Newbies!

If you are taking computer skills this semester and are hesistant than listen up! This class will certainly take you by surprise both in the diversity in topics and the abundance in creativity. Before you sink your head too much into the class, you should be aware of a few things you must do to be succesful in this class.

1. Go to class
This really should not have to be stated but seriously, you learn new things every class and would quickly fall behind if you were to skip.

2. Do your homework
Homework is assigned almost every class over the topics and/or the speakers. The homework is really useful in mastering the assigned topics so not only should you do it to maintain your grade but also you should do it so that you learn the topics and skills well.

3. Pay attention in class
Not only must you go to class, but also you really should be actively participating and working on the skill of the day. You will seriously learn a new skill almost every day in the class and you really need to be actively participating to truly learn and master the skill in class as a group before trying the homework on your own.

4. Be honest
You will be taking quizzes and tests that test both your knowledge and your skills with a computer. Therefore, it really does not help you if you use outside sources to get your homework done. It will come back to haunt you later on the quiz when you dont know how to do a certiain skill.

5. Have fun
Sit back, relax and enjoy yourself. Mrs. Belisle is a really fun professor that you will enjoy being in class with.

I hope these tips and insights help you future students both in the class and also in other classes for some of these tips are generic for any college level course. Good luck in your studies and have a great semester in Computer Skills!

Websites

There were so many wonderful websites made and presented last class period. I was especially impressed by Jessica's and Roxana's. Jessica's and Roxana's both had numerous photos of family and friends that really added to the familial component to the site. I really liked Jessica's because of how she linked her friend's colleges to their picture on her site. I also was really impressed by the special backgrounds that Roxana used in her site. They were very graphic in desing and really catching to the eye. Overall, the websites were awesome and they really impressed me with what a great job all of my fellow classmates did in creating their sites.

PowerPoints round 2!

Hey again! We had another excellent round of PowerPoint Presentations today although once again there was one presentation that really stuck out to me. Elena Grout presented a very interesting topic in a manner that truly astounded me in it's professionalism. Not only did she convey across a very new idea to me and certainly most of the people, but I was also genuinely interested in the topic. Her presentation on Nanowrimo introduced the topic of an organization dedicated to encouraing people to write novels. I thought that it was a very cool idea. I also liked her subtle background involving the pen and the sepia toned colors. It was overall a very succesful presentation.
After having seen all of the presentations, I can say that everyone did a very good job in presenting and creating their presentations.

Presentations!

Last class, I had the great fortune to see a plethora of succesful powerpoint presentations occur before my eyes. Out of the many outstanding presenters and slideshows however, two projects really seemed to get their message across. I personally really enjoyed Jessica's and Roxi's powerpoint presentations.
Jessica's powerpoint presentation was on the Hippoi and classical Greek mythology. Not only did she employ a unique and succesful background but also she really seemed to communicate her message well to the audience. Even though I am not a classics major, I felt that I was able to appreciate and respect her work in the study of the Hippoi and trading routes. What I found especially cool was that it was her own theory!
Roxana's presentation on the the formation of vesicles via the coat protein clathrin was a very applicably presentation that I could relate too. As we are both Bio minded people, I not only knew the importance of her topic but also I was able to notice just how masterfully she explained the material. I believe that even non Bio oriented people would have been able to appreciate the importance of vesicle formation after her presentation. I also really liked her animated gif of the clathrin molecule.
The awesome thing about the day was that I could have spoken on any of the presentations seeing as they were all very well done.

POWERPOINT!

This is the big week for our class. We will finally be giving our big PowerPoint presentations involving our interests to the class. It is important however, to first make sure that people understand exactly what making a PowerPoint presentation should include.

I personally thought that out of the three articles we had to read, the most useful was certainly the first one entailing 10 pieces of advice for a good PowerPoint presentation. It had many useful pieces of advice such as use of pictures and transitions.

