Week of April 21, 2008

1. Journal contains bulleted list of “To Do” items for the week including an order of priority (i.e. which items will be completed first, second, etc.)

• I need to tweak all of my pages to be able to make them more user friendly
• I am still working on finishing my webspace
• I need to get my blog up to date.
  
  

2. Journal contains students’ thoughts, concerns, or struggles as he/she works to complete the work indicated. Journal also indicates a plan to resolve conflict or possible solutions to problems. If class readings are assigned for the week.

I feel pretty satisfied that my work is almost done. I feel like I put together a pretty decent webspace that is both professional and entertaining. I still need to learn a ton before I would consider building websites for companies. I still am trying to figure out what to do with all of this information.

3.Students will discuss the assigned class readings and indicate how the articles have impacted their web development.

No readings for the week

Week of April 14, 2008

1. Journal contains bulleted list of “To Do” items for the week including an order of priority (i.e. which items will be completed first, second, etc.)

• I need to complete my webspace
• I need to tweek all of my pages so that they are uniform and professional
• Keep the Blog up-to-date
• Make a run-through of my entire site for functionality
• I need to check if I need a seperate site for each part of my webspace.

2. Journal contains students’ thoughts, concerns, or struggles as he/she works to complete the work indicated. Journal also indicates a plan to resolve conflict or possible solutions to problems. If class readings are assigned for the week.

Well, we are coming to the final stretch. I have put in a ton of time and have learned a ton. I just hope that my space is enough to warrant an A in the class. I have definately learned skills on the fly that I plan to employ in the future as I build webspaces. I have really enjoyed using Dreamweaver and figuring out all that it has to offer. Like I have stated before, I am much more of a blogger than anything. I do, however, enjoy creating usable content for others. I feel like I am limited in the quality of the content because of the size/space limitations.

3.Students will discuss the assigned class readings and indicate how the articles have impacted their web development.

I enjoyed discussing the usability issues last class period. I have begun to think about how to employ it in my webspace. I guess one should consider these things BEFORE creating a Webspace. I feel like I was tweeking on the fly.

Week Of April 7, 2008

1. Journal contains bulleted list of “To Do” items for the week including an order of priority (i.e. which items will be completed first, second, etc.)

• Fix my footer
• I need to add pages for the "how to" section
• Make sure all navigation is working and goes where I want it to.
• Pick a background color that looks professional, but not white
• read all article for next week
• keep up with my blog

2. Journal contains students’ thoughts, concerns, or struggles as he/she works to complete the work indicated. Journal also indicates a plan to resolve conflict or possible solutions to problems. If class readings are assigned for the week.

I think that I am finally on track with my webspace. I have worked on it a bunch, but have plenty more to do. I feel like I will have a nice finished product at the end. I do need to steal some time to get everything done. The cool thing about having class online is that you get done early and don't have to leave home. the bad thing is that I force myself to get work done when I am at school. I need to organize my stuff, especially for a portfolio for the masters program.


3.Students will discuss the assigned class readings and indicate how the articles have impacted their web development.

In reading the article "Survey of Professionals Using Electronic Surveys", I felt that the concepts of "Sound Survey Design" to be interesting. I think that whenever you do anything electronically, you need to keep in mind ease of use. I also think that with the increase of availibility to the internet that a more suitable sample size can be found. I was intrigued by the statement that eludes to giving respondents multiple ways to response to the survey. I think I will keep the "...Ease of use" in mind when design my webspace.

In "Universally Designed Instruction", I found that I already do many of the concepts that they indicated. I found that the concepts are really similar to those that are needed to include special education students into the mainstream classroom. This way you can create a less restrictive environment. I believe you go back to the idea of "...Ease of use" then you can create a design that will be instructional for all.

"Quality in Distance Learning" was particularily interesting. It confirmed what I had thought about technology in schools. I found that the phrase "Technology, then, is "merely a means of delivering instruction,"" to be interesting in relation to some of my colleagues. They seem to think that they need to integrate technology and because of this that the students will learn more. I believe that the methodology needs to change and not simply integrating technology into the classroom. What good does it do to use technology but deliver the content in the same fashion. I agree with Russell's frustration that "after so many studies, people continue to believe that technology impacts learning". I also find it interesting that our class is a hybrid class, especially based on some of the findings in the study. I think there is something to be said about blending all of the means of delivery.

When reading through "Using Instructional Design Strategies To Foster Curiosity", I was thinking of ways to apply that to our creation of instructional Websites. The current website that I am working on is for educators...I probably need to add elements from the article to my site.

