Week 8

Well the French life continues....The campus has sort of been opened after 'le blocus' at least, I can access the inside of the library today. However, the typical (I would say stereotypical, but in this case it is certainly true and prevalent) French attitude has remained the same. Note: if one sees or anticipates a physical collision on the sidewalks of France with a local, it is certain to happen if the visitor doesn't move. While I am not usually this cynical towards their way of life, I have been a bit bothered by the, "To hell with you, hooray for me" attitude that I see so well represented here. In the words of my wonderful wife, "These people don't deserve their country." This was after we visited another wonderful chateau and vineyard where a woman went out of her way to stop my wife and use her body (yes she actually grabbed the wife to restrain, her from walking away) as a windbreaker to light her latest cigarette. Wow the nerve! I know that selfish is not only a word that applies to the French, but it just seems that it is more easily noticed when you are in a room full of people that refuse to talk with you because you have an accent (even if you have taken the time to become fluent in their language).

So, this week’s rant is over. For the class I have written a wiki on the RGB color scheme, started the dynamic HTML activity, watched the videos, and read up on what DHTML and color theory is all about. I’m going to finish the chapter in the text and then post to the discussion board. For now, my discussion within the blog here is more of a platform of disgust with one of the most beautiful and rich in culture countries in the world with the ugliest-attitude inhabitants. I certainly hope these next few weeks prove me wrong. A Bientot!

Week 7

Here we are at week 7, feeling better with no where to go. I have been stuck at the library for the better part of the week due to the uncertainty of the French university system. The local students have been on strike for four weeks now (and yes all the Americans are still working, go figure) with little end in sight. It must be nice to just take four weeks off of class (professors too) after just two days of class following an extended Christmas break. In the past three months there has only been two or three days of solid class as scheduled. These people have been on vacation since Turkey Day. What gets me is that these students feel oppressed by their government. Okay let's be objective by creating a plus and minus list of being a French national. Minus: you might have to pay the 19 percent tax on your house and food. Plus: free education through graduate school, maximum 35 hour work week, salaried positions with free health care for anyone with a high school degree, monthly housing stipend, lunch allowance, you live in France, you can go to Paris and London every weekend, the list goes on. My rant is over; here's what I did this week:

First I played with the Gimp software for a while and did the four parts of the assignment with the text and graphics. Then I played with the Gimp software a little more and realized that there is much more to be done in other classes. After I had a run-in with the OpenOffice suite and an Excel assignment in CECS 5010, I chose to download the Office 2007 software against my will. Now, I'm going to attempt the Web 2.0 activity all the while the French students sit and watch me type away with their government cigarettes a blazing and their oppressed butts a showing.

Cheers,

Mark

Week 6 (Weak 6)

Well as one can tell from the corny pun in the title, I have been a little ill this week and slow getting all the assignments done. I have, so far, contributed to the discussion on the navigation wiki although I feel like I know next to nothing about navigation on a web page or website that has several avenues for one to embark upon. I haven't had any experience with working on navigational schemes but from what I read and viewed in this weeks' module it seems that as far as navigation styles it has all been done before. There was no speak of novelty or originality when it comes to navigation within a website but I did manage to learn what some of the styles are and how they work.

I have also written a wiki on Breadcrumbs, well it was more of a discussion of my thoughts on the breadcrumb concept. I hope this goes over as not so stupid to others as it did in my head in hindsight. I then read over the 4 principles of learner control in the text and online a little and completed a follow-up discussion on the discussion board with my most amateur assessment of the learner control theories. I am now choosing to attempt the extra credit mashup. Wooo hoo (non-scarastic)! This is something I know nothing about and am excited to learn something that seems so new to the world of computing. I am genuinely excited about this extra credit for the points and the novelty of the concept. Three cheers for Web 2.0....hip hip...

