The Creation and the Maintenance of Generational Web Site

This Report was Completed by: MaryElizabeth U Pacheco, G7

Instructions

Table of Contents

Getting to Know the Generational Curriculum

History of the Generational Curriculum

The Virtual Book in Cyberspace

The Close to Reality Book on the Web

My Proposal of Mining the Generational Curriculum

Conclusion and Recommendations

1.Getting to Know the Generational Curriculum Understanding the Generational Curriculum

a) I have consulted the following reports written by past generation students. I have found the reports of Edward Sugimoto: Analyze the Generational Curriculum, Conrad Moreno: Analysis of the Generational Curriculum, and Yvette Aqui: The Generational Curriculum to be very interesting as well as informative. These reports provide a better understanding of what the Generational Curriculum is and what it involves.

According to Edward Sugimoto: Analyze the Generational Curriculum, the Generational Curriculum is here to stay. Edward provides the viewer with a complete diagram of the Generational Curriculum that was birthed by Dr. James Leon. The Generational Curriculum consists of the following links and topics: introduction, topics, Traffic Psychology, Cyber Psychology, Daily Round Archives, E-Mail and Dr. Leon's Home Page. Edward has briefly explained the usefulness and the meaning of each of the links in the Generational Curriculum. The Introduction to the Community Classroom Generational Curriculum Page informs the visitor of what he/she will encounter at the site as well as other related of significant sites to visit. The Topics link leads the visitor directly to the topics and the Daily Round Archives. The next two links leads to Traffic Psychology and Cyber Psychology, which are internet based courses taught by Dr. Leon. These links open up to the fascinating generational curriculum of past students. The Daily Archives are managed and maintained by Generational Students of Psychology 499. The DRA is a collection of bound volumes of student reports that were arranged in an orderly fashion by Diane Nahl. E-Mail is another fascinating mechanism in the online world. E-Mail is particularly useful for feedback. The last link in the Generational Curriculum is Dr. James Leon's Home Page. Dr. James home page illustrates his commitment and his expertise in the development of the Generational Curriculum.

I read another interesting report written by Conrad Moreno: Analysis of the Generational Curriculum. Conrad, like Edward provided the viewer with a diagram of the Generational Curriculum and its parts. The impressive point I found in Conrad's diagram was that Dr. Leon James's Home Page was the basis of the Generational Curriculum. I can only agree with this notion, because after viewing Dr. James Home Page and its links, I concluded that it is truly a work of art and a miracle in itself. According to Conrad, the Generational Curriculum is a naturally expanding phenomenon because of the birth of new generations each semester. Furthermore, with the birth of new generations, the presentation of the web pages improves every generation. This improvement is due to the fact that the new generations learn from the past generations. Conrad also confirms the two valuable topics of the Generational Curriculum are Traffic Psychology and Cyber psychology. Conrad has also mentioned some very important points, for example, the value of web site tour guides, the seven criteria of designing a web site. The last point I found important was Conrad's thoughts about the benefits of being in Generation 4b. I share the same thoughts about being a member of Generation 7.

The last report, I read was written by Yvette Aqui: The Generational Curriculum. Yvette provides a thorough overview of the framework of the Generational Curriculum. According to Yvette, the Generational Curriculum was designed for the different generations of Psychology 409 and 459. Yvette believes that the Generational Curriculum is made up of a community of generation students that upkeep and maintain the Generational Curriculum. She also mentions the usefulness of a search engine to view the abundance of information associated with this page and relative links.

My reactions to the development of the Generational Curriculum, I am so impress with the creation and the maintenance of the Generational Curriculum. I am very grateful, that I am a member of the 7^th generation for several reasons. I am fortunate to contribute and participate in the expanding phenomenon. I am privileged to have visited the home Page of Dr. James and several other home pages of his students. I also appreciate the devotion, dedication and hard work Dr. James has invested in the Generational Curriculum. In my opinion, this whole idea of the Generational Curriculum was God sent.

b) My reactions to the 18 links of Leon James' Home Page by G6 students, I am still impress wit the whole idea of the Generational Curriculum and the interconnectiveness of Dr. James' Home Page to the Generational Curriculum. I can not phantom the intense preparation and the creativeness involved in the creation of the GC. I was also given the assignment of reading, clicking and summarizing the 18 links of Dr. James' Home Page. I just love the subject matter, the presentation and the dedication. I believe anyone visiting this site will see just what I am talking about. The only concern I have is how will anyone other than a generational student have the privilege of visiting or even become aware of this great page's existence.

