Advice for New Students

Looking back on the class, it was a great experience and I learned so much that I did not know about computers. You will learn a lot too. My advice is to come to class as much as you can and do all of the homework assignments in a timely manner. Good luck next year!

Websites

Last week, we began presenting websites. All of the sites I managed to visit looked great. In particular, I really liked Esha's site, Kim's site, and Justin's site. Esha was really creative with her site's layout and design. Kim had a really neat site filled with drawings and comics. Justin had some great pictures and a nice design. You can visit my own website at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~nlilly/default.htm.

Second Day of PowerPoint Presentations

Yesterday, the rest of the class did their presentations.  I liked Jeff's presentation in particular since he chose to talk about Nintendo for his topic. Since video games are also one of my hobbies, I paid close attention to his presentation and I was able to learn a lot. I really liked the statistics on sales he added to his presentation. Overall, everyone did a great job with these presentations and I enjoyed watching all of them.

First Day of PowerPoint Presentations

On Thursday, we began presenting short presentations to the class on topics related to our majors or of interest to us. I liked Justin's presentation on Fusion Energy a lot. Most of the content he presented was not on his slides, which suggested that he understood the material really well. Also, he had some really good photos in his presentation that kept my attention. Second, I liked Esha's presentation on Alzheimer's Disease. Again, the pictures were really good. It is a really pressing medical issue in today's world and I feel like the presentation helped me understand the subject a lot better. Overall, everyone has done a good job with their presentations so far.

PowerPoint Tips

Since we are beginning to work with Microsoft PowerPoint, it was meaningful to read these articles to get an understanding of how to create a quality presentation. The "Top Ten Slide Tips" article discussed how keeping it simple, using limited bullet points, and adding graphics to a presentation help immensely. The "Pedagogical Value of PowerPoint" article, designed for TU faculty, gives tips on how to present information to students in order to help them successfully learn the material and keep them interested. The last article reinforced the idea of how to avoid making a presentation bad.

I would advise as a top priority to make sure that the student understands what they are presenting to the teacher or class. Communication is key in a presentation. Second, the presentation should be organized and somewhat brief (no longer than 10 minutes). Third, the PowerPoint presentation should look nice to keep the viewer's attention. Fourth, go easy on the graphics and sound effects. A few help substantially but don't get carried away. Lastly, do not ever print the presentation and hand it out since you are responsible for presenting the information to your audience. 

My Experience with Excel

Now that we have finished working with Microsoft Excel, I can do so many new things with the program that I couldn't do before. With this spreadsheet application, I can now enter formulas and create graphs or charts that reflect the information I put in the spreadsheet. I also know how to design my work to make it look neat and professional. These tools will undoubtedly help me in my future classes. Next time I have to make a spreadsheet, I will know how to do everything my teacher asks and I will be able to get the work done in a reasonable amount of time. For some academic fields and businesses, Microsoft Excel has proven itself to be very useful. With Excel, it is extremely easy to analyze business data. In many accounting and statistics classes, the teachers often require their students to analyze business data via Excel and make their own spreadsheets on Excel. I am confident that with my new knowledge, I will be able to succeed in my future endeavors with Microsoft Excel.

CLT

Before today, I didn't know what the Center for Learning and Technology was or where it was located. There are many resources for projects and schoolwork, including computers, printers, and scanners. Its location on the bottom floor of the library makes it a much more quiet place to study as well. It has a digital audio lab and media presentation lab for student and faculty use. Also, the school community can rent laptops and digital cameras from the CLT. In the future, I will definitely rent a digital camera for future assignments in this class or any of my other classes. I also plan on visiting regularly to study for other classes. I am glad that I learned about the CLT and how it can help make my schoolwork less stressful.

Photo Manipulation

The picture I chose to prove that photo manipulation is harmful and deceiving was the picture on the front cover of a TV Guide magazine from 1989, which shows Oprah's head spliced onto an actresses body. The photo was of former actress Ann-Margret and was taken in 1979. The picture was manipulated by replacing Ann-Margret's head with Oprah's head. Neither Winfrey or Ann-Margret gave permission for the photo to be manipulated or publicized. Probably the most logical reason for the photo being manipulated was to depict Oprah, the richest woman on TV, as an attractive or sexy figure as well. I think the manipulation was harmful since it gives a false image of Oprah as a nearly perfect celebrity. It sends the wrong message to the public by implying that to be successful, one has to not only gain wealth but also have a great-looking body.  

