I want to take this opportunity to thank my Computer Skills for the Information Age teachers, Dr. Brendan Calandra and Mr. Tim Hicks, for an outstanding job of teaching this class. I have learned so much more than I expected. This course is good not only for the incoming freshman at Georgia State University, but also for a seasoned educator as myself. I cannot believe that I now have a webpage.
Thanks again teachers!!!
Allen
Three New Design Tips I learned
The first tip that I learned in regards to developing a good website is to create a sitemap with a storyboard. The organization of the website can be done visually by the sitemap. Microsoft’s Word Smart is an excellent tool to create a sitemap
The second web design tip I learned was to make the font styles, colors, and page layout consistent. The example of the white background with black text with blue hyperlinks was most helpful.
Lastly, I learned that the web designer must be versed in the art and science of interface design. GUI is acronym for “graphic user interface”. The Graphic User Interface is important because it is everything that the computer user interacts with and experiences on the designer’s web page. Excellent graphic design and visuals are important for good user interactions.
Three Things That I learned from Blogs Written by Garr Reynolds and David Epstein
A very important tip that I received from these two blogs is to keep the PowerPoint presentation simple. The old adage of “Simplicity if Golden” is to be used. I also learned that it takes more effort of thought on the author’s part to get his or her ideas across for the audience to digest with ease. One of the most effective tools is to use story-telling techniques in making presentations.
The second important that I learned regarding making a PowerPoint presentation is to begin with the end in mind. What is it that I want my audience to know? What is the focal point or climax of the presentation? This important tip came from Garr Reynolds. For the presentation to be effective, it must be focused. Both authors recommends starting the slides last, Always start writing down with pencil/pen and paper to get the ideas that you want to come across before starting with the PowerPoint software. Both authors believes that the less text the better. The reasoning’s are for audience interest on the subject being presented and that it brings more focus on the presenter.
The third tip that I learned from Garr Reynolds is to use the San-Serif font (Helvetica or Arial) rather than the Serif font (e.g. Times New Roman). The Serif fonts are easier to read at small point sizes like documents, articles, and books filled with lots of text; but, get lost on screens due the relatively low resolution of projectors. Garr Reynolds recommends using the Gill San-Serif font because he believes that it is “somewhere in between a serif and a sans-serif font and is professional yet friendly and conversational”.
Online Career Resource
The Georgia State University’s Career Services Center resource that I found to be most interesting was the Online Career Resource Center. Here you will find career planning assistance from anywhere without going to the university. The most attention-grabbing area of this site is the Panther Career Net (PCN) which is a 24/7 online job and internship board. Students can apply for jobs on and off campus from here. There are other career assisting areas as well.
The Virtual Interview Practice Stream (VIPS) is an online interview practice system that allow students to record answers to real interview questions. With a web cam, a student can meet with a career counselor and get positive feedback from any location.
Another interesting area of GSU’s Online Career Resource Center is the Glassdoor resource. This area provides the student a plethora of job seeking information including company employee salaries, relevant interview questions, company reviews and a job search tool.
The Online Career Resource Center area of the Georgia State University’s Career Services Center is a powerful tool to help students investigate, prepare, and acquire the job of his or her choice.
I enjoyed the Acadia University Tutorial Review. It was very informative and the exercises were challenging and thought provoking. I did well on the exercises because I have taken classes that demanded the use of citations. The most important thing that kept me out of trouble for plagiarism is the acknowledgement that I am not the authority of another person’s work or thought. Therefore, I cite direct quotations and references of my opinions.
Trolls
I learned the definition of a person who intentionally disrupt established trends of thoughts on discussion boards by making inappropriate statements. This person is called a “troll”. A person who injects negative or rude remarks usually instigates flame wars.
Two Useful Apps for Students
There are two mobile apps that I use all of the time. They are The Free Dictionary by Farlex and Google Keep apps. I use The Free Dictionary almost daily. Not only does this app define words, but helps with vocabulary by suggesting new words to learn every day. In addition to a word of the day, this app features an article of the day, a quote of the day, the current day in history, the birthday of someone in the news or history and the holiday of a place in the world. In addition, this app gives the weather, your horoscope, and three interactive word games.
