Date Reviewed: 10/30/08 and 11/10/08
Project: RTI for Teachers Page
Creator: Gretchen Hollingsworth
URL: http://gannon32.myweb.uga.edu/edit6200/rtiforteachers/index.html
Gretchen-
First of all, I have to say, "Wow." Your site looks great! It has changed so much since I looked at everything a couple of weeks ago. You've been putting in some long hours- I can tell! I really enjoyed the information in Lesson 1 along with the accompanied video. Although I knew about Response to Intervention prior to looking through this lesson, I felt I came away with a much better idea of what RTI and the pyramid are, and how they are properly used in the educational setting. Lessons 2 and 3 are just as informative, as you describe, in great detail, how to refer a student and complete necessary documentation. The video scripts are a nice touch, too, especially for users who might not have the ability to play embedded videos (firewall issues, etc.). Usability and layout are good, and I like the color palate and contrast of backgrounds and foregrounds throughout the site. Nice job!
As far as things to improve, I have just a few (albeit trivial) suggestions. First of all, make sure you have your external links open in blank pages. Case in point, when you click on the blog, instead of opening an external window, navigation moves you to the blog without opening a new page. You always want to keep a window open back in your site while you work with the external page(s). Also, make sure you title the Exit page accordingly. Right now, it just says "Untitled Document".
All in all, though, you really have done a very nice job. I look forward to seeing your presentation at Dress Rehearsal and the finished product in a few weeks. Good luck as you finish touching everything up!
Mark Caponigro
Monday, November 10, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Desk Crit (Given) #3
Date Reviewed: 10/30/08
Project: Lakota Moon
Creator: Lenrose Fears
URL: http://sites.google.com/site/lakotamoonwebsite/
Lenrose-
Thank you for taking the time to show me around your site last Thursday. I really enjoyed spending some time looking through what I think is a fantastic project and one you should be very proud of! In my opinion, you are much farther along and therefore prepared for next Thursday's Dress Rehearsal than I ever was... or am now, for that matter! Overall, I thought your site was aesthetically pleasing (great color palates, contrast, lighting, etc.), easy to navigate, and effective for its intended student audience. You can tell that you've put a tremendous amount of thought, time, and energy into producing something that will actually be used in a classroom.
At far as suggestions for improvement at this point, I have a few things to share, most of which you've already heard. They are trivial in nature or have already been addressed by the time you get this Desk Crit. Nonetheless, here goes: First, make the "Before you read" headline on the first page a little bigger and/or bolder. Next, make sure you put colons after specific quiz questions throughout the site. Thirdly, your site opens new windows each time you click on a link. Get rid of the "blank" option when telling your site where to go for the next page. By leaving this blank, you'll stay within your site when going to new pages. Only open a new window when you're leaving the site itself. Next, your ideas about the use of Oregon Trail and its derivatives/branch-offs would be very relevant to the covered topic. Keep that in there. Lastly, make sure you look at your site in all three relevant browsers: IE, FireFox, and Safari.
Overall, like I said before, I think your project looks great! You are in a great position going into next week because you can really take the time to step back and actually use the feedback people are giving you. Often times I get great feedback but never get the time to use it. Hopefully that won't be the case for you.
Great job so far, and I look forward to seeing the end product!
Mark Caponigro
Project: Lakota Moon
Creator: Lenrose Fears
URL: http://sites.google.com/site/lakotamoonwebsite/
Lenrose-
Thank you for taking the time to show me around your site last Thursday. I really enjoyed spending some time looking through what I think is a fantastic project and one you should be very proud of! In my opinion, you are much farther along and therefore prepared for next Thursday's Dress Rehearsal than I ever was... or am now, for that matter! Overall, I thought your site was aesthetically pleasing (great color palates, contrast, lighting, etc.), easy to navigate, and effective for its intended student audience. You can tell that you've put a tremendous amount of thought, time, and energy into producing something that will actually be used in a classroom.
At far as suggestions for improvement at this point, I have a few things to share, most of which you've already heard. They are trivial in nature or have already been addressed by the time you get this Desk Crit. Nonetheless, here goes: First, make the "Before you read" headline on the first page a little bigger and/or bolder. Next, make sure you put colons after specific quiz questions throughout the site. Thirdly, your site opens new windows each time you click on a link. Get rid of the "blank" option when telling your site where to go for the next page. By leaving this blank, you'll stay within your site when going to new pages. Only open a new window when you're leaving the site itself. Next, your ideas about the use of Oregon Trail and its derivatives/branch-offs would be very relevant to the covered topic. Keep that in there. Lastly, make sure you look at your site in all three relevant browsers: IE, FireFox, and Safari.
