This session of Senior Capstone was primarily devoted to preparing powerpoint presentations for the ITA Luncheon. The students took the first part of class to research their projects and then the second and third sections were for the students to make and rehearse their presentations.
While the students and their projects are far from completion, there are notable signs of progress in the groups. For instance, Thor and Thuy Dan's interview with the professor is currently being edited for cohesion. Eddie is busy at work with Flash and Julie and Ashanti are already starting to make cards.
Much of what will need to happen from here on out will be for the students to come up with rough drafts of their projects, receive feedback from experts in their respective content fields, and then hone their products to a finer quality. Lots of Senior Capstone is devoted to students having the time and means to make such changes a reality, and we do hope that the students take the time to make the most of these great opportunities.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
11/20/10 Let's Get These Proposals Done
Today the class was structured with the idea that during education the students would have the introduction complete, by exploration the students would have the timeline complete, and by the end of evaluation the online resources would be complete. Throughout the session, Ann and Ryan meet with certain groups to check up on them. Towards the end, Ryan started to comment on proposals.
Adrianne, Jasmine, and Lakoye - ITA Through the Years With iMovie
Jasmine was very efficient at working today even as Adrianne and Lakoye were goofing off. Jasmine even wrote in her blog how irritated she was to be the only one working. Lakoye was working a lot in the beginning as the leader of her group writing the proposal, but Adrianne constantly distracted her throughout the class period with YouTube videos. The game plan for next week, get 3 mac laptops. Have Lakoye finish the proposal, then have Adrianne edit, and finally Jasmine as they spend the first 1.5 hours looking for online resources. Each one of them will be working on a different video separately.
Ashanti and Julie - Holiday Cards for the Children's Hospital
Ashanti informed me that Viki would no longer be coming to ITA? Not sure what this is all about, but Ann will let AJ know. Ashanti wanted to work with Julie, so the two paired up together. Ashanti really wanted to do something with the Children's Hospital. Thus, for her community service project, Ann suggested they designed holiday cards for them. At first the two just found pictures online from Google and pasted them into a one page sheet. Ann showed them templates in Microsoft Word and Publisher they could use to make various designs of cards. At the end they were opening up illustrator. Game Plan: They need to research more about Greeting Card designing in general, Microsoft Publisher and examples of greeting card saying, images, and different font types.
Bryce and Terrance - Videos with Faculty on Campus
Terrance was absent today in class. Bryce was 1/2 working on his project. He started to research about the professors he was to be interviewing. Bryce didn't really understand each professors research but he did begin to think of questions to add. They however still need to add a timeline and online resources to their proposal. Game Plan: Have the two research more independently about filming and how to use the canon camera, and then send one of the professors an e-mail to set up a time to film.
Eddie - Flash Animation of Cell Division
Eddie worked hard for most of the session. From the conversation Ann had with him earlier in the year, he was supposed to have the first part of his project complete with vectorizing the images. However, he was somehow confused with what he actually needed to do. Thus, he is writing the professor an e-mail to extend his deadline. He still needs to work on his timeline and online resources. Game Plan: More research time.
Kiran and Eileen - ITA Yearbook
Kiran was not here today but Eileen was. She is designing the new ITA yearbook. She spent the first part of class taking pictures of the seniors working. Because she is such a diligent worker all that needs to be done is more research to help her design her project. Game Plan: Research
Henry and Tenzin - Video of Cyrstallography
Henry and Tezin researched about the topic of their video. They did a good job of researching but I think the problem is the vaugness of the project. Ann will contact the professor to double check how he would like this video created and when they will be meeting. Also, they have a pre-done video that she will try and have the professor search for. Game Plan: Fix their proposal.
Ivan and Lejia - use of CamStudio to film Jmol
Ivan and Lejia researched about the CamStudio software. However, Ivan kept repeatedly saying that he did not know what was going on. Ann had explained to them that at first the will need to be sure they know how to use CamStudio. They still need to make a worksheet for the professor with screen shot how to do everything. Also, there is problem of team dynamics right now between the two. Game Plan: fix proposal, start working on worksheet for professor. Ann will need to re-explain project.
Jermey - Flash Video
Jermey has issues to fix on his proposal but not that much. He vectorized the image his professor gave him, but at the end of session he realized he needed to actually re-make the images. Game Plan: fix proposal and continue to work.
Maya and Noah - Experiment Videos
Noah worked very hard on their proposal and it is good to go. They will just have to wait till 2/5/21 to film. Game Plan next session: transcribe what is going on in the video now and make a story board
Thuy Dan and Thor - Tubar Video
Their proposal is good to go. Thor worked on editing the video by himself. Thuy Dan did not contribute and she had to leave class in the middle. Thuy Dan also gave Ann a lot of attitude issues. Game Plan: continue to edit video
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Senior Capstone - THE SEQUEL!
Today marked the 2nd year of Senior Capstone as being part of ITA. Senior Capstone is a workshop more than a class, as students are expected to work independently using instructors as advisors and online resources for assistance rather than standard lecture-based instruction. Students who have worked on community service projects are able to understake independent queries using technology. Those students without community service projects have assignments to work in conjunction with organizations or departments in and around UW-Madison.
Some examples of projects from last year's capstone included websites devoted to community groups, videos advertising ITA, flyers for campus groups, and games using Adobe Flash. This year, we hope to have some great interactive projects including flash animations depicting issues in Biochemistry, video introductions to professors on campus, an ITA yearbook, and other exciting endeavors!
Making projects like these are difficult, and we hope that the ITA students make use of the many resources available to them to learn. These students have an exceptional opportunity to make a multimedia artifact, but with large-scale projects in the "real" world, students here will have to be self-motivated, relying on themselves to make the most of their projects. Relying on students to self-schedule themselves to make great projects may sound risky, but ITA students are more than up to the task, and we look forward to seeing their project ideas come to fruition.
