Mardon's Blog Site

Last Call!

2005-11-13T18:52:00.000-08:00

And here we are... this will most likely be the last topic of conversation on my blog... that's kind of sad - maybe I'll get inspired and write some more some other time... do these things expire? Attractive things work better - yes, that's true - enough said! Ok, ok, just kidding. I first want to say that I wasn't surprised that Tractinsky had hypothesized that Israeli's are "action oriented" and "wouldn't care about beauty" - with Israel being such a war-oriented culture you wouldn't think that they would pay attention to details such as the set up of an atm! In fact, I would argue that Israeli's would care more about functionality minus all the 'fluff' but I guess that wasn't the case with this experience.

In reading this article I enjoyed learning about three levels of processing: reflective, behavioral, and visceral and the ways in which the brain responds to information based on the state that an individual is in. For example, one's creative abilities are more capable of functioning when they are in a relaxed stage, as opposed to when one is anxious and can only focus on the source that is creating that anxiety. I realize that this information is incredibly important in creating a site because if the set up of a site is frustrating and not user friendly, it is likely to create a site that an individual will be quick to judge and not use as a source.

Second to last call...

2005-11-13T18:27:00.000-08:00

So here it is, better late than never, right?! Finally got to some reading... finished up my personal website - actually ended up having a lot of fun working on it... pretty cool to get to that point.

Here goes...

Recipe for a Successful Website:

Reading this article I felt bad for the Sundance Film Festival! I understood what the author was saying though - a fun and flashy website isn't worthwhile if the content doesn't provide anything interesting for the user or make them want more. That's basically how I felt about the Diesel website when we checked it out in class...I thought it was funny that while the article was short and to the point, at times it manged to use more wording than it needed to. Which was ironic because it emphasized that less is more - what was written in the example sections might have been able to be accomplished just using those sections and adding blurbs around those pieces. The article discussed that site creators should not require users to return to a homepage every time they need to backtrack - that was something that came up when Lindsay and I were doing our final project. We realized that all the links needed to appear on every page within the nav bar so that users did not need to return to the homepage. I realized though, that while I noticed the importance of that in the final site, I neglected to do so within my personal site... well... within each page on my personal site I had created a return to HOME link, however, the links moved within the page which could be very confusing for a user. Overall, I appreciated that this article summed up each section and provided resources in order to better understand what the author was trying to emphasize.

Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design

The bit on organizing information within this article was really informative as to the different ways in which information can be organized within a site. Alphabets, location, categories, and time... these are all things that were considered in creating the storyboard and final product for the final webpage. What also stuck out to me was the use of metaphors within creating a website. I had never thought of icons identifying with the object they refer to as being called metaphors - but I guess that's what they really are. This article really drove home the fact that every aspect of a site should be considered and thought out thoroughly in order to provide users with the most complete and balanced experience.

Anchored Instruction: Why We Need It and How Technology Can Help

As for anchored instruction and incorporating video and other technologies into the classroom - I think that such excercises will provide classroom settings that are more conducive to learning for the coming generations. It is becoming increasingly difficult to focus students within a classroom setting if they are not feeling completely engaged - and in creating such classroom activities, students are able to learn new concepts in other ways. The point that allowing students to understand things in different ways increases their learning and ability to grasp new information is certainly true - what one student may have a hard time coming to understand, if put into a way that would be relavant to an experience they've had or something they are genuinly intersted in - they are most likely to not only understand the information, but retain it as well.

My Personal Website

2005-11-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

Personal Website

Forms...What up!

2005-10-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

MY FORM

Aw yeah - Oops! I did it again...

2005-10-22T09:32:00.001-07:00

TEXT

Aw yeah - Oops! I did it again...

2005-10-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

Britneywouldbeproud

Moving right along... Week 6

2005-10-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

Based on both readings it is clear that the term 'cognitive load' takes into consideration what knowledge individuals will take in based on their long/short term memory, their verbal capacity, and their visual capacity. Memory, combined with what one takes in as they are seeing something, reading, or hearing - has provided designers with the challenge of trying to fulfill the needs of creating a website by providing information but not overloading an individual's mental capacity. Considering that many websites now incorporate multi-media aspects into their design, it is sometimes difficult to know when it becomes too much, to the point that people cannot retain the information that is being provided to them.

Mayer and Moreno (2003) state that "the capacity for physically presenting words and pictures is virtually unlimited, and the capacity for storing knowledge in long-term memory is virtulaly unlimited, but the capacity for mentally holding and manipulating words and images in working memory is limited." It's interesting to think about the fact that while we can constantly have words and images thrown at us that we are processing even when we aren't necessarily thinking about processing them - we still have a filter that keeps us from intaking everything. I'm not surprised at this thought, because I know that I encounter a lot of informatoin on a daily basis and only a small percentage ends up sticking - but it's just something that we acknowledge occurs despite the fact that it usually occurs subconciously.