2. History of the Generational Curriculum

 a) The history of the Generational Curriculum. The Generational Curriculum began in 1970. The project consisted of typed student papers that were written, read, collected, bound, and referenced by succeeding generations of students at University of Hawai'i. Dr. James came up with the name "The Generational Curriculum" because of two important factors. The first factor is the creation of a social learning community and secondly, each report prepared by the students is read, and further processed by new generations. The Generational Curriculum Project consists of the following reports: Traffic Psychology Student Reports, Cyber-Psychology Student Reports, and the Daily Round Archives Student Reports.  For a more detailed account of the Generational Curriculum refer to Dr. James' Creating An Online Learning Environment.

b) The Generational Curriculum was created by Dr, James Leon, Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawai'i. Dr. James began nurturing his creation in the early 1970's. Today this project has experienced 7 generations. The benefits of generations is that the longer the project continues the better and richer the project becomes.

I feel the Generational Curriculum is a spectacular creation. I was truly impressed with the entire idea of a Psychology course being offered over the World Wide Web. I have been impressed from reading the class syllabus, to the completing the exercises, to exploring the WWW to completing the reports. I can see and appreciate the energy and dedication that was devoted in the pages of Dr. James and the pages of his students. The bottom line is I am impressed. Furthermore, I have gained experience as well as confidence in browsing the internet and basic creations of a web page. 

 The most notable elements of the Generational Curriculum are Dr. James Home Page; the Reports completed by previous generations, the creation of the Web pages and home pages. The Traffic Psychology seems to have a lasting impression on me because I was especially excited about Dr. Driving and learning that aggressive driving and road rage are real problems that affect drivers.

 I am honored to be a part of the Generational Curriculum. I have been fortunate to read the opinions and reports of previous students. I have been fortunate to learn basic HTML language and I have been fortunate to learn to be more confident in myself as I learn more the internet.

I can see the Generational Curriculum continuing to influence and impact many lives, whether it is students or visitors that are interested in the subject matter. Due to the rapid changes in technology and the way we will be communicating with each other in the future. Perhaps more courses will be offered.

3.The Virtual Book in Cyberspace

a) Dr. James, author of the Social Psychological Principles of Home Page Architecture. According to Dr. James a Home pages accomplish two important views. The two important views are internal and external. The external view is the view that a visitor gets right off the look. This view is the lasting impression. The internal view on the other hand is the view that is seen only when the visitor or the viewer can appreciate the dedication and hard work that is involved in creating the foundation for home pages. It is the view that will cause the visitor to be amazed and astonished in what lies ahead or around the link. The foundation of Home Pages is the hypertext technology. Hypertext technology simplified means links. More often than none, the link is underlined and is presented in color text for example: Social Psychological Principles of Home Page Architecture is a link, try it. Hypertext links have three characteristics. The three characteristics of hypertext are affective, cognitive and sensorimotor. These characteristics are the psychological principles of Home Pages.

 b) What is a "virtual book" in hypertext? In my opinion, a "virtual book" is a book created in the spiritual realm, not to be confused with the Bible. The "virtual book" encompasses the World Wide Web. The book consists of home pages, and sites of a learning community. It is a rich book because it can be edited endlessly. The "virtual book" is a world in cyberspace. It is a book that is filled with links or navigational guides.

 c) Some of the problem people may have with hypertext navigation. The World Wide Web is enormous, therefore, its pages contains billions of links to related topic or subject matter. The problem with navigation is that it could be endless. People can get loose in cyberspace from just clicking away at links. Another problem with hypertext navigation is the importance of correct addresses and links. If the addresses and link are incorrect, the navigator cannot complete his/her journey. The complexity of a Web site or the complexity of the virtual book can affect navigation because links usually leads a viewer to many related topic or subjects. This can be a problem when a simple link leads to a complex link.

d) Web Designing is vital to the quality of a Virtual Book. After reading two reports from previous generational curriculum students, Kendra Morgan: Social Psychology of Web Architecture: The Choices of the Internet Generation and Kristin Evert: Social Psychology of Web Architecture: The Who and the What Behind the Web. Web designing is not a very simple task nor is it an extremely complex task, however it does involve some surfing or browsing on the internet to familiarize oneself of the necessities of a well-designed page. Authors of home pages invest their hearts and souls to make a visitor feel welcomed, to make a visitor see the beauty that is involved in designing home papers or simple to inform or educate a visitor. Home pages are homes in cyberspace that are away from our realistic physical dwelling places. Home pages are places were we could express ourselves to new friends and acquaintances. Kendra Morgan has pointed out the three psychological characteristics of web pages. The three characteristics were covered in depth by Dr. James' report on Social Psychological Principles of Home Page Architecture. According to Dr. James', Psychological Characteristics of Hypertext, Informational Content of Home Pages and Stylistic Features of Home Pages. The Psychological Characteristics of Hypertext refers to the importance and function that a link serves in home pages. What purpose do these links serve in educating or entertaining the cybercommunity? Informational Content of Home pages refers to results we try to achieve in creating and designing web papers. First of all it must be clear, informative and useful and secondly, the content must accentuate the home page by making it appealing, pleasing and beautiful. The last point; Stylistic Features of Home Pages refers to the importance of maintain a reasonable size home page. Both Kristin and Kendra provided links of interest regarding web page designing.