Some examples of projects from last year's capstone included websites devoted to community groups, videos advertising ITA, flyers for campus groups, and games using Adobe Flash. This year, we hope to have some great interactive projects including flash animations depicting issues in Biochemistry, video introductions to professors on campus, an ITA yearbook, and other exciting endeavors!
Making projects like these are difficult, and we hope that the ITA students make use of the many resources available to them to learn. These students have an exceptional opportunity to make a multimedia artifact, but with large-scale projects in the "real" world, students here will have to be self-motivated, relying on themselves to make the most of their projects. Relying on students to self-schedule themselves to make great projects may sound risky, but ITA students are more than up to the task, and we look forward to seeing their project ideas come to fruition.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
*Our students finished up the BTW's today, and they're probably very good...but they're still a work in progress. In order to help psych up some of our students into thinking why Flash would be cool to keep up with in the future, here is an article on Gamasutra!*
Games of course represent a significant portion of the 150k+ apps on the App Store. Apple says there are 50,700 games and entertainment titles currently available. At the iPad launch there were close to 60 games announced with many more in the works. Some have already estimated that the iPad App Store will make over $1billion by 2012.
Also announced just over a week ago at Apple's iPhone OS 4 press conference, was their Game Center, coming this fall. Game Center will provide iPhone, iTouch and iPad gamers a central point for networking with friends, posting achievements and leaderboards.
Most comparable to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, the Game Center will be a valuable mechanism for developers to help monetize their games. It was only a matter of time before Apple announced something like this, and ngmoco, who has their Plus+ social networking solution, were not surprised by the news.
Here is the short list of companies and games at launch:
The key in the short term will be creating native versions of games specifically for the iPad. With the larger screen and unique features, developers will start to experiment quickly. The result, we believe, will be new types of game play and experimental designs.
A good example of this is Flight Control HDfrom Firemint. At launch it is the first 3D stereoscopic game for the iPad, and is priced at $5. Glasses are sold separately. Firemint's iPhone version of the game has been a huge hit, so it will be interesting to see how the 3D iPad game does.
M2 Research had an opportunity to speak with a number of game companies supporting the iPad and asked them for their thoughts on initial iPad game development.
Dana Nelson - Lead Designer, PlayFirst
PlayFirst' s lead designer Dana Nelson explains the unique development process they had with the iPad. Founded in 2004, PlayFirst publishing their games across multiple game platforms. One of the company's most successful games, Diner Dash has been downloaded more than 550 million times.
"PlayFirst developed Diner Dash: Grilling Green specifically for the iPad. Developing a game for the iPad was quite different from our typical development process. Our other games are designed to be played with one mouse or one finger. With Diner Dash: Grilling Green for the iPad, we developed a game that's made for lots of fingers-10 of yours, or some of yours plus some of your friend's."
"During initial development, we didn't actually have an iPad to test the gestures or the Multi-Touch, so we used paper prototypes to figure out which cooking gestures would be fun to do while managing a hectic restaurant. We knew that the iPad is all about intuitive, custom-made user experiences, so we made sure players can easily customize the game to suit their needs; it's fully playable in both portrait and landscape orientations, the Touch Cooker 3000 is repositionable, and 2-player mode can be toggled on/off on the fly."
Chris Ulm - CEO, Appy Entertainment
Appy Entertainment's development strategy is focused on creating original IP. Prior to starting Appy, Chris co-founded several entertainment companies including High Moon Studios where he worked on AAA console projects, and Malibu Comics which was acquired by DC Comics.
"While I can't speak for other game developers", says Chris Ulm, CEO of Appy Entertainment, "for us the lack of Flash is a non-issue. When we founded the company, we made a decision to stick to Apple's development tools and build our own game engine and pipeline to create the best experience on the platform. I don't think there will be any decline in overall developer support for Apple going forward because the platform still represents the best opportunity for developers in terms of install base, marketing reach, consumer experience, advertising monetization and development tools."
"On the consumer side, the lack of Flash will be painful for web-browsing on the iPad in the short term, but long term will promote the very fast adoption of HTML 5. Ultimately, the lack of Flash did not hurt the rapid adoption of the iPhone by consumers, and I suspect the same will happen for the iPad."
"At Appy Entertainment we are huge believers in the iPad as a gaming platform and have either submitted, or are in the process of developing special iPad-only versions of all of our games.The screen real estate and speed of the A4 processor are a given, but what we find really attractive about the iPad is our ability to innovate new mechanics and interactive experiences that build on the mass market pioneered by the iPhone. Our firm hope is that iPad will be a premium platform for more ambitious experiences and allow "micro-publishers" like Appy to commit to more development resources and longer product cycles."
Michel Kripalani - CEO,Oceanhouse Media
Before founding Oceanhouse Media in 2009, Michel Kripalani was the founder and CEO of the successful Presto Studios, after which he became the industry manager of games at Autodesk.
"We view the iPad as a completely new, unique device. As such, we are spending a lot of time trying to determine what we can do with it that cannot be done with an iPhone. It presents a great new opportunity to re-think all that we believe about limitations in hardware."
"Developers have never had such a large multi-touch surface to take advantage of. There will ultimately be a whole new group of games that require a large touchscreen that cannot be played using other input means (mouse and keyboard -or- controller, for example). The process of cracking these new UI features and re-inventing genres will be awesome. I can't wait to see what people come up with."
Margaret Wallace - CEO, Playmatics Margaret Wallace has founded several companies in her career, and has been CEO of Rebel Monkey and Skunk Studios, where she created online casual games. Prior to that was she was a producer at Shockwave.com. "Like the iPhone before it, the iPad will be a transformative force in gaming. Playing games on the iPad is akin to having your own portable gaming console." "Playing my first game on the iPad brought to life how the larger screen size, quality of the graphics and extra power made my iPhone games seem minuscule in comparison. Additionally, the platform promises to introduce new kinds of single-player and possibly even multiplayer gaming styles. While we're still waiting for those first few breakthrough hits for the iPad, the potential is great." "Consider the recent iPadDevCamp, held at the Paypal/eBay offices over the weekend, and the outpouring of developer interest and creativity around bringing killer apps to the iPad. Combine this exuberance with the know-how Apple has shown around monetizing content in its store and I think we'll see a lot of interesting developments on the content side of things." Wallace goes on to explain some of her initial apprehension, "My only concern with the iPad as a gaming platform is that the profitability margins might be low if we use the typical iPhone game as an example. Increasingly crowded decks and difficulty accessing content have made the prospect of building an extremely profitable business around iPhone apps pretty difficult for most content creators and publishers. I hope that we do not see a similar pattern unfold for the iPad, but that's definitely a concern."
