Friday, June 27, 2008

Keynote Slideshare Test

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Words of Gratitude


Hello, I'm back...


I had a great day yesterday, thanks to everybody.  I will treasure all the gifts and memories you gave me. :)

Whose birthday is it next? I need to practice my native dance because everybody seems to know theirs... hehehe...

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Progress?

2 Weeks Worth of Work


Since my last post, I am happy to report that as far as my work schedule is concerned, I am on track... I did, however, made several adjustments to my project because during the course of the sessions and lectures, I've learned many things that I can incorporate into my courses. Although I am overwhelmed with the vast variety of choice and means of e-learning, I've decided to streamline my project with simple interactive learning materials. 

Push the Button
50% of the days I've worked (since June 2), I've had troubles making my buttons work. Thanks to Sander, Sandy, Bieke and Rudy, I've learned a lot from Flash and I got my buttons to work... I'm not entirely new to Flash, I've attended a crash course before I got here, but all I learned from that was how to make things blink and make some things move. I didn't know any actionscript back then, and now, because I was inspired to make my individual project, not only blinking and moving, I searched the net for solutions to my queries... So far, my links are working. My only debacle as of the moment is how to get actionscript for printing pdf and showing external swf files in fullscreen... and organizing the files inside the home folder of the cd rom...

If you can help me... please do. Thanks!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Flash Quiz

Today, what I learned is how to make an interactive quiz using Flash. Rudi taught us step by step how to make it and showed us how to use templates and how to customize them to suit our needs. 

I'm beginning to see the potential of this Flash thing. There are so many things I can imagine to do with it, but most of the time I don't know where to start... because usually what you have is just a blank screen (or stage) waiting to be filled up. And for most people, I assume who are like me, a white space is the most daunting picture of all. But it is brimming with hope too--all it needs is that first brush stroke.

I was watching Prohlad drawing at Illustrator this morning and I was really impressed at how he makes beautiful pictures from scratch. I thought, where is he getting this from? (I asked) and really, it just comes from his head! Wow, it made me realize that apart from the software literacy, it's also important to have vision.  

Right now I have some kind of vision... but I'm not that literate with the software yet BUT, borrowing a quote from Z (Zelalem), "...i can manage."

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Hello World


We learned HTML basics today, thanks to our colleague Phillip! He explained to us quite clearly what is an html because, even though I know it's a vital tool for web development, I had no idea what it was... now it's pretty much understandable... I just don't know how I would be able to use it in my DVD...

BUT

Thanks to Bieke, who showed us what our DVDrom would look like if we use html to program it, I now have an idea of what to do... my only problem now is, I have to rethink the structure of the DVD because I initially thought that I'd would only be showing powerpoint presentations, but with my new found knowledge of html, I think its more practical to use Flash or html as lecture presentations.  

Right now, what I'm doing is determining the text items and the animations that I would be doing for the course I'm teaching.  And... I'm also redoing my list... because now, everything has changed.

In a good way...

Monday, May 26, 2008

What rules my life

But first, what we did today


...was present a 'storyboard' of our individual project. I took on a more general perspective of what I wanted to do, so I did a mock up on how I'd like my DVD to look like, or at least an idea of what I wanted to do.

Rudi, Sandy and Bieke were there to enlighten us, advice us and they have also suggested ways of improving our individual projects.  I found their comments, suggestions and advice very helpful because there were some things I forget to think of , or simply miss.  I know what I want now, it's a DVD rom (but if it would fit in a CD that would be great).  I had initially thought that I would produce a DVD that would both run on a standard dvd player and computer... I didn't know any better then. So now I know! Thanks to Rudi, Sandy and Bieke!

The List

I'm an obsessive "lister".   I make lists... it is always the first step in doing everything that needs to be done.  Today, I crossed out 3 items off my To Do List:

X     DVD map (the chart/map of the DVD content)
X     Course Timetable
X     Inventory of Learning Materials

... and I have a lot more to do before I draw the last line on my list.  But as of tomorrow, what I would be working on is doing another To Do list (for the week) of the powerpoint presentations I would have to improve on. After that, I move to the next item, and that is to organize the files into one folder (with proper names and tags). My target for this week is to have at least 50% completion of the content folder. If I do that, I'd have crossed off 5 items easy off the list... and doing that action gives me some sense of accomplishment. It's a good feeling.  
I highly recommend it.


 


Friday, May 23, 2008

T.G.I.F.


I love fridays, it's full of possibilities and potentials... of FUN! Its a mindset I always have whenever the weekend arrives so even if we don't have any weekend plans, I can't help the feeling of euphoria.

Today though, I did my work in my room.  I already started it there so it was impossible to remove the post-its and my other junk from one place to another.  My chaotic arrangement makes my mind logically capable of organizing my materials so I spent the day mapping the content of my interactive DVD.

My individual project

So I decided to focus on the SFFG 20 (Social Forestry and Forest Governance 20: Communication Skills for Forestry Technicians) because I want to update it and integrate the uses of new media in its instruction.  

What I've accomplished so far is drafting the content of the DVD, making an inventory of what I have and what I should have (presentations, pictures etc.) and distributing the lessons/modules to the class days. 

My To Do's include: editing/finalizing the content, improving some of my powerpoint presentations, encode the unwritten (handwritten) exercises and activities and many many more! I'm glad it's clear to me what I should do, my only problem is, I've started doing each of them, and I'm confused as to what I should do next...

Solution: make a priority list--that's my task for tomorrow. Till then!