My 4 Favorites from the Online Generational Curriculum:
A Journey to the Past
My Selection #1 - Ayada's Report(409a G7)
Why I Chose this Report
I chose Ayada's report because her name first caught my eye(my next presentation is to talk about her web page). I liked the appearance of her page which was simple and well organized.
Selection process
I first clicked on the Index to All Generations on the exercise part 10. Then, I recognized Ayada's name because my next presentation was to report her web page. I didn't look at other student's pages before I clicked on Ayada's because by the time, I've already decided to choose her page for my selection #1. It took me about an hour to read through her page and try several links found there.
Summary of report
Ayada first talks about her long but interesting journey through a newsgroup called "rec.autos.makers.ford.mustang". After several weeks of observing newsgroup messages, she realized that these people were really opinionated so that almost all messages contained sarcasm or anger toward the topic: aggressive drivers. The topic for her second report was "Acquiring cyberspace citizenship". In her second report, she evaluated the data of her feelings, thoughts, and actions while doing exercises("my rating"). In overall, by looking at her data, I could see her struggles and frustrations in the beginning just like myself, but she was able to get over that toward the end. I hope my evaluation data will be like her's.
My Reaction
My reaction to Ayada's page was very positive, and I was somewhat encouraged by her. She was sooooo frustrated when she was doing part 8 and I totally understood how she was feeling at that time because I was in the same situation. As she said, if you think that you can't do it or if you have any negative thoughts before you do something, you are more likely to fail. I can say it because I've had it. Fortunately, Ayada found a way to deal with her problems. She asked her classmates for help and she was able to complete part8 and therefore regained her competence. You should not rely too much on other people for help because everybody's busy doing their own things, and it's a part of learning process that you gain as much as you suffer. But I think it's important to at least feel that there are people you can ask whenever you needed
Comparison
As I browsed through several reports from the same generation as Ayada's, I've noticed that it would be easier to read if the background color was not so dark. Lori and Angie from the same generation used white background and I found those easier to read for longer.
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My Selection #2 - Rudi's report(409b G6)
Why I Chose this Report
What first impressed me about Rudi's report was the background of his page. When he talked about him owning two horses, I had to stop and look at his page thoroughly. I've always dreamt about owning horses and riding them on a beautiful white sand beach....oh, well. In overall, his page was organized rather simply compare to other students' pages.
Selection process
Before I selected Rudi's page, I went through a very extensive search. I went though the different generations and tried to find topics that I was interested in. I selected the topic for psy409bG7 because I've never heard of web architecture and wanted to find out what it was about. I finally chose Rudi's page because his page was organized simple and the background caught my eye. The total time spent was about one and a half hours.
Summary of Report
For Rudi's first report, he participated in and observed several newsgroups, specifically about horses and fishing, for two weeks. His initial beliefs toward using newsgroups in a way to interact with people with the same interests was not positive. He felt uncomfortable communicating with people via e-mails even though it was interesting to see what other people knew and thought about the topic. In his second report, he talks about what is web architecture and his thoughts about it. For example, he said that Glover was a useful web site created for people who plan to make a web page. He could find a list of do's and don'ts when making web pages and he found it really helpful and interesting.
Comparison
As I browsed through several reports from generation 6, I've noticed that many of pages used lighter colors rather than black or dark blue. In Scott's report 1(from the same generation), he showed a sample of messages posted in newsgroups to describe "flaming". I think it would've been more interesting if Rudi had a sample of messages he got from newsgroup in his report.
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My Selection #3 - Robert's report(459 G8)
Why I Chose This Report
I decided to read his page because it was listed in the Best Awarded site. The appearance of the page was very plain but I enjoyed reading his report because his report was to observe and talk about messages in newsgroups.
Selection process
I went to the Index of All Generation and searched through a site for special awards for G8, and selected Robert's report. It only took me about 20 minutes to choose.
Summary of Report
The topic of this report is driving attitudes. Robert showed letters from the newsgroups, and commented and analyzed them carefully. His report contained the total of 10 different topics. His first topic was about aggressive driving legislation and he didn't believe that tailgating is one of those road rages because it can be done unintentionally. In his second topic, he commented that road rage affects us even off the road and we need to deal with it. The rest of topics are dealt with the same manner as above.
My Reaction
Robert's Report was very interesting and easy to read. He said that he was not really satisfied with the appearance of his page but I actually had easier time reading his page than other's because it was simple and plain. The appearance can catch the reader's eyes quickly and easily but what makes the readers stay longer is the content. I think he did a wonderful job and it was very interesting to read about opinions that are from people living in different areas.
Comparison
As I skimmed through the different generational pages of G8, I've noticed the improvement in their pages. I guess it's because many of them were repeaters and already knew the tricks to make it look better.
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My Selection #4 - Jill's Report(459G5)
Why I Chose This Report
I liked her icons and the background schemes, and they seemed appropriate to the class. Her page was neatly organized and easy to follow. Also, her report was informative.
Selection process
Since this was my final selection, it didn't take me too long to find her site. The appearance of her page first caught my eye and I stayed because I wanted to read about how her family members changed after participating Quality Driving Circle. I spent about two hours to look through her page.
Summary of report
Jill's first report was about traffic psychology resources available on the internet and she selected Dr. Driving's sites for her report. She divided her report into three sections. The first two sections she talked about was Dr. Driving's pages and his philosophy of road rage. Then, she used her last section to display a variety of resources concerning speeding on the internet. The topic of her second report was "Managing a quality driving circle: Spreading the aloha spirit". She then broke down her report into five sections: introduction, traffic psychology through the generations, my driving personality test, my quality driving circle, and driving improvement resources on the web.
My reaction
I really enjoyed reading Jill's report and I agree with her that QDC system should be more popularized or should even become mandatory.
Comparison
As I was browsing through other pages in G5, I saw some pages used icons of cars(also in Jill's) and I thought it was neat and fits into the topic: traffic psychology.
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My reactions to my classmates reports
I found only few people posted their files ahead of time but it's understandable. This file was not easy to complete and took a lot time to putting it all together. In overall, I think everyone did a really good job especially my classmates who took this class before did really wonderful.
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My Suggestions For Future Generations
The most important thing is that you start as early as possible for all the exercises because it's really time-consuming. Especially someone like myself who has very limited computer skills and has a bad habit of waiting until the very last minute need to really try hard. I'm trying to change my bad habit because I think I've learned a lesson.
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