Eddie\’s Bloggage –>

Well last week, the whole class did a test that would contribute 10% to the overall grade of this semester. Though, it was not a large test with a large weighing, we still needed to do the best we can because it was assessed. The test was like I predicted. It was short based test with a few question on the visual design of various web sites. It was really interesting to do because some people would spot a particular design or layout of a web site than others perception. Colour,size, tone etc all contribute to the effects and design of a site which make it either appealing or plain ugly.

The test is over. Im glad for that but i do hope I went well in that test. It was at time difficult to write answers to certain question because of the wording. We are almost finished for this semester so I better get a move on and try finish everything as soon as I can.

During class, I was approached by a partner from one my previous group works on one of the assignments that we did together a few months ago. She asked if I had checked my email and I replied that I haven’t. She told me to check it. Eagily, I checked to see what it was about and to my amazement it was really good news.

A few months ago we as a group did a presentation and created a wiki on synchronous technology. It seems that the teacher heas finally marked out work and given us feedback and a mark.

We received a HD. Thats right, a High Distinction. I was very happy of my team and very happy with the amount of effort we put in on the whole assignment.

Yesterday during class, one of the main things that the teacher was dicussing was the design recommendation test. When I first thought about it, I was slightly nervous because I don’t recall learning anything about recommending any design from our past activities. But it was the content that we learnt during class that provided us with the knowledge to be confident in doing the in class test next Wednesday.

Some of things we went through are how some web sites offer flash tools as a learning mechanism to enhance the learning and the interactivity with the computer. For example, the automotive interactive web site demonstrated that some of the decisions you make throughout the whole time, delivers different consequences. This can also be related to the OH&S interactive game in which you had to choose the hazards and must act upon a decision to remedy the problem. Again, the decision you make affect the outcome of the situation and I found this entertaining whilst also a fun learning experience.

Colour was also a factor that complements a visual design of certain web sites. In fact, the web site Barbie demonstrates how colour can be ineffective in delivering a message. One of the messages the girly web site was converying was ‘think pink’ in which most of the web site was pink. Whilst it did succeed in making people to think pink, the design made it to cluttered and to the human eye, it made it slightly difficult to concentrate on the visual impact.

On the other hand, another web site McDonalds provided a strong message with the use of colour. One example was the use of red in contrast with the burger in the middle of the page. This was a very effective marketing concept which actually made me hungry. Actually after class, i went to Maccas because I was craving even though I wasn’t hungry. This web site also featured other  things such as when you put youtr mouse on a paricular picture, it would shake a bit to draw your attention with your eyes. However, I felt it did the opposite and it actually made me dizzy.

Next week is the quiz so in the next coming weeks I should be practicing in analysing the impacts on design and recommending. Module 3 should also be underway, but its only in a matter of time.

During class, the teacher gave us an opportunity to showcase our story boards and provide suggestions to the other students within the class. I learnt a lot from the various perspectives of others and it was a great lesarning experience. From this class, it has  drawn me to reflect on the differences between e-learning and learning within a classroom. Learning through the use of technology has been a valuable tool during the last many years as it has become essential in many industries for them to use it. It makes things easier for the company and also in the improvement in the communication flow.

In organisations, almost all people communicate with others and by using technology as for a learning concept, things become easier and faster. In contrast to learning within the classroom, communication is also effective in that is provides feedback but you may only get it when you in within the classroom at that point in time.

These few weeks is what it is all about. Working with others whilst also using e learning tools and principles to achieve our goals. With the assistance from the DoCS team, we can work together to achieve our overall mission and that is to find ways on how e learning can be used in organisational setting and create a design for it.

Im currently continuing on the assignment. The progress so far is pretty good. I have been getting a few tips from uni friends in regards to the assignment and hope they have helped my in this process. I also noticed I have to write up a 1000 word report incorporating everything into the learning schedule. That mean including the learning theories, the course I am undetaking (culture awareness), the technologies that will be implemented and other issues.

I have the information with me but the writing up is now the difficult part. So far, I have created a diagram as to how i would structure my writing. Because it is only 1000 word, I need to make it concise and detailed to get top marks. I need a break now, my head hurts from thinking.

I have started on the story board. However, it really needs some touching up. I have gotten to the basic step of starting it out. I am having a bit of trouble because I don’t how to end the board. Also, if I am starting correctly. I am probably going to need some assistance from some uni friends on this. But I doubt some may have even started on it.

