Dr. Strange's Spring 2008 EDM 310 Class Blog

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Foliotek Problems

If you are one of the 20 students who either did not post materials to Foliotek or had other problems with Foliotek, you may need a copy of the Foliotek Instructions.Download a copy by clicking HERE.

When you have corrected your Foliotek submissions, send me an email at strange.john@gmail.com

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Where is Your Web Site? and Other Important Things

Do I have you listed as having completed your web site? Check and see by clicking the link to the right. If your name is not there, send me the address of your web site as soon as it is complete! Last date to submit: 5 PM Thursday May 1.

Also, you must make the last post to your blog. The question you must answer is: What have I learned in EDM 310 (if anything). Also comment on the instructional movies if you watched any of them.

If you have to take any exam, you may come to any of the scheduled times.
Monday 6 pm - 8 pm Fairhope (Administration Building)
Tuesday 10:30-12:30 and 1:00-3:00 Lab 3301
Thursday 10:30-12:30 Lab 3301
Foliotek help at 9:30 Tuesday and Thursday.
Or call or email me to arrange another time.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Congratulations

Congratulations to the winners of the 1st Strange EDM 310 Photography Show. We had 14 entries from 4 students. And the winners are:

1st Prize: Patty Bell for her picture of a fallen tree with flowers growing over it.
2nd Prizes (Tie): Jennifer Thurgood for "Eifel Tower" and Inky Fagnongbe for "Untitled Street Scene"
3rd Prize: Jennifer Burroughs for "Grandmother's Table"

Prize winners will receive a check shortly!

Thank you for entering.

Come see the photographs! All entries can be seen in the hallway immediately in front of my office in Suite 3800. Ask any of the secretaries. They can direct you.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Text Instructions for Spreadsheets

Click here for a review of the functions we use in EDM 310 in Google spreadsheets.
If you are working on understanding payout tables, first read "Dealing with Payments".
If you are working on understanding payout tables, first read "Dealing with Payments".

Friday, April 18, 2008

PRACTICE!

Practice! Spreadsheet exams Monday or Tuesday and Thursday. Attendance mandatory r signed doctor's excuse.

Practice. If you are having trouble, email me or call me.

PRACTICE!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

New Instructional Video

Trifold 2 has been posted. This video explains how to remove the lines that mark the sections of your trifold as well as the lines that desinate text boxes.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Another Educational Video Resource

The Annenberg Foundation has a large number of educational videos demonstrating effective teaching techniques. It is free. If you are not already familiar with it, sign in and get started by CLICKING HERE.

Two sites that offer teachers video classroom materials are: Teacher Tube and School Tube . Students and teachers can post their own videos as well. These two resources are also free.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Spreadsheet Instructions on Payout Table Now Available

If you are working on understanding payout tables, first read "Dealing with Payments".
The three videos that are now available are:
Payout 1: Setting Up A Payout Table; Solving for PMT
Payout 2: Solving for PV, NPER, and RATE
Payout 3: Creating an Amortization Table

Friday, March 28, 2008

Trifold Video Available

The Trifold Video is now available.

Also be sure to get the Trifold Instructions.

What's Left?

1. If you have not shared your ADDRESS BOOK with me, you must do that. (Database project)
2. If you have been able to locate your partner's web site, share your critique with me in Google Docs.
3. TRI-FOLD BROCHURES (Draft due next Monday 3/31 or Tuesday 4/1). Final due Mon 4/7 or Tue 4/8)
4. Are your BLOG posts up to date? They should be. A new blog assignment sheet is available. (See Important links).All BLOG assignments are to be completed by Sunday April 27.
5. How are you doing with completing your WEB SITE? It is due the last day of class.
6. Are you practicing for your WORD PROCESSING EXAM? The exam will be given Monday 4/14 and Tudesay 4/15.
Here are some materials to help:
Practice Exam
Practice Document
Explanation of TABS
Explanation of Headers, Footers and how to set page numbering options.
7. Are you practicing for your SPREADSHEET EXAM?
a. You need to know how to set up an address book and to use the CONCATENATE function to join fields.
b. You kneed to know how to set up a table to enable to determine characteristics of a loan: Amount Borrowed (PV), Annual Interest Rate, Periodic (Monthly Interest Rate (RATE). Number of Periods (Payments) (NPER), and the Payment (always expressed in the table as a negative number (PMT)
c. You need to know how to solve for any of these characteristics in situations where you know 3 of them but do not know one.
d. You need to be able to create an Amortization Table.
Materials, including sample exams, will be added this weekend to assist you with this preparation for the examination.
8. iGoogle Page. I will look at your iGoogle Page on Monday 4/7 and Tuesday 4/8.

