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Kayla Smith
ED ET 703, Spring 2012
Course Portfolio Reflection
April 18, 2012
Course Portfolio Reflection
My portfolio (located at http://smith703.wikispaces.com/Course+Portfolio)
contains several of the artifacts that I created this semester in ED ET 703, Design and
Development Tools II. I utilized and explored many different programs to produce
these assignments that incorporate various instructional and multimedia techniques.
Some of the programs that I used this semester were: GIMP, several online tools,
Microsoft Word, Adobe Flash, Kompozer, my GoDaddy internet domain, and NotePad
(HTML Coding) as well as countless other tools not mentioned above. All of the
assignments organized in this portfolio show the progress that I have made this
semester, the information that I have learned, and the successes that I have achieved as
an individual in the Educational Technology program. Although I encountered
numerous obstacles this semester, I have gained many skills in ED ET 703 that will help
me in the future as I continue to further my education.
From January until now, I have grown in several ways and expanded my
knowledge with a variety of innovative tools and techniques. This semester can be
compared to a rollercoaster ride as I experienced many obstacles and challenges from
some of the assignments; however, there were lessons learned as well as numerous
achievements in the completion of the activities and projects displayed in my portfolio.
Furthermore, the artifacts presented in this portfolio show my progress and growth
throughout the entire semester. I feel as though I worked extremely hard and put forth
a lot of effort in this class. I definitely had my moments as I struggled with several of
the assignments, but I only wanted to learn the information presented in each activity
so that I could utilize the information for future purposes.
Below are the specific activities and projects that I completed as well as the
lessons that I learned, difficulties that I encountered, and the successes that I achieved.
 Graphics Activity One
 Lessons Learned: In Graphics Activity One, I used GIMP to modify
my first and last name as well as a picture that was taken last
Christmas. I still haven’t fully mastered the program, but will
continue to learn about many of the different features and tools
that this program has to offer. The online class meeting as well
as the tutorials helped me tremendously with this assignment.
While completing Graphics Activity One, I learned a great deal of
information as I explored GIMP 2.6, a free image editing
program. I became knowledgeable about several of the features
within GIMP, including the steps to follow to alter the
background of an image, how to use various tools to edit an

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image, how to modify the pixels of an image, how to work with
several different layers, and also how to manipulate text as well
as pictures (e.g. opacity, black/white, etc.). The whole activity
was a learning experience for me, and I definitely gained a great
deal of knowledge using the program to complete the assigned
tasks. I believe that this information will be useful as I continue
to use GIMP in the future with other assignments.
 My feelings towards the assignment remained the same
throughout the activity as well as after it was finished.
Ultimately, I enjoy learning new things about various programs,
such as GIMP, and the many different ways to modify images.
This assignment was engaging (and fun) and allowed me to
become more familiar with the image editing program, GIMP.
 Difficulties: I experienced some difficulty while completing this
assignment because I was not extremely familiar with GIMP. I
watched several tutorials to help me learn about the features
within GIMP which allowed me to create appealing images and
textual information. Unfortunately, I had to start over multiple
times because I was either not happy with the way the
assignment looked when I finished or I clicked on the wrong
tool and altered the image in an unexpected way. I also
encountered problems when I failed to save certain layers which
required me to create the layer(s) again. This was the first time
that I had worked with layers which became somewhat of a
challenge. Nonetheless, I now have a better understanding
about layers and feel more comfortable using them to complete
future assignments.
 Graphics Activity Two
 Lessons Learned: In this assignment, I created an animated
graphic using the program, GIMP 2.6. For Graphics Activity Two,
I decided to construct a scene that portrays a young child
playing outside in the spring time because I work in an After-
School Program and observe my students doing this on a daily
basis. The scene shows that the spring season brings sunshine
and warmth as well as blooming flowers and lively insects.
Spring is a time for rebirth and renewal as plants, animals, and
insects begin to emerge and flourish in a warmer environment.
In the scene that I created, I mostly used the rectangle select tool
as well as the ellipse select tool to assemble each piece of the
assignment. I constructed the entire scene myself because I
thought that was part of the requirements so it looks rather
basic and simple. I really enjoyed this assignment and I hope to
become more familiar with the features in GIMP. I feel like I