Week of March 31

1. Journal contains bulleted list of “To Do” items for the week including an order of priority (i.e. which items will be completed first, second, etc.)

• I need to fix my pages so that they fit 100% of any browser page that is used to view it.
• I need to add my instructional pages
• Finish the shell of my website.
• Edit all text and links
• Create video for instruction
• Need to credit my sources
  

2. Journal contains students’ thoughts, concerns, or struggles as he/she works to complete the work indicated. Journal also indicates a plan to resolve conflict or possible solutions to problems. If class readings are assigned for the week.

I made tremendous progress last night...7 pm - 12 am. I am feeling much better about the direction of my space. At first I was playing around with the themes and graphics in order make my space more novel. I decided it was probably better to make my site more functional, instead. I like the design. I am also happy that I have created much of the material in my space. I really am trying not to borrow much from other sites/people. I am still interested in using flash, I think it would help to tie things together. I really need to spend another 5 hour night putting in all of the details that are necessary for a quality site. I have really had to change my thinking on Websites. I am more of a blog/wiki guy. I enjoy the challenge. Plus I feel more professional...and that I can produce a professional product.


3.Students will discuss the assigned class readings and indicate how the articles have impacted their web development.

I don't believe that we have had any readings for this week. However, I continue to read tutorials and discussion, in order to figure out some of the web elements.

Week of February 24

1. Journal contains bulleted list of “To Do” items for the week including an order of priority (i.e. which items will be completed first, second, etc.)

• I need to rework my website to make it more functional and informative.
• I have created a new banner and theme. I need to get that worked into my site.
• I also need to continue to keep my blog up-to-date.
• I need to make some videos (screen casts) to add to my instructional portion of the website.
  

2. Journal contains students’ thoughts, concerns, or struggles as he/she works to complete the work indicated. Journal also indicates a plan to resolve conflict or possible solutions to problems. If class readings are assigned for the week.

My biggest concern is having time to manage the projects. I do get some time at home to work, but get distracted with the realities of being a parent. I try to stay at school some days to get things done. My wife has been great about taking my son to run errands and to go to the park. So, I feel that I am getting some good quiet time to work. I also have to continue to work. Some times I get so involved with the thought process, that it takes a while to actually get some work done. I am always trying to accomplish things that are bigger than I have time or expertise on. On my website, I am simply creating content that is representative of the best I can do with the time I have.

3.Students will discuss the assigned class readings and indicate how the articles have impacted their web development.

to my knowledge, we didn't have any readings for the week. However, I have been reading many tutorials on how to do things. Whenever I try to do something new I find a tutorial to help figure it out.

Photoshop Project

This is a copy of my Photoshop project. I used a gradient, Rubber stamp, Marquee, Text, layering, Blur.

This was funny. I laughed as I did it.













Here is an image that I am working on.

Week of March 17

First off, Kansas is a number 1 seed in the NCAA tourney. That makes me happy.

1. Journal contains bulleted list of “To Do” items for the week including an order of priority (i.e. which items will be completed first, second, etc.)

• I need to get a template for my two websites
• I need to begin building the framework of my sites.
• I need to look over my peer's websites and critique them before I leave town on Easter break
• I want to start looking at ways to improve my webpage design by using a design guide.
• I need to read ahead all of the articles for the coming weeks.

2. Journal contains students’ thoughts, concerns, or struggles as he/she works to complete the work indicated. Journal also indicates a plan to resolve conflict or possible solutions to problems. If class readings are assigned for the week.

I feel much better after attending the class with Dr. T. I feel more at ease about what is expected for the class. I need to continue to produce my webpages, even when I feel uninspired. I also need to stay away from making things so fancy that they lose their functionality. The biggest key is to take careful time reading the articles for class each week. I felt that I didn't cover the articles for this week thoroughly enough and took awhile to get on board with the discussion. I certainly want to stay involved with the discussion. I think I have plenty to learn from my colleagues.

3.Students will discuss the assigned class readings and indicate how the articles have impacted their web development.

I really was impacted by creating a design guide. I usually don't set parameters for myself when designing, which means that things go way overboard in creativeness. So much so that it bogs things down and make my work messy. Also, considering my audience is a big deal. I am interested in how to generate traffic through a website. The Webdesign Principles site was helpful in that it gave several "how to's" as well as "how not to's". Great discussion on blackboard the other night.