For the Newbies of CS 1300

As the semester comes to a close, it's time to leave a final word of advice that may come in handy for other students taking this course.

1. Get to know Dr. Belisle during office hours! Whenever you have questions, she is more than willing to help you!

2.Do the assignments ASAP! I found it helpful to do the hw assignments right after class so that I know I got it done. Also, it helps not to blow off the assignments because those points really do add up!

At first, I thought this class was going to be just book reading and doing assignments from the book. Boy was I wrong! We worked with Photoshop, learned tricks on Excel, and learned how to make our own personal webpage! Not only that, we get to tour places in Trinity where others are not allowed! Cool, huh? Well, I wish you guys luck and enjoy the time you're here at Trinity!

To Dr. Belisle: Thank you for teaching me some very helpful and awesome tricks in the Microsoft Offices. It was also fun working in Photoshop! All the skills I learned in your class will definitely come in handy in the future!

To Amy: Thanks for helping when I had questions. I hope you and your parents like The Woodlands!

Peace,

Grace Ungchusri

Photoshop

Okay, so the picture I chose was one of my own eye because it looks really cool! I added a hue/saturation layer to change my picture from color to just black and white. Then I uploaded a picture of earth incorporated it as the pupil of my eye. Finally, I added a text layer. I changed my picture to make a point that it takes effort to step into other people's shoes. Most of the time we make assumptions about others based on their (inter)actions without really considering the situation in another perspective.

Now, personally I think my manipulation of my photo was detrimental since my photoshop skills are not that great. I couldn't smooth out the edges where the globe touched my eye to make it look more natural. Generally speaking, I don't think this manipulation is harmful because I see it as making a statement; it is meant to sway the viewer towards my point of view, whether it's the truth or not. It's my view. Besides, there are many levels of 'truths' that one can choose to believe, but we'll leave that for another discussion. However, if one were to edit a picture of a country's flag to depict another nation's people burning it, then I would say that's harmful. That could cause a scuffle.

Powerpoint Presentations

I really enjoyed listening to Noelle's presentation because she sounded very relaxed, not nervous, and her flow of words matched the powerpoint. The theme of her powerpoint fit together, the texts were easy to read, and the added sound effect of the waterdrop was effective.

Another one that I enjoyed was Will Prudich's. The jungle theme in the background worked well with his topic of the Bobonos. The music and pictures of the primates was fantastic. It created a light atmosphere and I could see that the audience was enjoying every bit of it. The way Will presented the Bobonos' background was brief and not overwhelming so that the audience can follow him. And even though he had trouble with the music, he resolved it calmly and continued his presentation as if nothing had happened.

A job well done to the both of you!

PPT Evaluations and Tips

After reading Top Ten Slide Tips, there are some things that I agree with and don't. Powerpoints are meant to be short and to the point while at the same time entertaining or pleasing to the audience. However, I don't find anything wrong with using cheesy clip art, sometimes they're intended. Keeping information on the slides organized would help the audience, even though their main focus should be on the speaker.

Recommendations for Faculty On Powerpoint was very interesting. It pointed out exactly the flaws of most presentations and how to correct them. Funny, they were all bulleted and to the point. There was only one advice I don't really agree on: the background. I don't think having something other than a plain background will make text harder to read (as long as the presenter takes the time to coordinate color, text size, and font). Really Bad Power Point- and How to Avoid It also has similar tips, with the exception of giving picture examples. And the YouTube video was removed by the user.

So, five tips I think are essential:

1. Keep the data short and to the point, but not boring...so have some color and pictures!
2. Color coordination please! Don't go all out with neon colors because I'd like to be able to see things normally by the end of your presentation.
3. Don't go overboard with animations and effects.
4. Don't read your slides, I'm literate. Besides, that's boring.
5. Don't let Power Point take over your presentation, the audience should be more focused on what you say than anything else!

CLT Not TLC

The Center for Learning and Technologies is located on the 1st floor of the Coates Library. Down there, you will find Macs and Dell computers, all fully loaded with multimedia authoring and editing software, scanners, printers, and rooms for audio and video editting.

The Center hosts classes for faculty to learn how to use certain software, but it also provides for individual needs. It is beneficial to go there for help with photoshop. If one needs to scan a photo or document, CLT would be the place. When working on powerpoint presentations that need video and sound, CLT can help show you how to incorpate both. Like what Mr. Chapman said, he dabbles in all areas of needed expertise, but can only aid with more basic questions.

For personal use, a student can actually borrow the CLT's digital cameras as long as they get permission from a professor. The CLT is open to anyone, and it can also be used for video conferences.

Excel Experience

In the past, I dreaded using excel because it just seemed more complicated than the rest of the Microsoft applications. I have used it in the past, but my dad or brother would always have to edit or double check my work. Excel has all these formulas, functions, and so much data input! However, after this section on excel, I feel more comfortable with it.

I learned how to select data using shortcuts and absolute cell references. The "If" function was definitely new to me, I didn't know that it existed prior to this class. Also, with the newer version of excel there are more cell conditioning options. I find this useful for making my data look neat, professional, and reader-friendly. Knowing how to format numbers is another plus for having data with particular units/symbols or decimal places.

In general, this was a good review of excel for me and I find it helpful, especially for all the science lab reports that require data sheets and diagrams.

I am Catchin' Some Waves...

Surfing the Internet! That's right, I'm looking through Google for some information on Amy's Ice Creams for a management project. After sitting in on Chris Nolan's lecture, Searching the Internet: Finding High-Quality Information on the Web, I've learned how to refine my search so that I get exactly what I want.

Well, this may sound odd, but I really did not know what a domain was. In essence, it's the .com, or the .net, and so on at the end of a URL. I never thought that those actually meant commercial and network. These little details are actually really helpful in screening through search results.

For example, adding the "+" sign in the search box with a certain phrase will make sure that Google searches for those exact words instead of commonly looked up synonyms. If one wanted to exclude certain words or domains, all one would have to do is put a "-" in front of whatever phrases they do not want to see(ex: "-site:.com"). There is another special feature on Google that I really like. It is the advanced search feature! I love how I can choose the file type, language, and even little details like usage rights!

Thank you, Chris Nolan, for a very informative session!