Additional Materials

Trifold Brochures:
Click Here for instructions on creating a TRIFOLD BROCHURE IN WORD.
The Trifold Video is now available.
Spreadsheets:
Click Here for a general discussion ("Dealing With Payments") of how to create a PAYOUT TABLE and how loans work. Videos are now available. See the special post on new payout Videos.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Foliotek on Thursday

If you have not already registered for Foliotek, you must bring your credit card on Thursday. I will walk you through the Foliotek process and explain the best way to upload required assignments to Foliotek. You can use this information for other classes where Foliotek is used.

Trouble Opening Your Web Site or Your Partner's Web Site?

Google had a problem but has now fixed it.

If you cannot get to your web site, do this:
1. Go to pages.google.com
2. Sign In
3. Click on Site Settings (on right, near to of Site Manager Page
4. Set a Home Page (on left)
5. Click on Go to my homepage

You should go to your home page. If it works, you can now get to your home page and so can your partner. You may have to tell them to follow these instructions to get their home page to work.

Trouble Watching Videos?

Are you having trouble watching videos, either my instructional videos or movies that are part of your blog assignments?

If so, you probably need to install the latest version of Quicktime. To do this:
1. Go to http://www.apple.com and click on Downloads and then click on Quicktime. Or you can get there by Clicking Here. Install the version that includes the latest version of iTunes (the default). It will take about 5 minutes to install and download. then you should be set to go. If not, email me!

Monday, March 24, 2008

New Spreadsheet Video Posted

A video covering the creation of a multiplication table is now available. It also addresses the meaning and use of ABSOLUTE REFERENCES. CLICK HERE to watch this video.

Blog Assignments Updated

The Revised Blog Assignments are now available.

The Wikipedia Blog Assignment has been rescheduled until Week 14 (April 13). Instructions and links are available by CLICKING HERE.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Spreadsheet As Database Instructions

CLICK HERE for the Spreadsheet as Data Base Lesson in text format.

There are two videos for the Spreadsheet as Database Lesson.

The first covers setting up the database. Click Here to watch the first lesson.

The second lesson should be watched after you have set up your data base and entered data. It covers the method for using the CONCATENATE function to combine text fields and data and how to sort data. I also introduce the terms RELATIVE REFERENCE and ABSOLUTE REFERENCE and explain RELATIVE REFERENCE in some detail. Understanding the difference between relative and absolute references, when each is used, and how to designate a reference as an absolute reference (the default a relative reference) is essential to an understanding of spreadsheets. Click Here to watch the second lesson.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Don't Panic if You Cannot Get To Web Site

If you, or the person critiquing your web site, cannot find your index (beginning) page, DO NOT PANIC. Google has messed up the way they are handling index pages and the site settings link on the Page Manager Page. Just send me a gmail telling me what happened and we will sort it all out when Google gets their act together.

Wikipedia Blog Assignment

The Wikipedia Blog Assignment is as follows:
Read the
NPR blog on Wickipedia.
Also read the
NPR article on Wikipedia.
Then listen to the NPR Podcast on Wikipedia by clicking on the LISTEN button on the NPR article page.

Next read the WIRED story about Virgil Griffith, Wikipedia Scanner, and the changes made to Wikipedia by Diebold, a leading maker of voting machines, the FBI, Walmart, and a variety of politicians. Learn how you can find out who is changing Wikipedia and how the fact that anyone can change Wikipedia (and often does) affects the reliaqbility of Wikipedia.

