Advice to the New CS1300 Kids

When taking a quiz or doing an assignment make sure to read every word in the directions, because sometimes it's easy to miss a tiny detail!

Mary Camp

Websites & Stumper Pages

My favorite stumper photos were the ones taken by Ryleigh McConnell, Austin Oxener, and Belen Vinueza. Ryleigh's picture looks like some type of barbecue grill. I believe it is in the quad by Calvert. Austin Oxener's stumper was interesting, because it gave a clue about when the building is open. From the clues I believe it could be the counseling center. I enjoyed Belen's stumper picture, because it looks like a very pretty spot that is well hidden. I think it is in the chapel meditation garden.
My comments about the stumper pages are here.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4129175770889240798&postID=2318000219253149252
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6523643281207276912&postID=5734080066611325722
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8584268916791697915&postID=7827728556058525746
I enjoyed the websites made by Crispin Huang, Gabriela Zapata, and Madeline LoBosco. I enjoyed Crispin's views on Web 2.0 and finding out more about him. I loved Gabriela's great collages, which were colorful and entertaining. I also enjoyed Madeline's pictures of her family and her dog. These websites helped me find out about my classmates.
My comments about the websites are here.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5603019207429626855&postID=896402986151354634
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3532915766898722373&postID=1513793875312937813
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5442630376751789122&postID=141547231893022647

Until next time,
Mary Camp

Stumper

Get ready to be stumped! Try to find out where this photo was taken. If you figure out where it is leave a comment. I can't wait to look at everyone else's photos that they took!

Have a great Thanksgiving,
Mary Camp

My Website

Here's a link to the new webpage about me! I created it in my 3:35 pm computer class with Dr. Semmes. I had a fun time making it and I'm really glad to learn so much about Microsoft Expression Web during the class. I think I will even start making more webpages!

Enjoy & leave me a comment,
Mary Camp

Very Bad PowerPoints

http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~mcamp/bad/Badpowerpoint1_files/frame.htm

My bad PowerPoint about how to make a "bad" PowerPoint!

My three favorite PowerPoint presentations today were the presentations by Alex Dodson, Chelsea Holmes, and Austin Oxener. Alex's presentation had a great slide about the overuse of bullet points and she made a great point with the overuse of animations. Chelsea's powerpoint had the overwhelming halloween theme with font color that was hard to see with a pumpkin background. She also talked about trying to keep your powerpoint from being too "busy." Austin's presentation had great distracting backgrounds and he did a great job reading the entire paragraphs from each slide.

Now to sum up the rules for powerpoint:

1. Do not use plain slides, but keep them simple. Using a busy background can have your audience squinting to read the text.
2. Do not overuse animations in your presentation this can distract from the basic information of the slides.
3. Check your spelling and grammar! Make sure you proofread through the presentation as well. Spellcheck can miss words like "every" if you want "ever."
4. Do not insert pictures unless they are relevant to your presentation!

Mary Camp

Copyright Troubles

Today it's hard to know what copyright infringement includes and what is actually legal. Sometimes there is no black or white answer, but instead a vast gray area. If I were find an image to use in a class webpage it would be wrong to find a random image from google images without citing the photographer. An alternative would be to instead use a free photo site such as stock.xchng at www.sxc.hu. These photos do not need any sort of citation, because the creators have agreed to let the public use the images. However, if I needed an image from a specific site I could always e-mail the creator and ask for permission to use the specific image. I would still need to cite the information about where I found it and who the creator is. If I still wasn't sure about having permission to use the file I would be better off finding another source.

Mary Camp

Time's Person of the Year & Web 2.0

In Lev Grossman's Time article about 2006's person of the year he states "It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before." This relates to the further discussion of Web 2.0 and the importance that simple search engines like google or user updated pages like wikipedia have on the world today. This article is very clever in distinguishing to the way life was before we had blogging, amazon, or even google. I love how it relates everyday people in everyday life making life changing discoveries. I agree completely with the idea that websites like youtube, google, and amazon are changing the way we live for the better. I think the future for web 2.0 is very bright, because of the way it's bringing us together. Nowadays checking a blog written by a friend from Denmark is just a click away, and searching for your favorite tv show box set on amazon doesn't take all afternoon. In the article "Walking the Web 2.0," Will Richardson writes about the importance of educators using blogs, podcasts, or even wikipages.The article discusses the difficulty that teachers have with this new technology, and even though it is useful it can take a while to adjust. The older generation seems to be somewhat afraid of where this new technology could take us, but I am very optimistic with the future.

Mary Camp

Microsoft Word Experience

My previous experience with Microsoft Word includes using many features of Microsoft Word 2003, but I have yet to work with the 2007 version. I have written papers, made fliers, used clip-art, made invitations, and hand-outs. I feel I am well versed in word, but would like to know how to combine the different Microsoft office applications together to help my work look more professional.

Mary Camp

Introducing Mary Camp

Good Day!

This is my blog for the Computer Essential Skills course with Professor Semmes. My name is Mary Grace Camp and I am a freshman at Trinity University. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I have an older sister named Melanie who is currently attending Texas Christian University and is 20 years old. At home I have 3 dogs named Snowflake, Clyde, and Houdini, and a cat named Oreo. In my free time I like to play the piano, dance, sing, ride horses, watch movies, hang out with my friends, and sometimes I like to play an assortment of video games. A distinguishing feature about me is that I absolutely love Elvis.

At Trinity University I have plans to major in Biology, minor in Spanish, participate in the University Choir, and join a variety of school organizations and clubs. Even though I am partial to Mathematics and Science, I also love different kinds of art such as music and dance. This makes me a very diverse person. My computer background is relatively extensive, because my father works for IBM and has taught me many very useful skills. The only program on the computer that I do not feel I understand as well as I could is Microsoft Office Excel and I hope to become comfortable with this program.

Please e-mail me for any other specific questions!

Mary Camp