Over the past two weeks I was given two multimedia assignments for my education classes at St. Mike's, (ED 343 Literacy in Middle/High, and ED 361 Curriculum in Middle/High). In ED 343 we had to make use the APP Adobe SparkPage in order to creatively explain to our classmates our personal views on learning. In ED 361 we used the APP Explain Everything to make a video presentation about a specific learning theory we identify with and how we plan on using these learning theories in our future classrooms. I have linked both presentations below:

https://spark.adobe.com/page/DOCmoQJNlOHvS/

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8iwyFcF5jJbejRaejBRRmRkMms

(an updated version of my explain everything will be up soon!)

The PC that I believe these assignments most closely relate to is:

Performance Criterion 5.2: Candidates integrate cross-disciplinary skills (such as critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving) to help learners demonstrate their learning in unique ways.

     One thing that I found very difficult for this assignment was taking the time to learn a new piece of technology. The App Explain Everything was extremely difficult to use and I felt as though I did not compose a good presentation due to the amount of time that I had to put into app before the content. This program was very difficult for me to navigate. On the other hand I REALLY enjoyed using Adobe Sparkpage. The page was easy to use and intuitive and I was able to visually and creatively share without taking away from my content. After finishing both projects I began to reflect on how I might use these Apps or integrate digital media and creativity into my classroom. Explain everything would be a great tool for students to present and practice using digital media. This App is very intuitive and in depth and there is A LOT you can do with it. With that being said, I would not expect a student to create a project within a week using this app. This app takes a lot of time to master and in order for a student to effectively integrate both the app and their content more than a week would be required to master this app. Explain Everything however allows students to be very creative. Students can make various slides and turn their show into a video with voice-overs and moving clip-art.
    Adobe Sparkpage is similar to Microsoft PowerPoint, it is made up of various slides and one can add pictures, text, and video into a "slide-show" that views more like a webpage. There is potential for creativity here too, but not as much as Explain Everything. It has the same concept as PowerPoint making it less of a creative challenge for students.
    By using both of these technologies in Curriculum and Literacy I was able to integrate our content with digital literacy. Being challenged with my digital understanding along with exploring new content helped me learn in a unique way. It would have been simpler but boring just to write a paper on the content, but instead I was able to focus my energy on creatively displaying my content.