Week 5 - Putting it all together

This week we had to bring together all of the ideas about storytelling and publishing that we have encountered during the previous 5 weeks. We had several assignments that summarized the learning so far, including creating a multimedia rubric, creating a Pecha Kucha, and evaluating several other multimedia sites.

The rubric was not too difficult, as we had already been given several different ideas on how to compose an effective multimedia presentation. This was really just a chance to collect those ideas and decide how we would measure them in a real class assignment. The biggest challenge was figuring out how to make an assignment that connects to the students personal environment. This has been a theme in several classes. The best technology assignment is no good if it is not applicable to the student's world. The best assignments will allow them to express something that is personally relevant.

The multimedia evaluation was also fairly straight forward, and again the most important part was connecting it to the student's environment.

My biggest struggle this week was the Pecha Kucha. Although I think I have a pretty good idea for a subject, I can not seem to get the results that I really want. I have compared the Pecha Kucha to Haiku before, and I think it applies in this case as well. It is not hard to collect 20 slides, and then to speak about them for 20 seconds. But to have that presentation convey a really meaningful thought you need to work and re-work the presentation. I feel like if I kept revising this for a few weeks it might be closer to what I envisioned. Just like Haiku the simple format takes lots of practice to really find the best meaning.