Andrew Showers

Marquetta Strait
EDCI 270
April 20, 2016
Narrative
Throughout the construction of this website Ive experienced many
challenges regarding design and construction of educational materials. Throughout
this site Ive used several secondary elements and have tried to provide a clean,
intuitive platform for student learning to occur without meeting in class. The
primary learning activity, the instructional tutorial, was presented from a PowerPoint
and included links to relevant YouTube videos, edited pictures and diagrams as well
as questions similar to what is in the quiz that provide immediate feedback. In
addition to the PowerPoint presentation, the instructional tutorial page also contains
links to interactive online activities that supplement student learning. I feel that the
interactive modules contained in the PowerPoint will help to keep students engaged
and will highlight important concepts through the lesson. The supplemental
activities also serve to further engage gifted students. This lesson follows Indiana
Standard B.5.1 Describe the relationship between chromosomes and DNA along
with their basic structure and function, as well as Indiana Standard B.5.2 Describe
how hereditary information passed from parents to offspring is encoded in the
regions of DNA molecules called genes. These two lessons establish familiarity
between the students and introductory genetics. By exploring the structure and
function of nucleic acids and how they are synthesized, they will be prepared to
engage in the following lesson, translation and transcription.
The instructional video was a significantly greater challenge than the tutorial,
mostly due to the medium I chose to construct the video with. I designed DNA
molecules and enzymes using shapes in Microsoft PowerPoint, and demonstrated
the actions of the enzymes by animating them. The number of animations required
to appear fluid was a little harder than I expected and demanded most of the time I
dedicated to constructing this site. I think that the animations will help students to
understand the process better and that my narration helped to answer any
questions that may be asked. The assessment for this lesson is the worksheet on
DNA replication. After watching the video the students have the opportunity to
demonstrate their knowledge by completing the worksheet. This lesson also covers
the same Indiana standards. This lesson will help students in their understanding of
translation and transcription, because they are similar processes. Students will be
able to access these learning activities at any time in the future which helps the
student review and boosts long term understanding. Through doing this video, I
have honed my video and editing skills, and gained a new appreciation for
PowerPoint. I will continue to incorporate buttons and interactive questions in
PowerPoint presentations in the future, engaging students is very Important.