 My impressions and reaction to these very well prepared reports. I was truly impressed with the reports of both Kristin and Kendra. I found the content I their reports easy to follow and understand. More importantly, I found the information to be extremely useful and beneficial to the designing of my own home page. They provided the reader with links to help one in creating and accomplishing the three characteristics of Home Pages.  

 After reading these articles, the first thoughts that came to my mind was resume. The first thing I thought about after reading these articles were the importance and the affect a home page can have on a person. Home pages can serve as a picture of our being or our character. Home Pages tell a lot about us.

4. My Proposal for Mining the Generational Curriculum

a) There is no doubt that the Generational Curriculum is rich and full of information. Mining the Generational Curriculum is not nor will it be an easy task. Mining the Generational Curriculum will require each generation to further utilize and add to the pages of this virtual book well pass the end of their semester and assignment requirements. In my opinion, as computers become available in state libraries and on the desktop of homes, the general public can utilize the Generational Curriculum. Furthermore, I believe like software is pre-installed in systems that are purchased so to must the Generational Curriculum be available. I do not think much of the public is aware of the homes pages in the Generational Curriculum, therefore, I think more literature and resources must be printed and made available to the public or the educational systems. I for one was not aware of this valuable tool until I enrolled in the Psychology 409 and 459 courses. Another need to mind the GC is financial funding from the Department of Education Federally and Locally.

As our culture continues to become more computer friendly, the need and the wealth of information the GC will be a resource that continues to grow. I cannot vision a last page or last chapter in the Generational Curriculum Virtual Book or learning community.

As it gets more complex with future generations, I would think that navigation will be come a problem, but on a hopeful note, when that time comes perhaps we will already have the answers. A good place to start looking for answers or clues is Dr. James Home Page.

b) According to the report written by Dan: Online Database Management Issues, the WIB, was a brilliant idea. The WIB was to function as a database of human concerns. The purpose of the WIB was to gather the opinions of people throughout the universe to share their concerns about a specific topic. The WIB site was to be maintained by the responses of the others. The WIB was also intended to allow a person to share his social experiences. After reading Dan's report, I can only conclude that the WIB did not succeed because of the lack of responses. Perhaps, if the student's of the Generational Curriculum each responded to a specific topic, got their family and friends to respond. Maybe if Dr, James assigned a requirement of 3 to 4 responses for each of his students the WIB will grow or continue.

c) As I have mentioned earlier, I believe that Federal and State funding can assist in providing the wealth of information to the general public. Another means of promoting or informing the public of the Generational Curriculum is through printed materials. Lastly, we as Generational Curriculum students can spread the good news via our mouths.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations

a) I have reviewed some of the others' proposals in my class. I could not help but to agree with and share the same opinion as Irene and Kynan. We believe that it is very important that the psychology department inform the psychology student about this incredible and priceless resource. Advertising has never been better than by word of mouth. The previous generations including our generation has the responsibility of sharing the wealth of information we learned, gathered, and "cruised or strolled" across on the World Wide Web. "Each part doing their share causes growth". Another way the GCDL can be successful in by being registered through search engines. 

Being I am given the opportunity to offer advice to the Generation 8, I would like to take full advantage of this opportunity. First of all know that it is an honor to be a part of the Generational Curriculum, who knows perhaps one day your offspring may be linking to one of your reports. As a member of the 7^th generation, I had the fortune of reading and exploring past generations. I know you will be given the same opportunity. It is my hope that you take advantage of these reports not only because you can copy and paste or use the entire format of the report, but rather use the information to assist you in your learning environment. I have found many of the articles that were required to read very informative and helpful to me. The assignments may seem endless, but please remain focus and answer each question one at a time. I have found printing the reports from the start to be especially helpful for several reasons. Number 1, you can always refer to it, number two, it frees up your phone line and number three, you can complete your assignment anywhere. I hope that you find this class to be exciting as I have. If ever you need my help please don't hesitate to E-mail me. Remember that I've been there too. Before closing, I would like to recommend that you visit Irene Lau's Report 1: Generational Curriculum Digital Library for some sound advice on what to do in Dr. James Class. (Scroll to the end of the page)

I believe in my heart that the Generational Curriculum will go far, if more students and the public is introduced to the subject matter. I would like to see a psychology internet course in the masters program at Chaminade.

My closing words to Dr. James Leon. I would like to commend Dr. James Leon for his incredible creation and understanding of the Generational Curriculum. I am honored to be a part of this fascinating learning community. I would like to personally thank you for the instructions, the exercises and the time you have invested in us (the class). I have nothing but respect for your accomplishments and ideas. Last but not least, thank you for the opportunity of learning to face and enjoying browsing through the internet. I have gained confidence and appreciation for the idea of the internet. Your home page and its links are superb. God bless you as you continue to expand and maintain the Generational Curriculum.