Overall, like I said before, I think your project looks great! You are in a great position going into next week because you can really take the time to step back and actually use the feedback people are giving you. Often times I get great feedback but never get the time to use it. Hopefully that won't be the case for you.
Great job so far, and I look forward to seeing the end product!
Mark Caponigro
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Service Hours
10/16/08- 2 hrs. 5:30-7:30 PM
Studio Project Day- worked with 6190 and 6200 students on their projects. I provided feedback and consultation.
10/20/08- 1 hr. 3:30-4:30 PM
I helped another teacher learn how to download test data from Elements, a test database and management system in Gwinnett County.
10/30/08- 2 hrs. 5:00-7:00 PM
Studio Project Day- worked with 6190 and 6200 students on their projects. I provided feedback and consultation.
11/12/08- 0.5 hrs. 4:10-4:40 PM
I showed several teachers the basics of how to use a SMART Board. Several of these were recently installed at our school.
11/24/08- 1 hr. 3:15-4:15 PM
I helped a fellow teacher with features of the Kid Pix program installed in one of the computer labs.
11/25/08- 0.5 hrs. 3:15-3:45 PM
I showed a teacher how to convert images from another program into JPEGs for her future use.
12/1/08- 1 hr. 3:15-4:15 PM
I worked with the TST and one of the computer lab parapros. We looked at some of the programs recently made available to our classrooms. We also discussed upcoming changes to the computer labs once the county retrofit takes place.
Random dates/times- At least the remaining 2 hours
I mentored two EDIT 6200 students (Lenrose Fears and Gretchen Hollingsworth) throughout the semester. I regularly checked in with them on Tuesday nights during our other class together (EDIT 7500).
Studio Project Day- worked with 6190 and 6200 students on their projects. I provided feedback and consultation.
10/20/08- 1 hr. 3:30-4:30 PM
I helped another teacher learn how to download test data from Elements, a test database and management system in Gwinnett County.
10/30/08- 2 hrs. 5:00-7:00 PM
Studio Project Day- worked with 6190 and 6200 students on their projects. I provided feedback and consultation.
11/12/08- 0.5 hrs. 4:10-4:40 PM
I showed several teachers the basics of how to use a SMART Board. Several of these were recently installed at our school.
11/24/08- 1 hr. 3:15-4:15 PM
I helped a fellow teacher with features of the Kid Pix program installed in one of the computer labs.
11/25/08- 0.5 hrs. 3:15-3:45 PM
I showed a teacher how to convert images from another program into JPEGs for her future use.
12/1/08- 1 hr. 3:15-4:15 PM
I worked with the TST and one of the computer lab parapros. We looked at some of the programs recently made available to our classrooms. We also discussed upcoming changes to the computer labs once the county retrofit takes place.
Random dates/times- At least the remaining 2 hours
I mentored two EDIT 6200 students (Lenrose Fears and Gretchen Hollingsworth) throughout the semester. I regularly checked in with them on Tuesday nights during our other class together (EDIT 7500).
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Desk Crit (Given) #2
Date Reviewed: 10/16/08
Project: Mrs. Sims' World
Creator: Rebecca Sims
URL: http://rburley.myweb.uga.edu/project/index.html
Rebecca-
It was nice speaking with you the other night. I really like your project so far, and I definitely felt like I knew where it is going/what it will look like at the end. Your visions for your site's usability were inspiring, particularly since I am a teacher myself. By making sure your students have a viable way to catch up with school work after an absence by utilizing the features in your site, you are truly showing you care about the well-being of your kids. The way I understood it, you would be providing these embedded videos highlighting introductory math topics in the four grade levels you teach (5th-8th grade). You also mentioned having students record themselves using a video camera for instructional purposes. Would you then incorporate them in the site somehow? Just curious...
At this point, my suggestions for improvement are pretty trivial. I know you were talking about finding a way to convert your tables-based page to CSS. I Googled a couple of sites that might help: http://www.digital-web.com/articles/converting_a_page_to_css/ and http://www.myneatsite.com/articles/how-to-convert-website-css.php. I would obviously stick to your plan to try and do this, but if it doesn't work, carefully preceding in table format should be fine. It is what I did in my first 6190 project, and it just took a little longer to do properly. Also, I would suggest changing the title of each page to what it covers. Right now it just says "untitled" in the tab above.
Overall, things look great, though! I love the home page look and feel, and I like what you've done with the roll over buttons. I hope this has been of some help. I wish you luck in the coming month and look forward to seeing the finished product in December. See you Thursday!
