Post 5

For my visual critique I chose to analyze seventeen magazine's website (www.seventeen.com).  By looking at the website one can tell that it fairly closely follows the guidelines talked about in chapter 6.  For instance, rules one and two are present because you can tell that the web artists used the general design principles used for research and one can easily tell that this is the sites main page.  The site also follows rules three through eight because there is a clear and definite color scheme, the text is neatly justified, and there are also pictures and other graphics.  The site follows rules nine through fifteen because the site is specifically designed to catch the eye of any teenage girl and makes it clear to read and provides the information that teenage girls her age would want to read.  Rules sixteen to twenty three are all mostly followed because there are bulleted lists and clear visual graphics through out the page.  Some of the advertisements however are a bit flashy but overall the site is very organized.  

I think that using presentation software in the K-12 grades is always a useful asset.  I think it helps the kids to pay more attention by giving them something visual to look at.  It also helps because there are certain things that can be conveyed better through presentation software rather then through simply lecturing.  I guess the only down side of presentation software would be the kids becoming too dependent on it and not really paying attention to any other methods of teaching.

As a teacher, I will definitely be using powerpoint to support student learning at each dimension in a particular lesson.  Power point is an excellent learning tool because it allows thoughts and facts to be organized in such a manner that captures the attention of all 6 dimensions of learning (visual, interactive, etc).  I think the best way to help students learn is by asking them to make power points of their own and present them to the class.