Advice!

This class is really beneficial. Last year when I found out that I had to take this course, I wasn't very happy because I had always thought of myself as being good with computers. I actually learned a lot though- especially about excel.

My advice to any new students to Dr. Belisle's class it to learn all you can by listening to Dr. Belisle and doing the homework. I promise, you'll learn a lot of beneficial computer skills. Also, just come to class. If you miss class, you miss a lot. And each class, we learn a lot. Also- we always go over the homework before it's assigned, so it makes the assignments easier.

Finally, my last bit of advice is to read through assignments carefully. Dr. Belisle sometimes has very specific intructions that are very easy to fall if you just READ CAREFULLY.

Besides all that, enjoy this class. It's a lot of fun- especially the assignments for the second semester.

Thanks,
Erin Camp
ecamp@trinity.edu

Student Websites

This has been (by far) my favorite project. I was not necessarily happy with the way mine turned out, but I was thoroughly impressed with my classmates' websites and I loved learning even more about them. It was hard to choose a top three, but three of my favorite were: Eva's, Adan's, and Hye-won's. 

Eva's was probably my favorite because I have known her the longest in the class. I thought all her pictures were fantastic and since we were friends in elementary school, I loved seeing how little talents from when we were little turned into major 

interests as a young adult. I also really liked her Nav Bar and the over all layout- She added her own little twist by keeping the major pages shorter and adding a other photo's page. 

 

Adan's was my second favorite, because he definitely made a very original website. He is such a creative and multi-talented person. I really enjoy his website and hope he continues to pursue his many interests (especially music). I also really enjoyed his personally made font that he created. I really like his because it is unique. 

And finally, I really enjoyed Hye-won's website. I loved her's because I enjoyed all the personality she put into it (even the purple color scheme had Hye-won written all over it). I also thought her idea of making all her pictures thumbnails was a creative and very useful one. 

I enjoyed every website. I can tell that each student put a lot of effort into theirs.

I hope you will enjoy mine too: http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~ecamp .

Thank you,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Student Powerpoint Presentation Part II

Since I was absent for the first round, I wanted to highlight on a couple more of the students' powerpoint presentations that I did not miss. 

One presentation I thought very interesting was Taylor Burden's because of his use of music. Normally, music during a presentation (especially an academic or professional one) is very distracting. But I thought his music was thematic and added to the presentation a lot.

I was also impressed by Nicole Remling's over advertising in the world market. The powerpoint was creative and I really liked the compare and contrast she did of marketing and advertising. 

Finally, Robert Buckrei's presentation over Epilepsy/Neuroscience was extremely well done. I enjoyed the layout (very thematic) and the outline was really easy to follow. I did not know that neuroscience could be such an interesting topic. 

I was impressed by not only my classmates' interests and majors, but their creativity as well. I really enjoyed this project and watching the presentations.

Thank you,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu 

Student Powerpoint Presentations

Since I unfortunately was not in class for the first batch of presentations, I only saw the powerpoints from the students on Tuesday. After class, I was even more disappointed that I could not make it to the first session because I was very impressed by my classmates' abilities. I liked all of them and found the subject matter creative and enthralling. 

My two favorites were probably Marina Urra and Ellen Desmarais because I thought their designs were the easiest to follow. Ellen did an excellent job catching her audience's attention through her excellent introduction. And Marina Urra had my favorite master slide, because she incorporated her subject of public relations by adding various people's faces. 

Just because those two were my favorite, does not mean I did not thoroughly enjoy the rest. Because I did. Taylor Burden's use of music was incredibly appropriate and I thought he did a nice presentation over D-day. Robert Buckrei had one of my favorite layouts because it was thematic AND it was easy to follow. Baran Sonmez also had creative and well thought out backgrounds and bullet points. And finally, Carmel Tajornera had the most unique and interesting concept about teaching kids how to bake. I loved her ideas and her consistent use of the color pink (a color I thought appropriate for her topic). 

Thanks,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Powerpoint

Powerpoint presentations can be an important tool in many ways: they can enhance your speech with visuals such as charts and they can help your audience by providing an outline of what you are talking about. However as Professor Belisle pointed out, powerpoints are often poorly done and therefore do not help presentation but hurt them. Out of the useful websites we were provided in class, I have compiled a list of five guidelines I feel are important:

1. Watch out for what color the back ground of your powerpoint is. Neon colors and really bright colors (such as reds and oranges) are distracting and can be hard on readers' eyes. 

2. BE CONSISTENT. Consistency is key when creating a professional powerpoint. Be consistent with fonts, colors, etc. 

3. Steer clear of cheesy clip art. Cheesy clip art makes powerpoints look unprofessional and can dampen the credibility of the presenter. 

4. Don't make your powerpoint too wordy. Powerpoints are not supposed to be your ENTIRE presentation on screen- they're only supposed to be a simple outline. You're not trying to distract your audience from your presentation, you're trying to help them follow along. 

5. Do not make the font on your powerpoint too big. This can be distracting and overbearing to your audience. 

One thing that annoys me about bad powerpoint presentations is when powerpoints are too wordy and people presenting are just reading off of the screen. I think this is a sign of the presenter being unprepared and not knowing their material. And that makes the presenter lose a lot of their credibility. 

Thanks,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu 

Excel

To be honest, before I took this class I had only ever used Excel for one thing- to keep track of yearbook purchases in High school. I probably had the least experience of everyone in the class, or at least I figure I did/do. I had no idea Excel could do so much. I knew it had the ability to add or subtract... maybe even multiply, but I did not know it could alphabetize, find averages, create charts, along with many other things. 

I already have contemplated starting to keep track of my spending by using Excel. (Haven't gotten around to it because of pledging, unfortunately) I recommend everyone take some sort of class on Excel, it can really make a lot of things easier. It has (what I like to think) an almost limitless calculation capabilities. 

Thank you Mrs. Belisle for showing me the ins and outs of Excel. I really enjoyed it. I am really glad I have had the opportunity to take this class. 

Thanks,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Center for Learning and Technology

After I found my way down to the bottom of the library, I was amazed at what I had been missing. The AT&T Center for Learning and Technology definitely has the best technology of any other student computer center on campus. The computers come equipped with video editing equipment and they even have macs! (That was my favorite part because I am a proud Mac user) If I ever have to do something, such as edit a movie for a class, I will definitely be working in CLT. Not only do they have fully equipped Macs, but there are a lot of people that are available to ask questions and help you. (I would probably definitely need help if I ever decided to edit/create some sort of video) 

I also had no idea that CLT could be used as a kind of hide-out when studying. The closed off room looked like an excellent place to isolate yourself from all sorts of distractions. That would be useful in any class- especially around midterms and finals. I would probably also use the computers down there for some major projects, because they're better equipped than my own AND it's much quieter than anywhere else I could think to use a campus computer. After visiting that room, I really believe it is a necessity for everyone on this campus to at least know where it is. I am sure it will come in handy for anyone of any major. 

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu