End of Year Evaluation

This reflection is based on all the things I have done in my Computer Technology class in 8^th grade. I will mention my digital portfolio, general performance, how I used the design cycle and my feelings about the class.

The last project of the year was to create a digital portfolio. I think my digital portfolio was great because the colors fit well together, the text was easy to read, there were explanations for everything included, it was easy to navigate through the website and things were organized on each page. Some weaknesses, though, were that sometimes you had to scroll down the page when it shouldn’t be necessary and my partner didn’t send me all the posters she did for the IB Learner profile on time so the gallery page only included half the attributes. Mostly I am happy with my digital portfolio and know that the things which aren’t so good can easily be fixed. The digital portfolio could have an impact on my friends and family because they would see how useful it is to have one. They might create one for themselves so they can easily show people their work when applying for jobs. I already know a person who would like to make a digital portfolio and they even asked me if I could help them create it.

During this year I have performed well in my Computer Technology course. I have handed in my projects and reflections on time and always completed each project following the class expectations. I also learned some extra things that I used to make each piece of work better. Some things I could have done better were to take more time out of class to work on projects such as the IB learner profile posters. When you spend more time on a project the product is usually of higher quality. In general though I think I did pretty well this year in my computer technology class.

The design cycle is a process always used in both of my technology classes. Usually you follow it in every project (researching, designing, planning, and creating). I have followed this process for all my projects but depending on the project I spent more time on specific stages. For example for the poster project I spent more time designing then investigating but for creating a website I spent quite some time on investigating and planning before creating the website. I think the design cycle is useful because it guides me through the different tasks we are given. The stages are clear and there is a logical order which helps create higher quality work.

I have enjoyed the grade 8 MYP Technology course throughout the year. We have done various projects all helping us develop our skills and knowledge on the computer. We have mostly focused on creating websites and I find this very fun. This year has inspired me to become a website designer when I grow up. Even though I liked making the websites I didn’t make them how I really wanted to because there wasn’t enough time to focus on details, colors and format. I will remember this year as the year when I started learning about online technology.

IB Learner Profile Poster- Reflection

          During the plan stage of this project I was mostly thinking about the pictures I would like to use for each trait. I made a word document with all the traits of the IB Learner Profile and wrote next to each one what I would like the picture to show. It was difficult thinking about what pictures I could capture and if they would show the traits clearly enough. I kept in mind that these pictures had to give of the same meaning to everyone in the ISU community. During the design stage I mostly experimented with different things on Photoshop. I liked the idea of big squares of color in the background so I made a black rectangle on the left of the poster and put the name of the trait on top. I had written the name going downwards but after getting some feedback I decided it would be easier to read if the writing was sideways like on the spine of books. At first I made one template of how I wanted my posters to be like, and then I took that template and just changed the name of the IB learner profile trait and picture. I also changed the colors of the text and other items on the template so they look like the dominant colors of the photo.
          Planning helped me a lot when creating the actual posters because while making them I knew exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want to have extra writing describing the trait because I thought that would only be effective for the people who can read and not the very young children. Also when taking the pictures for the posters I knew exactly what I wanted and didn’t have to worry about how each picture should look like. While taking pictures I also saw people doing things that would be great for the posters and just took the pictures even though I hadn’t planned to in the very beginning. While creating my poster I learned more functions on Adobe- Photoshop and became even more fluent at using the tools.
          Some improvements I could have made to my posters were to add a few more words describing the trait because that way if would give people a better understanding. Maybe the younger kids wouldn’t understand but the older people would. Also the font for the part that says “ISU” on my poster is slightly hard to read because it’s written in cursive. Not everyone can read cursive and the I looks slightly like a T so maybe I should have changed the font. My partner and I decided to do half of the posters each but in our own style. I think this wasn’t a very good idea because if half of the posters are different from the other half it will look like they are not a whole group of posters but two different groups.
           For students who do this in the future I suggest they make a clear design of what they want their poster to look like before designing it on Photoshop. This way they will know exactly what they want and creating it on Photoshop will be much faster.

Exploring Photoshop

At first when I started using Photoshop I wasn’t sure what each tool was for and it took longer to finish the workshops. As I spent more time working on it I got more used to the different functions and could finish the workshops faster. I think Photoshop is a very helpful program which has many great things you can do to pictures that you can’t do with other programs. If someone were to fix something in an image I would recommend they use Photoshop.