Week 5

Well it's not week 5 but...you know me and my forward moving ways. This week has been the most productive in terms of class content and confusing in content also. I like playing with new software like PSPad and other HTML (XML), XHTML, etc editors just to see what the differences between each are and what they can do. I am still stuck here in the library alone due to the current French strike that has crippled the already fragile/loose fabric that holds this univeristy together. I have edited the template document (page) to the degree that I think will work as of now. The objectives and directives within the module were sort of out of place and extremely vague (this may be the creativity suite working itself in), so I was at a loss when it came to writing text on the intro.php page. Other than that I have written a Wiki on XHTML. The Wiki this week was more of a stab in the dark than professional, empirical fact. I am almost certain that someone will edit my input the moment it hits their browser. I haven't posted to the discussion board yet because I'm still reading on the multimedia topics that are quieried in the module. Week 5 content to tackle: discussion board posting and flash lesson. Content presumably tackled: PSPad editing, template modification, wiki, and in the blog process.

Other than pushing my way through the content as fast as possible while still maintaining quality, I haven't been able to do much else. One of my notorious trips with questionable Internet access begins on Friday with a trip to Epernay, France to tour the champagne caves of Mr. Moet & Chandon (yay!). Moderation is the word of the day but I doubt most attending will adhere to the rule. Follow up on frequency and amount of consumption to come next week....A Plus!

Week 4

I know, I know it is still actually week 3 on the WebCT calendar but I am trying to get as far ahead as I can while I have daily Internet access. As most know through repetitive mention, I am living in France and will be traveling a lot this semester. This makes my Internet access pretty much dependent upon free roaming partners (pretty much non-existant in France) during my travels. For the week 4 assignments listed I have watched the learning theory video, some of the longer 55min video, written a wiki about Behaviorism in Education, and started the flash assignment. I have found the flash activities to be the most difficult in terms of content thus far, but also the most rewarding. I know absolutely nothing about flash creation and am anxious to learn via the tutorial on the web. What's even better is that we get extra credit (how much I don't know but any is worth it) for completing each flash tutoiral assignment. I hope to be posting more blogs like this in advance (see above for complication) to help with the stress level management this semester. I did not work ahead last semester and traveling around a lot with unpredectiable Internet made both classes very stressful. I need an A in both of my classes this semester and am willing to do the work and then some to earn them. Well anywho, other than that stay tuned for more exciting working ahead in the near future.

A Bientot,

Mark

week 3

This week has been pretty laid back for me. As most of you know, I am living in France until May with my wife. The country went on strike last week and most teachers and students at the university here in Nantes are still on strike. So, I have the entire library pretty much to myself, with the exception of a few people coming or going. I wrote a wiki this week on Market Impact as it pertains to copyright infringement. It wasn't much more than what was already posted on the term but I gave the "addition" a shot at specific relationship to copyright and what Market Impact actually means.

Other than that I watched all of the videos and read the articles posted on the copyright issues (to me, it seems that copyright laws and regulations change weekly). Afterwords, I completed the flash lesson with Adobe but I am not sure how I am going to do a flash lesson every week because I only have the trial version of Adobe CS4??? Well that's it for this week, see you all in class.

Mark

Week 2 "All I have done"

Okay so I just wrote a several paragraph blog entry to which Firefox obviously did not care for and shut down. I love technology and I love my wife but neither are immune to frustrating "happenings." Anywho...this week I managed to complete my first Wiki on Multimedia Learning Theory. I have also posted my first message on the bulletin board, watched the week one video, read most of the e-readings listed in week 2. I found the cognitive processing topics the most interesting especially when they mentioned the biological part of the brain that is responsible for its respective functions.

I have also been a bit frustrated with the schedules this semester. As of the first class day, both of my classes didn't have an up to date calendar (this frustrates the part of me that is somewhat anal when it comes to schedules and requirements). I am living in France and so even the slightest change in textbook, required materials, or date changes can be monumental for my schedule over here. Fortunately, the text for this class was posted early; this is not the case for my other class (urgh!). Well now that the gripping is over, it's time to get to work. I look forward to being the sponge when the prof's. and other students' knowledge starts to liquify.