Desktop Publishing

The desktop publishing teacher has the knowledge and skills needed to teach the Foundations, Information Acquisition, Work in Solving Problems, Communication strands of the Technology Applications Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) in desktop publishing, in addition to the content described in Technology Applications Standards I-V.

Reflection:

The Desktop Publishing course has been a great opportunity for me to learn many of the basic skills and terminology. I have worked with and taught Desktop Publishing for a few years; therefore, I had been excited about this course since I thought I had some experience on the subject. I did learn, however, that there were many things that I had not ever considered and felt a little frustrated because I had not learned some of these important concepts. I needed a course like this to be able to recognize and learn many of the principles in Desktop Publishing. Many of the activities were ways in which I was able to use software and be creative in producing newsletters, greeting cards, and business cards. There were many new resources that were discussed that I will use in my classes for ideas and activities. The readings and information from the Robin Williams's book were very important, and helped me to be more aware of what it takes to create professional looking publications.  My only regret is that I did not use any other software to create some of my publications, I just went with what was familiar to me. I hope to be able to learn more about other various application software. The resources are just great, and I am looking forward to using many of these projects in class. 

My goals are to create a project guide that includes relevant objectives for my students, that also incorporates many of the principles and terminology needed to create professional publications. I hope to be able to venture out and try new application software, and challenge myself as well as my students to be consciously aware of the various ways to show contrast, repetition, etc., in an effective way.

Artifact #6 / Artifact #7

Caption 6

Indicators: 7.10s, 7.15s, 7.46s, 7.18s, 7.31s, 7.1s, 7.2s, 7.4s, 7.9s, 7.14s, 7.16s, 7.17s, 7.21s, 7.22s, 7.28s, 7.29s, 7.30s, 7.36s, 7.37s, 7.43s, 7.45s, 7.47s, 8.31s, 8.35s, 8.41s, 8.43s, 8.44s, 8.45s,9.24s, 9.41s, 11.29s

Artifact #6

Descriptors: Desktop Publishing Messages

Title: Desktop Publishing to Send Messages

Course: 104 Desktop Publishing

Date Created: January 11, 2003

Source: Individual project using Microsoft Publisher

Media: Web page--FrontPage, Adobe .pdf

Description: The assignment consisted of creating a letterhead, business card, or any other desktop publishing item of our choice that would reflect who we are and our interests. It contained a logo, and also a brief message suitable for the type of communication. The item must be published for universal readability. It must contain eye-catching typography, logo, and supporting graphics which could be in the form of a watermark, or background image to compliment the overall design. The assignment was linked within a web page and provided information on the graphics, message, and choice of media.

Rationale: I decided to create a business card. I had planned to do this some time ago, but never got around to it. This assignment gave me the chance to create a business card using Publisher. I created a blank business card and added the mascot graphic to convey the school's mascot. I resized the graphic so that it would not be the focus, but just as an image to compliment the overall design. The colors used are my school colors, which I decided to create lines and filled in boxes for color and contrast. By using lines and borders, it helped to align the information included on the card. I then saved the card as a .pdf for universal readability and posted as a web page including the information about the card's creation. This activity is a great way to express one's creativity, I learned that I can go beyond some of the boundaries to use repetition and contrast in an effective way. It also gave me some needed practice in using Publisher and templates. I felt good about the final outcome and wanted to share it as a part of my portfolio.

Implications for future: I have used a similar activity with my students. I hope to be able to challenge them to use the various principles of desktop publishing to create readable neat publications. I also plan to take time to create such publications using a different applications software, such as PageMaker. I enjoy creating these types of publications, and now know more of what to look for to make them more effective to the reader.

Reviewers Comments: Deanna, I loved the organization of yours. I thought it was unusual, but it made your address, etc. very visible. Good job!! Loved the motto!!

Review Name: Leah Franco

Date Reviewed: January 15, 2003

Title: TATC participant

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Caption 7

Indicators: 7.1s, 7.2s,7.3s, 7.9s, 7.10s, 7.19s, 7.21s, 7.22s, 7.28s, 7.29s, 7.30s, 7.35s, 7.36s, 7.14s, 7.16s, 7.15s,  7.39s, 7.43s, 7.46s, 7.37s, 7.34s, 7.33s, 7.31s, 7.44s, 7.47s, 7.49s, 7.17s, 7.18s, 8.24s, 8.31s, 8.41s, 8.43s, 8.44s, 9.24s, 9.41s, 11.25s, 11.39s

Artifact #7

Descriptors: Desktop Publishing Newsletter

Title: Newsletter

Course: 104 Desktop Publishing

Date Created: January 18, 2003

Source: Individual Project using Microsoft Publisher and Interactive Guide 1 & 2

Media: Web page---FrontPage

Description: The assignment was to create a newsletter that would be a learning tool for a beginner in desktop publishing. The information came from our Interactive Guides 1 and 2, which explained many of the terms associated with good desktop publishing. After reading the guides, I chose the most important parts to include in the newsletter. The next step was to create a masthead and import it into a template to be used for the newsletter. The template and final newsletter was saved as a pdf to ensure readability for everyone. In the newsletter, captions and headlines were created to point out the information as a guide for the reader. I thought that this artifact showed how desktop publishing could be used in a variety of ways to deliver information.

Rationale: I felt this was a great assignment to not only introduce basic desktop publishing terms, but to also apply those skills in creating a newsletter that could later be used to explain the "do's and don'ts" in creating a publication such as this. I used Publisher to create my template and newsletter. I worked with the typography guidelines, and was able to try different ways of creating headings and text. The 10 basic elements of effective page architecture will be very useful in class to teach the students about creating professional looking publications. The only thing I might have done differently was add some color. I chose to go with gray, black, and white to create a more clean look, while emphasizing the headings and captions in bold. I needed to explore into Publisher more, and this gave me that opportunity.  I learned more about saving files universally, as in pdf files. I felt as though this was a great project to utilize all of the desktop publishing elements, and that is why I chose it as part of my portfolio.

Implications for future: My goals consist of working with another software for publications, such as PageMaker. I would hope that in the future our lab could purchase PageMaker so that the students would see another type of application software and its attributes. I hope to learn more about creating publications that give a more professional look. I need to take more chances at using color and contrast. I hope to work with the 10 basic elements more so that I am more comfortable in teaching them, as well as encouraging the students to always consider their effectiveness.  

Reviewers Comments: My eye was immediately drawn to the masthead.  The next thing my eye caught was the volume and issue #.  Your newsletter was easy on the eyes, and I never felt like I had to try and look at everything at one time (it wasn't cluttered). It was simple to read and easy to follow - very professional job. 

Review Name: Diane Madden

Date Reviewed: January 22, 2003

Title: TATC mentor

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