Jim's USF Tech Cert Blog

Hello Class, I have always been not only a visual learner but a live my life through visuals.  Because of this, and the fact that I teach biology which lends well to visual learning, I place a lot of time and effort into graphic design.  I really care about how visually appealing the content I deliver is for the students, especially in today's tech heavy/visual heavy world.  I also critique how visually appealing student's projects are, and often make it a significant aspect of their grade.  Whenever I make a new assignment, I spend a lot of time looking at it from the student perspective.  Not just making sure it has clear and accurate instructions, or that it can be differentiated for different learners, but also to make sure it is visually appealing.  In fact, I will admit that I am a bit of a graphic designer snob!  When I use materials from other educators or sources online, I often need to "enhance" them with graphic design.  This could ...

EEND 677 Module 4 assignment Punnett Square Trailer I was very excited about this week’s assignment as I often use videos made like movie trailers to get students excited about new content.  In fact, students begin to expect these trailers.  Most of the time, I find the videos on Youtube, but I think the students would appreciate it if they started to see some original content from me as well.  I also have an assignment for Mitosis where students make their own movie trailer for the cell cycle using WeVideo.  Because of this assignment, I decided to make my own movie trailer using WeVideo for another topic we cover in class, Punnett Squares.   I started out the movie trailer with the title to get the students excited.  Using music, to keep the students engaged, I go through the basics of why we are going to learn about these tools.  I also ask a question to the kids, probably the most asked question I get in class every year… If my Dad look...