What am I like as a PLP learner?

Who am I as a PLP Learner?

This was the question I strived to ask to answer as I embarked on my first Maker project. To answer this question, I completed many stepping stones, or smaller parts of the project. I thought that maybe I would learn a bit about my iPad and the apps on it, and maybe even something new about myself. I never expected to learn just as much as I did. This is my YouTube video. It has my slideshow, and some of my reflection.

What did we do?

For who am I as  a PLP learner, we had to make a keynote presentation that included a handful animations, some of the settings from my about me page, (which you can check out here) and even a few side projects. We also worked on another keynote, the Keynote Design Workbook for PLP 8.

My Reflection

For this section of my post, I will divide my reflection into four parts: what I think I did well, what I think I didn’t do well on, what I learned or improved upon, and then how I did overall. The things that I think I could have improved upon or I otherwise didn’t like, I have listed below.

1. My About Me Photo

For the about me photo, we had to take a selfie, then proceed to make an I am statement at the top, and then draw images around yourself that reflect who you are.

 I think that I could have improved two things, the neatness of my drawings, and the photo itself. The photo doesn’t show that I am climbing, just that I am in a tree. I learned how to markup photos, which I had never actually done. I chose to do the I am statement “I am a Climber”,  because as I worked on this project, I realized how much climbing is part of my identity.

2. The Audio Recordings

Out of the eleven audio recordings I made along with my presentation, I disliked three of them. One of them had some kind of background noise that distracted from what I was saying, and a few of the others weren’t great either. If you want to hear what I am talking about, you can watch my whole video here. If I was to do this project again, one of my priorities would definitely be to re-record all of the audio. I learned how to record audio and then input it into a keynote.

3. The Digital Clothing Art

(I have no idea what it’s actually called, so I guess that’s what were calling it!)

For this stepping stone, we had to design three different garments of clothing, and then colour and image fill them. I feel I could have done a better job on lots of things, including: the colours, the images I used, and the uneven level of the two hoodies. I actually did several revisions, but I still could have done this again. If I did, I would go with a darker colour scheme for the hoodie on the left, and give a more vibrant look to the hoodie on the right, and finally I would change the images for the dresses. Even though I don’t love the overall appearance of this steppingstone, I still learned about making multiple revisions and being critical of my own work.

What I liked/did well on

I think that there are quite a few main things that I did well on, and they are listed below.

1. My Shoe

Creating this steppingstone was pretty self explanatory. You had to use a basic shoe template and then trace it and colour fill it. I did a good job on my shoe and I was good at tracing and colour filling it. This is a piece of work where I can confidently say that I would do nothing to change it even if I did it again. I learned how to split screen keynote with an app called pastel, in order to use premade colour palettes.

2.  My Fidgets

Making and designing my fidgets was definitely my favourite part of the entire project. I really enjoyed the amount of control and choice we had over our end product and the result. You can check them out on my YouTube video.

3. My Memoji 

This was also one of my favourite parts to work on. First we had to design a custom emoji, also called a Memoji. Then, we got to add stickers to it and proceed to animate said stickers. I loved the end result, and it was very enjoyable to work on. This helped me answer the driving question by displaying my interests, passions, and hobbies. As I did this, I learned a ton. I learned how to animate, use instant alpha, and create stickers by using keynote.

4. My user manual

Befor I talk about my user manual, you can see it here, as it is also on my about me page. For our user manual, we had to create a custom “manual”, for yourself. I had to make many drafts in order to be satisfied with the end result. in the end, I am really satisfied with what I made, and I think that I did a good job on having the settings reflect myself.I think that my user manual helped me answer the driving question, “Who am I as a PLP Learner”, more than all the other steppingstones, I’ve created combined. My user manual helped me understand who I am as a learner, in part because of the setting we created. I have four main settings. There is “Normal Human”, which essentially is me when I am at home, running errands, etc. Then, there is “Pianist”. “Pianist” mode is when I am playing piano or reading sheet music. I have my favourite mode, “Astronomy Enthusiast”. “Astronomy enthusiast” mode is when I am either writing blog posts about the James Webb, which you can view here, using my telescope, or researching the latest astronomical discoveries, events, or phenomena. Then, last, but not least, there is “Responsible Student” mode. “Responsible Student” mode is when I am at school, or doing homework. When I am in “Responsible Student” mode, I will get all of my work done as best as possible.

What I learned

Throughout this project, I learned how to do many things. I also got to use lots of new apps and learn how to utilize them. I learned how to make an emoji, anime, use keynote, and colour fill. I improved my ability to use my Apple Pencil to draw and to write. 

My overall thoughts

Overall, I learned a ton on this project, video, and reflection. One of the things that I find most prominent is the fact that the vast majority of learning really does occur during reflection. I have learned a whole lot more after I finished all of the stepping stones, and was reflecting on how I did on all of them. I hope you enjoyed reading my post!