I like simple websites. Robin Williams likes simple, uncluttered websites. However, I read somewhere recently (I didn’t make note of it at the time and now I can’t find it) that web designs are changing. They are becoming, like many modern things, geared toward the Millennials who like all things fast-paced, and exciting, which means moving, busy, hyper-active websites.
As I searched the web for examples of pages I like and don’t like I found something interesting. I found a number of websites for individuals and companies that do website design. I thought that might be a good place to find examples of “good” websites. However, I was mistaken. Many of the websites of designers were not designed very well. For example: http://www.alteredimpressions.com/ is a webpage that to me looks messy, clutter, and hard to follow. There are too many words on it and it just isn’t attractive.
On this page for professional web design, the text flows beyond the borders of the box and into over the Copyright insignia: http://risingline.com/ It seems very unprofessional to me.
The designers of http://www.sabiadesign.com/ chose a font that is very hard to read. It is small and is doing some strange pixeling and it’s pink! The page contains typos. And to top it off, there is a graphic that looks like curly hair that seems pretty distracting to me. I thought for sure with the pink font and curly hair graphic, this was a woman’s company, but I was wrong. In addition to all that, the designer talks a lot about himself. I find this much too personal for a business website that is trying to attract customers. After finding his portfolio where he links to some of his work I took a look at some of the pages he designed. They are busy and cluttered and some simply don’t work.
I did find one good thing on his website. It’s some interesting statistics. He doesn’t say where he got them so I don’t know if they are accurate, but they are interesting, nonetheless:
A few things you probably didn't know...
40% of users will not return to a site when they have had a negative experience.
79% of users scan a web page.
62% of users do not find what they are looking for on a site.
25% of users read slower online than in print.
Most users spend less than 10 minutes on most web sites.
A user will decide within 20 seconds if they are going to browse past the home page of your web site.
This all just goes to show you, anyone can design a webpage and someone might even pay you to do it. Maybe we can supplement our teaching salary with what we’re learning in this class. Someday we may come back and thank Judy for the newfound knowledge.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Webpage Woes
I'm busy working on my webpage assignment. I understand why I shy away from challenges like this. You would think that learning a new computer program (Dreamweaver) and designing a simple, straightforward webpage that will deliver my message would be enough for right now. But, noooo, I want to do more. I want rollover buttons and I want animated gif images and I want to import photos and on and on. So, I find myself not just trying to learn Dreamweaver, but now I'm busy trying to figure out Fireworks besides. There just isn't enough time for all that, not even taking into consideration my difficulty with technology in general.
I have been able to figure out how to make a rollover button and I have one of those on the page. I hope I can make myself satisfied with that and now move onto putting up my content.
I have been able to figure out how to make a rollover button and I have one of those on the page. I hope I can make myself satisfied with that and now move onto putting up my content.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Technology meets Religion
When churches started playing rock gospel music with guitars and drums, that was one thing. But now...the passion play on Twitter? Can it be?
A New York City church, founded in 1697, has joined the technology age and Tweeted the entire passion play, "in 140 character bursts," for three hours today.
You can read about it here.
I've never used Twitter myself. But I find it difficult to believe that anyone would have the patience to read through three hours of 140 character bursts. Was that an exercise in futility?
Well, I did a little more digging and found that there were many, many comments posted about the Passion Play. It looks like a lot of people followed it.
I also found a link on the church's website with the Tweets. Here's the link. Perhaps it wasn't three-hours worth of reading. Maybe it was a small number of tweets published over a three-hour period. Cody, as our Twitter expert, can you tell me more about this?
A New York City church, founded in 1697, has joined the technology age and Tweeted the entire passion play, "in 140 character bursts," for three hours today.
You can read about it here.
I've never used Twitter myself. But I find it difficult to believe that anyone would have the patience to read through three hours of 140 character bursts. Was that an exercise in futility?
Well, I did a little more digging and found that there were many, many comments posted about the Passion Play. It looks like a lot of people followed it.
I also found a link on the church's website with the Tweets. Here's the link. Perhaps it wasn't three-hours worth of reading. Maybe it was a small number of tweets published over a three-hour period. Cody, as our Twitter expert, can you tell me more about this?
