I know many people will very apprehensive about having to take this Computer Skills class next semester, but I can honestly say it has been one of the most beneficial and enjoyable classes that I have taken yet! I have learned so much about the use of computers and I can apply this knowledge to all fields of life from budgeting and graph-constructing on excel, to creating a website and to using word effectively in the college environment. I also learned some very valuable things about copyright and research for academic writing which are things all students should be aware of. I now know so much more than I ever would if I hadn't taken the course, and really, I had a lot of fun at the same time!
My advice to new students is to take this opportunity with an open mind. You'll realize how beneficial the information learned in this course is for college, and life in general- it really is a great class and Ms. Belisle is a wonderful professor who is always willing to help! Good luck and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
The Creativity of my Classmates
Our artistic and creative abilities were put to the test and we had to create our own websites about ourselves for our 1300 class. As it was my first ever attempt, I felt excited, but at the same time rather apprehensive at this seemingly "huge" task! However, after much hard work, I completed my website and felt somewhat accomplished with my art. Well, only until I viewed my fellow classmates' websites and then I realized how fantastic and creative everyone else's were! I was blown away by most of them-everyone did an excellent job and it only made deciding which were my favorite three even more difficult. However, I did finally manage to make my pick and here are my personal favorites:
1. Brian's website was really well designed and the combinations of colors and fonts were really professional. I especially liked the baseball image at the top of each webpage. I thought he used his space really well and presented all his information clearly- his images were all visible too! I really enjoyed navigating through his website- well done Brian!
2. I thought Jen's website was brilliant! It looked so professionally done and she included such interesting information about herself too. Every aspect of design was almost perfect and I loved the way she incorporated many different colors and fonts but the website still tied together so nicely. I loved your photographs too, I would love to visit Glacier National Park someday!
3. Anna's website was beautiful! I loved her very personal touch and she included some very interesting things about her life that I enjoyed discovering- especially her Europe trips. I think her photographs from her vacation in Italy may have changed my mind about living in Europe after all! Her layout was great, and had some really effective backgrounds and visuals. I also really enjoyed browsing through all her albums. I thought the way she included a google map of the location of her house was creative too- great job Anna!
Once again, I think my classmates truly outdid themselves- all the websites were truly impressive. If you would like to see my website again, feel free to follow this link http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~nkopecky/. After seeing the variations in ideas and artistic abitlities, I felt so inspired to keep practising and creating websites, so hopefully I'll further develop this newly acquired skill!
1. Brian's website was really well designed and the combinations of colors and fonts were really professional. I especially liked the baseball image at the top of each webpage. I thought he used his space really well and presented all his information clearly- his images were all visible too! I really enjoyed navigating through his website- well done Brian!
2. I thought Jen's website was brilliant! It looked so professionally done and she included such interesting information about herself too. Every aspect of design was almost perfect and I loved the way she incorporated many different colors and fonts but the website still tied together so nicely. I loved your photographs too, I would love to visit Glacier National Park someday!
3. Anna's website was beautiful! I loved her very personal touch and she included some very interesting things about her life that I enjoyed discovering- especially her Europe trips. I think her photographs from her vacation in Italy may have changed my mind about living in Europe after all! Her layout was great, and had some really effective backgrounds and visuals. I also really enjoyed browsing through all her albums. I thought the way she included a google map of the location of her house was creative too- great job Anna!
Once again, I think my classmates truly outdid themselves- all the websites were truly impressive. If you would like to see my website again, feel free to follow this link http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~nkopecky/. After seeing the variations in ideas and artistic abitlities, I felt so inspired to keep practising and creating websites, so hopefully I'll further develop this newly acquired skill!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
The Importance of HTML in Website Design
Although we have been blessed with the innovation of technology and the human pursuit to make thing simpler with web-authoring software, understanding and knowing how to use the standard HTML code is still imperative.
As complex as it may seem, it is still the fundamental basis of the World Wide Web. Every single web page, image, sound, even details down to the color of the background of the page are coded for in the Hypertext Markup Language code. Thus, whatever we may see on the webpage is guaranteed to have a specific code in the HTML sequence that dictates the format of webpage. If a problem is ever encountered in the design of the wepbage, and it cannot be rectified by the sophisticated web-authoring software, the HTML form of the document can always be retrieved. Errors that occur on websites can never be detected while viewing the actual page because browsers are designed to recover from an author's errors in the HTML code. Once the HTML code for the webpage is displayed, the entire framework is available to us, and by knowing how to correctly code different elements of the webpage, the problem can be identified and rectified. This is just one example of why knowledge of the HTML code is really important and should be understood by anyone wanting to design a webpage- similarly, you cannot run before you are able to walk. Another reason the HTML code is really useful, is because it is a universal code, webpages may be viewed and manipulated by any operating system.
