Project # 9
First and for most, I would like to mention that this class should not
have been only 2 credits and it should have been made an hour and
fifteen minutes like the rest of the Block 1 classes. I spent
just as much time working on these projects and stayed in the classroom
for more than fifty minutes every Tuesday and Thursday of class.
I feel as if there were many frustrations and
exciting experiences for my own personal learning in this technology
class. There were days where I would dread having to come to
class, just for the fact that I knew I was going to be frustrated and
annoyed with my lack of understanding. Over the course of the
semester, my views changed toward this course. I began to miss it when
it was taken over by our many workshops, and mini-field trips to Barry
Elementary. I felt as if I was losing time and it wasn't fair to
my work that was being neglected and my extra time spent outside of
classroom hours working on projects and reading assignments.
One of the most frustrating things that happened to
me during this class was, when a picture of mine was not uploading and
I have no idea why. I re saved the picture, re uploaded it
hundreds of times and still nothing showed up on my website. I
went through the steps that were explained to me and asked for help
from everyone around me, still nothing worked, nothing showed up.
Finally, I asked Shufang, she looked at my files to be uploaded
and realized that my photo was not showing up when I needed to upload
it. I had overlooked this important step of uploading. My
flash drive has a bug and would not show me my pictures that needed to
be uploaded. Now, I know this and am very cautious when uploading
my files, because I need to make sure they all upload and work properly.
For our last big project, we were told to create our
very own themed Photo story. I choose to do, me, my house, my
family, and my friends. We were not instructed in this program
and were sent off to figure it out on our own. I was annoyed in
the beginning because, I had never used this program before and
everything was very new for me. I tried different things to
improve my photo story like, adding text, changing the font size and
color, and I also was able to add music. The music aspect was my
most enjoyable moment because, I taught myself how to add two pieces of
music to my story and having one begin at one point and the other begin
and end with the pictures I wanted. I am very proud of this
project and will show my family when I go home for the summer.
Group projects are terrible in my opinion, when
everyone receives the same grade. In any group project, I believe
that professors should have a question sheet about who contributed
what, what actually did what they were supposed to, and how everyone
worked together or did not work together. Group projects always
have at least one person who slacks off and does not do his/her share
of the work load. This person/people then place everything on the
shoulders of the rest of the group. It's not fair and sometimes
shows in the end product. For this technology course, we did not
have too many group projects, but when we did I think that a few people
worked really hard and other people would slack off and wait until
their group members finished the work for everyone else. I personally
had a difficult time working in groups. I like to know that things are
done and are done well. I feel as if I have a difficult time trusting
people to do their share of work and have it done really well. I would
rather take on more responsibility so that I know it is complete.
I would rather work on my own and ask for help from my peers when
needed. This would ensure that the work is done, done well, and
fully complete. I do not hand in work that is half finished or
something I am not proud of.
Overall, I feel as if I learned a lot about
technology this semester and it's all stuff that I can integrate into
my classroom. I plan on using power points, the Microsoft Photo
story, word documents, the puzzle maker, and other projects that I've
completed over the course of this semester. I feel that my
knowing how to create a website can make your classroom experience
better and more assessable. When our class created our own school
website, we were able to utilize tables, creativity, and reality into
our schools. This is essential in making a website for a school
because it shows range and knowledge. I'm grateful to have
learned as much as I have in this class and I will continue to try and
expand my technology knowledge from others and by my own trial and
error.