Monday, April 6, 2009
Word Map, Technology, and Gender
Digging a little deeper into the Cool Stuff blog on Twine, I found this interesting tidbit. Neoformix has made an interactive word map of the most popular words used on Twitter about the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. The larger the word, the more often it was used. You click on the word and it will take you to all the Tweets that used that word. That is cool!
I made another observation while checking out these Tweets. Based on profile pictures, I estimate that around 90% of the Tweeters tweeting about the Web 2.0 Expo were males. That doesn't really surprise me. In general, males tend to be more interested in technology than females. When you combine attending a technology expo with using technology to talk about the expo, I would assume men would far outweigh women.
That's been true of the STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) for a long time. The Department of Education has been trying to find out how to attract more females into these areas for years.
So far, not only have they failed to get more females into the sciences, but males are becoming less interested in going into STEM courses. Where are our scientists and engineers of the future going to come from?
I made another observation while checking out these Tweets. Based on profile pictures, I estimate that around 90% of the Tweeters tweeting about the Web 2.0 Expo were males. That doesn't really surprise me. In general, males tend to be more interested in technology than females. When you combine attending a technology expo with using technology to talk about the expo, I would assume men would far outweigh women.
That's been true of the STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) for a long time. The Department of Education has been trying to find out how to attract more females into these areas for years.
So far, not only have they failed to get more females into the sciences, but males are becoming less interested in going into STEM courses. Where are our scientists and engineers of the future going to come from?
Demotivators
I was looking through Twine today to see what new technology posts they might have. I didn’t see anything interesting there, but when I went to the Cool Things blog, the first one that came up was a website for Demotivators. I had seen some of these anti-achievement posters before but it was fun to see them again and be reminded of certain important axioms. For example, we need to remember: Agony: not all pain is gain; Defeat: for every winner there are dozens of losers; Failure: when your best just isn’t good enough.
I wonder what a principal would say if a teacher wanted to post some of these in their classroom?
I wonder what a principal would say if a teacher wanted to post some of these in their classroom?
Sunday, April 5, 2009
14 year old Computer Literacy
I was reading the article on D2L “Teaching Internet Literacy Strategies: The Hero Inquiry Project.” In it, the authors quote Eagleton who says, “Navigating the Internet has become an essential literacy task for
today’s middle school students.” They go on to describe a project that teaches students how to choose topics, asking research questions, and do internet searches.
As I read this article, I thought about a conversation I had with my niece who is in 8th grade. She told me she is taking a computer class. I was excited to talk to her about it, thinking of all the things she might be doing and learning about computers and how to use them. Unfortunately, she said the class is boring and she hasn’t learned anything. Now, I know that might not mean much coming from a 13 year old. Lots of things are boring to them. She said, though, that she had the class last year also, and all they did was learn to use the keyboard (which she already knew) and they had to take a “virtual vacation.” She and her partner learned about Australia and made a PowerPoint about it (which she said she already knew).
Even that, I thought, could be interesting and a student could learn a lot about the internet and about PowerPoint. However, it seems her teacher is not very helpful and since she has already finished her project, which she says didn’t take much time or effort, all she does is talk to her friend during the class. She isn’t required to nor does she choose to use that time to explore the computer and all that she can do with it. I find that very disappointing, given what we are learning about the importance of computer literacy and using computers to enhance learning. Here she is in a computer class and even there, the teacher isn’t using the computer to enhance learning. It seems ironic. And it’s a pity.
today’s middle school students.” They go on to describe a project that teaches students how to choose topics, asking research questions, and do internet searches.
As I read this article, I thought about a conversation I had with my niece who is in 8th grade. She told me she is taking a computer class. I was excited to talk to her about it, thinking of all the things she might be doing and learning about computers and how to use them. Unfortunately, she said the class is boring and she hasn’t learned anything. Now, I know that might not mean much coming from a 13 year old. Lots of things are boring to them. She said, though, that she had the class last year also, and all they did was learn to use the keyboard (which she already knew) and they had to take a “virtual vacation.” She and her partner learned about Australia and made a PowerPoint about it (which she said she already knew).
