Reflection 12

My peer reviewer understood that I wanted my PowerPoint to look consistent and neat while still appealing to the audience. He could tell that I did not want a distracting slide design or template that would take away from all the information on the slides. In the peer response he stated, “consistent slide design and color”. My peer reviewer also perceived that I was trying to avoid being wordy and overwhelming the audience with too much information.

We all were required to watch the Powerpoint videos for this class, therefore I can infer that my peer reviewer knows about creating an appealing, yet simplistic slide design. My peer reviewer may believe that animations can help draw and maintain attention to certain details because he suggested adding some to my titles and graphics. My peer reviewer may how certain templates or slide designs fit with various types of presentations. He noticed that the design template that I used was very simple and consistent with the information being presented.

My peer reviewer seemed to care about the legibility of the information on the slides. On the peer review sheet, he noted that the summary was “easy to understand” and that the spreadsheet was ‘legible”.  This showed me that he likes presentations that are easy to observe and digest, and suggested the use of animations and such to help exemplify the important details and points.

After looking over my peer reviewer’s suggestions, I took notice of what he pointed out that I could do to improve the quality of my PowerPoint. I thought of how the improvements suggested could help the audience better understand and perceive my presentation. I used the feedback suggested as best I could, as some suggestions where easy to improve on while others were not. My peer reviewer’s suggestions were helpful to me because on outside source, who does not me, could give impartial but productive advice as to what I could do to have a better presentation.

PowerPoint Slide [Photo] Copyright Daniel Parisi. Used with permission

 

Reflection 11

Part 1:

It is common practice in this day and age for people to post information about themselves on the internet. However, careless release of personal information can have consequences such as identity theft and hacking. Personally, I make sure my information stays private and also I am meticulous as to what I post on what forum. Certain information should never be posted in a public forum. Most websites allow for you to edit your privacy settings and know who is able to access the information put out on the internet. Measures must be taken to insure that personal information and accounts are secure. In order to protect my computer and identity from theft and malicious software intrusion, I make sure I have an anti-virus installed on my computer that can help protect my computer and filter out unknown emails with viruses. I also delete my browsing history make sure that my computer does not remember any passwords so that someone can’t get on my computer and log into my stuff.

Part 2:

1) Facebook has the pro of being a forum used by most everyone in the world, making it a good place to post discussion for class. Most people that have a Facebook check it routinely, meaning students would be on the forum regularly. Many students on Facebook use the chat function to discuss homework and class assignments among other things. A con of using Facebook would be that whatever you post would be out there for the world to see. For an online class, all of your classmates, many of whom you don’t know, would also have access to your information. I usually keep my information and pictures private on my Facebook and don’t like strangers being able to see my stuff. For an online class, fellow classmates would have to have access to each others pages to be able to connect and such.

2) One of the pros of using Twitter for an online discussion would be the ease in which one can reply to a blog post or posts, as well as the ability for people to quickly find and see who posted what. Twitter makes it easy to see who responded to past posts, so a response made to a posting from weeks ago wouldn’t be an issue. A con would be that Twitter has different words for many things and can be confusing for those who aren’t familiar with it. Posts also must be made in a certain amount of characters, disallowing long drawn out answers. It can be hard to keep track of different discussions and postings going on if the forums are not checked daily. I can relate to this issue personally as I often go weeks without logging onto my Twitter account.

3) I think Facebook would be a better medium than Twitter for an online class. The main reasons being that A) more people have a Facebook than Twitter and B) Facebook tends to be more user friendly than Twitter. I have both a Twitter and Facebook account and I use Facebook for more often than Twitter. Facebook also allows you to create groups with a member only invitation, which could be useful in an online class for providing students with a specialized discussion platform. As far as I know, Twitter does not currently have this function. Many universities currently use Facebook already to connect with students and provide updates and alerts for various activities and events going on around campus.

