53302_Hibbard_Blog3

Reflect on your learning in week 3

After watching some of the videos I learned about an interesting feature in Microsoft word.  The feature is called auto summarize.  Auto summarize allows you to summarize a document to a certain percent and you can change the percent if you feel like you need to read more or less of the document.  This option highlights the main points in the document. 

The benefits of this option are first if you are crunched for time you will be able to read the main topics of what the auto summarize feature highlighted.  If you have a document that is about 50 pages long and you use this feature it can help you read the main points in a shorter amount of time.  Also, if you hate to read this feature can shorten the document for you and it won’t feel so burdensome.
I think this is a great feature for students who have trouble reading a comprehending the information.  This would help them feel like they could complete are reading without feeling overwhelmed.  This would make it easier to take notes and highlight important information.  The information that is high lighted can then be printed out so that it would be easier to study.

A disadvantage this feature would cause is if you didn’t add enough percentage of the summary to read.  This could cause you to miss something you may need to learn.  

What makes the item visually appealing?  What distracts from the message you are trying to communicate?

I sent out a letter to the parents at the beginning of the year.  The letter explained the expectations of the class.  The document wasn’t visually appealing it was a plain basic document.  I used Microsoft Office complete the document without adding pictures, clip art, or other media.  This document was very boring and with the lack of color and design some parents may not have read it.  The students may have thrown it away before it got home.  If I had added more design to the document and made it more colorful I think the students would also enjoy it more.   

I don’t think there are any distractions from the message.  One thing I could have done was to make it more appealing and fun to read.  The only distraction that could have been is not to pay attention to it because of lack of design. 

Here is the document after using Microsoft Publisher. Microsoft Publisher is easier to use to create polished and well designed documents.  Publisher offers many templates that add lots of color and fun to the documents.