Usually, story boards are specific but detailed. Mine just looks all over the place and needs some gradual changes leading up to due date. There are also some things I may need to talk about first but more importantly now is getting the stroy board out of the way. In actual fact, I have also gone to the trouble of going through various books and sites so that I can fix this. It is actually consuming a lot of time.

In the next coming weeks, there will many assignment that will due soon. I will have to learn how to with this by trying to use as many various technologies as I can to help me through the way. Emails, we b chat and video conferencing are example that I will use to benefit me.

During class, Anne was not present due to other commitments. Therefore, the person to take her place during her time away was Brett from DoCS. We went through the different theories again during class and also were given an instruction on creating a stroy board addressing the learning theory that would be best used under the particular course we selected. I chose the ‘cultural awareness’ course as mostly everyone was doing the ‘durgs and alcohol’ one.

I spent most of the time in class talking to avariety of people on they would create the sotry board. Some people had different views and different ways but I guess at the end od the day, they are not meant to be the same but will have the same concept. I have had a few ideas on how to create one. I have read the tutorial online and whilst it does make sense, the stuff you need to put into the boxes seems to be the difficult part.

I may ask Brett some question then ask Anne when i see her again. It looks tricky may actually be easier than in actually is.

During my spare time, I have been browising through the wiki to edit anything to improve upon it. There were some typing errors and other minor things, we wer able to rectify it. Jess did most of the editing as she has an eye to detail. The wiki also now displays pictures and shots of the webinar that we had conducted a few weeks back. Our presentation slides that we used for the webinar are also imbedded into slideshare making it easier for people to view the content of the slides with ease.

We are almost finished with our wiki and hopefully it should be finished by by the ned of the week. Looking at other groups wikis, our group seems to be the most organised in regards to layout and presentation. The wikis will be due in the next coming days so it would be good to see that we can finish this whole thing a few days before it is due so we can relax in between.

Yesterday during class, we finally conducted our presentation. There were two groups that were presenting and my group were the first ones up. At the beginnning of the class, we wanted everyone to engage in the presentation so my group asked if the participants would also log in to the the webinar which was supported by WebEx. Most of everybody in the classroom had participated and joined in the webinar which was a success in our part but a bit time consuming as it took almost 30 minutes to set up because there were a few that needed a bit of assistance.

Prior to the presentation, my group were confident that we would do well. When it came to doing the presentation, we managed to feel relaxed and this became an advantage because it allowed us to speak clearly whilst also being engaging at the same time. I think that the meetings my group had prior to the presentation day had helped a lot as it gave us more practice in our public speaking skills and presenting witout reading out that we wanted to convey. However, there were a few things during the presentation that were difficult to remember such as the different types of resources. Though we used some notes during our presentation, I feel that it was also to facilitate the learning amongst the participants within the classroom and the DoCS people whom which we had to communicate with them on loud speaker via mobile phone whilst conducting the presentation.

 Overall, I am satisfied that we did a great job on our presentation. Even though we had five members initially but later became four due to one person dropping out of the subject because they found it difficult and they didn’t do the pre-requisite of this subject last year; I still think we managed it well. I want to thank everyone that was in my group and it was pleasure to work with them. That’s 15% done.

Now all there is is the wikis, which is the other 15% of the first assignment. It’s almost done (I think). I just hope that the amount of effort we as a group put in refects the marks we get out from it.

In regards to the presentation tomorrow, we had to factor in different ‘what if’ scenarios on things that might happen/not happen during the presentation. For example, one of the interesting things we were going to do in the presentation was demonstrate a video feed in which partipants could show themselves via web cam. Because there would be over 20 people in the classroom whilst we conduct the presentation/ webinar, we didn’t want the video feed segment to consume our time if it did not work properly.

So one way in which we managed to fix this was adding another feature which was the chat feature to surrogate the video feed situation. This was beneficial to the presentation as the chat feature is also a synchrounous technlogy which relates to the overall webinar. The chat feature is also something that everyone within the classroom can relate to as programs such as MSN, ICQ, Facebook chat etc are all synchronous and in most cases, used regularly in their leisure time.

However, everything works out tomorrow. If it does, we may feature both chat and video and this will definiety incite excitement as they will be able to particiapate as well. We will factor in the time of the presentation. It seem that because our presentation is interactive, we may go over the time limit as we will allow participants to try some stuff out during the webinar. But at least everyone will try to learn from this and take out an experience that was fun and enjoyable. We hope to do this tommorrow but we shall see the outcome soon.