Write a two or more paragraphs about how and when (if ever) Wikipedia can be a trusted source of information.

Due Dates (By Popular Request)

Thursday 3/ 20 at midnight - Notification (if applicable) that you cannot reach your partner for web critique
First Class in Week 12 (3/24-25)- Data Base (Week 12)
First Class in Week 12 (3/24-25) - Critiques of Web Sites
First Class in Week 13 (4/1-2) - Draft of Trifoid
First Class in Week 14 (4/8-9) - Final Trifold
First Class in Week 14 (4/8-9) - iGoogle Page
Week 15 (4/15-16)- Spreadsheet and or Word Processing Exam
Week 16 (4/22-23)- Spreadsheet and or Word Processing Exam
Final Classes (4/25) - Final Web Site

Data Base (Address Book) Due Week 12

Your address book must have at least 25 entries. It must contain the following fields: Greeting, First Name, Last Name, Suffix, Address, City, State, Zip, Area Code, Phone, Full Name (using CONCATENATE Funuction to combine Greeting, First Name, Last Name, Suffix properly punctuated), CSZ (a combination of City, State and Zip properly punctuated using the CONCATENATE function). and AC and Phone ( a combination of the area code, a "-", and the phone number using the CONCATENATE function).

Share this with me as a Viewer (strange.john@gmail.com).

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Google Web Site Problems

Google has made changes to their Page Creator which are causing problems. Until they get their problems corrected, DO NOT CHANGE YOUR HOME PAGE EVEN IF IT IS INCORRECT. As soon as Google has gotten things straighted out I will advise you that you can make the appropriate changes.

You may also have difficulties returning to Site Manager from Site Settings. THEREFORE DO NOT CLICK ON SITE Settings until I advise you that it is clear. If you do, and get stuck, just go to pages.google,com and you will be back to SiteManager.

There also have been reports that Google has arbitrarily changed your home page. If so, wait it out and we will straighten it out after Google recovers from their errors. For reviewers: If it appears that you are not going to the intended home page of the site you are reviewing, go to the site plan and click on Home Page. You should then be in the correct place.

I also have had one report that a student had all of her links on her site map, then changed the Look and Google threw away all of her links. If this or other wierd things happen to you while using Google Pages, please let me know as soon as possible!

Enter Photography Contest By March 20!

Last day for entries.
Prizes:
1st - $ 25.00
2nd - $10.00
3rd - $ 5.00
Honorable Mention - New Presidential Dollar

Monday, March 17, 2008

Adding Links to your Web Site Instructional Videos

I have just posted two instructional videos about links.

The first covers Creating a Site Map with Links.

The second discusses Adding Links to Your Web Pages.

Additional Changes to Syllabus

1. Google Talk; Google Maps; Google World; Other Google Tools scheduled to be covered in Week 11 have been postponed indefinitely. Watch for future instructions.

2. Web site Critiques are now due Monday March 24 or Tuesday March 25.

3. In Week 11 we will cover more on DOCS and introduce Google Spreadsheets (using them as Databases). The database project will be due in Week 12 (March 24 or 25). This is NOT a change (but it is a clarification) to the syllabus.

4. DRAFT Trifolds will now be due March 31 or April 1. Final Trifolds will be due April 7 or April 8. This is a change to a previously made change to the syllabus.

4. Videos on DOCS and Spreadsheets as Databases will be posted later this week (Week 11).

5. Additional Blog assignments will be posted later this week.

Critiques of Web Sites

Each class member will be assigned a partner whose site you are to review. It should be a genuine critique, not a "it looks great" statement. You will want to consider all of these questions (and hopefully others that you think of) when you do your critique.

1. Does the web site work?
2. How complete is it?
3. Is there a complete site map that works?
4. Are the links all working?
5. Are the links on every page?
6. Are they the the best links for that page?
7. Do they work?
8. It the text appropriate to the picture displayed?
9. Are the words in the text correctly spelled?
10. Is the grammar correct?
11. Does the Source show when your mouse is over the picture (will last approximately five seconds)?
12. Does the web site look nice?
13. What might the author do in the remaining five weeks to improve the site?