Powerpoint

Environmental_Sustainability_Project

Reflection 10

Part II

a) Contrast: When creating a presentation, it is important to have variety and make sure not every item is identical. The goal at hand is to capture your audience’s attention, therefore important points must stand out. Balance between items that look similar and items that differ is important in a presentation because the there needs to be some kind organization and has to flow properly. Contrast in the presentation will capture the audience’s attention and maintain focus on the points being showcased.

b) Repetition: Often times a presenter will repeat various viewpoints in the presentation to emphasize their importance. When using a PowerPoint, ideas should be reinforced by summing up the key points at the beginning and the end so the audience knows what the core idea behind the slide show is. However, try to avoid to much repetition. Repeating the same information on every last slide will lose audience’s interest and limit the success of the presentation.

c) Alignment: In a good presentation, the information should flow, giving the audience some chronology to follow what is going on. This allows them ask questions if they are are lost or confused. If items are placed at random, or with no particular purpose, the audience will be come confused and disinterested. Order and organization of information will help keep the audience’s engaged. The items in the presentation must appeal to the audience, as the better looking it is, the better engaged the auidence will be.

d) Proximity: Spacing between various items is important because if the items are too far apart or too close together, the presentation becomes unappealing. Items that are placed too close to each other cause the reader to focus too much attention on one thing, causing them miss other points the presentation is trying to make. Proper use and distribution of spacing in a presentation makes the presentation seem organized, easy to follow, and attractive enough to keep the audience’s attention.

e) White space: It is important to avoid too much white space in a presentation as it could make you look uninformed and poorly prepared, causing the auidence to think you don’t know what your talking about . However, there is a proper balance as too much information might end up overwhelming the audience, taking away from the overall focus. There does need to be some white space, or blank and empty space, as it allows the audience to look over the presentation quickly, process the main ideas in a timely fashion.

The image below shows contrast and captures the audience’s attention and focuses it the idea at hand:

[http://www.slidegeeks.net/cigarette-no-smoking-health-powerpoint-templates-and-powerpoint-backgrounds-0511.html] accessed April 1, 2012 on slidegeeks.com

Reflection 8

Part 1:

a) I think it’s important to do puzzles such as this thinking routine because many people never look at how they think. Being able to understand the process by which you think about something and how someone else thinks, helps you expand your thinking capacities.  If someone is able to see how they think, helps them realize how they think and process something and allows new learning processes. The main idea here is thinking outside the box and opening yourself up to more than one way of thinking about something.

b) You can benefit from this activity because you are able to see something from another’s point of view or prospective. You are able to adapt to other people’s thinking capabilities. After you are able to think like someone else,  you are able to understand what they are about and what drives them better as a person. You will be able to be associate with a more diverse group of people.

c) Everyone varies in how they perceive or understand something, as well as how they think about said thing. Some approach thought logically while others are driven by passions and emotional attachments. Knowing how someone chooses to think about a situation will help you understand them better and find ways to help them through a problem because they may not see another solution or path. I know from personal experience that some people may not be on the same wavelengths on certain issues and can get into arguments. This happened to a couple of my friends. I realized that they had opposing views on a certain topic and neither could or wanted see the other’s viewpoints. I was open to both sides so I was able to remain on good terms with both as well remain neutral when arguments arose.

d) Thinking is a Puzzle Itself

 

Part 2:

a) The web 1.0 described the World Wide Web before 1999. It refers to websites that consisted just of read pages, and no additional content could be embedded or added to compliment it. The website below could be used as an example of a web 1.0 website because you cannot make any changes, or add any content or comments.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/341682/Abraham-Lincoln

b) Web 2.0 was built off of the web 1.0. It allowed for more interaction between people and the webpage. People could now share comments or make changes to a page. It gave birth to social media and blogging and also made it easier to view pictures or share videos. Examples of this could be news stories on Fox News or ESPN where you can add your comments. Other examples include Google, Yahoo or Facebook where people can instant message to each other or many people at a time as well as post blogs. Twitter is also another example of a web 2.0 website because you can talk directly to someone else or post whatever is on your mind and people you do not necessarily know can reply or comment to you.

https://twitter.com/#!/ochocinco

c) Semantic web, otherwise known as web 3.0, is the ability for you to be able to use a search engine would eliminate things that are not relevant to your search. For example if you type in ‘how to ride a bike’ on Google, then you have thousands of results, many of which are websites you may not be looking for. The semantic web eliminates everything that is spam or not directly related to what your are searching for. The semantic websites are still in the developmental stage but have begun to pop up across the web. You could use Bing as an example because you can limit your search and it will narrow results in a reference search.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=jersey+shore&qs=AS&form=QBLH&pq=jersey+shore&sc=8-12&sp=1&sk=

 

