Blog Post 7-Digital Production

Explore various online platforms for composing multimodal texts (see list of links on session agenda). Create a mini multimodal composition using one of the platforms and post it to your professional blog. (NOTE: this does not need to be a large production, just a small experimental piece to “play” around with the software.) Reflect on your own process of appropriation, and combining of multiple modalities (image, text, sound, video, etc.)  In what ways did the image drive the narrative?  In what ways did the audio or print influence the text?  How might these visual practices be used to amplify learning? To promote civic engagement? 

While looking for ways to create a multimedia representation of my book. I really digged the idea of creating a house. Almost every major event happens at Lynn's house, and it is described in depth, so I decided to make a recreation of it.  I found a bunch of programs. Floor Plan Creator , Smart Draw , Floor Planner, and Blender. I decided to use floor plan creator because I was feeling lazy and it was the first one to pop up. It was fun to play around on the software, but the more I used it, the more limitations I noticed. difficult to make ceilings, walls and stairs would clip through, and sometimes the dimensions just wouldn't line up. I ended up making a really awful home, as you can see. I couldn't put items in, like the bath or kitchen. I couldn't make a nice porch, and obviously, I couldn't make Lynn's little lake. I would say I succeeded only in finding a program to never use ever again. 

I think the other programs could be more effective than this, particularly Minecraft. You can build anything you want in it. I even found an small little house that could look great as Lynn's.

It needs a lake and another level, but the inside could hold many things. I crate with supplies found in the book. A fake water purifier, chairs. Literally all the things that make Lynn's house so interesting. If I wanted to spend a few hours, I probably could make a replica of Lynn's house in Minecraft, maybe even have students work in groups and make houses and write a little description of the house using page numbers, but I'm not willing to spend money on minecraft again. The only thing that worries me about using minecraft in education is kids relate it to fun. Sure kids could make the house, but if they just made a house for fun instead of a recreation, are they really showing learning or are they just goofing off on a minecraft server. Regardless, I think there's a possibility for something interesting here.