Chris Nolan's Presentation

Yesterday, Chris Nolan visited our class and gave a very informative presentation on searching the Internet. The focus of his speech was on how we can find high quality information on the web. Today, a plethora of search engines are used by college students, including Google and Yahoo! Contrary to what many students think, the most popular web pages are not necessarily the most useful sites for research. Usually, they aren't even scholarly sources.

Before the presentation, I had no idea that Google Scholar, a search engine for scholarly articles, even existed. On Google's website, anyone can find high quality information for research assignments or for general knowledge by using this search engine located under the "more" link. One thing that surprised me was how easy it is to avoid commercial sites when using a search engine. For example, I can type in :.edu or :.gov after what I am searching for to seclude commercial sites from the relevant links that are found. Overall, the presentation was very helpful and the information I learned will help a lot for future assignments.

Copyright Presentation

During class yesterday, Diane Graves visited to give us an interesting copyright presentation. She told us how easy it is to violate copyright laws and how few people on campus really know what the laws entail. The first copyright laws, which date back to the 18th century, were established to give authors the right to hold limited rights on their published works. Though one of their many intentions for the new laws was to spark innovation and invention, many people abused the system and violated the laws without really understanding the consequences. In recent years, organizations like the RIAA, MPAA, and ESA have been cracking down on college students for stealing music and movies off of the internet. Through file sharing computer programs, students have been able to easily download entire movies and popular songs without having to pay a cent for the works. Many students, however, feel that they aren’t doing much harm by downloading free entertainment. In my opinion, I lean more towards the side of keeping free file sharing programs in existence. Though I don’t participate in it and it is stealing, there is evidence that it has inspired more people to attend a singer’s concert or an actor’s movie because it gives the user a chance to listen to or watch an artist’s work.

Facebook

Facebook is a great social utility. Most of my friends use it frequently and I try to log on often to see my messages (sometimes school-related) and what events I've been invited to. It is also great to use for staying in contact with friends from high school. In a university environment, it allows users to access other users profiles who happen to be a part of the same network (unless the user changes his or her privacy settings). I've heard of teachers making Facebook accounts and adding their students in order to send messages, post class time changes, etc. It can be extremely useful since almost all students spend more time on Facebook than they do on their school e-mail pages. However, it can also be harmful. Students can easily become addicted to Facebook and spend hours browsing profiles and pictures. It has also been used for sexual harassment, hazing, and threats. Students should be aware of the many problems associated with Facebook and use it with caution in order to prevent addiction. I do feel that it is necessary and beneficial in a university environment. Here's a link to a good article on Facebook in college, http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1213/p13s01-legn.html.

My Previous Experience with Word

I've been using Microsoft Word since middle school. I have spent enough time using the program to have mastered the basics. I would like to review using rulers for indenting and working with graphics since I have not used them in a long time. Also, I am still getting used to the new Microsoft Word (2007-present). I look forward to spending time in class adjusting to the new version of Word.

Joe Hatch's Visit

Earlier today, Joe Hatch came in to talk to our class about computer survival skills. He shared with us some useful computer information, where to go for computer help on campus, and why we need Clean Access Agent on our computers. His speech was very interesting and I learned a lot about the dangers of computer viruses. It was nice of him to visit our class, especially since it was 8:30 in the morning!

Entry 1

Hi! My name is Nick Lilly.

I am from Boca Raton, Florida. I have lived there for eighteen years. I have one brother and three dogs. I was the only kid from my high school to go to college in Texas. I started swimming when I was thirteen years old and I swim for the varsity team here. My secret fact is that I broke my elbow ice skating and couldn't swim for two months. Since swimming is so time consuming, I haven't involved myself with many other school-related activities. I'm planning to make myself more active in the school community when the swim season ends next month.

Although I went to a high school where every student was required to bring a laptop with them to class, I am not very tech-savy. I look forward to learning more about computers and improving my computer skills. I have no concerns other than learning how to make doing homework on the computer less stressful. My e-mail is nlilly@trinity.edu. The picture below is a Google Earth-produced shot of Boca Raton, Florida.