The other noteworthy media partner at launch was Marvel. While not directly a game company, Marvel's presence has been slightly overlooked by many in the industry. Marvel is now owned by Disney, and be sure that Disney has big plans for pushing the Marvel brands across as many platforms as it can.
The comic book industry was built on the ability to collect and trade issues. While the iPad lacks that function, it does provide a great vehicle for reengaging the comic book market to a new generation of readers...and gamers. There will be more than 500 titles available, most priced at $1.99 each and some available for free.
Overall Thoughts
With 300k units sold on the first day, 600k sold after 2 weeks, and that number inching toward the 1 million unit mark, M2 Research's own Billy Pidgeon says, "We are cautiously optimistic concerning the iPad. iSupply believes Apple will sell 7.5M this year. That's a lot, but it's doable. If Apple reaches 10M, that will be a significant penetration. The big question is the demographics of the owners/users and their usage patterns and metrics." Certainly something we at M2 Research will be specifically looking at.
Guy Kawasaki, the social media guru, entrepreneur and one-time marketing executive at Apple in the 1980s, said in a New York Times article, "The first five million will be sold in a heartbeat. But let's see: you can't make a phone call with it, you can't take a picture with it, and you have to buy content that before now you were not willing to pay for. That seems tough to me."
While Kawasaki's comments initially encapsulated my own personal position on the iPad, I am starting to have a change of heart. I've had a chance to speak with developers, other industry professionals, and consumers. If Apple works on certain issues like multi-tasking and camera support (which it is), it could be a real "game changer".
However, my biggest concern is the lack of Flash support. It is certainly a slap in the face for many game companies, but most notably Adobe. As a result, Adobe has issued a statement that it will stop support of its Flash packager for the iPhone and will be putting all its support around Android.
Adobe's own Flash product manager, Mike Chambers posted the following very relevant comments on his own blog:
So, it looks like the world is divided. In the Apple camp, everyone seems truly excited about the device. As for everyone else, there are obvious levels of concern regarding the control Apple is wielding. There will be plenty more to cover as this all plays out! |
Saturday, April 24, 2010
First Work Day
This morning could have been chaotic but worked out fine. Ryan was out sick with food poisoning so Ann was the only instructor in the room. Ann didn’t have access to the Flash curriculum folder, so she was unsure if there was a Learn@UW quiz. So the students did not do a morning quiz but went straight into work time. Most of the students had not started on their BTW and had no recollection what they should be doing.
The first group that Ann worked with was Lakoye and Jasmine. They decided to make their BTW for their showcase. They downloaded a Barney counting song and the pictures they needed. The problem was whenever Ann left their group, t hey stopped working completely. Next time, hopefully the instructors can push the students finish their project. They have all the pictures and music and now they just need to animate.
Eileen was very quiet today and came to class 15 minutes late. She spent all period finding images and music and has not started her flash document. She did however e-mail a screen shot.
Lejia was unproductive in the beginning. He wanted to know the requirements of the BTW, but Ann’s laptop would not log on to the network drive. So, she just put up the old requirements on the Wiki. Basically, none of the students know what is required for their BTW, so we need to make sure they have access to those sheets.
Henry and Bryce worked the entire time on their Flash showcase project. They are the furthest of the class with a storyline and animations.
Noah is doing a stick figure animation dance. He has both of his movie clips, menu, and pre-loader complete. Ann e-mailed him the file of "How To Set Up Your Flash BTW" file from last year. Hopefully, Thor will be able to figure out how to piece things together.
Thor is making a penguin dancing animation. He is using the penguin.ai files for images. He has his song and background. He will need to use the bulk of time animating.
Jeremy had some code issues but he has a good start on his project.
Ivan had some minor code issues but is doing his Flash BTW for the showcase.
Before the permit test, the students wanted a review. So Ann gave the Flash Jeopardy review. The rest of the class period the students worked on their blogs on what they did and how they plan to use time wisely to finish their projects.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
b203
The class started off with Chou giving us a tutorial to follow. It was a powerpoint file that went though three different projects. These are all flash related. We just worked the whole morning until we went to the ITA meeting. It was a full ITA meeting.
At the meeting, Excell and other ITA staff went over some rules that ITA is going to be stricter about, such as, no more going to the bathroom during class while it is not break time. All this is due to events that happened in the building in the previous months. The meeting lasted about 45min, and we went back to lab.
When we got back, Chou showed us the final product of what we have been working on. It was an example of the BTW that we are to make in Flash. He also mentioned that scripting is involved to make the Flash project interactive and make buttons work so you can navigate to other frames.
For the rest of the day we were given time to work on our BTW.
At the meeting, Excell and other ITA staff went over some rules that ITA is going to be stricter about, such as, no more going to the bathroom during class while it is not break time. All this is due to events that happened in the building in the previous months. The meeting lasted about 45min, and we went back to lab.
When we got back, Chou showed us the final product of what we have been working on. It was an example of the BTW that we are to make in Flash. He also mentioned that scripting is involved to make the Flash project interactive and make buttons work so you can navigate to other frames.
For the rest of the day we were given time to work on our BTW.
Permit Day
When 9 o'clock came rolling around, there were only four students present in Chris and Cristina's class. The ladies sat next to each other and chatted as the projector was getting hooked up, but when the projector, once again, did not work. The decision to omit it, because of time constraints, was hastily made and the tables were rearranged so that the four students could be in earshot of Cristina and their screens in Chris' view.