Even that, I thought, could be interesting and a student could learn a lot about the internet and about PowerPoint. However, it seems her teacher is not very helpful and since she has already finished her project, which she says didn’t take much time or effort, all she does is talk to her friend during the class. She isn’t required to nor does she choose to use that time to explore the computer and all that she can do with it. I find that very disappointing, given what we are learning about the importance of computer literacy and using computers to enhance learning. Here she is in a computer class and even there, the teacher isn’t using the computer to enhance learning. It seems ironic. And it’s a pity.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Creepy Treehouse
Cody posted an article about "creepy-tree-house" in a discussion forum a while ago. I spent some time reading it again today and reading the responses to it. One of the responders, Melanie, made some very good points that have me thinking about our use of technology in the classroom.
The thesis of the article is that students are turned off by teachers’ use of technology to lure them into the classroom. The author, Jared Stein, says that when professors require students to interact on things like networking sites or use “an institutionally controlled technology/tool that emulates or mimics pre-existing technologies or tools that may already be in use by the learners” that is “creepy treehouse.”
If that is true, then we are currently learning a lot of creepy treehouses. It seems to me that D2L is an example of the latter—an institutionally controlled technology.
Now Melanie responded to this article with some interesting thoughts. She said, “Negotiating power relationships and privacy issues is the greatest challenge for equity-focused classroom 2.0 educators. Unless you are teaching a web-focused course…asking students to participate in social and participatory media should require clearly defined intentions.”
We spent a good amount of time early in the class discussing privacy with media such as Facebook and Blogs. But most of that privacy had to do with keeping outsiders from reading the Blogs or not posting things on Facebook you wouldn’t want your mother to read. Is that enough to take away the creepy treehouse feel for students?
I also appreciate Melanie’s concern with power relationships. That’s an interesting concept for teachers. There is definitely a power imbalance in the classroom, and I don’t think teachers would want that to be different, otherwise there would be chaos. At the same time, some of the power can be negotiated as Melanie suggests. One way to do this is to present various technology options and find out from the class which ones feel more safe and comfortable for the students.
I also agree with Melanie when she says we must clearly define our intentions for the use of technology. If we make it clear to students why we are using a particular technology, what it will add to the class, how we hope students will use it and what we hope they will learn, it is less likely to feel like creepy treehouse.
This was a thought provoking article. Thank you, Cody, for bringing it to our attention.
The thesis of the article is that students are turned off by teachers’ use of technology to lure them into the classroom. The author, Jared Stein, says that when professors require students to interact on things like networking sites or use “an institutionally controlled technology/tool that emulates or mimics pre-existing technologies or tools that may already be in use by the learners” that is “creepy treehouse.”
If that is true, then we are currently learning a lot of creepy treehouses. It seems to me that D2L is an example of the latter—an institutionally controlled technology.
Now Melanie responded to this article with some interesting thoughts. She said, “Negotiating power relationships and privacy issues is the greatest challenge for equity-focused classroom 2.0 educators. Unless you are teaching a web-focused course…asking students to participate in social and participatory media should require clearly defined intentions.”
We spent a good amount of time early in the class discussing privacy with media such as Facebook and Blogs. But most of that privacy had to do with keeping outsiders from reading the Blogs or not posting things on Facebook you wouldn’t want your mother to read. Is that enough to take away the creepy treehouse feel for students?
I also appreciate Melanie’s concern with power relationships. That’s an interesting concept for teachers. There is definitely a power imbalance in the classroom, and I don’t think teachers would want that to be different, otherwise there would be chaos. At the same time, some of the power can be negotiated as Melanie suggests. One way to do this is to present various technology options and find out from the class which ones feel more safe and comfortable for the students.
I also agree with Melanie when she says we must clearly define our intentions for the use of technology. If we make it clear to students why we are using a particular technology, what it will add to the class, how we hope students will use it and what we hope they will learn, it is less likely to feel like creepy treehouse.
This was a thought provoking article. Thank you, Cody, for bringing it to our attention.
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