When approaching this question, the piece of work that first sprang to mind was not initially my best piece of work, and is, in fact, a piece that is still in need of revision. However, I am drawn to write about this piece due to my experience with the given feedback and the entire learning process. This piece of work was my infographic, created in module 3.
I was initially a little skeptical with the assignment set. Although I am a particularly visual person, I do not see myself as an artist. Having seen examples of beautiful pieces of work regarding various different topics through social media I was extremely skeptical that I would be able to create something visually worthy. I was also concerned with the level of detail required and was worried I would add too much information resulting in a cluttered product or an oversight of important details, both of which would culminate in a lower grade.
During the creation process I was surprised to find how simple the program was to use and found myself quickly coming to grips with the tool; however, I did have a number of issues with regards to internet access and work not saving. On completion I was extremely pleased with my product and quickly rushed to show my partner – I hadn’t been so pleased with a piece of work in quite a while! I realised at this point that if I could attain such a level of satisfaction with a product that I had created then my students would also love the tool.
My learning experience came however when I read my feedback from Paul; he had sent a quick message followed by a link to a screencast. “What a novel idea” I remember thinking “but how could I create one of these for all 500 students in my classroom?!”. I was enamoured by the way in which Paul explained his approach to the infographic: which section caught his eye, how the graphic followed from one area to another, how he understood the concepts covered. It was like having the opportunity to view my work through another set of eyes and I truly enjoyed the experience. At first I was disappointed with how my work had come across, but I was able to use Paul’s extremely thoughtful and visual response to fully review my own work and thereby create a far superior product. Thus, this way of receiving feedback and the level of detail became my biggest learning curve of the entire class. Thank you Paul!
My final (although not perfect!) infographic can be found here.
B Jones