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have learned a great deal about this program and also acquired
many new skills. However, I experienced minor difficulty when
attempting to place the image of the butterfly on the scene.
Initially, I wanted the butterfly to appear as if it was flying
across the scene, but I couldn’t determine the steps to do this. I
searched all over the internet and still had no luck. Overall, I
was pleased with my final animation as well as the progress
that I made within the assignment and with GIMP.
 I gained a great deal of knowledge while completing this
assignment, including how to alter the width and height of the
scene, change the background color with the Bucket Fill Tool, use
the Rectangle Select Tool as well as the Ellipse Select Tool to create
various shapes and objects, crop and resize images, utilize
different layers in order to create an animation, and also become
familiar with many of the tools within GIMP (e.g. Airbrush Tool,
Scale Tool, Text Tool, Transform Tool, etc.)
 Flash Activity One
 Lessons Learned: Flash Activity One was a new and challenging
experience for me because I hadn’t ever used Adobe Flash before
or created an animated graphic. First of all, I enjoyed several
parts of this assignment, but I also encountered a few obstacles.
Initially, Adobe Flash created problems for me when
downloading the free trial. I also became frustrated at the
amount of time that it actually took to install the program on
my computer. I had to start the download over numerous times
because of various errors that occurred. After I conquered this
problem, then I could finally begin the assignment portion and
fulfill the specified requirements. The videos that Dr. Senn
provided were extremely helpful while completing the
animated graphic. In fact, I watched the videos once, followed
the recommended steps, and produced the first version of the
assignment; however, I decided that I didn’t like the end result
because the words (or letters) moved too quickly and I realized
that the viewer wouldn’t be able to experience the full effect of
the flash graphic. For this reason, I started over, watched the
videos again, and created the second version of this assignment
which became my final product. Although Adobe Flash is a new
program for me that I am not familiar with, I thought that the
videos were simple and straightforward as I attempted to learn
some of the features in this program. The assignment was fun
and I definitely learned a great deal of information, but
encountered one minor problem. I couldn’t ever determine how
to delete or change parts of the animated graphic without using

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the “undo” button. As a result, I had to perform many of the
steps over which became tedious (but of course provided me
with practice while learning this new program). I guess I could
have saved different versions of the assignment (more
frequently) to resolve this problem. Ultimately, Flash Activity
One was new and challenging for me as I learned about the
features within Adobe Flash, such as creating and breaking apart
layers as well as applying classic and motion tweens, which
allowed me to produce my first flash graphic. All of the
information that I gained from this assignment will help me in
the future as I complete other assignments that require similar
knowledge and skills.
 Flash Activity Two
 Lessons Learned: For Flash Activity Two, I created an electronic
greeting on the Fourth of July for the citizens of the United
States to enjoy as they remember our military as well as our
heritage. Unfortunately, this was a terrible experience for me
and I am definitely not happy with the finished product. I had
planned to use this assignment to make a greeting for my
boyfriend’s birthday; however, I just couldn’t apply the
information that I had learned in Flash Activity One to this one
(for some reason). My difficulties developed with the layers
because I didn’t realize that the background layer should be
placed on the bottom while all the others should have been
arranged above it. I usually learn technology fairly quickly and
enjoy exploring the programs to create these assignments. Sadly,
Flash Activity Two was extremely difficult and frustrating
because I couldn’t find any useful YouTube videos about several
of the requirements in the assignment. I finally located an
instructional guide on Google which I used to help me create the
electronic greeting on the Fourth of July. I will probably start
over and try again in attempts to learn the program in a more
effective manner and to create a greeting that displays all of the
requirements. Nonetheless, I learned how to create and edit text,
assemble an entire scene with various drawing tools, how to
incorporate and edit sound, apply a motion and shape tween
within the text and images, and also how to insert a button to
replay the animation at the end. All of the above information
that I learned from this assignment was extremely difficult and a
definite challenge.
 Difficulties: I experienced some difficulty while completing this
assignment because I was not extremely familiar with Adobe
Flash. I watched several tutorials to help me learn about the

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features within Adobe Flash, but fell short in many areas. I
followed the steps in the video that Dr. Senn provided in
Blackboard in order to stop the electronic greeting at the end
and also to insert a replay button. Unfortunately, neither of
these would operate correctly and I could not determine a
solution to resolve the issues. Another problem that I
encountered was with the Motion Guide. I searched Google and
watched many tutorials, but never mastered this part of the
assignment.
 WWW Personal Pages
 Lessons Learned: For this assignment, I created a website using
Kompozer and my GoDaddy domain. Both the directions and the
process that I followed were much more simple and straight-
forward than the Flash Two assignment. This may be because I
had created a website using a similar procedure last semester in
ED ET 603 and this semester with my first course assignments
page. It was a huge relief to be able to complete this assignment
with little to no difficulties. However, I did encounter a few
problems while building my website, but nothing extremely
complicated. I think that I still need to explore Kompozer
(extensively) which will help with any problems in the future.
One difficulty that I experienced was when I attempted to copy
and paste information from a Word document (e.g. in the
resume section). Kompozer inserted a lot of symbols into the
information which caused me to re-type several parts in order
for the information to appear the way that I wanted. I am
extremely particular about the consistency of the pages within
the website, including the layout, font, and font color. I believe
that the viewer should know what to expect from one page to
the next. Another problem that I encountered was with the
template that I chose to use for my website. Initially, I searched
many websites for an appealing CSS Template and decided on
one with a sunset to present my information. Unfortunately, the
sunset did not appear on the website that I published, and I
couldn’t establish why this happened. The last difficulty that I
experienced was related to the website name provided in the
URL. Needless to say, I have not determined how to change the
URL name (e.g. index.html) and I also don’t understand how to
organize my websites into different directories on my GoDaddy
domain. As stated above, I have created three websites
(including this one) on my domain, but I just continue to replace
each one as I am assigned these tasks. In the future, I aspire to
become more familiar with the features in Kompozer so that these

