Project

Everyone completes a blog post today.  Be sure to check your blog for comments.

• Describe your project.
• What will be the biggest challenge?
• Briefly outline your schedule.  How will you get things done?

Web Design Project

I have tried to create a project that has lots of choices. You will need to decide which project best fits your skills and the time you have available. All of these choices require critical thinking skills, technology skills that we have studied, the ability to tell a story and to recognize audience. Projects are due June 10.  This is your exam grade.

Choose One:

• Pecha Kucha. (pronounce Pee-Chak-Cha) Read this for more info. You will have to watch examples at home (videos blocked...).  I am convinced that most of you have no idea how to present effectively. For this project you will create a pecha kucha around any appropriate subject. I decide if it is appropriate. Please check Presentation Zen blog (and the book on my desk). I am giving you great freedom in the subject, but Pecha Kucha requires great discipline in the presentation. This creates great respect for the audience (no--they do not want to read bullet points. Nobody does). You decide how to present your Pecha. I suggest using Moviemaker.
  
• Flash adaptation. Take any childrens story and adapt it for a new audience. Your Flash must include music and/or sound.
  
• Digital Portfolio. Create a web design company and its website. This is your company. Include prior work that you have done. This site will be legit and complete. Include pricing, logos, links, contact form, etc....Everything you would need to go live.
  

A few notes for this project:

• Remember that first impressions happen very quickly in the web world. Make sure your pages/presentations look modern!
• Create a schedule. When will you need to get things done by? This will be your first blog post so start thinking now.
  
• Get help. Work together to solve technical issues. However, don't be the person who asks every three minutes "How does this look?" That gets annoying if you are trying to get stuff done.
• Be excellent. This should be your absolute best work. I am giving you an opportunity to be very creative.
  
• Here is the Rubric.

Canada

I will be leaving after Period 4 for the NVL track meet.

Web 4:

Please evaluate your school project today in a blog post. Each group showed some good points in their final project. Now, there were many days absent but that was a given for this project that we discussed right from the beginning.

• Could you have been more efficient and effective in creating these sites (of course!)? How?
  
• What did you learn? What would you differently if starting over?
• Who has the best project? Why?

All (including Web 4):

Kayla, Lance, and Chelsea are teacher students from the Dean Shareski's class at the University of Regina that are following us as part of their class in Educational Technology. Take some time to read their blogs (and leave comment??). I thought it might be an opportunity to learn something about Canada and practice our Google skills. As you write your answers be sure to include links where it is appropriate! I encourage you to work together to solve these questions. If you can't find the answer describe how you tried to solve it.

Answer at least six of the questions (I am adding more throughout the day).  Show your work (links, math, etc...):

• If Dean lives in Moose Jaw where would he have to drive to watch Star Trek this weekend? 
• What huge event is Canada hosting this winter?
• What is the #1 TV show in Canada this season?
• Would you say "hello" or "bon jour" if you saw a friend on the street in Canada? Does it depend where you live in Canada?
  
• How many days this winter was Regina's high temperature below freezing? Compare to Seymour.
  
• Lance has $10 in Canadian dollars. Can he buy a ticket to Star Trek?
• What is a province? Is it the same as a state?
• What is the best golf course in Canada?  Who says?

Little Red Riding Hood

Can you tell a story with graphics?  Check out Tomas Nilssons work on Little Red Riding Hood.  Use your headphones.  Now, I checked this morning and this will play for you but you may have to click the video box a few times.

None of this is technically that difficult.  None of the techniques are out of reach for you.  You will recognize tweens, layers, etc... But the story and the recognition of audience is impressive.  Nothing of the story is changed.  However, notice he did not retell the story, he reshaped the story.  

Blog post today:

1. Briefly review the movie for your readers.  Include link to movie.

2. Provide a brief technical discussion about his techniques.  How did he make this?

3. Did you like it?  Why or why not?

All projects are due today.  If you need a new grade report please check edline or let me know and I can print one out.  If you have been out or have not done the reading for the past few days then you have some homework.

Random reading

Web 2/3 will continue their Memorial Day work today.  Web 4 project is due tomorrow.