As complex as it may seem, it is still the fundamental basis of the World Wide Web. Every single web page, image, sound, even details down to the color of the background of the page are coded for in the Hypertext Markup Language code. Thus, whatever we may see on the webpage is guaranteed to have a specific code in the HTML sequence that dictates the format of webpage. If a problem is ever encountered in the design of the wepbage, and it cannot be rectified by the sophisticated web-authoring software, the HTML form of the document can always be retrieved. Errors that occur on websites can never be detected while viewing the actual page because browsers are designed to recover from an author's errors in the HTML code. Once the HTML code for the webpage is displayed, the entire framework is available to us, and by knowing how to correctly code different elements of the webpage, the problem can be identified and rectified. This is just one example of why knowledge of the HTML code is really important and should be understood by anyone wanting to design a webpage- similarly, you cannot run before you are able to walk. Another reason the HTML code is really useful, is because it is a universal code, webpages may be viewed and manipulated by any operating system.
Monday, November 10, 2008
My Personal Favorite Presentations for 1300
Firstly, I thought that all the presentations were done exceptionally well and reflected the creativity possessed by each individual in the class. I found it really difficult to choose only two favorites, but I managed to narrow my choices down and selected the following two: Jordan's presentation on Alexander the Great and Anna Kern's presentation on Petit Hameau. It was such a close decision between Jordan's and Reuben's though !
Jordan's presentation was appealing in many ways, he spoke very well and knew all the facts and the general layout of his slides was very professional and relevant too. He seemed to have spent a lot of time on the research and sourcing good images for the presentation. I thought his animated GIF file was good and the use of appropriate fonts and color combinations were effective as well. His slide transition and image stacking was good and the whole presentation seemed to flow and came together well. Good job!
Anna's presentation really illustrated her artistic and design abilities, and I was especially impressed by the appropriate background theme and general slide layout. The title slide really grabbed the audience's attention. It was so relevant to her topic and I also thought she spoke well and on a personal level throughout the presentation. She was able to play the background music during her slide which no one had managed to achieve before that and she also had a very well designed animated GIF. I thought she used the space very effectively in her slides and also had steady transitions from slide to slide making the presentation enjoyable to watch. I also found the facts in Anna's presentation very interesting. Well done Anna!
My presentation may be found at the following location : \\Tucc-tiger\groups\computerskills\Belisle\nkopecky\19present\Presentation
Jordan's presentation was appealing in many ways, he spoke very well and knew all the facts and the general layout of his slides was very professional and relevant too. He seemed to have spent a lot of time on the research and sourcing good images for the presentation. I thought his animated GIF file was good and the use of appropriate fonts and color combinations were effective as well. His slide transition and image stacking was good and the whole presentation seemed to flow and came together well. Good job!
Anna's presentation really illustrated her artistic and design abilities, and I was especially impressed by the appropriate background theme and general slide layout. The title slide really grabbed the audience's attention. It was so relevant to her topic and I also thought she spoke well and on a personal level throughout the presentation. She was able to play the background music during her slide which no one had managed to achieve before that and she also had a very well designed animated GIF. I thought she used the space very effectively in her slides and also had steady transitions from slide to slide making the presentation enjoyable to watch. I also found the facts in Anna's presentation very interesting. Well done Anna!
My presentation may be found at the following location : \\Tucc-tiger\groups\computerskills\Belisle\nkopecky\19present\Presentation
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Searching the Internet
Although an infinite amount of information is just a click away from us on the internet, there are a few precautions that should be taken when trusting the sources of this information. Chris Nolan, the assistant university librarian at Trinity, had plenty of valuable information to offer us during his presentation and I definitely learned some interesting and useful things about how to use the internet wisely as a student.