You should write your critique using Google DOCS. Make sure that I am included as a Viewer. Use this email: strange.john@gmail.com for me.

I will post a movie on how to use DOCS later this week.

If you are absent, a list of "partners" will be posted later this week.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Additional iGoogle Instructional Videos

Publish All Pages and Set the Correct Index Page
Two reminders that are important as you near the completion of you draft web site are contained in this video. Click to watch!

Add ALT and TITLE Modifiers to all IMG Tags in Web Site
You must add ALT and TITLE modifiers to all IMG tags in your web site. For a video review of how to do this, CLICK HERE.

Monday, March 3, 2008

RSS Feeds

Need help in understanding RSS and in thinking about how to use RSS yourself and in your classes? CLICK HERE to watch my instructional video about RSS Feeds.

Be sure to add Google Reader to your iGoogle page and to subscribe to the class blog!

iGoogle Instructional Movie

Need help in developing your iGoogle project? CLICK HERE to watch my instructional video about iGoogle.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Next Week (March2)

Web Site - Links
We will add navigation links to your web site. Be prepared!

Trifolds
Bring the material you gathered when you visited your classroom. You will need it to start your trifold brochure.

Week 8 - Topics Covered

Web Site Development
First, we had a session of directed lab work where I looked at the progress you are making on your web site and tried to answer questions. You should be moving toward having all of you pages created with a picture and text on every page. Do not change the Headers at this time. Do not try to add links (navigation) until after the class next week where links will be covered.

iGoogle Page and RSS Feeds
I covered the development of iGoogle Pages. This is one of the projects you must do. A complete instructional video podcast will be available early next week (if my new program to do this works. Otherwise you will have text instructions).

The same hold true for RSS Feeds.

Check back soon.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Changes to Syllabus

Week 8 (February 25,26,28) Supervised Web Work; RSS Feeds; Google Reader
Week 9 Due Date for Draft of Web Site Changed to Week 11 (after Spring Break)
Week 11 Due Date for Draft of TriFold changed to Week 12
Week 12 Due Date for Final Version of Trifold Changed to Start of Week 13

Other changes may follow

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Instructions for HTML Tag Modifiers Covered Mon 2/18 and Thur 2/21

See the link Required Tag Modifier Instructions under Important Links. Currently I have published version 3 (last revised at 10:45 am 2/21).

Class Photographs - An Exhibit

We will have an exhibit of photographs taken by members of my EDM 310 classes this term (and previously as well), including photographs by Mrs. Griffin and me.

If you are interested in participating, bring me your pictures. If they are unframed, or even not yet printed, I will take them from there and prepare them for hanging. If you have them ready to hang, just bring them to me.

This should be fun!

Thanks,

John Strange

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Cleaning Up Picasa For Public Lab Use

1. Open Picasa
2. Under Tools Menu, select Folder Manager
3. You will see some folders in a box on the lower right. For each item in that box, click on it in the LEFT hand box. Then click the Scan Once button. Picasa can be set to “watch” folders and automatically put them into Picasa. That is great on your own computer, but VERY INEFFICIENT in a Public Lab!
4. Every time you do this you will be returned to the main Picasa window. Repeat until all items have been removed from the right hand box (the folders “watched.”
5. Now we will remove all folders already imported into Picasa. This is done by clicking on a folder and then going to the Folder Menu. Remove from Picasa … After answering Yes a number of times, the folder will be removed from Picasa (the pictures are still on the computer, however). Do this until there are no folders shown on the left side of Picasa.
6. Now insert your pen drive.
7. Under the File menu, Import From … or just click the Import button.
8. In the upper left, click the Select Device button.
9. Navigate to your pen drive.
10. You will see a list of all the images on your pen drive. In a Public Lab, it is best to select ONLY the images you want in Picasa. On your own computer, import them all but be sure and select Exclude Duplicates in the lower left corner of the window.
11. REMEMBER TO BRING YOIR PEN DRIVE TO CLASS. You will be stuck without it!