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problems don’t occur again. I think with a bit more exploration
and online assistance that I will be able to develop more solid
and appealing websites. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment and
think it will be beneficial as I continue to search for an
elementary teaching position over the next school year.
 WWW Lesson
 Lessons Learned: For this assignment, I created a lesson for the
students in my After-School Program. The content area that I
focused on for this lesson was Science, specifically the states of
matter. I selected this lesson because my students enjoy
participating in hands-on activities that require inquiry,
discovery, and cooperative learning. In this lesson, we begin by
reading the book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, written by Dr.
Seuss. After reading the book, we continue the lesson by
discussing the different states of matter and then by making a
unique substance called “oobleck”. “Oobleck” is a mystery
matter that changes from a solid to a liquid which allows the
students to experience the content in multiple ways. I didn’t
necessarily learn anything new about the content area, but it
definitely refreshed my memory as I studied the material that I
would teach to my students. While completing this assignment,
I actually learned a great deal of information on the program,
Kompozer. I attempted to retrieve help from the internet and I
also contacted GoDaddy, but I basically had to learn the features
on my own (pertaining to my Internet Domain). I encountered
several difficulties while organizing my domain into different
folders, and I became really frustrated because I modified the
website many times and would upload it to my domain but the
changes would not be displayed. Unfortunately, I still do not
understand how to alter the URL where it only shows certain
information; however, I hope to acquire this skill in the near
future. Ultimately, I learned a lot from this assignment,
including information about Kompozer and my GoDaddy domain
(maybe next time I won’t be so frustrated with uploading
websites to my domain, but it seems like I always encounter
problems!)
 I also created this website as a resource for my students and
parents. This activity allowed me to produce an attractive
website in order to provide important information as well as
upcoming dates and reminders for the families that I
communicate with on a daily basis. I learned many things in the
creation of this website, including how to construct multiple
pages within the website, how to embed an image and a video,

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how to insert a link within specific text, how to utilize a CSS
Template, how to create meaningful window titles, and much
more. The Web Guide that we studied and referred to last
semester taught me a great deal of information about creating
websites as well.
 Changes: If I could go back to the beginning of the semester with
the knowledge that I have gained, I would purchase and use
Adobe Dreamweaver instead of Kompozer to design and publish
my websites. I think I would have encountered fewer problems
if I would have used a different program to create my websites.
It literally scares me to think about editing the information
within the websites because I’m afraid that some parts won’t
function properly after I do. Furthermore, I designed the
website to use for my job and will need to edit the information
because it is continually changing and therefore will defeat the
purpose if I don’t revise it regularly and keep it up-to-date.
 WWW Mobile
 Lessons Learned: For this assignment, I decided to use the
personal pages that I had created in a previous assignment
earlier in the semester. Basically, I followed the directions that
Dr. Senn provided in Blackboard and embedded the HTML
Code in order for the website to support mobile devices. I didn’t
experience a whole lot of difficulty while completing the
assignment; however, I never could determine if the code was
entered correctly because the website would not redirect on any
of the tester websites provided in the instructions. I searched for
information on Google and started over several times, but I
always had the same results. Initially, I thought that the format
of the website would be modified in order for a person to be
able to view it on a mobile device, but the information remained
the same when I attempted to use the websites and determine if
I had completed the assignment correctly. I believe that this
assignment was very useful and beneficial because I will be able
to optimize other websites for mobile purposes. The world has
become so reliant on these technological tools and I think that
it’s important for people to be given access to all types of
information even on mobile devices.
As you can see, I have learned a great deal of information throughout this
semester in ED ET 703. This course can be compared to some of the classes that I
completed in my undergraduate degree at Clemson University. We explored some of
the same techniques in those classes, but they weren’t explained in nearly as much
detail. My experiences this semester relate to some of the previous courses that I have
taken because some of the programs and processes were similar to the ones I have used

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before. For example, I have utilized PhotoShop Elements and Windows Movie Maker as
well as iMovie and various Web 2.0 tools in my previous classes at Clemson.
Unfortunately, my instructors didn’t give me as much freedom in the assignments that I
completed in my undergraduate degree and therefore I didn’t achieve as much success.
I don’t believe that only one assignment or project was a success; however, I think that
the whole semester has been a success. In every assignment, I gained knowledge about
the different programs and tools and feel as though I produced appealing products
whether through graphics, or web development (or whatever the assignment entailed).
Ultimately, I think that learning in general is a success and that the completion of this
portfolio with each artifact definitely displays a feeling of achievement.