Because Chou was alone downstairs and the class was so small upstairs, it was decided that we would go downstairs to join Chou's class. That is, right after the students finished their Dreamweaver exercise (to illustrate the point that CSS to HTML is like ActionScript to Flash). However, once the exercise was finished and the migration to Chou's class was announced, the students were in shock. Just last week they were moved up here, and now they're moving back down! Cristina made the decision to stay in 3139 because A) The students requested the class be taught at a slightly slower pace B) Some students learn better in a smaller environment C) The students didn't feel like moving again - they liked their current place.
To reset up the classroom, the survey that AJ had written was distributed amongst the students via gmail. They took their sweet time and went over onto break.
The class continued onto their first demo and assignment, the Simpsons activity with ActionScript and moved right onto their Ladybug exercise. The students really enjoyed their Ladybug exercise and didn't really want to move onto their permit test review.
Once the review was said and done, the students headed out onto their break, came back and started their permit test.
One problem that occurred was... Julie wasn't in enrolled in Flash! All this time, a Julie Xiong was enrolled in ITA, but it was jxiong5... which was off by 1 number. Chris and Cristina searched through Learn@UW and added jxiong4 onto the roster.
The class ended on a good note and the students went to lunch.
Because Chou was alone downstairs and the class was so small upstairs, it was decided that we would go downstairs to join Chou's class. That is, right after the students finished their Dreamweaver exercise (to illustrate the point that CSS to HTML is like ActionScript to Flash). However, once the exercise was finished and the migration to Chou's class was announced, the students were in shock. Just last week they were moved up here, and now they're moving back down! Cristina made the decision to stay in 3139 because A) The students requested the class be taught at a slightly slower pace B) Some students learn better in a smaller environment C) The students didn't feel like moving again - they liked their current place.
To reset up the classroom, the survey that AJ had written was distributed amongst the students via gmail. They took their sweet time and went over onto break.
The class continued onto their first demo and assignment, the Simpsons activity with ActionScript and moved right onto their Ladybug exercise. The students really enjoyed their Ladybug exercise and didn't really want to move onto their permit test review.
Once the review was said and done, the students headed out onto their break, came back and started their permit test.
One problem that occurred was... Julie wasn't in enrolled in Flash! All this time, a Julie Xiong was enrolled in ITA, but it was jxiong5... which was off by 1 number. Chris and Cristina searched through Learn@UW and added jxiong4 onto the roster.
The class ended on a good note and the students went to lunch.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Flash Day V
AJ put a spin to the Flash class today!
The students were split up into two different rooms based on their past performances. Those who required a small close-knit setting was brought up to work with Chris and Cristina in Room 3139. Though the class was smaller, the students themselves needed more time with their instructors.
At first, the students showed disappointment, but when they realize that this is for their benefit, they'll being to appreciate a smaller setting. In fact, today, the students were all on the same page. They kept up with one another and even helped each other. In addition, the students even demanded for more 1 on 1 time!
Things from there went smoothly until... an ITA-wide meeting was in session. The students were informed of new enforcement to old rules. Rules that, in the end, will only help and keep them safe.
When the students came back to class, they were devasted and weren't shy to voice their opinions, but once all was said, they went back to being studious. The morning ended with the students eager to go to lunch.
The students were split up into two different rooms based on their past performances. Those who required a small close-knit setting was brought up to work with Chris and Cristina in Room 3139. Though the class was smaller, the students themselves needed more time with their instructors.
At first, the students showed disappointment, but when they realize that this is for their benefit, they'll being to appreciate a smaller setting. In fact, today, the students were all on the same page. They kept up with one another and even helped each other. In addition, the students even demanded for more 1 on 1 time!
Things from there went smoothly until... an ITA-wide meeting was in session. The students were informed of new enforcement to old rules. Rules that, in the end, will only help and keep them safe.
When the students came back to class, they were devasted and weren't shy to voice their opinions, but once all was said, they went back to being studious. The morning ended with the students eager to go to lunch.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Technical difficulties, a theme that keeps reoccurring in Cristina and Chris' class. Last time the surge, this time the projector. The problem was solved when AJ came to the rescue. The problem was Leonard has a timed outlet which Cristina plugged the projector's power cord into. After the problem was solved, the instructors went over the Learn@UW quiz then got busy with creating the bouncing ball.
Though the review day ran into some problems with the students who were absent, the creating ball education portion went smoothly. Except for the period where Ashanti was so frustrated that she gave up half way. Fortunately, when she gave up, she didn't bother to go on Facebook or youtube, but instead sat there, glaring at nothing. When Cristina came to help her, she understood and was really interested in the Flash session.
AJ "interrupted" class with his "mini lecture" that took over most of the certification unit, but nevertheless, AJ did a fabulous job with educating the students on the basics of Flash. When AJ finished, the class got to writing their blog about what they learned today from AJ.
Though the review day ran into some problems with the students who were absent, the creating ball education portion went smoothly. Except for the period where Ashanti was so frustrated that she gave up half way. Fortunately, when she gave up, she didn't bother to go on Facebook or youtube, but instead sat there, glaring at nothing. When Cristina came to help her, she understood and was really interested in the Flash session.
AJ "interrupted" class with his "mini lecture" that took over most of the certification unit, but nevertheless, AJ did a fabulous job with educating the students on the basics of Flash. When AJ finished, the class got to writing their blog about what they learned today from AJ.
The Fundamentals: Flash day III 2/20
Ryan showed us how to do a quick motion tween again, and Terrance and Eileen were racing to see who can do it faster. Terrance lost, typical Terrance.