Instructions on putting Picasa on your computer at home can be found on the Class Blog.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Several Additions to Important Links

Be sure to look at the additions to the Important Links area on the right side of this blog.

Picasa Instructions

1. You will need Picasa on your computer. It is free. It is from Google. To get Picasa, click here to go to the Picasa web site. Download Picasa.
2. Picasa is a program that organizes your photographs and provides tools to manipulate your images. In this class you may use all of the tools available in Picasa, but you will be especially interested in these tools:
a. ROTATE - in case you picture is sideways or upside down.
b. CROP – used to eliminate parts of the image you do not need or want to include.
c. STRAIGHTEN - This tool really helps! It does what it says. And many time your picture was not taken on the level. Or at least mine aren't!
d. CONTRAST – bump it up and see what happens to the way your picture looks. It will probably be better. You can bump up the CONTRAST several times if you want. Any changes you make to your picture (those listed above and all others) can be easily removed. You will see the button that does that when you look at the Picasa page.You can add other changes as well but they will be covered later.
e. EXPORT to a specific size (storage and physical size set in one procedure.

3. Things to remember when using Picasa:
a. Make sure you have a copy of your pictures BEFORE you start working in Picasa. If you take your own pictures, Picasa will want to “import” your images from your camera or card reader. It will also offer to erase those images. DO NOT DO THIS. Quit Picasa and copy your images to a permanent location (on a CD, or a separate hard drive, anywhere safe). Then reopen Picasa. Picasa will copy your pictures to a folder. You will be asked to name the folder and select the location where it will be stored. Pay attention to the default location so you can find your folder. Or better yet, on your personal computer, put the folder where you want it. Picasa organizes images into Albums and Folders. They are shown on the left of the Picasa screen. Albums are arranged by the earliest date of an image imported at a specified time. You can also create your own albums and folders within Picasa. Remember these are merely organizing tools of Picasa and do not represent “real” albums or folders on your hard drive.
b. You can select pictures to be part of a group. You will do this when you Export your pictures to redo their size (the major task you must accomplish before you can start working on your web site). There are several methods
i. Star a picture by clicking on the Star button on the bottom of the Picasa page. It will automatically be placed in a folder called star. Then you can select all the images in the star folder.
ii. Control click more than one picture After selecting in this way you can Export.
iii. Hold pictures. This is often the best technique. Select an image. Click Hold at the bottom of the Picasa window. This puts a small image of the picture in the “Holding Tray” at the bottom of the window. You can then review the “held” pictures, click (Control Click) the images you want. Then Export.
c. EXPORT
i. This is the command you use to export your images AFTER you have worked on your images. When you export, set the size to 480 and leave the setting “Automatic” alone. This will reduce the size of your images for the web. Select the images to be exported using the techniques described above. Click the Export button at the bottom of the window. You will be asked to name the folder to which you want to export the images. I suggest naming it “reduced???” (you replace ??? with your word!). Make sure you place that folder on your pen drive. Now you are ready to begin placing the images in this folder on your web site pages.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Web Site Examples

Here are some selected examples of web sites created in the Fall 2007 semester. HOWEVER my goals for your web site this term are much higher. The Google based sites done last semester were the first Google based sites that had been developed in my EDM310 classes. I want your sites to be better than these were! You should be excited by your site. My hope is that you will not only do it as a "project" for this class but that you will also want to continue to use and improve it even after this class has been completed.

Click on the names to see that student's web site.

Kailey Aaron
Richard Ellisor
Monarica Foreman
Danielle Herrman
Kristen Shepherd
Paige Wade
Kimberly Piburn

Word Processing - Tools To Help You Learn What You Don't Already Know

General Word Processing Help

CLICK HERE to download a Word Processing Practice Sheet. It explains how to do many of the things you are required to know.

Header and Footer

Follow the instructions in the Header Footer Handout. CLICK HERE to get the Header Footer Handout.

Tabs

Follow the instructions in the Working With Tabs handout. CLICK HERE to get the Working With Tabs handout.

