The Final Chapter: My Advice To Next Semester's Students. . .

Although obvious and simple, my advice to next year's students is to always attend class and complete all of the assigned classwork or homework. This course isn't difficult, but if you don't do either of these, your grade will suffer. If you do follow my advice and show effort, you will breeze through this class.

Adam's Top Three

Even after viewing everyone's websites constructed through Expression Web, I still couldn't decide on which ones I enjoyed the most. I based my favorites on creativity and uniqueness. After some time, I finally chose Chiara's, Reuben's, and Anna's websites. I found Chiara's webpage extremely creative and unique because of her hand drawn navigation system. Her entire artistic theme was appropriate with her drawing galleries. Reuben's website was also unique in the fact that it was the only one with a video slideshow. I also thought Anna's website was different because of her design. I specifically liked how she set up her photo albums with rollovers and used a plethora of themes for all of her pages. Overall, creating websites was a great way to learn something new about everyone.

AND, if you want to view my website, click here. OR, you can copy and paste this URL into your web browser - www.cs.trinity.edu/~akapasi.

HTML Coding in Web Design

In today's worldwide web, it is important for web designers to know and understand HTML coding. Granted, with web designing software such as Microsoft Expression Web, Dreamweaver, and KompoZer, it is easy for anyone to create a website, but first, one must learn the basics behind HTML coding. By knowing and understanding HTML code, a designer isn't forced to rely on web designing software. In addition to this, web designers gain complete control over their webpage. With some of these sophisticated programs, it is difficult to create a website exactly to one's liking. However, if an individual masters HTML coding, he or she can have free reign over the appearance and content of a website. Aside from providing some freedom to designers, HTML coding is important, because it is a fundamental skill is designing websites. By understanding the fundamentals, one can efficiently produce effective websites.

PowerPoint Presentations

I liked all the presentations, because I learned something new about everyone. But for the purposes of this blog, my two "favorite" presentations were Jordan's and Tasha's. I particularly liked Jordan's presentation on Alexander the Great, because he knew plenty of information on his subject and presented it very well. Also, his PowerPoint was cleverly designed. I liked how Jordan used an ancient Egyptian type theme throughout his PowerPoint to connect it to Alexander the Great. I also liked Tasha's presentation on saving the Harpy Eagles. I had no idea that the Harpy Eagles were endangered, but now I know thanks to Tasha and her presentation. I enjoyed the sound clip she included in her PowerPoint showing the noises a Harpy Eagle makes. I also liked her background and how she faded so it wouldn't draw too much attention. Tasha also provided us with basic information on theses eagles including their size and their habitat. Both Jordan's and Tasha's presentations were very informative and elegantly presented making their PowerPoints seem professional.

If you want to check out my presentation, just follow this link: file://tucc-tiger/groups/computerskills/belisle/akapasi/19present/Tianamen_Square_Massacre

Chris Nolan's Presentation: "Surfin' the Net"

I found Chris Nolan's presentation on finding better information on the web very helpful. Before his presentation, I didn't have a clue how to find scholarly articles through search engines like Google and Yahoo. It was somewhat comforting to hear that Google's results aren't influenced by advertisers. Also, Google now has a feature called Google Scholar that specifically looks for scholarly articles or journals rather than popular webpages. I was also surprised by how many ways you can narrow your search in order to get limited results. I wasn't aware that the "+" and "-" signs could be used in your search. The addition sign essentially means "and," while the minus sign excludes whatever you indicate. In addition to this, his presentation taught me how to evaluate a website. Nolan's criteria in evaluating the validity of a website is useful, because I can now judge whether or not I should use a particular website as a resource in my essays. In retrospect, Chris Nolan's presentation helped me greatly. In the future, I will be able to find better information on the web more efficiently and not resort to just using popular sites as resources in my homework.

PowerPoint DO's and DON'Ts

I didn't realize how bad my PowerPoint presentations are. After reading those articles, I now know how to create a good presentation. I found Seth Gordin's e-booklet the most helpful, because he discusses the communication aspects of PowerPoint presentations in addition to several basic things to avoid in your presentations. Five things I think are particularly useful in constructing a presentation are: (1) limiting bullet points & text in addition to (2) limiting animations throughout your presentation, (3) keeping it simple by leaving "white space" and (4) using high-quality graphics, and (5) choosing appropriate colors and fonts for the theme displayed in your presentation. The things I find most annoying in PowerPoint presentations are the abundant use of animations and the cluttering of information onto one slide. Doing this just kills your presentation and makes your audience confused due to the amount of information on one slide. It is easier to separate your information on multiple slides to deliver a clear message. Gordin's tips on communicating to your audience, in my opinion, are more valuable than tips regarding your PowerPoint presentation. If you're not emotionally and logically communicating with your audience, your entire presentation is meaningless. Logic cannot be the only factor, you must use emotion to convince your audience into buying your ideas - which is the whole purpose of doing a presentation. Overall, improving your presentations by considering these guidelines is extremely helpful, but communication is the key factor is any presentation.

My Excel Experience: Excelling In Excel

I learned many helpful things in working with Microsoft Excel. When we began using Excel, the only thing I knew how to do was to enter data and create charts from that data. Now, I have a much better understanding of Excel. I know how to use functions in the formula bar and use conditional formatting to highlight certain aspects of my data in addition to much, much, much more. Now when I use Excel, I am more efficient and can get my work done twice as fast. The new techniques I learned in Excel will help me in many of my classes (especially in Bio Lab, since we have to make graphs every class period). I am positive I will use Excel in the future, not only in my classes, but when I begin working. Excel is a useful program, because it normally deals with statistical data. Excel is known for immediately calculating the provided data, which eliminates the hassle of doing it yourself. Overall, my experience in working with Excel was informative, because I didn't know much about the program. With technology becoming increasingly prevalent in today's society, it is essential to know how to use Excel and other basic computer programs.