Journal #5

     Updates this week are pretty slim.  My semester project is still coming along slowly but surely.  I look forward to spending some time in the comfort of my own home (or my local Starbucks) tomorrow to get some work done on my project page.  I must say that I am feeling a little more confident with Photoshop since Josh Grasso showed me how to create a more interesting and appealing background to import it into Muse.  I must confess that I spent 30 minutes an hour on selecting the pattern I wanted to use and creating the background in Photoshop.  :-) 
     Over the past week, I have solidified my topics for the screen captures/recordings that I will include.  Next on the to-do list is to actually make them!  I am still having trouble with deciding on how I will house the recordings.  Ideally, I would like for the videos to appear directly on my website and not for those viewing my site to be directed to another page.  During the next class, I'll ask for suggestions from some classmates. 
    Nothing has changed with my community service hours.  I plan on presenting to my curriculum area on Wednesday about how to find games and game templates on the Internet.  I also plan on doing an extension to my last Mimio presentation.  I talked to our curriculum leader last week and she commented about how my presentation greatly helped her with using her Mimio in class.  She also said that she has referred to the handout that I made several times during class if she forgot the functionality of one of the buttons. 
    This week I chose to read The Studio Experience and Self-Organized Learning by Sebastian Fiedler.  I found the phrase "self-organized learning" to describe the studio experience perfectly.  As stated in the reading, "beginning learners are confronted with course structure that requires a very different role for students than traditional forms of instruction usually demand".  At first, there was an "adjustment" period for me when I did question if this style of learning was for me.  Fiedler also mentions the effectiveness of "flexible learning" strategies such as time-planning and managing.  I feel that these are areas in which I excel. 
    Now, eleven weeks in I am more comfortable and acclimated to this different style of instruction and am eager to continue this Studio journey. 



Fiedler, Sebastian (1999). The Studio Experience: Challenges and Opportunities for Self-Organized Learning. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia, Department of Instructional Technology [On-line]. Available online: http://it.coe.uga.edu/studio/fiedler.html
           

Journal #4

     I must confess that web design is a more tedious process than I had originally thought.  While most of the concepts presented in the Krause book seem to be common sense when it comes to design, there are many new concepts I never knew existed.  Sans Serif vs. Serif fonts were familiar to me; however, monospace, novelty, and ornament were not.  Monochromatic and primary colors were familiar to me, yet analogous and split-complements were not.  The Krause book has already helped me with designing my semester project and will continue to be a useful tool in the future as I develop my project.
     One of my frustrations with developing my website has been with the lack of templates and backgrounds available through Muse.  Since I'm not a fan of solids (nor am I creative), I rely heavily on the preset fuctions of any word processor or design program.  I expressed my concerns to a second-timer and his advice was to use Photoshop to design my background and then import into Muse.  During class on Tuesday, I plan to discuss this more with him and also ask other second-timers about their success with importing from Photoshop.  I also plan to learn more about Photoshop so that I "can give new life to...the most mundane photo" in order to enhance the appearance of my site (and my creativity).   
    To update you on my community service project, and, to put it bluntly, business has slowed tremendously.  My technology committee presentation has been rescheduled for November, and there has not been much activity on the hall lately.  As a result, I am feeling overwhelemed considering I only have three hours of completed service.  Initially, I said that I wouldn't have ANY problem with acheiving 10 hours of service.  I wish I had not said that as I seemed to have "jinxed" myself.  :-(  Over the next few days, I will brainstorm some ideas to get the ball rolling again.  I certainly do not want to wait until the last minute before coming up with project ideas.    
    So far, I have been focusing on Captivate and Muse because they will provide the basic structure to  my project.  In the next couple of weeks I will turn my focus to Dreamweaver and Photoshop.  The only experience I have with Dreamweaver is what we did in a portion of one class over the summer in 6100.  Right now, I feel like I've only been learning bits and pieces of different software to grasp a basic understanding.  I would much rather learn something in its entirety, and then move on to something new.  For the time being, I'll just keep watching, learning, and trying.   


Krause, J.  (2004).  Design basics index.  Cincinnati: How Design Books.