One of the most useful pieces of advice that was shared amongst all three articles was the use of professional pictures instead of cheesy PowerPoint made images. All three articles emphasized the fact that professional images can really elicit a strong emotional response from the audience and if it does, it can really serve as a catalyst for a good presentation. This is a piece of advice that should be taken seriously by the entire class. We have all sat through boring PowerPoint presentations and thus we should naturally all want to make our own presentation more entertaining with high quality photographs.

Some basic advice and guidelines that I believe the whole class should take into consideration while designing their presentations are:

1) Keep it simple: The less words per page the better
2) Use interesting photographs or use none at all
3) Use few transitions and if you do use them, use ones that are professional
4) Choose a clear, large font that is easily read by all people in the room
5) Take time to organize the slides into a logical manner

Finally, I think it is important to inform the class of what I personally find annoying in bad PowerPoint presentations. I personally think that the three worst aspects of bad PowerPoint slides would be too much text on a page and cheesy transitions/sounds.

These general aspects of a good PowerPoint presentation will greatly enhance the quality of any PowerPoint presentation that we make during our college career.

EXCELerate

Hello again. Spring break is over and the semester is finally on the downward slope to the finish. While on the topic of the finish, it is an excellent moment to reflect on the amazing application that is Microsoft Excel. I am quite elated that we went so in depth into Excel for it is a program that is used in essentially every single science class that I will be taking for the remainder of my stay at Trinity. Not only is it useful and applicable in class, but also I will use it extensively in Dr. Urbach's research lab.
The parts of Excel that I am most glad to have learned would definitely be the use of charts and graphs. The ability to create a graphic to display data is essential to being a successful research scientist. I will be able to use and apply these skills in excel throughout the rest of my career both as a student and doctor. In the near future, they will be very useful in the classroom and the lab for displaying data in a succinct manner.
I am very glad that we spent so much time on Excel and I know for a fact that I will be able to apply these skills for a the rest of my life.

CLT

That was a very useful field trip that we want on in our last class. The CLT is a very cool technology lab for students to go use on the first floor of our very own library. The best part is, all the great technological tools located there are at our (students) disposal. During the trip, I learned about many cool resources that the people at the CLT can help me with when I go there. I am personally interested in using their audio recording rooms and their many available Machintosh Desktops. I would also like to convert some LPs to CDs since they have the technology to do such tasks. Lastly, it is a very good place to go study because of hiow quiet and secluded it is.
I am very glad that we went to the CLT. I now know of a place where I can use top of the line technology and have assisstance with any technology that I do not know how to use.

Its A Big 'Un!

Wow! If the picture of the grass hopper on this postcard does not scare you than there is something wrong with you. This grass hopper, if it really existed, could surely take over all of man kind however, it is fortunately merely the concoction of hysterically talented photo shop users.
I choose this photo due to the humor in seeing a huge grass hopper being driven into town on the big old style truck. I also enjoyed the clever caption that was added underneath the photo stating: "Haulin Em Out." This photo was made by famous "photographer" Frank Conard of Garden City, Kansas. He manipulated it probably by taking an old picture of a man with a truck and adding in the image of a grass hopper on top of the truck. He finally enlarged the grass hopper to make it funny. It was manipulated for the purpose to entertain people who saw it and also to sell copies of the postcard bearing this image. I do not think that the manipulation was harmful, if anything, it brought a smile to many people who have viewed this picture over the years. Thats all for today so til next time, hop'e you don't run into any hoppers!
http://news.cnet.com/2300-1026_3-6033210-17.html

To Infinity, And Beyond!

Hey World! The class prior to the writing of this post contained an appearance from none other than Chris Nolan. It was during said class that Mr. Nolan explained to us the many intricacies and nuances of internet search engines ranging from the ever popular Google to the more arcane: Infomine. It was actually a very useful sessions seeing as the ability to locate and judge the quality of information is very pertinent to one's ability to do well in college. The most bizarre piece of information bestowed upon us by Mr. Nolan must be the way in which Google lists sources in priority this being, by listing the most pertinent as those most linked too as opposed to other search engines. This was and remains a brilliant idea by the people who created Google. That was certianly the most interesting new fact that I learned. I was surprised by the fact that Google was such an ubiquitous search engine when compared to other more obscure ones. I knew of course of how popular but even I was surprised by just how much more popular it was than the competition.
Well, until my next ordained thoughts, live long and tip your waiters.