Mark Caponigro
Project: Mrs. Sims' World
Creator: Rebecca Sims
URL: http://rburley.myweb.uga.edu/project/index.html
Rebecca-
It was nice speaking with you the other night. I really like your project so far, and I definitely felt like I knew where it is going/what it will look like at the end. Your visions for your site's usability were inspiring, particularly since I am a teacher myself. By making sure your students have a viable way to catch up with school work after an absence by utilizing the features in your site, you are truly showing you care about the well-being of your kids. The way I understood it, you would be providing these embedded videos highlighting introductory math topics in the four grade levels you teach (5th-8th grade). You also mentioned having students record themselves using a video camera for instructional purposes. Would you then incorporate them in the site somehow? Just curious...
At this point, my suggestions for improvement are pretty trivial. I know you were talking about finding a way to convert your tables-based page to CSS. I Googled a couple of sites that might help: http://www.digital-web.com/articles/converting_a_page_to_css/ and http://www.myneatsite.com/articles/how-to-convert-website-css.php. I would obviously stick to your plan to try and do this, but if it doesn't work, carefully preceding in table format should be fine. It is what I did in my first 6190 project, and it just took a little longer to do properly. Also, I would suggest changing the title of each page to what it covers. Right now it just says "untitled" in the tab above.
Overall, things look great, though! I love the home page look and feel, and I like what you've done with the roll over buttons. I hope this has been of some help. I wish you luck in the coming month and look forward to seeing the finished product in December. See you Thursday!
Mark Caponigro
Desk Crit (Given) #1
Date Reviewed: 10/16/08
Project: Use and Availability of Technology at Benefield Elementary
Creator: Clayton Shaw
URL: http://mrshaw24.myweb.uga.edu/EDIT6200
Clayton-
First of all, let me just say that I really enjoyed sitting with you and Joy the other night. I felt like I gained a lot of insight into what you are trying to accomplish in your project, and I came away inspired to play around with PowerPoint's new features. Your prototype was easy to follow, and the vision you painted for the project made sense. I hope you stick to the screen design you currently have, as it is attractive, it flows easily, and it is easy to navigate through. In addition, I like your thinking regarding Flash or Fireworks created graphics in motion (like the light spinning at the top of the lighthouse). You seemed to get a better idea of what you wanted to do even as we were all talking. Good luck to you as you explore these options.
At this point, my suggestions for improvement would include examining the overall scope of the project. As Joy mentioned while she was sitting with us, just make sure you don't get yourself in over your head. Your principal has asked you to do something very important for your school, its faculty, and the students who go there. It is a lot, though, so you just want to be careful. I feel like I have a lesson to learn from my own advice, as it seems our 6210 client has asked us to do a little too much, too! Anyway, it's just something to keep in mind as you describe these technologies. Also, another suggestion might be to post your official project title to the Studio website and on the page itself (it is currently titled "Aquaria by Free Css Templates"). I had to make up a title for this Desk Crit based on what I saw the other day. Finally, link to your ppt file (prototype) on your documentation page. People want to see all the hard work you've done so far!
Well, hopefully this has been of some help. I wish you luck this week and look forward to seeing the finished product in December. See you later!
Mark Caponigro
Project: Use and Availability of Technology at Benefield Elementary
Creator: Clayton Shaw
URL: http://mrshaw24.myweb.uga.edu/EDIT6200
Clayton-
First of all, let me just say that I really enjoyed sitting with you and Joy the other night. I felt like I gained a lot of insight into what you are trying to accomplish in your project, and I came away inspired to play around with PowerPoint's new features. Your prototype was easy to follow, and the vision you painted for the project made sense. I hope you stick to the screen design you currently have, as it is attractive, it flows easily, and it is easy to navigate through. In addition, I like your thinking regarding Flash or Fireworks created graphics in motion (like the light spinning at the top of the lighthouse). You seemed to get a better idea of what you wanted to do even as we were all talking. Good luck to you as you explore these options.
At this point, my suggestions for improvement would include examining the overall scope of the project. As Joy mentioned while she was sitting with us, just make sure you don't get yourself in over your head. Your principal has asked you to do something very important for your school, its faculty, and the students who go there. It is a lot, though, so you just want to be careful. I feel like I have a lesson to learn from my own advice, as it seems our 6210 client has asked us to do a little too much, too! Anyway, it's just something to keep in mind as you describe these technologies. Also, another suggestion might be to post your official project title to the Studio website and on the page itself (it is currently titled "Aquaria by Free Css Templates"). I had to make up a title for this Desk Crit based on what I saw the other day. Finally, link to your ppt file (prototype) on your documentation page. People want to see all the hard work you've done so far!
Well, hopefully this has been of some help. I wish you luck this week and look forward to seeing the finished product in December. See you later!
Mark Caponigro
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