It was interesting to note that Google is used by 58.80% of the population in America, and I believe this search engine has the most user-friendly and reliable system. As a student, the main purpose of searching the internet is usually for research papers so although Google is useful in retrieving a broad range of websites on a particular search, it is unlikely that the necessary academic journal articles will be near the top of the search list. Websites that are found at the top of the list are usually the popular sites that are heavily cited and contain many links to other related websites. These websites are not usually trusted sources of information for academic purposes, so Google have provided us with the option of using Google Scholar. This search engine was specifically created to help students narrow down their topic search to academic sources alone. The Advanced Search option was also something that I was enlightened about; it has elaborate ways of narrowing your search, such as finding information within a specific domain or institution for example. This really helps to focus your searching into the specific area of interest and will more than likely result in more valuble research sources.
We were also informed on how to write information in the search bar more effectively by using the +, _ and " " signs to highlight, include or exclude specific aspects of your search. I never realized that this was possible, so knowing this useful shortcut now will definitely help save time searching the internet. Another interesting fact learned is that some webpages that Google have indexed can be viewed without having an active internet connection by selecting the "cached" link for the searched item. This feature further highlights the extent to which Google have gone to provide their clients with great internet searching options. Contrary to the general belief that sources such as the National Geographic Magazine and governmental websites are credible, these actually have to be dealt with carefully. Articles in National Geographic are most often written by a reporter, thus making the article a secondary, possibly distorted source and governmental websites may possess biases because of their political affiliation.
I felt that I definitely gained a lot of useful knowledge about using the Internet to enhance my academics at Trinity and have acquired more useful methods of searching information efficiently.
It was interesting to note that Google is used by 58.80% of the population in America, and I believe this search engine has the most user-friendly and reliable system. As a student, the main purpose of searching the internet is usually for research papers so although Google is useful in retrieving a broad range of websites on a particular search, it is unlikely that the necessary academic journal articles will be near the top of the search list. Websites that are found at the top of the list are usually the popular sites that are heavily cited and contain many links to other related websites. These websites are not usually trusted sources of information for academic purposes, so Google have provided us with the option of using Google Scholar. This search engine was specifically created to help students narrow down their topic search to academic sources alone. The Advanced Search option was also something that I was enlightened about; it has elaborate ways of narrowing your search, such as finding information within a specific domain or institution for example. This really helps to focus your searching into the specific area of interest and will more than likely result in more valuble research sources.
We were also informed on how to write information in the search bar more effectively by using the +, _ and " " signs to highlight, include or exclude specific aspects of your search. I never realized that this was possible, so knowing this useful shortcut now will definitely help save time searching the internet. Another interesting fact learned is that some webpages that Google have indexed can be viewed without having an active internet connection by selecting the "cached" link for the searched item. This feature further highlights the extent to which Google have gone to provide their clients with great internet searching options. Contrary to the general belief that sources such as the National Geographic Magazine and governmental websites are credible, these actually have to be dealt with carefully. Articles in National Geographic are most often written by a reporter, thus making the article a secondary, possibly distorted source and governmental websites may possess biases because of their political affiliation.
I felt that I definitely gained a lot of useful knowledge about using the Internet to enhance my academics at Trinity and have acquired more useful methods of searching information efficiently.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Powerful Powerpoints
After having read the articles discussing the best and worst methods used in presenting powerpoint slides, I realized how important even the finest details are in ensuring effectiveness. I also discovered the reasons why some powerpoint presentations have been so easy to follow, while others have left me feeling slightly overwhelmed,confused or just simply unaffected. In my opinion, powerpoints that contain lengthy paragraphs with no bullet points or pictures are the most tedious to follow and will guarantee that little information will be learned! I also find that it's visually displeasing when a really well created background and body of text on a slide are destroyed by a cheesy, badly designed image that is inserted randomly onto the slide. Probably my top powerpoint pet-peeve is when the speaker fails to follow the order of supporting information on the slides in the presentation and talks ahead of the slides or backtracks to speak about information that was omitted. This becomes confusing and the meaning of the presentation becomes vague.
From color to layout to spacial proportions and even to fonts, there are so many factors to look out for when designing your powerpoint slides. Here are a few precautions that I felt were the most interesting to learn about and will create a good presentation.
1. Speaking with interesting examples that support the information on the slides and also using body language and varying tones in your voice.
2. Using professional images and good quality sounds to reinforce your topic. Make sure that the images are placed aesthetically in the slide.
3. Always ensure that the writing in your slides are visible in the lighting conditions- there's nothing worse than having to squint to see the presentation!
4. Never make the background too colourful or distinct as this will distract the audience from the speaker and also from the information on the slide.
5. Avoid using the default slides found on powerpoint so as to create interest of the audience by using a presentation format is presented that has never been seen before. Make the slide personal and relevant to the topi
I look forward to our class presentations on Thursday and seeing the variations in creativity and interests among us.
