All Handed In..

Today we travelled down the University to give Sian our podcasts via memory stick. All went to plan and she was able to view it with clear sound. I really enjoyed this multimedia project as it was different from all other assessment types we have created throughout the three years. I believe we have met the requirements for the project title and created something completely different to what we had in mind when first having received the title.
The voice memo found on Microsoft is a new technology tool to me, I will definitely consider using this software again in future presentations.

The Outcome!

Overall, we came away from the library very happy with our work. Our chosen plants were very different, yet came together to create an interesting presentation that was extremely fun to make. With a clear microphone, voice memos are an excellent source of media for making presentations if you wish to not get yourself in a video. I am extremely pleased with our images, they are presented professionally and represent exactly what we are explaining. I wish to see what sources of technology and media other class members have used!

Bringing it together...

Having just met up with Carl and Lucy, we have decided to incorporate images to back up our points. After Googling many ways to discover how we can design a podcast that enables us to speak, also being visual, we came up with a PowerPoint presentation. The three of us have created PowerPoints for assessment's over the past three years, so this type of media would serve us well. We had difficulty on finding a microphone as the ICT suite was locked. Luckily the librarians were happy to help us and kindly let us borrow their WebCam which had a microphone built on.
Next we designed the PowerPoint. We used a green colour scheme throughout, relating to the green plants and eco theme. Google images was extremely handy on finding good quality images, displaying exactly our research.

I brought my memory stick in to the library, this allowed us to put our separate research in to one script. We labelled each person's research to a chosen slide, this was organised well.
We introduced what Medicinal Plants are before individually talking about our research-informed plants. We spoke clearly into the microphone giving detailed knowledge and understanding of our two chosen plants. These voice memos were simply embedded on to each slide, with a clear speaker logo for the viewer to click. Effective collaboration and a mix of ideas between Carl, Lucy and I, made these voice memos and images work successfully. We used relevant literature from a selection of credible sources. We thought a simple reference list at the end of the presentation would be relevant to illustrate our findings.

When researching my chosen two medicinal plants I found limited information on the Daffodil. I came across an edible herb that I love and was very interested in what its medicinal use is. This is garlic. These are the bullet points I am going to read out on the podcast:

 

• ONLY FRESH GARLIC Effective its used against many fungal infections – can be used as an antibiotic as it kills a range of microbes in the viruses, bacteria or fungi. It helps conditions like athletes foot

 

•  Used to treat toothaches, earaches, cough and colds – if the smell does not make your body hold the strong odour , then the remedy was not very useful, the smell indicates the presence of the healing properties.

 

•  Reduces blood pressure by dilating blood vessels – prevents blood clots – reduces heart attack or strokes

 

•  Reduce heart disease,lowers cholesterol levels

• Some herbs with medicinal uses are edible and fun and safe to grow in school gardens (SCIENCE/CREATIVITY)

 

The doc leaf provided me with lots of facts, these are as follows:

• Resemble Rhubarb more of less, with similar general characteristics – All docks are edible – salad/herbal teas/ stir fries – natural iron in the human system.

 

Round-leaved dock

 

·         Known as the troublesome weed growing on good land however, used to as a remedy for burns and scalds and dressing blisters. It is most known for the popular cure for nettle stings (found growing with nettles)- instant relief.

·         The root of docks have a gentle laxative action, creating bowel movement and good digestion by stimulating the release of gastric juices. This is very similar to that of Rhubarb, but perhaps a little less active, the dock operates without pain or uneasiness. Use only the smallest dose to avoid cramping of the stomach, do not use any other laxatives in combination to the dock.

Sharp-pointed dock

·         The root has been used in drinks as a general blood cleanser/purifier – conditioner for the blood.

·         Both round-leaved dock and Sharp-pointed dock, together with their roots make a useful infusion against bleedings and fluxes in a tea form

• An infusion made from  their leaves and roots also make a curative of several chronic skin diseases that cause itching or sores for example. For this ypu put the leaves in blender with water & apply to itchy skin.

 

I came across a powerful picture on the social networking site called Twitter, which illustrated the negative effects global warming is having on people, the image shows a pregnant lady. It was fundamental to me that this image was somehow to be shown in our podcast.

 

 

First stage of Assignment Part 2

     After a successful visit to the National Botanic Garden of Wales, St. Fagans and the Natural History Museum in Cardiff, Carl, Lucy and myself came up with an innovative scientific idea for our second assignment. We have chosen to discover how certain plants can create medicine. We thought it would be an interesting topic and relevant to today's modern world. Whilst getting together at the library, we discovered many of the powerful drugs used in today's modern medicines originated from plants. We wrote down names of some plant-based drugs and I was given the doc leaf and the daffodil. The three of us now has two chosen plants which we will research individually.

Suzie Pugh - design a brand

As a task to be completed over the Easter Holidays, Suzie wanted us to meet as a group to design a brand and advertising poster. Lucy, Sophie and I met up and thought of food as a theme. We then came up with a "fruit and veg store" (grocery) as there's one in every town. This will attract all types of customers and it is open everyday. We decided on the name "FRESH". Each of us took pictures of fruit and vegtables in our kitchens. I'm lucky enough to work in a restaurent so got some awsome images. As I have Photoshop we then came over my house to create the poster. We decided on a green theme as its neutral, then went on to edit the pictures. We thought of slogans such as "let's eat smart" and "best of British" to draw attention. The poster also had the website and address on, which we made up. This is how the poster looked: (sorry poor quality)

Suzie Pugh - sense of place

In this session we got given our assignment title - "sense of place". This confused alot of us as we did not know exactly what the phrase meant. After examples and explanations were given to us by Suzie, most of us had a rough idea what we were going to focus on. I thought of fashion and art, I hopefully will combine both to make a portfolio and final peice. To understand in more detail Suzie gave us a huge sheet of paper, magazines and newspapers. In partners we had to cut out pictures that meant something to us and present it on the board like a collage. Lucy and I's collage consisted of pictures of holidays (beaches), cupcakes (making cakes with Gran) and the Welsh flag.