"One of the ways to create an animation in Macromedia Flash is by creating a motion tween. A motion tween is very similar to shape tweening, except you're moving things around the Stage using symbols instead of simply changing the shape of things using objects." - Adobe
Before we could start to add more detail to your bouncing ball, AJ interrupted the class to talk about Fundamentals, of Flash that is. The main topics were:
- Objects
- shapes vs symbols
- Shape tween vs motion tween
- The MainTimeline
- Timelines of movie clips vs Timeline of graphic symbols
We were given some work/exploration time for the rest of the day. The big things that went bad were saving onto the network was slow and sometimes didn't save at all. A lot of people's movies were able to be saved as .mov because of a Quicktime error.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Flash Day II
Last session was the first time that ITA instructors gave a take home assignment to the students. Unsurprisingly, they weren't too happy about it.
What also wasn't surprising was... only one person did the assignment. Noah had done an internship where he learned to use Flash and created a 20 second video of a baseball player hitting the ball and upon returning, the ball hitting the baseball player.
As a reward, Noah had received a big bag of his favorite candy, Skittles. Boy, did he gobble it all down (a handful at a time)...
When class started today, we were running late. The second flow of students came in exactly at 9. But once everything was settled the instructors got to teaching. The day started with a review of what they learned at the last session. It took much longer because Thor was curious about how things worked because he missed the last session.
The Drawing techniques and Animating techniques lecture was covered quickly but the students had note sheets in front of them to reference, in case they were lost. Maya appreciated the note sheets and was the only one who took notes.
The lesson plan was thrown all off because Cristina had forgotten to account for going over the learn@UW -- I don't recall over going over the learn@UW, but it seemed quite helpful for the students. The learn@UW had given the instructors an obstacle because the wording, to them, was different than expected, but luckily, AJ had cleared the misinterpretation, and then the students went on break.
When they came back, the demo of the to-do list was initiated and upon finishing, the students all started on their to-do lists. Ashanti and Adrianne complained about not knowing how to draw a fish but eventually succeeded with flying colors. Ashanti even found out about the pen tool and learned how to make a fish with it.
Once the students finished their fishes, they learned about embedding (so they can mass produce the fishes).
When Cristina was showing how to embed the fish's motion guide into the fish symbol, Ashanti and Adrianne were left behind. As we caught them up, Noah began to grow impatient because he wanted to show his Flash video to Cristina, but many other students around him needed help actually knowing how to do something, and he had to wait patiently with his Skittles. Thor, on the other hand became really frustrated when he didn't understand what was going on, "I'm just cranky because of the mono," he exclaimed with a weary face.
When it was decided that Chris would focus on Ashanti and Adrianne so the rest of the class who were looking bored would be able to continue learning about embedding. As the lesson wore on, Cristina was caught up in helping Thor because he didn't know what was going on, but their exploration time ended and the class began the certification unit. Since time was not sufficient, it was decided that they need not to do the blogs. Instead, they drew/wrote about their stories. For those who could not come up with a story, they were given a story where they dropped their wallet.
What also wasn't surprising was... only one person did the assignment. Noah had done an internship where he learned to use Flash and created a 20 second video of a baseball player hitting the ball and upon returning, the ball hitting the baseball player.
As a reward, Noah had received a big bag of his favorite candy, Skittles. Boy, did he gobble it all down (a handful at a time)...
When class started today, we were running late. The second flow of students came in exactly at 9. But once everything was settled the instructors got to teaching. The day started with a review of what they learned at the last session. It took much longer because Thor was curious about how things worked because he missed the last session.
The Drawing techniques and Animating techniques lecture was covered quickly but the students had note sheets in front of them to reference, in case they were lost. Maya appreciated the note sheets and was the only one who took notes.
The lesson plan was thrown all off because Cristina had forgotten to account for going over the learn@UW -- I don't recall over going over the learn@UW, but it seemed quite helpful for the students. The learn@UW had given the instructors an obstacle because the wording, to them, was different than expected, but luckily, AJ had cleared the misinterpretation, and then the students went on break.
When they came back, the demo of the to-do list was initiated and upon finishing, the students all started on their to-do lists. Ashanti and Adrianne complained about not knowing how to draw a fish but eventually succeeded with flying colors. Ashanti even found out about the pen tool and learned how to make a fish with it.
Once the students finished their fishes, they learned about embedding (so they can mass produce the fishes).
When Cristina was showing how to embed the fish's motion guide into the fish symbol, Ashanti and Adrianne were left behind. As we caught them up, Noah began to grow impatient because he wanted to show his Flash video to Cristina, but many other students around him needed help actually knowing how to do something, and he had to wait patiently with his Skittles. Thor, on the other hand became really frustrated when he didn't understand what was going on, "I'm just cranky because of the mono," he exclaimed with a weary face.
When it was decided that Chris would focus on Ashanti and Adrianne so the rest of the class who were looking bored would be able to continue learning about embedding. As the lesson wore on, Cristina was caught up in helping Thor because he didn't know what was going on, but their exploration time ended and the class began the certification unit. Since time was not sufficient, it was decided that they need not to do the blogs. Instead, they drew/wrote about their stories. For those who could not come up with a story, they were given a story where they dropped their wallet.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Flash Day I in 3139
Chris and Cristina started off the day on a slow foot. They were running behind schedule and weren't exactly prepared. It didn't help that this was their first time teaching in Lab 3139, but it was a good experience. I personally learned a lot from today. After what seemed to be an unsuccessful Education portion, the day started to get smoother after the break. The students were on task and the instructors hopped about here and there helping, teaching, and learning from the students. Although only one person finished the tasks for today, many were interested in Flash.
Despite the many problems that arose from using the Mac books (many of the mice weren't working on some laptops, but did on others while other laptops just kept acting up -- missing the Novell Login and just blanking out), the students dealt with it and kept on working. Although their projects weren't done, they all put in their best efforts.
Based on what happened today, the instructors will - for sure - prepare a whole lot more.
Despite the many problems that arose from using the Mac books (many of the mice weren't working on some laptops, but did on others while other laptops just kept acting up -- missing the Novell Login and just blanking out), the students dealt with it and kept on working. Although their projects weren't done, they all put in their best efforts.