While I appreciated the Mayer and Moreno article for the fact that it gave me much to think about in regards to designing sites (when and where to insert text, narrative, and images) I still feel like much of the studies and research that they conducted was pretty common sense. For example, one study listed that students performed better on tests when they were presented with animation and narration rather than animation and text - now, considering that the article took place in 2003 and we know that the majority of students at this time have always known what it is like to have a television going, radio goign, and internet all at the same time - it doesn't surprise me one bit that the results of this study would show that pepole benefitted form hearing and seeing rather than having to seek informatoin by reading it. Another example was the finding that students learn better in learner-controlled segments rather than continous presentation. Now, going back to the fact that we are amongst a generation of individuals with incredibly short attention spans - would you think that this would be the result of the study? I could go on, but there really isn't a good reason for me being so negative... sorry!

The readings this week were beneficial in the sense that it made me think about the benefits of having both narration and on screen text at times as opposed to only on screen text or only animation. As I was reading I tried to think about each section as if it were happening on screen in front of me. I thought about the ways in which my mind might process the information and agreed that the way each outcome was discussed was how I would go about processing the information myself.

Just a few things I picked up from the conclusion...

"A major challenge for instructional designers is that meaningful learning can require a heavy amount of essential congnitive processing, but the cognitive resources of the learner's information processing system are severly limited" (Mayer and Moreno, 2003)

"Our research program, conducted at UCSB over the last 12 years, convinces us that effective instructional design depends on sensitivity to congnitive load which, in turn, dpeneds on an undertanding of how the human mind wokrs" (Mayer and Moreno, 2003)

"the best way to understand how peple learn is to test theory-based predictions in the context of student learning scenarios" (Mayer and Moreno, 2003)

last week

2005-10-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

last week's assignment - not totally completed, but a vast improvement from where I was at last time...

css

my site for today - yay for getting hw done

2005-10-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

maya's comment page

Another 3 after this week...

2005-10-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

So here we are, closing in on the last four weeks of web design. I'm starting to feel a little bit more comfortable about the process of design, but I still have some hesitation in regards to having to create an entire website. Reading about information architecture got me to start thinking about the story board that we are supposed to be creating within the next few weeks. Whether it's creating tabs or data tables, it's good to know the options for design that will help to make the website most efficient and beneficial for users. I think that the pieces that we were asked to scan will help to kind of serve as a guide for design which is a bit of a relief.

In reading the Bransford articles I felt that the two worlds of web design and Educational technology have finally merged. I thought that Brandford's writings practical ways in which teachers and learners alike would be able to benefit from incorporating technology into the classroom, in addition to being able to contribute to the field by assisting designers in creating sites that would assist users. I thought that the assignment that was designed for students to have to communicate via internet technology to depict images in order to better their writing skills was brilliant. I never realized that the web, and more importantly e-mail, could be so beneficial in assisting learners to become more thorough and efficient in their work. I was under the impression that programs could be created in order to assist with such interests, but the mere act of communicating via internet with a stranger and trying to recreate documents without ever seeing a person, hearing intonation in their voice, or noting their physical movements, would allow them to communicate and better try to understand one another. This excercise was a perfect example of theory that discusses learner centered environments. I really appreciated the diagram that pointed how learning center, knowledged center, and assessment centered worlds all intersect to affect community - another point made by the article that I found to be accurate.

It's also true that contrary to popular belief, technology does not rid of us of old systems of technology, but rather expands upon the possibilities to utilize such processes and programs. For example, being able to research in the library, while it has been replaced by computers to a very large extent, students are now able to view online databases and take out books without ever having to leave their rooms!

In closing, I thought I would leave off with one quote that made me chuckle - not because of its context within the piece, but because I thought it may have directly applied to the place I am at now in the class. The quote reads as follows, "technology can help to ceate an active environment while students not only solve their own problems, but also find their own problems." I just found that highly appropriate because not only have I been able to display increased knowledge regarding understanding web design, but I've also been able to confuse myself to a much larger extent.

That's all for now.

Later,

Maya

Aye yi yi!

2005-10-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well, first off - I feel like I need to vent my frustration with this week's assignment... I've spent a total of four hours in computer labs during this past week and still have yet to complete the assignment. Hopefully something will click tomorrow morning when I go for my third and final attempt before class... I don't know why I couldn't do it. The first time I tried to begin with three pages and then create a CSS but somehow that didn't link properly... today I began with creating a style sheet - quite possibly my most productive hour - but time was cut short because of a meeting I needed to attend. I've got my fingers crossed that tomorrow is the day.

Like Lindsay wrote in her post, today in a meeting (actually, the meeting that had me leaving the computer lab) we discussed how we could really benefit from having a conference website for this event we are planning. We are hoping to even learn how to create an online form that would generate e-mails to us so that individuals can register for conferences on our website - pretty nifty, huh? We were thinking we would include directions to nyu, images of buildings people would want to look out for, and a schedule of the conference day, etc. Linds and I weren't 100% sure group work was allowed, but we'll see what happens.