The Free Dictionary by Farlex is free. I use it on my android phone and tablet. This app sync bookmarks in both devices and tracks my vocabulary profile. I highly recommend this app to any student who wants to increase his or her vocabulary. One may log in via Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, or your web browser. The web address is www.thefreedictionary.com and can be downloaded from Google’s Playstore.
Another app that I use with my phone that I think will be beneficial to a college student is the Google Keep app. I depend on this app to stay organized. It allows me to create notes and have the ability to assess them anywhere by using my Google account. I can speak a voice memo and the app transcribes it to text and catalogs it for me. It has a very simple “to-do” program that I like very much. I often sync with my tablet. This app is free and can be downloaded from Google’s Playstore.
Unit 2-Assignment 2
Currency-The information found on the Just Fact site seems to be current information on topics that may be of value to a researcher to investigate. There are many topics on this site serving many different interests. There is a Just Facts Daily category on this site, but the most current date I found was May 13, 2015.
Relevancy-Although there are many topics on this site, none give the depth nor breadth needed to do successful research. Many of the articles have tags, some even credible, but not enough for one to spend time here.
Authority-This site relies on the work James D. Agresti and Stephen Cardone. I cannot find ther credentials anywhere on their site. The two researchers depend on the work of other researchers. The site does not give the qualifications of Agresti and Cardone as researchers. Most of their work is opinionated.
Accuracy-The accuracy of the information in this site is dubious. Most articles are not verified. Little references are given. There are too many personal views submitted in its articles. No peer reviewed articles found. This site also refer to its own articles for references that are not confirmed.
Purpose-The site states that, the mission of Just Facts is to research and publish verifiable facts about leading public policy of our time. I find the site entertaining with some thought provoking ideas on certain topics. I do question the validity of most of its articles. There is biase in its works. This site claims to be a non-profit, but true research doe not solicit funds to “shift public opinion”.
Currency-I find the most of the articles to be current and fairly up to date. The most current was June 19, 2015 (Where Does Clinton Money Go?).
Relevance-This site is rich in statistics that would be relevant to me if I need to investigate a topic. The statistics relates to the topic. Most articles have tags that lead to other sites that strengthen the facts given in the article.
Authority-This site is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The URL of this site contains a “.org”, which in most cases gives it some credibility.
Accuracy-Because of the statistical nature of this site and the background of it authors, the information in its articles will more likely than not be true.
Purpose-Factcheck.org aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics by monitoring the accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Their goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.
I did my search on genealogy and slavery. I am in the process of undertaking our family history pre-1886. This is the date of my earliest born relative. Google, Yahoo, and Bing were chosen as the individual search engines and Dogpile, WebCrawler, and Ask were the chosen meta-search engines.
The similarities that I find between the two search engines is that they both attempt to direct the researcher according to the key words placed in the string box. In placing my query, all of the search engines referred Ancesty.com in at least the top five results.
A major difference is that the relevance in the individual search topic appeared more readily and more information was given in the individual search engine. There also seems to be more URLs with domain names that appear to be more credible. Some meta-search engines have questionable references or do not immediately address the search unless one of the Boolean Operators is used. I also find quite a bit of ads in some of the meta-search engines which makes me want to question the sites purpose. This is not to say that all meta-search engines are not useful. In my investigation, I found Dogpile.com to have as much CRAAP as Google. Many of my classmates found the opposite. Certainly the search inquiry may have a lot to do with it.
Welcome to your brand new blog at sites@gsu.edu!
To get started, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.
For assistance, visit the comprehensive support site, check out the Edublogs User Guide guide or stop by The Edublogs Forums to chat with other edubloggers.
For personal support, you can attend Georgia State’s training on Edublogs or stop by The Exchange for one-on-one support.
You can also reference the free publication, The Edublogger, which is jammed with helpful tips, ideas and more.