In general, I did well in the tasks we had to do using Photoshop. The potato man was easiest and helped me with getting used to the simplest tools. The women with the patch was more complicated to fix but by using the smudge tool and changing the colors it wasn’t very obvious that the picture had been fixed on Photoshop. The bald man was a funny one where we needed to take the hair of one guy and put it on a man who didn’t have a lot of hair. This workshop taught me how to move part of an image into another image. The other workshops helped me learn how to change colors in specific parts of an image and how to cover up unwanted things (e.g. I covered a boat in the sea by using the stamp tool).

Photoshop can help me when creating my website because I could adjust pictures before putting them on the web. For example I could crop parts of an image which I don’t want or I could change the brightness if the picture is to dark. I could also change the color of objects in the picture so they are easier to see and don’t blend in with the background. Another great way Photoshop could help me when creating my website is by making a good picture which I can use as a background for all the pages. There are many other things I could do to the pictures before I put them on my website.

I can relate Photoshop to my Digital Portfolio because I could use it to make cool titles or pictures (clip art, logos) then put them on the web pages. For instance, I can make a title and add a background to it then put it on the top of each page on my web site. My navigation bar could also be created using Photoshop. Photoshop allows me to be more creative and make normal things like tittles look more interesting.

Exploring Images/ Pictures

The resolution of an image is how many pixels there are in it. Resolution is identified by the total number of pixels. If an image has a lower resolution when it is stretched and made bigger on a computer screen it becomes pixilated. If it has a higher resolution the picture is better quality and can be stretched more without becoming pixilated.

The resolution needed for an image to be put on a website is 72 pixels per inch. If it is larger than this, the web page will take longer to load.

The size of a picture/image is its actual width and height when printed. The image size you see on the screen will not be the same when the image is printed. Based on the resolution of the image and the screens resolution the picture will look bigger or smaller.

 Vector images are images made of individual objects. They are not considered using pixels and are higher quality. These objects can be points connected by either a straight line or a curve. Each object in a vector image can be changed or resized without any quality loss. Vector images are very important because they are used for maps and company logos since these graphics need to be resized frequently. The outline, color and fill of each object can be changed yet the basic shape will not be changed. Also, vector images don’t have a white pixel background so you can put an object on top of another and the one beneath will not be blocked. These types of images are important because they are very small files. The file only contains the mathematical equation that determines the shape of the lines in the image. It does not contain the image itself. Since the file is smaller it won’t take up much space on a computer.

Exploring Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver Reflection

Dreamweaver was very helpful for making my Uganda Website. While I was working Dreamweaver would make the html code without me having to do it. It was very simple because I could just write anything, insert pictures and other kind of multimedia without worrying about how to link them to the correct folder. Once I set the path for the folder in the beginning I didn’t have to point to the specific files as I added them to the website. The design is simple and easy to work with. There are so many functions I think I have only learned some of them by making this website. Dreamweaver is a very helpful tool.

            We need Dreamweaver for creating a website so it doesn’t take too long to make it. If we made the website by writing the html code in notepad it would take ages to make just a page. Dreamweaver makes it easier to create a website and has many options on what you can do so you don’t have to learn html and the specific code. There are many people out there who create websites and don’t know a lot of html.

            With Dreamweaver it would be easier to create my digital portfolio because I can easily add all my work from school and organize the website. I don’t have to write the html code, meaning I can create the website faster and I don’t have to know all the codes for everything I add. I would use Dreamweaver to create my digital portfolio.

            Dreamweaver and HTML is similar because both of them use the html code. The only difference is that one does it for you and for the other you have to write the actual code. However, sometimes when using Dreamweaver to create website you need to know some basic html because you might need to insert a <br> to make the lines and spacing how you want them to be. To make the layout of the page however you like you need to know some html so everything (pictures, videos, text) goes where you want it to go.

            I think the site I created was very good. I included all the things I was supposed to and organized it the way I liked. Recently I have started to put pictures and text side to side so that is what I did on my web pages. Some strengths of my website are that the text is clear to read, the background color and text color has a big contrast and I put my video and music on the same page so it was a mix of multimedia. I like using tables on the webpage’s because everything looks more organized. Some things I could have done better were to keep the font and format of the text on each page the same. This way the website has a specific format throughout all the pages. Also, the width of my table in each page is the same but the mid point line isn’t. On the dances page the pictures are all in different sizes so I think I should have made the length or the height the same so it looks better. Overall, I think my website was pretty good and creating it helped me understand how to use Dreamweaver better. By doing this task I understood how to make a better website and this will help me create my digital portfolio.

