Journal #2 Affinity group

I  joined several affinity groups.  Some of them are paid for by my district and others are introduced to me during the Professional Learning Communities meetings.

1.  My Big Campus (district paid) www.mybigcampus.com
This affinity group allows me to add teachers within my district and we can share our lesson plans and ideas.  It also has a video bank component called Power My Learning Connect.  It contains educational videos that we can download and play in the classroom.  My district blocks YouTube and some websites (like digg.com) so this video bank allows me to show "district approved" videos.

2.  Edmodo (Free) www.edmodo.com
I was introduced to Edmodo not to long ago. I have created a class in Edmodo and know the basic function of this group.  I found it's easy to add students into my class but I'm not a fan of entering codes.

3. Graphite (Free) www.graphite.com
Graphite is a website contained educational websites and apps. Teachers select and create their own "board". Teachers can upload lesson plan boards to Graphite and share it with other teachers.  It also categorize each websites or apps. by  the subject matter.

* Pinterest (Free) (not an affinity group) www.pintreest.com
I know a lot of people familiar with Pinterest and probably using it for personal reasons.  Do you know you can create "educational boards" on Pinterest?  It is actually very effective among my students because most students already know how to use it.

Question#1:
Will the affinity group really benefit teachers?

For teachers who like and enjoy technology the affinity group is great for them!  Not only affinity group narrows down the websites by subject matters and it also works like social network which keep teachers connected and get up-to-day information.
On the other hand, for not so technology savvy teachers, the affinity group is very intimidating and time consuming.  I noticed that a lot of teachers at my school who wanted to learn new technology but don't have the time.


Question#2:
Are Digg and RSS providing good information to subscribers?

In some ways, yes, but I have to say no to Digg Reader.  The website provides too much information that I don't know where to start! Sometimes, it is a good idea to have information on hand, but when there's too much information; it may not be a good thing.
I appreciated that Digg Reader provides very specific information regarding the areas that I'm interested in but it is just too much for me.

Journal #1 Chapter 1 to 3 Reflection

Robbins, J. Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, Java Script and Web Graphics, 2012 (4th Edition, page 3-46),Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly 

Chapter 1 -Getting Started! 

The author, Jennifer Robbins uses very simple yet professional language to describe the history of web design, the internet and World Wide Web in this first chapter.  She also gives an overview of  the components and contents of web sites. She deconstructs the design of website and divides it to parts such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript.  It provides me a behind the scene of what web pages came from. 

Topics covered in Chapter 1:  

User Experience-UX- managing site experience 

User Interaction-IxU-checking to see if the web site is easy and efficient to users 

User Interface-UI-take care of site functionality 

HTML-Hyper Text Markup Language 

CSS-Cascading Style Sheets 

JavaScript 

FTP-File Transfer Protocol 

W3C-World Wide Web Consortium 

Chapter 2- How the Web Works 

Chapter 2 explains the basic of internet and web.  The author mentions that many people confused and thought internet and web are the same thing. But it's not true.  (I was one)   

The Internet is a network of connected computers.  No one owns the Internet.  The Web is just one of the ways information can be shared over the Internet.   

She also identifies what contained in the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and what each part means. I really enjoyed this particular part of this chapter.  Because for years, I want to know what is the difference between http and https and what their meanings.

Topics covered in Chapter 2: 

Internet vs. Web 

IP Address (Internet Protocol) 

DNS-Domain Name System 

URL-Uniform Resource Locator 

Chapter 3-Some Big Concepts You Need to Know 

This chapter explains the many important elements (basic building blocks) of  web design.  It covers how  functionality, design, accessibility and performance elements effect web production.  

Topics covered in Chapter 3: 

Multimedia Devices 

Web Standards 

Progressive enhancement-basic functionality of a web site 

Responsive web design-dealing with unknown browser capabilities

Accessibility-vision, mobility, auditory and cognitive (one web for all) 

Site performance-how to improve performance (the need for speed) 

Question1: What is considering as a good web design? 

For me a well designed website should be easy to get around even for people who only has little or no computer skills.  I've seen so many educational websites that are too difficult for kids or adults to use.  Although I believe the web designers had good intention to include "everything" in a website but sometimes it just too much for users to handle.  Keep it simple and easy to use are the most important elements for a good website. 

Question 2:  Should a web designer design a total separate site for mobile devices? 

The answer is yes.  For some people the smartphone is the only device that they can connect to internet with.  This is particular true to the lower socioeconomic challenged neighborhood.  Take the city of  San Bernardino for example, majority of the residents in San Bernardino have income below poverty line.  Most of the families can't afford to buy computers or pay for internet services but almost everybody has smartphone! Thanks to cell phone companies who make the mobile device accessible to everyone.  Therefore, to develop or design a separate site for mobile devices is curial! It will have greater impact to web users.

My First Blog Post

This is my first blog post for my GED 512 Introduction to Web Development class.  Each week I will be posting a response to various educational technology topics. Stay tune!