J5: Reflections...

Looking back, I can say I found this class infinitely more useful and informative than the spring 2016 semester 6190. As we are turning in all of our final projects, I am sure we all can reflect on some valuable takeaways from this class, the readings and the classroom discussions.

Obviously, the subject I chose for my final project was a difficult one, and I knew it would be. But I believe for this, the initial version of this product, I have done the subject justice and look forward to working in it further for future use.

I did experience a minor catastrophe. As I went to open up my project and put the finishing touches on some of the final slides, I received this message:

Yeah, that. Nice, right? Apparently Storyline has some glitch that causes files to become corrupted and unreadable and there is no fix for it. So, back up and rename versions often. It's always a good idea and Dr. Rieber is wise to keep reminding students to do it.

Thankfully, as a matter of practice, I do back up versions of what I'm working on, but I had not backed up in several days. So, I had to start from the last version I had, which was not as bad as starting over. I work pretty fast in Storyline, and I did of course remember what I did and how I did it so it was just re-doing. But the experience just gave me yet another reason to dislike this application. I think it works nicely for some things. But I look forward to using Captivate more to see if I like that program better for composing learning aesthetics.

On this project I used a variety of tools from Photoshop, to PowerPoint, to MovieMaker. With more time and on a bigger project, I could see the potential for using several other applications as well.

*On accessibility. I believe I have made good use of the accessibility tools in Storyline. The embedded videos would be the only area for which I would need to find another provision, as the sensitivity of the subject matter demands a thoughtful treatment in that remediation.

Some of the early desk crit feedback I received on this project suggested that I keep the message hopeful and that I should highlight stories of survivors. This only illustrated for me further how important a teaching module like this is. The hope message I am going for is less the of the inspirational variety and more a call to outrage as this form of pediatric brain cancer is referred to as an "orphan disease," with almost no support for or advances in treatment options outside of a few rogue researchers and doctors committed to the fight. As for survivor stories, well, I will let the module illustrate the DIPG survival reality. The hope, then, is, I hope, in the potential of everyday people willing to punch through the din of every day life noise to join the fight on the ground with families all over the world who are left adrift to battle this monster disease.

The link to my video is here.

The link to my product is here.