Dean’s Blog

               Over the course of the semester, I’ve learned a whole lot about the Internet and most of everything it has to offer all thanks to my Online Communications Class.We started from scratch like learning the basic internet language called HTML to creating our very own website/electronic portfolio. At the beginning of the class year, I did terrible, but as the year progressed I did better and my knowledge increased. We covered many different things in class and all of that transitioned to some of my projects. A skill I’ve been using throughout this class is just taking what I learn from my instructor and apply it to everyday things I do on the computer. Before I didn’t know what HTML, Widgets, or even Javascript was, but now I have a better understanding, and to top that I’ve learned how to use the EduBlogs wordpress blog pretty well. Most importantly, dedication and hardwork are demonstrated in some of my work that I’ve completed.

               My first two projects were done poorly and one was incomplete. I learned the steps and lessons on what to do for my technology autobiography, but I didn’t really have sufficient time to do it, and I didn’t understand it really clearly. It ended up being half way done, with only images and no audio. My second project was the same case, but it was completed but had many errors in it. We used Windows media encoder to record a video tutorial on how to use Windows Photostory, I thought we did a good job , but it was inapproriate for viewing so there is no link for it. By far the task that i’m most proud of is the creation of my advisor’s website which can be found here and my own website (which you are on now). I did it all of its content completely on my own, with the help of my instructor and advisor. My previous projects affected my grade immensely, so I knew I had to put it alot of effort and hardwork to get a better grade.  After this class is completed, I’m still going to expand my knowledge of the internet and learn as much as I can. These few months can be described as challenging, difficult, and most of the time joyful.

              The project I am most proud of is my advisor’s website. I did all the required things, and I tried my best to make it very useful to my teacher. I stayed afterschool, spent hours working on the website, trying to make it more personalized to her liking. Its full of interesting things relating to her curriculum and I think it’ll be very useful for her in the future. The regular things I’ve learned in Online Communications helped alot with the development of my advisor’s blog. I’ve encorporated 3rd party applications, Widgets, Games etc. for her.

Final Thoughts?
I dont have any questions about the lessons or the projects.

What went well during the collaborative process and what went not so well?

During the collaborative process, I think it went relatively well in my opinion it could have been better, but my advisor and I had responsiblites to attend to , so we didn’t have alot of time to work together, but we had a sufficient amount. I think we did a good job and its all up to her if she wants to use it really. Every time I would meet with my advisor she would be in a hurry, so I couldn’t teach her much and I had to hurry so I couldn’t teach things in much detail.

Please suggest solutions to improve the project for next year.

For next year, I have some suggestions to improve this project. Don’t do this at all, some advisors won’t have much or any time to meet with students and discuss what they want, but for the advisors that do have time, would give an unfair advantage to other students that have an advisor with a busy schedule.

I would propose a project, something similar to this, but all students would create it for you, for simplicity’s sake. You can check it, and tell them what you want and they can do it for you. You might already have a “vision” already in your head on how you want the project to be like, and you can critique the student depending if their page they’ve created for you is similar to the one that you’ve “envisioned”

Discuss two or three sections of the advisor’s website that make you most proud. Provide links and explain.

The section that I’m most proud of is the Cooking Equipment Page, and Fun and Games Category. The cooking equipment page, took me a ton of time to finish. I had to type out all the definition, but the hard part was finding the image url and pasting it several times. It was very dull, but after all that time, I was proud of that accomplishment. Also I really liked the Fun and Games Category i’ve added. When a student clicks on it, they’ll have an option of playing a word search or crossword puzzle. I put a decent amount of time into each one making it challenging and fun.

w00t NBA Finals are here!!!

Eastern Conference Champions Boston Celtics vs Western Conference Champions Los Angeles Lakers

this matchup has revived the Rivalry of the Celtics and Lakers from the 1980’s.

I’m rooting for the celtics, and I don’t think anyone wants a Championship ring more than Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, they are all experienced veterans, who deserve a ring but were not given a chance before. But now they have. They are all close to becoming world champions, and I don’t think Garnett will let a Ring slip off his finger, but the game will be very rugged, facing the Lakers. Lakers dominated the defending champions in 4 games to 1. If they want to compete with Boston they have to perform at their very best. If Boston Shutsdown Kobe bryant, The series will favor boston, but if kobe gets going early on in the series, it would give the Lakers momentum to beat boston.