Based on what happened today, the instructors will - for sure - prepare a whole lot more.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Back in the Saddle, First ITA Session!!!
Today was the first day of the Spring semester for ITA, and the juniors hit the ground running. Cristina was absent, but AJ stepped in and did an exemplary job filling in for her. Today, instead of Flash, we worked on Portfolios, since February 15th is the deadline for applications for a lot of the paid internships. That lit a fire under everyone, since it's always better to get paid for your hard work.
Several of the students have come along nicely, and Paul gave them some advice with their resumes, posting his own on the projector as an example. Eddie made a really nice page devoted to the website he made, and Adrianne put up a bunch of photos from her recent internship. Kiran has her portfolio almost completely squared away (at least as much as anything is ever done when it comes to resumes).
We impressed upon the students that the portfolio is largely a project for them (just like a lot of ITA work), but it also reflects on ITA. We want them to really show off how much they've learned and how much they know, and they're making the effort.
Also, AJ showed them lala.com, explaining how it works and how they can get their music online. Unfortunately, he played Europe's "The Final Countdown" as the example, but no one's perfect!
Several of the students have come along nicely, and Paul gave them some advice with their resumes, posting his own on the projector as an example. Eddie made a really nice page devoted to the website he made, and Adrianne put up a bunch of photos from her recent internship. Kiran has her portfolio almost completely squared away (at least as much as anything is ever done when it comes to resumes).
We impressed upon the students that the portfolio is largely a project for them (just like a lot of ITA work), but it also reflects on ITA. We want them to really show off how much they've learned and how much they know, and they're making the effort.
Also, AJ showed them lala.com, explaining how it works and how they can get their music online. Unfortunately, he played Europe's "The Final Countdown" as the example, but no one's perfect!
Monday, December 21, 2009
ITA Holiday Luncheon, December 12th
Not to irk those ITA instructors out there who are former students, but at one point a very prominent staff member of ITA stated "that was the best ITA Holiday Luncheon ever!" Over 400 attendees registered beforehand, the party was held at the Alliant Energy Center, as ITA was too large for a UW venue.
We kicked off the morning over in B203 with a frantic wrap-up of BTWs, a few permit-test retakes, and (eventually) rehearsals of the Juniors Excel game skit. As it had gone the last session, the students took charge of the performance, working out in the hallway and calling their own shots. Us instructors should have taken the morning off! (Actually, we were desperately trying to get the remaining students to finish their BTWs and most certainly should not have taken the morning off.)
After an hour of that shenanigans, we all climbed on a big ol' school bus to head over to the event. Actually, a small crew decided to drive their own car, for which they were swiftly reprimanded by Excel upon arrival. But we all made it!
Paul, a trained actor, first lead the students though a cool-down/warm-up relaxation gig. Kevin decided he could use a stretch as well, so speaking from personal experience, it was great. Calm and cool, until about 12:15, the Juniors ran through rehearsals, which improv kept lively each iteration.
The luncheon: kicked off by Bronson and his little brother playing an unbelievable original piece on classical guitars. Next, everyone grabbed some lunch while dual projectors showed the lovely Freshman/Sophomore Photoshop/Illustrator pieces. Don't quote me on this order, I'd had a lot of coffee by this point, but I believe the seniors then presented their "Senior Thesis", with great stuff from educational flash games to websites and marketing designs for non-profits.
The Juniors then presented -- it was the stuff of legend. An Excel Game competition, with half the class rooting for "Noah" the Jock and the others for "Terrence the Terrible Tigrr" the Nerd. Eddie was the sports announcer, and some excellent lines included "great weather out there folks, for software sports fans, not too chilly, clear skies." AJ reffed keeping things (largely) clean. The Terrible Tigrr won, declaring he was taking his entire team to wallgreens with the $5,000 dollar prize. Noah said he went out there and gave 100%, but his competition put up an excellent game. Maya concluded, letting the audience know the Excel unit isn't all about acting, but we actually learn some spreadsheet software.
The Luncheon continued with an amazing song from Carrie, done in sign language, and then the keynote speaker, Police Chief Noble. Bronson and Bro finished things off with another mind-blowing guitar piece, and the day was won.
We kicked off the morning over in B203 with a frantic wrap-up of BTWs, a few permit-test retakes, and (eventually) rehearsals of the Juniors Excel game skit. As it had gone the last session, the students took charge of the performance, working out in the hallway and calling their own shots. Us instructors should have taken the morning off! (Actually, we were desperately trying to get the remaining students to finish their BTWs and most certainly should not have taken the morning off.)
After an hour of that shenanigans, we all climbed on a big ol' school bus to head over to the event. Actually, a small crew decided to drive their own car, for which they were swiftly reprimanded by Excel upon arrival. But we all made it!
Paul, a trained actor, first lead the students though a cool-down/warm-up relaxation gig. Kevin decided he could use a stretch as well, so speaking from personal experience, it was great. Calm and cool, until about 12:15, the Juniors ran through rehearsals, which improv kept lively each iteration.
The luncheon: kicked off by Bronson and his little brother playing an unbelievable original piece on classical guitars. Next, everyone grabbed some lunch while dual projectors showed the lovely Freshman/Sophomore Photoshop/Illustrator pieces. Don't quote me on this order, I'd had a lot of coffee by this point, but I believe the seniors then presented their "Senior Thesis", with great stuff from educational flash games to websites and marketing designs for non-profits.
The Juniors then presented -- it was the stuff of legend. An Excel Game competition, with half the class rooting for "Noah" the Jock and the others for "Terrence the Terrible Tigrr" the Nerd. Eddie was the sports announcer, and some excellent lines included "great weather out there folks, for software sports fans, not too chilly, clear skies." AJ reffed keeping things (largely) clean. The Terrible Tigrr won, declaring he was taking his entire team to wallgreens with the $5,000 dollar prize. Noah said he went out there and gave 100%, but his competition put up an excellent game. Maya concluded, letting the audience know the Excel unit isn't all about acting, but we actually learn some spreadsheet software.