Ah, the readings - well if it isn't another Friday night and here I am reading about KM systems and what not. Frankly, I wasn't completely clear on what I was reading... got the words, not a full understanding of the document. I tried to pay special attention to the tables and figures in order to get a better understanding of the difference in systems that the literature was trying to describe, but still confused, so I'm looking forward to some clarifications tomorrow. The things I did pick up? Instructional interaction design and strategies in comparison to instructional informational design. While I think interactive education is beneficial (ie. getting individuals involved by ) in the case of a website, too much clicking can get redundant and annoying. I think that information design offers people a chance to look at all the information they are seeking at once and can go from there as to how much more information they want to peruse, as opposed to having to click on 10 links to get to what they really are seeking - did I get this concept correct? I'd like to think so. The other thing I noticed was the need for constant and consistant evaluation of such design systems and strategies. Without this there is no way of knowing whether or not the user is benefiting from what is being done and whether needs of the changing (internet) 'world' are being met.

And finally - the Collins article! Ah, something I do get! Collins brought up many points which I have thought about on a frequent basis. As a child I used to get criticized for memorizing facts as opposed to understanding them and I believe that this is trend that I developed into my ways of learning - which up until now, while it has worked, has not always been the most beneficial. Collins article mainly focused on different ways in which people learn and ways of communicating information in order to make the most out of what information we our outputting and the spaces and tools which we utilize. In reading this piece I thought a lot about how I have been using the cheat sheets in order to do the assignments and I questioned whether or not this was following my trend of memorizing vs. understanding in addition to pin point what style of learning I was using (interactive, passive, or incidental). I came to the conclusion that the way in which the class is taught falls into all three categories at different times. I also thought about how different learning is when one is in k-12 to being in institutions of higher education and tried to apply the literature regarding structured vs. exploratory learning (which we encounter much more at an older age, also stated in the literature). In teaching methods I thought about which methods I felt that I have benefited from most and what I have encountered most and I felt that scaffolding and coaching were both methods I had relied on, and had experienced both the postive and negative of such aspects. Lastly, I considered the method of articulation and found that this teaching approach faces negatives similar to those of experimental learning in that articulation students may bring students to (as Collins says) "learn to talk a good game without really understanding. I felt this way because I have come to believe through my experimental learning that I am capable of getting a really good grasp of one subject in some regards and can discuss them in class, I become open to the idea that I may know one thing too well, and not much abut other things (breadth vs. depth) and that there may be many questions left unanswered and lessons left unlearned.

Another week...

2005-09-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well... here we are... Friday night and I'm reading for webdesign and posting on my blog - this is the life, no? All jokes aside though, while I may not love the fact that it's a Friday night and I'm stuck at home, I have to say I really enjoyed the reading called 'the design of everyday things.' I feel like the author really had a grip on what technology paranoids go through whenever they glance at a computer screen. From the discussion of the nervousness one encounters at receiving 'the blank screen' to the 'one button click mac mouse' I felt that the author really nailed what I've been experiencing to a T. Going through the site and page design readings I'm slowly feeling my anxiety ease, but it still doesn't change the fact that when we got the e-mail with our next homework posted I didn't panic because I had missed class the last time. I have to say, the dreamweaver cheat sheets were unbelievable helpful and I felt like I was having my hand held throughout the whole process of getting that first site set up... now... granted I did somewhat have my hand held - my buddy Sue assisted me in getting together what I had missed out on... but I think that had it not been for her and those sheets I would have been much like the people described in the 'design' reading who get nervous at the mear site of a computer screen - perhaps I would have come crying to class... who knows. I'm sensing that a lot of what we're reading is common sense, well maybe for those being in the field of education - as far as how to market the site and what and what not to do as far as making your information 'readable': put the most important things first, make the information clear, consise, and easy to read, make it simple to find the information you are seeking, and make it attractive to the eye. I've visited hundreds of websites and know what works and what doesn't... but I still feel like I could know what I like and what I don't - but somehow when it comes time to sit down and do my own site I'm still going to be nervous... what else is new!?! heh.

My page

2005-09-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

First off, I just want to give an absolutely fabu and very incredibly gracious thanks to my girl Sue Kaelin - unfortunately, I was unable to make it to class last week and she hooked it up with assisting me in what I needed to know - sue, many many many thanks!

Ok, so here it is - what you've all been waiting for... the anticipation is getting to you, isn't it?!?

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~ma1381/index.htm

fabulous, isn't it?

Oops!

2005-09-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

So somehow I managed to post my second entry as a comment on my own page... genious no? Check out comment number one to see how I'm really feeling about this weeks' readings... oh and I'll use this opportunity to say that I know that there are no spaces included in the title joke that I had made - I had to include them because if I didn't the site wouldn't let me post it as such...

Later!

Mardon's Blog - First Entry!

2005-09-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

Wow - so the computer illerate worry wart got a site online! Yikes! It'll be interesting to see if anyone actually gets about to reading this thing I'll be amazed... most likely will post it as my site on The Facebook - yeah Facebook! Ok, enough rambling~