Shane Akagi's home page of generation one provides many links throughout his reports. The links are to relative people and subjects of whom he mentions. Another goo d example is Berna Collado of Generation 2. She also provides an extensive amount of links within her reports with appropriate comments attached to them.
Over the generation, there are many improvements to note regarding the length of reports. Taking a look back at the first generation, the reports appeared long winded and confusing. Many from the previous generation didn't think about being short and sweet. They just tried to cram as much words into one page as possible. An example of this is Dia ne Beauchemin's Report Her reports are extremely long which makes viewing her pages tiresome and boring. Most of the time I couldn't get past the first paragraph. To avoid this problem, previous generations could have broken up their reports into sev eral pages in order to allow the viewer to click with their mouse to the next page instead of scrolling. Another solution would be to put in tagged indexes so that viewers can jump from section to section within reports. An excellent example of this is Travis Abe's reports. He utilizes the indexes as well as a table of context and provides them for each report.
In looking over the generations reports, I noticed that although many of them had the same topics, there didn't appear to be much difference between them. InCaroline Balatico's report,from Generation one, she writes in depth about pedestrians on the go in great detail. Michelle Alonzo of generation three also has similar things to say regarding speed and traffic. So in comparing the richness of detail in each generation, I can't see much diff erence there. The major difference lies in the organization and appearance of the reports.
With the advances in Netscape, much improvements can be seen with the generations. One of the major improvements are the graphics. During the first generation, moving gifs were not possible and could not be found on the students pages. Compare Letitia Lujuan's Home page of generation one with Leslie Agena's home page of generation four and be amazed. Notice the blinking bar and the revolving globe. You couldn't do that a few years ago.
Another obvious difference lies in the usage of backgrounds. The current generation has an array of colorful backgrounds ranging from delicate sunflowers care of Jocelyn White to dancing frogs seen on Dan Hamano's page. Most of the students in Generation one didn't have any background at all. They decided to keep it a simple white.
Most of the students in G1 have links all over the place. Some are necessary, most are not. Too many links tend to confuse and distract the viewer. Keeping the links to a minimum and making sure the URL's are correct is a must. Letitia's page has her links organized according to subjects. Her gifs however do now appear along with the links. This could be caused to bad connectivity or lack of upkeep. On the other hand, Rod Sanbei's page provides many fun links that work and he has them place in an organized manner easy to see.
In 1992, the Generational curriculum extended its boundaries into the World Wide Web. It has its current students post their works over the Internet for anyone to view. The generation is in its fourth year, going on five. Going through the curriculum a nd visiting each generation is like viewing technology on a timeline. The first generation marks the beginning and the current one marks the end. The Generational Curriculum is still a novel idea many are afraid to confront.
Most of the students throughout each generation felt it was a great learning experience to be able to be a part of the Generational Curriculum and see the changes it goes through. I am especially proud of sticking it through and learning what I know from this class.
As future generations are added and the Generational curriculum grows, the success will be determined by the knowledge gained from the past. Each year, improvements can be seen as the advances in technology multiply. Perhaps one day in the future, all classes will be conducted this way and follow in the footsteps of Dr. Leon James.
This includes turning in our assignments to the professor for their eyes only. Students are afraid of showing their work in to other students, let alone the world. This fear needs to reevaluated. If there is benefit in publicizing students work then stu dents shouldn't be afraid to show off.
We need to teach students that no one is perfect and we don't expect them to be that way. They should learn accept criticism as a means of improvement and not a way for someone to put them down. This is a major step toward bettering oneself.
Advertising has its benefits and is a major tool for success. Without advertisment, no one would know what the Generational Curriculum was and we wouldn't want that right?