Description:  The course GDIT 705 Courseware Design provided the foundation for the development of skills in recognizing effective instructional materials as well as effective technologies for enhancing content.  In this course, we were asked to use the software program iAnnotate with a tablet to analyze and provide feedback to our peers regarding the structure and content of their presentations. These artifacts represent my use of different annotation tools while evaluating instructional materials. The use of voice recording, text, highlighting, handwritten messages and sticky notes are evident in these screen shots.

Reflection:  Prior to this course I had never used a tablet device or annotation software.  In fact, I had never even annotated anything other than paper copies of text. My professor was very kind to allow me to borrow an iPad for any course in which it was necessary.  It took me awhile to become accustomed to what everyone else saw as intuitive. I struggled a bit with the functionality of the technology but realized the immense power of conveniently storing annotated documents in electronic files rather than paper files. The interaction of the software made the reading of the text much more engaging. Since then, I have my own tablet device and have used many of the annotating tools in both my research and my teaching.  In one of the courses I teach, students perform action research beginning with Literature Reviews.  For most of them, this is their first experience with the utilization of online annotation.  Similarly, the course is designed to maximize the benefits of the Learning Management System by integrating multimedia principles learned in this course. There are many artifacts within this website that provide evidence of growth in effective integration of appropriate technologies and instructional materials.