Copyright: Pros and Cons

Firstly, I would like to thank Mrs. Greaves for coming and talking to us about copyright. I thought she did a great job of teaching us about copyright while also doing it in an entertaining way. Second, on a more serious note I would like to discuss copyright. I personally think that copyright is a very reasonable and valid concept.
The issue that I’m going to discuss is concerning the amount of time after publication (or author death) before a work becomes part of the public domain. I personally think that the Sonny Bono act of 1998, which extended the time before a work entered the public domain by twenty years, was a great act. I think authors and companies should be able to keep the rights to their creation for a long, long time. If one did not get a "reward" (royalties) off of their creation, than why would they have bothered to create in the first place? Without copyright protection, there would be little to no incentive for authors, artists, scientists, and/ or companies to create new things. This would dramatically reduce the growth and success of our nation.
The other side of this issue is that extending the length of the patents, greatly reduces the amount of information available to the Public Domain. By the time a work enters the public domain, it will be close to 70-95 years out of date depending on if it was due to a deceased author or publication. These long years of copyright protection make the public domain essentially useless.
This is a hot topic that many people have their own ideas and opinions on. I think that long periods of copyright protection are necessary to promote growth however, I’m sure that many disagree with me on that which is fine by me.

Facebook

Good Afternoon. Well todays thoughts are upon the widely accepted social networking tool called Facebook. I am a member of Facebook although I am rarely on compared to most of my peers. I find that it is a very useful tool for keeping up with friends and for scheduling events but, that is the extent that I use it. In am not obsessed with it in the least and usually check it bout once a week for updates. I know that my views on it are not shared by most of my friends but that is fine by me.
I agree with the article in saying that Facebook has become a huge deal and also that College campus's should embrace it, not push it away. It is really too big of a thing for people to overlook now and it actually does enable a great manner of communication either socially or academically, between faculty and students if University's so choose to use it. I know that my piano class and chemistry lab are both groups on Facebook and we can communicate via that when we need to. It is very useful.
I think that Facebook will just continue to becom larger and larger as more freshmen enter college each year. It is not going anywhere.
URL for article: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1213/p13s01-legn.html

Word!

Well it is a Monday night and once again I find myself having to quickly work through several assignments many of which involve a certain word processor. I have been using Microsoft Word easily since the fourth grade on almost any assignment that required typing. I would say that I am quite comfortable with it's many tools and functions but I am still not accustomed to the new format of the 2007 version. I could definitely use some practice with the "ribbons" and menu placement on the new version and maybe even some practice with correctly formatting papers. Other than that, I believe that I am quite adept at using it.

Joe Hatch's Visit

Hey again! Joe came last class to discuss computer security with our class on Tuesday. It was very interesting to learn about all of the different kinds of viruses on the internet such as trojans, adware, and spyware. It was also very enlightening in that I am now more aware of the dangers that are out on the internet. Finally, I am glad that he told us the background story behind clean access. It was also nice of him to tell us about Winn 103 in case a problem ever does occur with my computer.
I appreciated him coming and look forward to another visit from him.

Test

Hey, my name is Nick Hargreaves. I am from San Antonio Texas and have lived here for the past 11 years. I am currently a pre-med student here at Trinity University and am specifically focusing on a biochemical/ molecular biology major. I am also an avid musician currently playing with local indie artist Marcus Rubio. I play guitar and piano and have a passion for rock in most forms. I am also a big runner. I used to run Cross Country in high school but now I enjoy running and training for marathons. Finally, I like working in research laboratories. Right now, I am a member of Dr. Urbach's research lab.

My secret fact is... that I have scuba dived in the little caymens.

Here is an image of my home town, it may look familiar to everyone in my class! http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=google%20earth&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

I have not taken any computer skills classes although I did take a class in C++ at one time during high school although I do not remember much of it.

You can contact me at: ndybdalh@trinity.edu