A few things from the news:

• Will your textbook soon be on a kindle?  Or Palm? Or iPhone?  Is it already?  How much would you love not to carry that heavy Biology book around?
• Flu update. 
• Kayla and Lance are students in Canada that are studying to become teachers.  They are in Mr. Shareski's class.  They will be working with us over the next few weeks.  They will work on lessons, comment on blogs, and hopefully give us some insights about the Great White North.  If you see something of interest on their blog be sure to leave a comment (first name-last initial, URL of your blog, email).  Also check your blog occasionally to respond to comments they might leave.  
• In case you missed it.  Do the work.
• Anything else to discuss?

Memorial Flash

If you complete the Memorial Day Fireworks poster please start working on a Flash animation.  This animation should do the following:

• Have the same screen size as your poster (300x600).
• Include the words "Memorial Day" in the animation.
• Keep it really short (5-10 seconds).  I also can't see how you could make this without sound.  Maybe you surprise me.
• The animation should celebrate the holiday.

This is an opportunity to be creative.  Save into same folder (MemorialDayposter) in Udrive.

A few notes:

• Make sure you save posters as .jpg when done and export Flash movies.  Thats what we want to see in UDrive.
• Keep it simple!!
• Be sure your poster/animation is the correct size.

Memorial Day

Web 2/3:

Your assignment is to make a poster about Memorial Day.

More information on Memorial Day can be found here: Wikipedia entry Be sure you understand the purpose of Memorial Day before tackling this assignment.

Your assignment is to design an image that could be posted in schools. You will use Fireworks and choose the appropriate tool or tools for your image.

Assignment parameters:

1. You set up the image size when you create a new document: Height=300 pixels, Width =600 pixels.
2. Your images MUST be non-copyrighted.

3. You must be able to defend your choice of a tool in your blog post.
4. You must include "Memorial Day" somewhere in your image. You might decide to include additional text (date, slogan, etc..).
5. You must finish by the end of the period on Friday May 22.
6. Save in Udrive when done (bschneider) as a .jpg file. All students will save in the same folder so be sure you name it correctly in the WDrive BEFORE you copy it to the UDrive. Be sure to test your work in the UDrive.

Now, lets recognize that there are several functions this week (music trip, senior day, etc...). Plan your work accordingly so things get done. I anticipate adding a Flash component to this assignment on Thursday.

Good luck!

Monday

Web 2/3:


We will do a series of tutorials today:

• Easy layers tutorial. You do not have to use their images, just create the same effect.
• Image maps.

We will also look a little at creating tables.

Then:

• Cool job. How would you train for this job? What skills do you need? Notice how they match images with the script.
• Sad news in NYC. What do you think is going on? Why is the flu spreading again?
• Worth reading for seniors.  Don't let up too much.

Web 4:

I am going to set the deadline for your school project for Friday 5/22.

Friday

Web 2/3:

I will be spending the day grading.  If you can keep the room quiet I would appreciate it. 

You have several items today.  Please write a short (50 words or so) blog post about what you learn today.

1. Some bad news about the flu.  What do you think of this news?  

2. Play a serious game.  Serious games teach you about something (kind of like our last project?).  Do you learn well when playing a game?

• Ayiti
• 3rd World Farmer
• Energyville
• Climate Challenge

Thursday

I will be out of school today.  Please complete the following:

Web2/3:

1. Website evaluations.  The more you can do, the better.  I think you learn a lot from this process.

2. Finish your blog post from yesterday.

3. Watch some NYTimes video and learn something.

4. If you finish all that try to solve 3rd World Farmer.

Web4:

Back to work on school sites.

Project Evaluation

Today Web 2/3 students will evaluate the projects.  You will have two things to do:

1. Evaluate at least six websites using this form.  Include your own website.  Notice that you will need a new form for each website.

2. Complete a blog post about the project that answers the following questions:

• What did you learn? Focus on technical aspects of the project.  
• Did you use your time effectively?  Why or why not?
• What grade do expect (check rubrics)?  Why?  Be specific.
• Who has the best project in the UDrive?  Why? Be specific.

Now, if you find an error in your website--fix it!!

If you got an extension for field trip or other reason be sure to finish today and do blog post for homework.

Some interesting flu reading.  