The Luncheon continued with an amazing song from Carrie, done in sign language, and then the keynote speaker, Police Chief Noble. Bronson and Bro finished things off with another mind-blowing guitar piece, and the day was won.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
First day of Zon in B203!
As our title implies, Zon introduced herself today here in B203, to a rousing 9:00am round of applause. Next, the students worked on their By The Ways, finding data about colleges (Harvard included).
After break, Noah and the class of 2011 took control of the classroom in rehearsing for the holiday luncheon. It was so much fun. The students came up with having one team be jocks and the other nerds. Eddie became a sports announcer, and the "crowd" came up with dances.
Finally, the students took their Road Tests and worked on their blogs.
After break, Noah and the class of 2011 took control of the classroom in rehearsing for the holiday luncheon. It was so much fun. The students came up with having one team be jocks and the other nerds. Eddie became a sports announcer, and the "crowd" came up with dances.
Finally, the students took their Road Tests and worked on their blogs.
Session VII: Road Test!
Elizabeth started the day explaining that today was their last session... and Open House! (Unfortunately, some of the students did not even know this =X)
When the students got to work, they all thought that they had more time next week to finish their BTW. When A.J. walked in to confirm that the instructors knew about this, they realized that Elizabeth had thought they had more time too! Unfortunately for the juniors, the time in the morning was given to the freshmen and seniors. So.. they now have to finish their BTW in FIFTEEN minutes!
Maya had been missing for two sessions and believed that she would not finish the BTW. In addition, she had only taken the permit test once! And today, they're going to do the road test? Nevertheless, the instructors believe in Maya's ability of completing the road test! Good luck, Maya~
***
When break ended, all of the students gathered in Kevin's room and started their rehearsal for the Luncheon. Thor directed the junior class with the Excel Your Skillz Game skit while Terrence played a geek and Noah, a jock. Though the rehearsal was longer than expected, the students all enjoyed it.
When the students started their road test, they didn't know where to save their file. Elizabeth eventually told them that they were going to send their files, which was at the bottom of the page. The "Final Question."
This triggered one a good example of learning to follow directions exercise that Cristina has done in the past.
It'd be fun to see who passes =D
When the students got to work, they all thought that they had more time next week to finish their BTW. When A.J. walked in to confirm that the instructors knew about this, they realized that Elizabeth had thought they had more time too! Unfortunately for the juniors, the time in the morning was given to the freshmen and seniors. So.. they now have to finish their BTW in FIFTEEN minutes!
Maya had been missing for two sessions and believed that she would not finish the BTW. In addition, she had only taken the permit test once! And today, they're going to do the road test? Nevertheless, the instructors believe in Maya's ability of completing the road test! Good luck, Maya~
When break ended, all of the students gathered in Kevin's room and started their rehearsal for the Luncheon. Thor directed the junior class with the Excel Your Skillz Game skit while Terrence played a geek and Noah, a jock. Though the rehearsal was longer than expected, the students all enjoyed it.
When the students started their road test, they didn't know where to save their file. Elizabeth eventually told them that they were going to send their files, which was at the bottom of the page. The "Final Question."
This triggered one a good example of learning to follow directions exercise that Cristina has done in the past.
It'd be fun to see who passes =D
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Session 5 B203
Today the students were given a chance to review, with Kevin's review sheet to guide them. Since Kevin was gone, Felipe took over the duties of head instructor, and the students asked questions. Terrance and Thuy Dan were asking some really good questions about functions and formatting. It was great that the students were thinking about Excel, and a lot of them had been thinking about it between sessions.
After the break, AJ came in and talked to the students about Google Docs. The intro video, wherein a young man tries to get his friends to edit a letter asking a girl on a date, went over like a house on fire His friends circulate the document to their friends, everyone paring the letter down to the basics, until it's eventually shared with the woman he's hoping to ask out. It's cute and fun and shows just how useful and easy to spread Google Docs can be.
The students had a great time editing a shared document, some of them a little too much fun. Lakoye got a little too excited about making changes to other peoples' entries, but enthusiasm is always appreciated.
Then, once the Google Docs section was finished, the students began to work on their BTWs. Some of them thought they could just use the information that Kevin put into his example template, but we made sure they understood that the information was out-of-date or just completely made up.
Here's an example of what Thuy Dan made:
Here's an example of Eileen's work:
Then students worked on a project about where they may want to study in the future. It was very interesting talking with the students about what colleges they're looking at and what they plan to study. Jasmine is looking at UW - Milwaukee, simply because she's planning to study nursing and they have an excellent program for that. Having attended UWM for my graduate degree, I was able to offer her some advice on looking for a place to live in the area, since there's a good deal of reasonable apartments in the campus area, and very little dorm space. This led to me telling the students to check out apartments in whatever area they're looking at, since on-campus housing is not the only option they should explore when filling in their budgets or, indeed, for planning out this next, very big step in their lives.
I look forward to seeing the completed projects, and I know the students can't wait to have it finished!
After the break, AJ came in and talked to the students about Google Docs. The intro video, wherein a young man tries to get his friends to edit a letter asking a girl on a date, went over like a house on fire His friends circulate the document to their friends, everyone paring the letter down to the basics, until it's eventually shared with the woman he's hoping to ask out. It's cute and fun and shows just how useful and easy to spread Google Docs can be.
The students had a great time editing a shared document, some of them a little too much fun. Lakoye got a little too excited about making changes to other peoples' entries, but enthusiasm is always appreciated.
Then, once the Google Docs section was finished, the students began to work on their BTWs. Some of them thought they could just use the information that Kevin put into his example template, but we made sure they understood that the information was out-of-date or just completely made up.