Teide Volcano Leaflet

Exploring Web Editors

Exploring Web Editors

            A web editor can be two things. It can be a software program that helps people create websites by using HTML. It can also be a person who creates and edits web pages.

            The relationship between a web editor and HTML is that the web editor helps you use HTML to create your website. It is like creating your own website but with some help from a program. 

            Dreamweaver is program that helps people create websites. Three main features are synchronization and transfer of multimedia and informaition, it has ideas of templates you can use for your website and gives you an option to play around with the HTML.

            Two different web editors apart from Dreamweaver are Namo Web Editor and Easy Web Editor.

            The difference between a web site and a web page is that a web site has many web pages you can go to and explore. Web pages are only a small part of the whole web site.  

            A web browser is a program that can interpret the codes of the World Wide Web (ex.Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox). The web browsers take the codes and display them in an easy way that all people can understand so not everyone has to know HTML coding.

            Web servers are places on the web where people upload their websites so they are easily accessible. People can search on web servers and find websites that contain information they are looking for. Web servers are like search engines (ex. Google,Ask). The computer that powers the whole program can be called the web server too. After creating a website and uploading it on the web server it can be accesed on the World Wide Web.

            Domain names are the identification label at the end of URL’s on the World Wide Web. The Domain Name System allows people to write a word at the end of a URL after the dot (ex .com, .org, .net) instead of a code. There are three domain name levels which depend on what type of website you are going to create. The top-level has the general domain names, com, org and net and the country code domain names like fr (France), ug (Uganda), de (Germany), uk (England). The second-level and third-level domain names are open for users that want to connect their local area networks (LAN) to the Internet and run web sites.  The URL specifies the location  of a website or page and tells the web browser how to access it. The domain name is part of the URL and tells the name of a network or user. It usually has the name of a company or organization followed by .com or .org.

Exploring HTML

Exploring HTML

HTML stands for hyper-text markup language. It is a special formatted text written that includes specific words that the computer can understand. When you write this text everything you include is shown on your website. It is like the language for computers.

We need HTML to create websites because the text that we write is telling the computer what to show on the website page. You can say whether you want text, pictures, videos and other cool things. By just learning some basic HTML you can play around with colors on your website and make it look great.

I find HTML a good option for creating my digital portfolio because I can control everything that comes up on the page, unlike on blogspot. I placed the parts I wanted on the page anywhere buy just adding a few more words in hyper-text markup language. At first it was difficult to get used to the format and words I had to write to tell the computer what to do. When I got used to HTML it was pretty fun adding everything else. I thought it was going to be boring when we started making our websites because it seemed so complicated, but after doing the learning it was a lot of fun because we could apply our knowledge in a creative way.

I was very happy when I finished the two page website. It was my first website created (and definitely not the last) that taught me a little about HTML. My website is very good because the hyperlinks to the other pages are at the bottom of all the pages so this makes it easier to navigate the website. I have a clear introduction about myself on the homepage and have many ways of showing the information about my country (like, tables, lists, paragraphs). I also have many pictures that have some text underneath to describe what is going on in the picture. When websites have many relevant pictures I find them more interesting. I also used nice colors for the background, and text that you could easily tell apart. Something I could have improved on is my making the color of the hyperlinks different because the bright pink is hard for the eye to read over the purple background. For one of the pictures I could have put the caption under it so it would be easier to tell which picture it was referring to. In overall, I think I did a pretty good job creating my first website.

Mount Etna Leaflet

My Digital Portfolio

My Digital Portfolio

My digital portfolio will include different things related to me. I would like to organize it in a way which is easy for other people to navigate in and not get confused. The portfolio will be clear and will be separated into different topics.

The first thing that will come up when you open my website will be the introduction. There I will write about the purpose of this digital portfolio and the different parts of it. By reading the introduction people can get a clear idea on almost all the things included in the website.

