Students should have the opportunity to express learning through a variety of media formats. The integration of technology in the classroom allows students to create, share and publish their own content. This is clearly desirable as we as high school educators need to prepare our students to succeed whether in a university or workplace setting. The majority of content is now produced on digital platforms and visually engaging content is essential. For this to occur, educators themselves must possess the ability to create meaningful original media. I think incorporating visually engaging teaching materials would build credibility for the teacher as most students are naturally adept at this using technology outside of the class much more than they do in the classroom. 

This week’s class showed me that enhancing the graphic component of a class need not be expensive or time consuming for the teacher. Indeed, programs such as photoshop are available, but I was pleasantly surprised at how I could enhance the visual component of my lessons by simply using PowerPoint, which I have used for a decade in presenting material, but wasn’t aware of the full potential of the program. I have already improved a PowerPoint presentation that I will use in another class. For myself, I believe it is a question of time allocation. We have been presented with numerous programs and apps that can without question improve the quality of instruction for our learners; however, it takes time to become proficient enough to create something of quality in a timely manner; a skill I have not yet acquired. In my situation, I hope I can choose one or two of the available graphic technologies and focus on incorporating these into my practice.