In my opinion

Celtics Win in Game 7

4-3

Progress Part 4

Here’s what I accomplished this week:

               During this week I’ve made alot of changes to my advisor’s blog. I’ve originally had 6 different pages, with different info on each, but with some helpful advice from Mr. Stengel I’ve changed it completely. I only have 3 pages now, an FAQ section, a Cooking Equipment page, and a Homework Calendar. I’ve also added more categories, so the blog is more usable, and less cramped. I’ve got a majority of the cooking definitions finished, but I had to stop shortly, because I misplaced the list.

Here’s what I plan to work on next (Be specific on short term goals):

               I have 4 more things to teach my advisor next. Since schools coming to an end, I have to work at a faster rate. So by next week, I have planned to finish the cooking definitions and finish a cooking procedure post. Next I’m going to embed a Poll and Survey into her blog to her liking and show her how to use google calendar.

80% Completed

1. Teach my advisor how to use all of the blog’s functions so, she can use it without much assistance.
2. After getting enough information on what my advisor wants, I will search for widgets or media relative to the class, and save it.
3. Personalize the Blog to her liking, and then add the content
4. Finally Review the Blog over with my advisor

           During this past week I’ve learned about Survey’s and Polls. Survey’s and Polls are very important in any webpage, because it is a social interaction tool that helps the Creator know how the visitors feel about a specific topic. Polls can be about anything, with no correct answer, it is just letting people voice their opinion. I’ve added a new catergory called Polls and Surveys, Although I haven’t made a survey yet, I’ve made a poll about basketball. I like this tool alot, the code that i’ve embedded on that page came from a very cool site called PollDaddy.com you can either be a member for free or pay to get bonus features. Top companies use this application on their websites such as FOX news network, PC World, and many others.

                  Also, I’ve noticed a big change in EduBlogs. Hooray!! Its a new version!! Yes Edublogs 3.0 is out and better than ever. It’ll take some time to adapt to this new setting, but Overall I think its a good change, before everything was clustered in different tabs, but now there is few tabs and it has improved its usability alot.

Progress Part 3

Here’s what I accomplished this week:

      During this week, I’ve learned how to add a PodCast to blogs but I haven’t added it to my advisor’s blog yet. ( I will explain this later on) I’ve added alot of information and images about Cooking Equipment, but haven’t finished adding it all yet. There is still alot of content to be covered.

Here’s what I plan to work on next (Be specific on short term goals):

                I still haven’t showed her the blog functions because she has been busy lately, so i plan on doing my tutorial videos soon, so that she has a basic understanding of how Edublogs work and how to do simple tasks like posting writing etc. She gave me alot of content to put on to the pages (Cooking Procedures and Cooking Equipment), I plan on finishing all of that soon.

1. Teach my advisor how to use all of the blog’s functions so, she can use it without much assistance.
2. After getting enough information on what my advisor wants, I will search for widgets or media relative to the class, and save it.
3. Personalize the Blog to her liking, and then add the content
4. Finally Review the Blog over with my advisor

During this past week I’ve learned about Pod Casts, and how to make my blog posts have an audio version so people can listen to my blog from home or on their mobile devices. I also added a table on to my portfolio page. It keeps most of all my content and projects organized and very usable. I think it is a very effective way to display info, and is very convenient. Overall I think this week was a breeze because nothing was too easy or too difficult.

Progress Part 2 

Here’s what I accomplished this week:

      This week I have learned on how to apply Google’s Calendar application on to my teachers blog. This program is essential for her class, she’ll be able to post assignments over this calendar so it is more convenient for students to see homework assignments. I’ve put the widgets that she asked for on her website.

Here’s what I plan to work on next (Be specific on short term goals):

                Next I plan on showing mrs. warfield how to use the blog’s function and some of the google calendar functions and also ask about some usability functions that she would like to include in her blog. Also I need to work on 2 Tutorial Videos, that I plan on doing. One is going to teach her how to use the Google Calendar and the basics of posting information and such on her blog.   

Here’s my complete and current to do list for the completion of the project (Be specific on long term goals):

Celtics defeat the Cavaliers in a thrilling 97-92 game Pierce had 41 pts, to overcome LeBron’s 44 pts

Now left is the Spurs and Hornets game, the winner will be placed against the L.A. Lakers for the western conf. title

 As of Right Now

Boston Celtics Vs. Detroit Pistons ~ Eastern Conference Finals

Los Angeles Lakers Vs. San Antonio Spurs/New Orleans Hornets (Game 7 Tuesday)