Reflection 5

Thinking Puzzle. [Photo]. Copyright Jenny Wakefield. Used with permission.

a) I see what looks like stacks of paper in front of one of the girls. There is also another stack of paper to the left of the same girl. The stacks appear to be rectangular shape tickets or cards of some kind. I also see something in the right bottom corner of the picture that looks like coins or something, but I am not positive.

b) I used to think that the girls were just looking towards something, possibly an explosion. This is still a possibility, but originally in didn’t foresee stacks of paper in front of them. I also thought that the girls may be seamstresses in a sweatshop, which may still be true although no machinery or clothing articles have been revealed in the picture yet. Now i also think that maybe the girls may be working at an outdoor bazaar of some kind, assuming the objects on the bottom right are coins or some kind of currency.  I also think that one girl is sitting at a table, while that other girl is standing near the table.

c) I wonder where these girls are. Judging by the clothes, I’d say the middle East or India. I also wonder what the stacks of papers in front of them are. What kind of work are the girls doing if any? Are they in a sweatshop, or are they selling whatever the stacks are at market. I still wonder what they are looking at.

Reflection 2

Part 1:

I own a Macbook Pro laptop. I purchased this laptop my freshman year because it was the recommended laptop for incoming students, and had the compatibilities for Radio/Television/Film work, which was my original major. I was told by my older brother, as well as many friends that had Macs that the Mac OS X operating system was the smoothest and easiest to operate. A benefit to owning my laptop is that it is easily portable. I am able to carry it around to different places and it also fits easily into my backpack. It also is not that heavy so I am able to carry my school books in my backpack too. Something negative about owning a laptop is that it can only last a certain amount of time holding a charge and I also need to have a charger handy regularly. There also is not much use for my laptop if I do not have Wi-fi or internet connection because basically everything I need requires internet access. I need internet to check my emails, school assignments, and a variety of other things. Because my laptop was recently purchased there is still a lot of memory on it, but if I needed more memory then I would have to use my external hard drive. My pictures, documents, music and other torrent downloads all take up memory on my laptop; however I have several GB of memory not reached my memory limit.

Macbook Pro [Online image] available via web

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=B462B70152778DCE3CA83135C9B6518C?id=cat13506&type=page&skuId=3109296&productId=1218379464935&defurl=false&viewtype=largeFrontView&h=504

Part 2:

Goal – Biology Lab

• Objective 1: Pick an experiment or test

• Objective 2: Do research about the test itself.

• Objective 3: Set up the experiment.

• Objective 4: Concoct a hypothesis.

• Objective 5: Set up variables.

• Objective 6: Test hypothesis.

• Objective 7: Record data based on experiment.

• Objective 8: Review whether hypothesis was correct.

• Objective 9: Fill in worksheet in the biology workbook.

• Objective 10: Examine whether experiment was successful or not.

This was a project I had to do last spring for my Biology 1010 Lab. We had to pick an experiment involving genetics, and select the best way we thought it could be tested. Then we had to do some of research about the topic and the test. We had to test our hypothesis in class as well as guidelines to go by. We then had a worksheet in our workbooks where we had to fill in the blanks and record our observations.

Reflection 1

Part 1:

Technology is a vital aspect of my daily life. I get on my laptop every day to check my emails, watch Youtube and online T.V. shows, find and download songs, read about sports, global, and entertainment news, among other things. I also use my Blackberry phone consistently in my daily life, more so than any other device I own. I send text messages to my family and friends to keep in touch with them and I make phone calls daily to other family members who are not up to date with technology as others. I also use my smartphone capabilities to check my emails, get on Facebook, or surf the web. My phone can also be used as a form of entertainment when I am on the bus or waiting for class to start because I can download games such as Brickbreaker or Tetris and play them.

Modern education has shifted from the classroom environment, to more of an online atmosphere. Internet and blended courses often have online assignments, and consist of viewing Power Points and other notes online, and communicating with the teacher or other students via email or instant message.

Technology will play a role in my major because I am a Criminal Justice major. As technology continues to improve, we are able to find new ways to solve crimes, advance policing and public safety, improve forensics, as well as improve the global database. Technology will also lead to new research on criminological theory and other aspects of the system.

My future will be largely based around technology as the quality and quantity continues to expand. I want to be a police officer so technology will help me by enabling DNA and forensic work, improving dispatch, and many other ways. Police work is heavily reliant on computer work and analysis.