Here's an example of what Thuy Dan made:
Here's an example of Eileen's work:
Then students worked on a project about where they may want to study in the future. It was very interesting talking with the students about what colleges they're looking at and what they plan to study. Jasmine is looking at UW - Milwaukee, simply because she's planning to study nursing and they have an excellent program for that. Having attended UWM for my graduate degree, I was able to offer her some advice on looking for a place to live in the area, since there's a good deal of reasonable apartments in the campus area, and very little dorm space. This led to me telling the students to check out apartments in whatever area they're looking at, since on-campus housing is not the only option they should explore when filling in their budgets or, indeed, for planning out this next, very big step in their lives.
I look forward to seeing the completed projects, and I know the students can't wait to have it finished!
Session VI: 2nd Day of Excel (and 1st Day w/ Zon)!
Many of you (or perhaps just A.J.) may be reading this title and thinking... "Zon's working with Cristina and Elizabeth?! Didn't I tell her to work with Paul and Felipe? Hm..."
Well, Elizabeth had unfortunately missed her alarm clock today. So Cristina was on her own again, BUT because Zon was in Felipe and Paul's room, Cristina stole Zon from Felipe and Paul.
During the review, the projector went out! And because this is Information Technology Academy, we definitely needed the projector, so Elizabeth and Cristina (and Zon) sent the students on an early break... of course the class would start early. In the meantime, the instructors hoped for the projector to fix its sweet self.
The projector was probably overheated because it started working after a couple minutes of "off" time.
Unfortunately, due to these technical issues with the projector and other confusion, the students got a longer break which took away from their learning time; however, the projector started running and Elizabeth realized that the speaker jack was flipped and it really does work with a Mac (because it's universal, but the instructors completely forgot this).
The introduction to the Google Documents was a video by Google, and can be found here. It's a hilarious sketch on a guy who is trying to ask out a girl he likes, but fails pretty miserably at writing her an e-mail to do so. He enlists the help of his friends (via googledocs!) to help him win the girl :)
After the Google doc introduction and brief run through, the students began their BTW.
***
College research queries soon became the focus of the day. Eddie looked into MIT, while Cristina told Ivan, who is interested in film production, about checking out universities in California. Kiran shared with Elizabeth her interest in University of Massachusetts in Amherst. "I'm not sure why I want to go there . . . but I just do!" The college search process is stressful, but each student has so much promise. Though the process may not always be comfortable, it will be well worth it when they have come to the end of it satisfied with their college careers.
After some work time passed, Ivan mumbled something and Noah replied, "You shouldn't be doing that right now, you should be doing this."
"I am doing that, so don't be coming at me like that," retorted Ivan.
And then the two went back to work. Then they started talking about the STEM panels today.
***
When break time came, the students didn't want to leave their computers (some really didn't). Kiran asked, "Can I just sleep here?" She was denied, and was sent out to "socialize." Although she may not have felt she needed more socialization time, she and others had a good time out in the hallway enjoying one another's company away from computer screens.
***
When the time came to take the Permit test again, the students discovered that there was no test available on learn@UW!
"Yay, free time!," cried Thor.
Cristina, luckily, was quick on the draw, much to the students' disappointment - after she activated the quiz, the students began their second attempt.
***
After they completed the permit test, Elizabeth instructed the students to utilize the quiet test-taking atmosphere to work on their blogs. This transition went smoothly; at one point, though, Lejia needed help to capture a screen shot... so he yelled out, "CRISTINA" which took everyone in the heretofore silent room by surprise! He was listening to music at the time, so perhaps we can forgive him. ;)
Overall, another fine day of Excel-ing for the juniors!
Well, Elizabeth had unfortunately missed her alarm clock today. So Cristina was on her own again, BUT because Zon was in Felipe and Paul's room, Cristina stole Zon from Felipe and Paul.
During the review, the projector went out! And because this is Information Technology Academy, we definitely needed the projector, so Elizabeth and Cristina (and Zon) sent the students on an early break... of course the class would start early. In the meantime, the instructors hoped for the projector to fix its sweet self.
The projector was probably overheated because it started working after a couple minutes of "off" time.
Unfortunately, due to these technical issues with the projector and other confusion, the students got a longer break which took away from their learning time; however, the projector started running and Elizabeth realized that the speaker jack was flipped and it really does work with a Mac (because it's universal, but the instructors completely forgot this).
The introduction to the Google Documents was a video by Google, and can be found here. It's a hilarious sketch on a guy who is trying to ask out a girl he likes, but fails pretty miserably at writing her an e-mail to do so. He enlists the help of his friends (via googledocs!) to help him win the girl :)
After the Google doc introduction and brief run through, the students began their BTW.
College research queries soon became the focus of the day. Eddie looked into MIT, while Cristina told Ivan, who is interested in film production, about checking out universities in California. Kiran shared with Elizabeth her interest in University of Massachusetts in Amherst. "I'm not sure why I want to go there . . . but I just do!" The college search process is stressful, but each student has so much promise. Though the process may not always be comfortable, it will be well worth it when they have come to the end of it satisfied with their college careers.
After some work time passed, Ivan mumbled something and Noah replied, "You shouldn't be doing that right now, you should be doing this."
"I am doing that, so don't be coming at me like that," retorted Ivan.
And then the two went back to work. Then they started talking about the STEM panels today.
When break time came, the students didn't want to leave their computers (some really didn't). Kiran asked, "Can I just sleep here?" She was denied, and was sent out to "socialize." Although she may not have felt she needed more socialization time, she and others had a good time out in the hallway enjoying one another's company away from computer screens.
When the time came to take the Permit test again, the students discovered that there was no test available on learn@UW!
"Yay, free time!," cried Thor.
Cristina, luckily, was quick on the draw, much to the students' disappointment - after she activated the quiz, the students began their second attempt.
After they completed the permit test, Elizabeth instructed the students to utilize the quiet test-taking atmosphere to work on their blogs. This transition went smoothly; at one point, though, Lejia needed help to capture a screen shot... so he yelled out, "CRISTINA" which took everyone in the heretofore silent room by surprise! He was listening to music at the time, so perhaps we can forgive him. ;)
Overall, another fine day of Excel-ing for the juniors!
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