From color to layout to spacial proportions and even to fonts, there are so many factors to look out for when designing your powerpoint slides. Here are a few precautions that I felt were the most interesting to learn about and will create a good presentation.
1. Speaking with interesting examples that support the information on the slides and also using body language and varying tones in your voice.
2. Using professional images and good quality sounds to reinforce your topic. Make sure that the images are placed aesthetically in the slide.
3. Always ensure that the writing in your slides are visible in the lighting conditions- there's nothing worse than having to squint to see the presentation!
4. Never make the background too colourful or distinct as this will distract the audience from the speaker and also from the information on the slide.
5. Avoid using the default slides found on powerpoint so as to create interest of the audience by using a presentation format is presented that has never been seen before. Make the slide personal and relevant to the topi
I look forward to our class presentations on Thursday and seeing the variations in creativity and interests among us.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The Excellence of Excel!
Well, I must admit that I never would've agreed with my blog title a month or two ago- in fact, the thought of using excel terrified me! I greatly underestimated it's potential, and never realized just how many useful tools it offered for so many varied tasks. What I have learned through completing this course will carry me well through the rest of my college career and life in general.
In Biology Laboratory, we're required to construct graphs using Excel based on our weekly experimental results. The first few graph-constructing weeks were miserable for me, as I'd never dreamed that such a daunting task was possible on excel and didn't even know where to begin! I had no clue what I was doing and probably spent hours trying to figure out a simple process that should've taken 5 minutes! Then CSCI came to the rescue and I realized how simple and comprehensive Excel graph-making could be. I have learned some really invaluable things that will undoubtedly be of great help to me in the future for my science major.
I also found creating budgets interesting, and learning all the different functions and formulae involved was so helpful too. I used to think that all the data in each individual cell had to be entered separately- no wonder I thought it was such a tedious and intimidating program! Now I'm able to keep track of my monetary budgets more easily in the future and collaborate data more efficiently and quickly. I especially found the "if" function and the absolute cell references useful to have in hand.
As many of my classes have presentations as part of the syllabus, I'm so grateful to have learned about the "link" feature between excel documents and powerpoint slides. I was dumbfounded we I realized that this was possible and will definitely be making use of this very often.
I would recommend the course we took on Excel to any freshman student, as I really found the information we covered so useful and surprisingly interesting! I also couldn't believe just how many features Excel has- there are unlimited possibilities for creating almost anything you desire with data. Making a graph, calendar, table or pie-chart doesn't have to be so boring and tedious anymore! It is also very user-friendly and has great trouble-shooting options and online tutorials. So if you cringe just at hearing the word "Excel," I challenge you to leap out of your comfort zone and discover this great program. I did and it has certainly been one of the most beneficial and rewarding things I could have done!
In Biology Laboratory, we're required to construct graphs using Excel based on our weekly experimental results. The first few graph-constructing weeks were miserable for me, as I'd never dreamed that such a daunting task was possible on excel and didn't even know where to begin! I had no clue what I was doing and probably spent hours trying to figure out a simple process that should've taken 5 minutes! Then CSCI came to the rescue and I realized how simple and comprehensive Excel graph-making could be. I have learned some really invaluable things that will undoubtedly be of great help to me in the future for my science major.
I also found creating budgets interesting, and learning all the different functions and formulae involved was so helpful too. I used to think that all the data in each individual cell had to be entered separately- no wonder I thought it was such a tedious and intimidating program! Now I'm able to keep track of my monetary budgets more easily in the future and collaborate data more efficiently and quickly. I especially found the "if" function and the absolute cell references useful to have in hand.
As many of my classes have presentations as part of the syllabus, I'm so grateful to have learned about the "link" feature between excel documents and powerpoint slides. I was dumbfounded we I realized that this was possible and will definitely be making use of this very often.
I would recommend the course we took on Excel to any freshman student, as I really found the information we covered so useful and surprisingly interesting! I also couldn't believe just how many features Excel has- there are unlimited possibilities for creating almost anything you desire with data. Making a graph, calendar, table or pie-chart doesn't have to be so boring and tedious anymore! It is also very user-friendly and has great trouble-shooting options and online tutorials. So if you cringe just at hearing the word "Excel," I challenge you to leap out of your comfort zone and discover this great program. I did and it has certainly been one of the most beneficial and rewarding things I could have done!
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