Welcome!

Welcome everyone to EDGE903. At last count there 27 in the class. In keeping with emerging technologies and a subject where we explore multimedia and interface design... we are going to blog our way through the session!
Yep.. instead of the usual website approach we are going to communicate, share resources and learn lots about visual and interface design. The subject will not only be fun and explore the latest in visual design principles but it will have a theoretical foundation looking at what we need to know as educators to present information to our students.

If you choose to take this mission then you must create your own Blog. Go to Blogger.com (http://www.blogger.com/) to create your own site. You will have If already have your own blog I would like you to create a new site just for this subject. Blogger gives quite detailed instructions, including YouTube tutorials.

I have to confess that I am interested in technology but not a whizz! This means do not panic... If I can do it... you can!


Feel free to design your blog to suit your personality. It doesn't have to look 'academic'. Have a look at some sites that show the award winning blogs. There are lots of them. Go and have a look at the sites that have won awards. The templates designed by Blogger are a good start and then adapt to suit your style. Add a photo so we know what you look like.

Here's the 'real me' and a short bio as well...

"...Ian Brown is a Associate Professor with the University of Wollongong. He is the Associate Dean Undergraduate with the Faculty of Education. He lectures in Visual Arts Education, Information Technology and Pedagogy. Areas of teaching and research include visualisation, cross-cultural design, graphic interface and interaction design. Ian’s doctoral study explored implementation theory and policy processes..."

If you are reading this then you have accessed the subject blog and hopefully have received your course outline in the email from me. WE have a mix of Informatics students and Education students which means the blogs should be really interesting and individual.

So here is what is happening this session...
* To satisfy the subject requirements you must complete the Assessment Tasks (see Subject Outline) and complete the small activities given each week in the blog. I will call these TASK 1.. 2... etc. You will submit something to your blog nearly every week.

* I am closing the blog so that only our class will have access to it and the same should happen with your blogs. I would like you to go to the following site which has a video on how you can set your settings so that only class members can view it. It is http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42673&topic=12448

* You must keep a hard copy of your blog postings as a requirement of this course (see Course Outline) this is in case the site goes down... you accidentally lose it... (which I'm sure it won't). This way you can hand me a copy of all your postings. I am suggesting you do this at least once a week!

* Hopefully this is going to be educational, fun, informative and you will learn and see things that you haven't done or tried before.

* Please email me if you have any probs.... ibrown@uow.edu.au Note: as I am the Associate Dean for all of the teacher education courses you can imagine I get bezillions of emails... do not panic if you don't respond quickly. I would prefer face to face (if you are on campus) or phone 02 42213590 if not.

At this stage... you have 2-3 weeks to do the following THREE things:

1. Create your own personalised blog site. Visit the following sites for ideas and inspiration!

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/100-nice-and-beautiful-blog-design/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10/23/50-beautiful-blog-designs/

http://digg.com/design/Top_10_Most_Beautiful_Blog_Designs

http://silentbits.com/blog/top-20-weblog-designs/

2. Undertake Assessment One: Create a Slide presentation based on Saul Bass' quote and upload to your blog so all can see. As students develop their blogs we will add each others so that the class has access to all 28!

You have to develop your slide presentation in maximum of 15 slides. The following sites can help you to develop your slide set and then upload it.

http://www.slideshare.net/

http://www.slide.com/

The following sites are examples of what I mean when developing the slide presentation. Refer to your Subject Outline for the criteria required.

http://www.slideshare.net/themoleskin/visual-and-creative-thinking

http://www.slideshare.net/stephenpa/eye-candy-is-a-critical-business-requirement

http://www.slideshare.net/seilamgoh/what-is-design

http://www.slideshare.net/thedanward/simplicity-cycle-short/

http://www.slideshare.net/whatidiscover/the-ten-and-a-half-commandments-of-visual-thinking

http://www.slideshare.net/rycoleman/an-introduction-to-visual-thinking

http://www.slideshare.net/darmano/conversation-by-design

http://www.slideshare.net/coolstuff/the-brand-gap/

3. Undertake Activity One.

Read my blog weekly ( I will be adding on either Thursday or Friday so don't expect it before that!) to find out the tasks and read the rest of the class' tasks... assessments and weekly blogs.



ACTIVITY ONE
Watch the following talk by Pattie Maes from TED and write 100 words... your thoughts... about the way she reveals a wearable device that interacts with the environment. What does this mean for the future for designers of interactive multimedia? Enjoy...

http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html