Blog #6

1) I used Audacity to create the podcast above about the differences between a true podcast and an audio file that is downloaded from a website. I used Audacity to edit the podcast as well, by removing some of the added noise during the recording.

2) The main obstacle I encountered was trying to get the mp3 into my blog. I was having trouble getting the downloads (Audacity and LAME mp3 encoder) to correctly download on my computer. Then I found the instructions to be confusing and I found that in using Internet Explorer, the media file in this post would not play instantly. The object would appear, but when clicking play it would take forever to start.

3) To resolve the obstacles, I reached out to the tech services on campus and after an hour on the phone with a guy named Ken and a girl named Stormy...we worked it all out. Supposedly Internet Explorer would not use the code in the blogger template and/or the post correctly, but we when tried the same thing in Mozilla Firefox, it worked fine. As far as the downloads go, the file was originally downloaded incorrectly, but with the help of Stormy, I was able get it downloaded correctly and exported the file as an mp3.

4) The biggest success was getting the file into the blog and having it work! It was very frustrating looking back over the code again and again and not seeing any mistakes and then come to realize...if I tried a different browser, it worked just fine. It was frustrating, but it is done now and I'm proud of it.

5) I don't know if I'll use the Podcast much for future projects -- other than what I'm required to do for this major. I can see how it would be a beneficial thing for a website...perhaps having someone direct you through the website. I might someday do a podcast of a lesson and post it to Edmodo for my students to listen to. I'm not a big fan of my recorded voice, so I don't really see myself doing that, but the possibility is there I guess...since I now know how to do it.

Blog #5

1. Description of your instructional Web site: I did a web site all about solving quadratic equations. The first page briefly described Quadratics and then linked to four other instructional pages. One page described what it means to solve a quadratic equation and the three pages after that talked about the three methods of how to solve quadratic equations: graphing, factoring, and the quadratic fomula.

2.

3. The biggest obstacle I encountered was trying to get the webpage up on the comp.uark.edu server. I tried transfering my files into my public_html folder using my SSH file transfer and I was successful in doing that, but when I typed in http://comp.uark.edu/~jabulloc, the website would not show up. I followed some additional directions provided by Dr. Beck, but I was unable to resolve the problem.

4. The biggest success was just creating a web site with multiple pages. I learned how much time and preparation goes into these things and I have much more respect for those who create web sites. I now have a web site that my students can go to when they have questions and I have the knowledge of how to create more web sites.

5. I really wanted to use the templates, but in my limited experience didn't want to mess with them too in depth for the projects we had to do. I tried to use them on my first web site project, but had too many issues and was scared to use them for the second web site project. There are many more features I would like to learn to use in Dreamweaver, probably more of the css styling and using the properties tab. I would also like to learn more how to correctly position images and such on the pages so they look better.

Blog #4: Dreamweaver

1) I used Dreamweaver to create an informational swimming site for Northwest Arkansas. My two html pages were the home page which included information about swimming in general and the second page talked about the specific strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breastroke, and butterfly) in swimming. I included pictures on each page and was able to change the font.

2) The biggest obstacle I encountered was putting my site onto the comp.uark.edu server. I couldn't get it to work in Dreamweaver because I had CS5 and the instructions posted on blackboard were not applicable. As far as problems with Dreamweaver, it took me awhile to figure out how to change the font and make the site look "good."

3) To fix the problem with the server, I ended up calling Dr. Beck and U of A tech support and was able to get my site working on the server using the SSH file transfer protocol option. The font changes and styling in Dreamweaver was resolved by using the properties tab and remembering to select in-line css style when wanting to make a change.

4) I was really excited to see the finished product, especially in getting it to work online using the SSH file transfer! That was the biggest success other than just being able to create the site and make it all work together smoothly.

5) I would like to make instructional sites for my students to be able to access throughout the year (especially when the material gets really tough). I'm going to attempt to make an instructional site on how to solve Quadratics this week. If I am successful, I'm going to have my students access the site and give me their feedback. This would be ideal for future units...if I can find the time to get it done!

Blog #3: Photoshop

1) The first photo is the original. The second is the photoshop version. (I'm on the right in the pictures).

2) The following changes were made:

• The picture was cropped using the crop tool
• Red-eye was removed using the red eye tool
• My tan-line was blended with the spot healing brush tool
• The shiny spots on our faces were touched up using the spot healing brush tool
• The lines around our mouths were touched up using the spot healing brush tool

3) The obstacles I had were (1) my picture was way to pixeled when I zoomed in so it was hard to make clean touch-ups (I need to get a better picture next time) and (2) I wanted to add a border using the stroke tool, but couldn't figure it out. I created a background copy layer and when I followed the tutorial for creating the border for some reason, it didn't show. I don't know what I was doing wrong.

4) The successes I experienced were just learning how to use photoshop. I had never used photoshop before, only paint to manipulate images. I liked how I was able to touch-up images. There is still alot to learn though!

5) I like to create invitations for parties and such. I think I could use the tools in photoshop to create some really cool invitations that have pictures included. I'm also helping my husband with his new business. I'm in charge of putting photos on the webpage and instead of using the tools through the webpage to add text to images and crop them, I think I will now do it in photoshop instead and then upload the changed images (I HATE the tools provided with his webpage designer). I also just like touching up images, so I'm excited to know how to do this!

Blog #2

1) Description of how I used HTML and CSS: For the HTML project, I created a webpage for my Algebra I classes. On the webpage, I used headers, an image, and hyperlinks to outside sources. For the CSS project, I edited the page for the css page I was given. I changed the font family, the background color of the body, the image location, font sizes and colors.

2) What obstacles I encountered: The only obstacle I encountered in the HTML project was getting the hyperlink to work correctly for my e-mail. I didn't really encounter many obstacles in the CSS project. It was a little difficult to make it look presentable, but I figured it out ok.

3) How I overcame the obstacles: I need to do a little more practice to learn how to overcome the HTML obstacle.

4) Successes I experienced: I coded in HTML and CSS for the first time and it worked!! To me, that is huge!

5) Ideas about future use of HTML and CSS: I need to make a webpage for our High School Swim Team and I'd like to try to do it in HTML. I would like to try to use CSS for the High School Swim Team page, but I definitely need some more practice! I think I could use CSS to make the Swim page look better (with more colors and fonts) without having to write alot of code in HTML over and over.

Blog #1

1) Description of how you used Microsoft Word and Powerpoint:
For the Miscrosoft Word project, I created an instructional document for installing the SMART Notebook software 10. For the Powerpoint project, I created a lesson about probability for my Algebra I class.

2) What obstacles you encountered:
For the Word project, the only obstacle I encoutered was deciding on how to size the images so they would fit well into the document and not leave a great deal of white space. For the Powerpoint project, I had a hard time sticking to the 6x6 rule and having 3 bullet points. I either had too much information to put on some slides and sometimes, I did not have enough information to put on slides to warrant having 3 bullet points.

3) How you resolved these obstacles:
I resolved these obstacles simply by going back over it again and again and editted it so that I was following the criteria on the rubric.

4) What successes you experienced (what you learned):
I learned how to format using Word. I've created many documents in Word and I've never used the heading or the alt text tools. I definitely see the importance and ease of using the heading tools. In the Powerpoint project, I learned that images do not need to clutter the slides more than necessary. I learned that a "pretty" presentation is not always a good presentation.

5) Ideas about how you can use this application in the future:
I'm definitely going to use the formatting I learned from the Word project more (the headings, alt text, bulletted lists, etc) to create documents. I don't really use Powerpoint for presentations, however, if I ever do, I'll try my best to follow the 6x6 rule and use less graphics (only necessary ones).