that I do not commit plagarism or infringement.

Additional Information:  Our group also talked about some of the issues that NSSLHA had with their website.  I really found it quite extreme what NSSLHA had to go through in order to use a logo.  We discussed using copyrighten products to help with fundraisers and how much it would cost to get permission.  One thing that I think should be considered when a group asks permission to use something is why do they want to use it?