Class on 11-19-08

I wanted to get the shell of my website online. Done.

I also wanted a little bit more detail on what Karina, Inna, and I would be doing for our final project. Done.

Everything else: up in the air. Details to come.

Webinars!

The VrOOM software that we used this week added a little bit to my frustration level. It was software that I didn't understand, and the results didn't work as I expected.
I had a very difficult time hearing what I was supposed to be doing, and I didn't know if that was due to my inexperience with the software or a problem with my computer. We eventually got it working and accomplished our task, but I couldn't help but notice the metaphorical bad taste it left in my mouth. I think the biggest problem I had with it was the sheer amount of options and tweaks you could use with the software. Sure, it's great having powerful software, but at what point do you stop sacrificing usability and consistency for features?

:: sigh :: I would be a terrible software designer.

Week Ten Class

I really like Dr Bibbe's presentation, but I think it would have been much more effective if he had given it when we were first introduced to using a wiki. For lack of a better word, it felt very random to have a presentation on something we focused on almost 2 months ago.
Timing aside, however, I enjoyed what he had to say about using a wiki in class. It was obvious that he had a very solid technological background, but he kept everything at a level that the students could easily understand.

Moving on to hot potatoes. I'm not a visually creative person, at least in a very literal sense. I can't take a goal and turn that goal into a visually creative outcome. I have a difficult enough time knowing where my shoes go inside my closet, so using a suite of software designed specifically for visual manifestation of concepts is still a little hard for me to swallow. This is, however, not a shortcoming of the software itself, but rather a personal shortcoming that I will need to work on.

Reaction to tele and video conferencing

Sometimes when I'm out in public with my friends, we will pass a group of people speaking other languages. I'm often asked if I can understand what they're saying and generally, the answer is "no". My friends are usually surprised at this, since my Bachelor's degree is in Spanish. At this point, I have to make a very clear point to them: I can speak and understand Spanish very well and very easily, IF I'm involved in an actual interaction. When somebody is standing right in front of me, expecting me to understand what they're saying to me, I do. When I'm passing a group of people, there's no expectation and there is no pressure on me to grasp what they're saying. You could say that there is nothing to keep me focused.

Along those same lines, I noticed that the same thing happens while I'm engaged in a video lecture. Even though there is technically a live person "in front" of me, it feels too much like I'm watching TV and my attention wanders. I liked it better with the video feed, even though I felt like a jerk walking in fifteen minutes late because I missed the bus.

The audio-only presentation was near impossible for me to retain. There was little for me to focus on, save for the audio itself, so I didn't get much out of it. Perhaps if I were more accustomed to that type of learning I wouldn't have such trouble with it, but for now, I prefer live, face-to-face instruction.

Happy Election Day

Success is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory

As he defeated — dying —
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!