In preparation for developing a Multimedia Montage Project, I joined a few communities on Thinkfinity. Since the project is only in the initial phase, I'm not quite sure where it needs to go - so I figured joined a few different sites with different foci. "Online Tools for Educators" has a lot of different ideas for incorporating technology in the classroom, so I think it will be one of the biggest contributors to my project's success. I also joined "Mobile Learning", which has members submit ideas regarding how to best incorporate mobile devices into the classroom. I think mobile phones being used in the classroom is the next natural step, so I am sure to learn invaluable skills through this group, regardless of whether it is useful in my current academic endeavors. I have no doubt that all students within the next several years will have access to smart phones, or at least a hand-held device with similar capabilities. And in the meantime, there's no reason why students with these devices should be banned from making use of them simply because "not all students have them".
Rune Pettersson's "Visual Literacy and Message Design" explains key aspects of utilization of pictures and images, so I was hoping to find a great group that focuses on this topic ... so far I've found nothing noteworthy. --Any leads would be greatly appreciated!-- Blending auditory and visual stimulation (along with others, if possible) at the same time is key to teaching/learning since it increases greatly the amount of information sent to long term memory. Embedding images strategically around text will also encourage exploration of digital documents such as a website, so people will want to experience more of the information presented.
Lastly, I found an "All About Science" group that may not assist me at all during the course of this project, but you can never be exposed to too much science (I suppose the Hulk may be one exception). With my background in biology, the information posted to this site is already posing to be of interest to me, and I am sure I can make some valuable contributions of my own as well.
If anyone has any other great Communities to join, within or outside of Thinkfinity, please share!