 

 

Part 2:

I often use two separate places when studying; Willis Library on campus, as well as the desk in my bedroom. On my desk I have a slot for paper, as well as a drawer for pencils, and pens to the side so if I need them I don’t have to search for them. Whenever I am on campus and have time to work on my online assignments and such, I will go to the second floor of Willis and sit in a little cubicle with just my laptop and my backpack which will have any supplies I need to take notes.

Reflection 7

Part 1

a) In the reflection post, my partner noticed that the girls in the picture were surrounded by many other people. She also noticed that several girls were wearing headwear such as bandanas or hairnets, and were wearing aprons over their clothes. It was also noted that some of the girls were facing back while others were not.

b) I think my partner played close attention to the the original individuals in the picture. She tried to figure out what they were doing in the room and what their role contributed to the overall picture. She focused more so on the girls and what they were doing, and less on the environment or what the overall picture was portraying.

c) From the very beginning I realized that there were numerous possibilities for what the overall picture may end up being. While I stood by a couple of theories, my choices were quickly whittled down to a handful the more clues that were introduced each week. I realized the importance of details such as where people are standing as well as where they are facing overall. This stimulated thought as to what they were looking at or what was going on around them. It is also important what each person was wearing as well as what skin color or nationality they were as it triggered past knowledge about cultures and what not. It’s interesting to think how much age, race, and clothing can contribute to the overall opinion of folks.

 

Part 2

I live in a totally different part of the country than most of my family. Therefore it is tougher to communicate with them regularly than my immediate family. Most of them are not accustomed to using the social media that I mostly use, therefore texting and telephone calls are the most effective way to keep in touch. Some of them are just now getting accustomed to Facebook, Twitter and other forms of electronic media. I prodominantly use my cell phone for texting and internet, but also use it for e-mail and Facebook. I am not a big user of e-mail, using if mostly for school and work. I have, however gotten addicted to Twitter as of late. I post on that medium quite regularly.

Reflection 6

Part 1: Thinking Puzzle 3

Thinking Puzzle [Photo]. Copyright Jenny Wakefield. Used with Permission

With week three of the thinking puzzle comes the final revelation of the remaining pieces of the above picture. We can now see that the two girls from the previous weeks are actually members of a large group of women, all wearing matching headwear. It can be noted that with the exception of one girl standing up, all of the workers in this picture are seated around tables with stacks of the tickets or cards from last week, as well as boxes of something. Several of these women appear to be wearing working gowns over their actual clothes, and appear to be of Indian or, in the case of the girl wearing the purple dress (bottom right), African descent. In the bottom right corner there is what looks to be coins of some kind divided up into separate stacks. There also is a line of predominantly men running parallel to the table that appears to come to a point at the top of the picture. Although everyone is in an enclosed environment, it does not appear to be a factory due to the lack of machinery. It can also be noted that while several of the women are staring towards the line of people on the left, the rest are facing their tables.

I previously believed this picture to be one of two things: seamstresses in a sweatshop, or an outdoor bazaar or flea market. After seeing the completed picture, we can now throw out the previous weeks’ thoughts on this possibly being a sweatshop as the rest of the photo shows no shirtwaists, textiles, or sewing machinery of any kind. It can also be concluded that this is not an outdoor flea market. My thoughts now wonder into the realm of these women possibly being medical assistants, and that the people in line are waiting to receive vaccinations or some kind. The boxes on the tables may contain possible syringes and vials or vaccine used to inoculate the people waiting in line. It is very tough to say as their are no signs or logos present in the photo to indicate such, or even suggest something else. Another thought I had was that this may be some form of disaster relief. The supplies on the tables appear to be mass produced to satisfy a substantial demand, and could possibly be supplies for victims of a possible natural disaster.

Now having a complete visual image at my disposal, I am now left wondering what the objects on the tables are. There appear to be boxes and stacks of cards or papers on the tables, but there is no legible writing or logos or signs to indicate what they are exactly. I feel as though this would be a key component to solving this puzzle. I am also left wondering what is going on beyond the glass at the top of the picture. The line appears to possibly continue on into the next room and out of sight. After three weeks of putting the pieces together, I am still unclear as to what exactly is going on in this photo.

 

 

 

 

 

Part 2: Thinking Critically Web