Preparing For Your Classroom Visit to Gather Material for Trifold Brochure

You will need some pictures for your trifold brochure:
1. A picture of the teacher whose class you visit.
2. A picture of you and the teacher together.
3. A picture of the school.
4. A picture of the classroom. If children are present, do not show faces in your picture.
5. Other pictures, images or graphics as appropriate.

Your trifold brochure should be considered as an "advertisement" brochure for the class you visit. If technology plays a role in the classroom, you must include that in the brochure. Think of your teacher as your client. Assume she (or he) has hired you to do a promotional brochure for their class. Maybe they want to raise money for more technology, or tell others about the great things that are happening in their classes. Work with them to plan and design your brochure. Interview the teacher. Get quotes that you may want to sue. Or pictures of student projects, etc.

You should make your visit during the next two weeks. I am delaying the final submission of the trifold one week. It is time to get started. If you need to borrow a camera, just let me know.

Getting Started With Your Web Site

1. PLAN. It is essential that you plan your web site. Create a storyboard with one page for every page in your site. In the upper right corner name each page. Follow these rules: use only letters and numbers. No spaces! No weird characters. ONLY letters and numbers.Identify the picture or pictures you will place on each page. It is usually best to limit the number of pictures to one or two per page. Make notes about what text you will be adding. Create a header for each page. Think about the links that will be on each page. This requires you to think about how you will organize your site. An outline helps!

2. Get you pictures together on your pen drive. Name them appropriately. Follow the same rules for naming your pages: use only letters and numbers. No spaces! No weird characters. ONLY letters and numbers.

3. Using Picasa (or Photoshop or Elements if you already know how to use Photoshop or Elements), prepare your pictures. You may want to rotate your pictures, crop them, enhance them with the many tools available in Picasa. But you MUST export them to reduce their storage size. When we use the word "size" with images, we can mean two different things (but they are related). Size can mean the PHYSICAL size of an image, usually expressed in inches (in the United States) or dpi (pixels per inch). Generally we use 72 dpi as the goal for images that will be displayed on screens. Size can also mean the storage space required on a storage device for an image. Our goal is to keep our images under 150 Kb. If you View your files using the Details option under the View menu you can immediately see the storage size of the image and the physical size expressed in pixels. On a Mac you would use the middle choice for displaying file information.

In Picasa, select the images you will be using. EXPORT them to a folder which indicates they are the ones you will use in your project. Set them to be exported at a width of 480 pixels and automatic compression. This will result in the pictures being appropriately sized for storage AND physical placement on your web page. It is important that these "resized" images be placed in a special folder so that your original images will not be overwritten.

3. Sign in to your Google account. Go to pages.google.com. The first time you do this, scroll to the bottom of the page and accept the terms. Then click the link to start your web site. You will arrive at a page which is a "starter" page. Find the link (upper left) to the Site Manager. The Site Manager in GooglePages is equivalent to Dashboard in Blogger.

4. The most important thing to remember from the material covered in class is that every time you create a new page you should IMMEDIATELY put in the name of your page following the rules specified above. Google asks you to insert the "title" of your page. DO NOT follow Google's instructions. Instead, follow my instructions and insert the NAME of your page as you have determined it.

5. Before class on Thursday (Monday class - proceed with adding pictures and text to your pages as specified below), you should concentrate on setting the Layout and the Look. Bring your pictures to class on Thursday!

6.After you have used Picasa to reduce the size of your pictures (we will cover this Thursday), begin to place your pictures and your text on each page. Do not attempt to add links at this stage. It will be much easier later when you are absolutely sure about the organization of your site. I would also avoid changing the Header at this time. Leave it as the name of your page for the time being. It will be easier if you change to your real header at a later date.

7. Be sure you know the source of your picture. You will have to add that later.

8. Call or email me if you have questions.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

No Classes Thursday -- Bring Web Site Plans Tuesday

Classes will NOT meet this Thursday. This is one of the two days that are being substituted for your visit to a classroom in order to gather material for your trifold brochure.