Website Project

We are entering the "weird period" of school.  Today is a big field trip, we have AP tests, Thursday all juniors are at Take a Stand Day, Friday is the Prom, etc... Consequently attendance in class will be spotty.  If you are out don't use it as an excuse.  Just get the work done.  If you are here and "done" find something to work on and learn.  There is plenty to do.

Web 2/3 will complete the project today.  Copy folder to "FINAL COPY" in Udrive folder.  At the beginning of the project we created "index1", "index2", etc... If some of those are dead pages be sure to delete them.  Be careful that you delete the correct ones.

Tomorrow we will check each project then grade them.

Found this today.  You can trade virtual money on the Swine Flu market.

Finishing Up

Web 2/3:

• Reread the assignment.  Make sure you have included everything (movie, links, flyer, etc..)
• Provide links to all blog posts you have written.
• Make sure your Flash component works.
• Check results from your survey.  Take 4-5 surveys of your classmates.
• Copy draft of folder to UDrive (PSAProjects-Website Drafts).  Have partner check on their machine.  Fix errors (try not to ask me! check code first!!).
• Is your news up-to-date?

Due tomorrow.

Survey

Today all classes will be adding a survey to their website using Google Docs.  Students will create the survey to collect information about their topic (Web 2/3--Flu, Web 4--School).  They will track data in google docs and publish that data to their sites.

This will require:

• Quality questions that encourage particpation and provide quality data.
• Using tools (blogs, website, etc..) to encourage students to take survey.  The more responses the better.
• Being good classmates by taking other surveys.  Check blog list on blogmeister.

Try to post your survey today.

Web 2/3 projects will be done on Tuesday.

Wednesday

I found an interesting flu quote:

Pandemic years are associated with many more cases of influenza and a higher case fatality rate than that seen in seasonal flu outbreaks. It is common to encounter clinical attack rate ranges for seasonal flu of 5% to 15% in the literature. For pandemic flu, clinical attack rates are reported in the range of 25% to 50%.

It might be worth reading to understand some of the concern officials had.  This is the difference between average flu and pandemic flu.

For the next few days you will be creating your websites.

Here are a couple of sites we have looked at over the last couple of days that I think show modern design:

• Save Darfur
• Oberlin College
• White House
• Smokey the Bear

Be sure to review all the components you plan to include before you complete the initial design.  By the end of the day you should have completed the template on your main pages.  Be sure your design choices are conistent through all of your pages.

Tuesday

All classes will begin making their websites for their projects today.

1. Check to make sure that your Google Docs account is activated and you have the password.

2. Open Dreamweaver and create your site and subfolders.  

3. Once your site is active save the first page as Index1.

4. Create a folder in your website panel named Images.

5. Import any files (images, movies, flyers, etc..) that you have already created to the correct folders in your site panel.

6. Put a title for your page in the appropriate box.  I don't want to see any "Unititled Documents".

7. Save page.  Wait for activity.

We will spend some time today collaborating on the design of your pages.  I hope to make it a fun activity.

Pandemic

First of all. Happy Star Wars Day.

So, I think we have some decisions to make. Here is some of the latest news:

• The virus has spread to pigs, which is a bit ironic.
• The WHO is likely to raise the threat level to six. The quote from Margaret Chan is classic.
• Numbers of cases is jumping, but the disease does not seem to be that harsh.
• The NPR blog has some great posts.  Put in bookmarks.

What do you think? Is this a serious threat or not? Has your view changed? Make a short blog post that includes links to your trusted sources.

The rest of the time is devoted to making updates to your blog posts, fixing flyers, making sure you saved the movie correctly, etc... I have not graded anything yet (only checked that it was done on time) so this is an opportunity to boost up your grade.

If you are having any computer trouble please be sure you have filled out the google form.

Update

Are we switching to H1N1?

Read this about staying home--can people do it?  Some effects of everyone going to the doctor--can we afford it.

Be sure to save your movie correctly.  We have talked all semester about establishing a folder and sticking with it.  Those that are having trouble are ignoring that.  Be sure to save the movie file!

Now, its annoying when things go wrong.  I understand.  But most of these mistakes are avoidable with proper planning and procedures.