The major part on this digital portfolio is going to be about my academics. There will be a page explaining my school background, the schools I've been to and the subjects I take. I will separate this topic into four other pages. One will be on my favorite subjects and show the major projects and assignments I had in those subjects. Another page will be about my less favorite subjects and how I did in them. The third page will be showing all the certificates I received in senior school and junior school. It will include scanned copies of academic excellence awards, honor rolls, IB Learner Profile Awards (from the American International School) and others. The last page on academics will show my grades for each class.

There will be a section on my future. This will have information about places I want to live and other things. Linked to this page there will be a page on what I want to be when I grow up. I will explain what I wanted to become from different stages of my life.

I will have a part on my personal life which will include my hobbies, countries I have lived in and friends. Connected to that there will be a page that shows the different skills I have.

I am planning to include a page on my goals where I will record my goals for each semester and write about them. I will also add if I achieved those goals or not. At the beginning of this page I will write why I think goals are important for moving forward in life.

As you can see above this is how I am going to divide the pages in my digital portfolio.

Digital Portfolio-Research

Digital Portfolio-Research

Three important features about digital portfolios are:
1. You can add artifacts (example: audio recordings, videos, spreadsheets, music)

2. The digital portfolio shows the students achievements for different classes when people view it.

3. Teachers and others can view the digital portfolio and have discussions or write comments.

One advantage of a digital portfolio is that it is very easy for people to go to on the web and see it. It can also be easily reproduced on other digital forms such as CD's. This makes it easier for a big group of people to see it at the same time.

One disadvantage of a digital portfolio is that people can plagiarize what you have written due to the fact that the information can easily be copied.

Here are three samples of digital portfolios and my comments on them:

1. Creating An Electronic Portfolio

http://cte.jhe.edu/techacademy/fellows/Spencer/webquest/lasindex.html

This portfolio is about how teachers can make digital/electronic portfolios. It explains the different steps you need to take to make one and why you would need to make one.

The areas included are the intro (which explains why you would need to make a digital portfolio), The Task, Resources, The Process, Evaluation and Conclusion.

There are many good things about the design of this portfolio. It's good that the maker has some pictures and emoticons because it makes the page more interesting. Adding to that the background is very creative and does not affect how well you can read the text. There is nothing confusing or not so good about this digital portfolio.

The portfolio is very organized because there is a hyperlink to each section and a hyperlink to go back to the top as well. This makes it easier to move around.

2. Selling Yourself

http://www.teachnet.com/how-to/employment/portfolios/index.html

The content is about teaching people the advantages of having a portfolio. In this website it talks about creating and keeping a portfolio in a binder as well as information about what is needed in a portfolio when you apply for a job.

The different topics mentioned in this website are about what is a portfolio, how to make one, how to keep adding things and not forget to update it. The website also describes some good elements about keeping a portfolio and has a few tips for you to consider.

Some good elements from this website are that each page is listed and has its own hyperlink. It is clear to read because there is a white background and black writing and there are not too many pictures. The website keeps the same format and a clip art picture for each page so it seems put together in a organized way. I think that the font of the text could be a little bigger because it would be easier to read and would fill up the page a little more. I think there should be a title for each page you open so that it is clearer.

It is very easy to navigate the website because there is a list of all the pages you can see and they are clearly labeled. You can go to whichever page you like because the list of pages comes up on every page you open.

3. Senior Project

http://www.richerpicture.com/dp/jenna/index.htm

The content is about a girl who had learning problems and overcomes them during a project where she learns different outdoor activities. She had problems with reading and writing so by seeing her blog you can see that she has overcome these problems. The girl (Jenna) talks about different steps in the project.

There are different areas included in this blog. It is actually similar to the Design Cycle. Jenna starts her blog with an introduction page and continues with research, designing, presenting and evaluating the whole project. This is a very good example of how we can use the Design Cycle for our projects at the International School of Uganda.

Some good things about this website are that it is clear to read the text because the colors are plain. The background is white and the text is black. The website uses the same format for all of the pages. It is easy to see the writing on the table of contents even though it is green and white. This gives the website some color so it makes it more interesting. Some things that are not so good about the website are that there are no pictures of Jenna doing outdoor activities. This would have made her website perfect. In some parts of the website there is too much writing so you lose interest and stop reading without finishing the page.

The website is very organized and it is easy to go from page to page. The table of contents is clear and each page shows one step of her project. The pages and steps are in order so this makes it even easier to understand what she did and in which order.