More information will be distributed next Tuesday regarding those visits.

You should bring your web site plans and at least some of the pictures you intend to use with you next Tuesday when we will begin to learn how to create a web site using Google Pages.

Continue to monitor this Blog for additional information that I intend to post.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Adding A Photograph to Your Blog

Click on the photo icon. Browse to find your photograph. Open. Click OK. Select a location for your text. Select a size for your photograph (or image). I recommend small unless you want to cover your blog.
This photograph was taken at the Vancouver Aquarium in December 2007 by John Strange.

Week 3

Thursday:
We talked about designing your web site. I showed the class this site as an example of how a site might be designed.

Whitney Lee's Web Site

I also suggested that you might like to look at the organizational structure of my Grandaughter's web site.

Strange Creations (Blair Strange's Web Site)

A few points we covered (more to follow in printed form:
The more organized you are in Week 6, the better your web site will be and the faster you will be able to construct it. PLAN!
Names of pictures and pages must contain only letters and/or number. NO SPACES, special characters, etc.
Your Home Page must be named index.html
Bring the pictures you will be using (at least some of them
) with you on the first day of classes in Week 6.

We discussed your presentation next week. It will be recorded (audio and video). Be prepared!

We discussed posting a picture to your web site. See the following post.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Material Covered in Week 2

We made sure all blogs can be accessed through the Class Blog page. I reminded everyone that starting this week all Blog Posts must be on time. In error I had set different requirements in the syllabus and the blog assignment sheet. That was my fault. All students need to do the assignment on the Blog Assignment sheet for Week 1. Sorry about that. In the future, if there are contradictions, the Blog Assignment sheet should be followed.

I announced that we will ONLY use Google's Presentation application for the Presentation in Week 4. You can get to the Google Docs page by:
1) Signing in to Google (either from www.google.com or at www.blogger.com)
2) Go to http://docs.google.com NOTE: DO NOT include www in this address!
3) If asked, supply your last name and first name. Click Continue (You may not be asked for this.)
4) You will now be at Google Docs Control Center. If you click on New you will see you have 4 choices. Document (replacing Word); Spreadsheet (replacing Excel); Presentation (replacing PowerPoint); Folder (for use in organizing material in your Docs Control Center.

I went through a long discussion of why we are using Presentation instead of Powerpoint. The major reasons are:
Free vs. $ 85 - $ 150.
Collaborative Presentations possible
Complete record of who does what and when they do it
Presentations can be given to online audiences
Chat (and in some cases audio and video) are available to "distant" participants.
Can't lose document (stored on Google's server)
Accessible anywhere there is an internet connection without need for an application other than a browser

I went through a lengthy discussion of what to do to make your Presentation. You need a plan, your text, and your pictures. Assembling them into slides is easy. All buttons are clearly visible in the control area (after you click Presentation under New). You can manipulate text as you would in a word processor. You can add images (one or two to a page is best). There is a Help button. You can add backgrounds (but I prefer plain old white slides). It should be self explanatory what you do to build your Presentation. If you have any problems, call or email me.

All images (photographs and graphics) used in your Presentation must include a Source (where you got the picture or graphic). If you took or made it it yourself, say so. If it came from Google Images and Google identifies the source (they usually do), put the source that Google credits. If the source is Unknown, put Source: Unknown (say an old photograph in your collection which was taken by some long lost relative). See my sample presentation for examples.

You should have at least 14 slides in your Presentation: 1)Title Slide; 2-13 Content slides; 14 A slide that says Are There Any Questions? You can have as many slides in your Presentation as you wish.

If you want to see the sample presentation I was working on in all my classes, here it is:

If it does not work (be sure you are using Firefox), call or email me.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

The Movie Assigned For First Blog Post

This is the movie I want you to watch and then write your reaction as a post for your blog.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Revised Syllabus Now Available

The Syllabus has been revised. the latest version is Version 1.2 (1/8/08). Please download this latest version.

John Strange

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Welcome to EDM 310 Spring 2008

This is the class blog. You will find out more about blogs in the first class. You will even begin your own!