iMAC

OK, after Tuesday's class I am convinced that I should take my economic relief check and buy a macbook or macbook pro. A few of the advantages are: I can work with my school/work files using the windows option w/o recreating and transferring files. I can play with iMovie, photobooth, garageband, and the list goes on.

In class we took clips from a previously recorded movie and learned how to rearrange them, cut unnecessary sections, add music and cool effects. The best part is that while the process is time intensive, it is quite easy to do. With this new found knowledge, I am planning on creating a DVD for my students. I am working with a colleague and fellow Connections (USU 1010 Freshman Experience) instructor to video her class participating in the Amazing Race. This activity involves.teamwork, choice and consequences, and decision making while exposing students to a variety of campus buildings and resources. It is similiar to the ClueFinder experience.

For home it would be fun to video the kids playing ball, jumping on the tramp, just being kids to share with family and friends--since I now have a blog, a webpage, RSS feeds, and a facebook account to manage :).

With regard to our projects, my suggestion would be that the class be extended two additional weeks for project submission. I would love to make an iMovie but with only two weeks left for class it is not very realistic. Of course you will always have the procrastinators who think there is never enough time. Maybe I am putting too much into the project concept...just my unsolicited two-cents.

~S.

UAOA Advising Conference

I was unable to attend class on Wednesday due to the fact that I was participating in a regional advising conference. On Wednesday night I moderated a dinner group on the topic of "MySpace, Facebook, email...How do you connect/communicate with your students?" It was very informative. I have changed some of my views based on the discussions we had that night. The "Hot Topic" of the night seemed to stem from the very basic definition and initial intent of many social networking sites. Over dessert we seemed to come to the consensus that social networking sites should be used for just that! They should not become the main source of university information sharing, although they are beneficial in finding the "lost" students.

We also discussed the issue of a professional on-line presence verses the real you presense (in some cases these are two very different profiles). It appears that my colleagues use these sites to fileter out potential employees. I have heard of this practice when hiring new college graduates but it is also being used to hire for upper level support staff and administration.

~S.

Digital Photography

Today we learned about Digital Photography. I have recently purchased a digital camera and am anxious to learn how to download pictures, minor editing, and how to save a picture. My biggest confusion is with all the file extensions. I have pictures I would like to save in an HTML, blog, as a screensaver, etc.

Most Common picture files/extensions

TIFF -
JPEG - Joint Photographic Expert Group re-saving, the file quality gets a little smaller when you save, edit
GIF - Graphics Interchange Format

If posting on the internet is is not necessary to have a really high resolution. The biggest reason is that the higher the quality, the longer the file will take to load.

photoshop.com/express/landing.html an alternative to purchasing PhotoShop (approx $600)

flickr and picnik are popular on-line photo management systems

OK, I tried to resist but I must admit after braving the MAC world (let's be real just photobooth) I took my own picture and have now added it to my blog...and it was fun. I plan on sneaking in during the dead of night to play with this accessory. I need a picture to post for my 20th H.S. reunion and on my facebook site that I recently created.

YETC

Today we went on a tour of the YETC lab in the Education Building.

1. 70 computers 1-year old (both PC's and dual Mac/PC)
2. video editing materials
3. educational computer games,
4. books and resources for the K-12 population

I don't foresee many of the resources being useful to me particularly, my focus is not on the K-12 population. However, the availability of the suite of technology that includes InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator I would have appreciated knowing about prior to my personal purchasing of this suite :)
Many of my graduate classes are project based and have/will require the use of the suite mentioned above.

Additionally, with my new responsibilities at work I will be creating recruitment materials, conference publications and the like.

Great resources! Lucky for the College of Education Students!

In the last five minutes of class: Visit ucet.org to find an article on InDesign for Dummies :)
Page capture software, when creating a tutorial...

This made class time today totally worth it. THANKS NATHAN!


~S.

Week 2 Web 2.0

Web 2.0 consists of a variety of features. The three I have found most beneficial are: on-line bookmarking, flickr (photo management), and survey building.

I have found the social bookmark feature to be extremely beneficial for the following reasons: 1) I have a computer at work, another one at home, a laptop I use when I travel, and a variety of computer labs at Utah State University. By utilizing social bookmarking it doesn't matter what computer I am using, all my bookmarks are available to me.

Another feature that falls under Web 2.0 that I find particularly useful is
Flickr. I have recently bought a digital camera and have yet to save/store my digital photos anywhere. I have been charged with developing an on-line photo library for the Student Services Division at Utah State University and I am anxious to see if and how Flickr might be beneficial.

A third feature is the survey builder. I have taken a handful of online surveys, particularly those survey's built in survey monkey. I have now had the opportunity first hand to see how easy it is to set up a survey. I plan on using the survey tool to poll my re-admit student population (approximately 100 students during any given semester) to determine how often they meet with their advisor, if they are familiar with some of the student services available to them as students, do they blog?, read email?, IM etc.

~S.

Week 1 Summary

The challenge for me with regard to podcasting, blogs, wikis, brochure creation, photo editing... is the reference to "additional software" or equipment that may or may not be required. It appears that although quite entertaining it could also get quite expensive.

It would be great if I could devote four to five hours each day for a few weeks exploring what resources are available. Additionally, if I could tap into university resources for the funding of producing these materials.

I am envisioning creating a blog for both my re-admit students as well as for my USU1010 Connections students. Typically I send weekly mass email to these students that they may or may not be interested in. A handful of these students either do not access email on a regular basis or have multiple email addresses (I can't imagine that they are waiting with baited breath for email from me but that true story.) Having said that, it often contains information that they are expected to know ie: registration deadlines, holds, events happening this week in and around the Utah State campus.

I am definitely interested in setting up a podcast of our monthly Academic Advising Coordinating Committee meetings. This group consists of advisors on both the main Utah State campus as well as advisors located at our distance site across the state.

I have borrowed the department I-Pod for the rest of the week and will begin playing...

~S.

Frustrated

OK, so I have been at this for just under two hours and I don't know anymore than when I started...well, maybe I know a little more but not much. This is a list of things (in no particular order) that I would like to learn how to do in the next five weeks:
1. Add Friends
2. Add Pictures
3. List what blogs I subscribe to
4. Delete a blog
5. View a blog
6. Add links

That's all for now. Stay Tuned.

~S.

Once Upon A Blog

This is my very first attempt at creating, posting, and maintaining a blog.

I have quite a bit to learn but that is OK because I am taking a class this summer to LEARN IT ALL.

~S.