Presentations Page on WebCT

After much angst I have finally managed to create a web page for upload to the Presentations area of WebCT. Am very chuffed as this has been on my mind for some time. Went back over all the posts discussing it, and also used my new-found HTML skills to create a very basic page but it links successfully to assignment 1, and to this blog. Have got a space to link assignment 2, when it's done. Also tried to link my volcano web page, which is there, but it's not showing the spouting volcano pic on the first page, nor is it linking to all the other pages. Too late to figure this out tonight. I also will link my Test page.

The other delight tonight was uploading some screen shots, though still need to improve on where they go on the page. Two dragons slayed tonight!

HTML tutorial complete!

Have finally finished the HTML tutorial in module 3. It seemed to go on forever, but I certainly learnt a lot. It would have been good to get it done in a few days straight as I found coming back to it after a few days it would take a wee while to feel at home with it again. The stangest thing about it was using Notepad, as I think I have mentioned below. There didn't seem to be any easy mechanism for switching between several open Notepad screens, you had to retype in the name each time. I may be wrong on this, but I didn't see any navigational feature if there was one. Found the splitting task at the end quite fiddly to do - certainly have to have an eye for detail. Paid to check the web version when you'd done coding as you could then quickly see any typos leading to something not making sense. Always needed to refer to my handwritten layout as file numbers grew.



So, at last, I have my linked and flowing series of web pages Volcanoes. It was satisfying watching it all come together. I now have to link the whole thing to my Presentations section on webCT. I did my own independent practice page called "Test" as I went along (see above). It's rather ugly but was good for trying out the new things learnt in the tutorial. The only thing I didn't do on my Test page was split it into several linked pages. This was because at the very end I "lost" the page. I know it's there somewhere but it wasn't coming up in Notepad. I may do this very last splitting activity or I may not. I will however load my page also onto Presentations.
Am so behind in the modules, but at least I can move on now. Really regret not getting underway quickly way back in December.

Was encouraged (and surprised) by a very good mark for my first assignment. Just need the final push now for the concepts essay and the ongoing module work.

Logging in - HTML tutorial

This is just a quick message to log in and report progress.

I'm still slogging through the first part of module 3, the html tutorial. It's very long, but thankfully, is well-written and logical to follow. It's also been satisfying to work through as I see my html coding come to fruition on the both the volcanoes page and my own test page. I do hope to finish it today - I've got so much work to do.

The only problems I have found apart from my slow start mentioned in an earlier post is that it can be a bit of a juggle having three screens open at once. I've never really worked with tiling screens before, but have opted to size the three screens so they are all visible. I'm finding however I still often have to reduce or enlarge the screens to do or see the work.

Perhaps the biggest thing has been using Notepad. I find unless I have my file names written down I get lost, because there is no option for just going to the file menu then seeing what you have just been working on - you have to know the file name and start typing it in before it comes up. Now that I have a few files and folders in my HTML workspace folder I have had to write them all down in a diagram on a piece of paper and have it handy to keep my head around it all.

Hopefully this will be the largest chunk of module 3. I saw on the course discussion board some poor soul had done all of sections, not stopped at no. 14 as required. Still behind, but enjoying it nevertheless.

Logging in again & module 3

It has been a week since I last blogged and it feels like an age. I can see that people could get quite attached to their own blog - it really is a little piece of you and you care for it!
It was so good to get the first assignment in and that's what has kept me away. I am now trying to catch up on the modules - I have felt behind all through this course. SP4 is not a good time to study! The kids went back to school today and I haven't started work yet, so hopefully these few days will allow me to catch up.
Have spent the day and evening working through module 3, writing html. Got off to a slow start by not being able to find my Notepad file easily. (It wasn't till the tutorial mentioned that Notepad was a text editor that I realised that was what I should be using.) I then saved it as something else and got all confused about versions. Decided to just start the whole thing over and finally got under way. As usual, it's all new, but am enjoying it and feeling a sense of achievement. The html tutorial is well written and relatively straightforward. I've noticed my attitude to things has changed - I'm not quite so scared of trying to find my own answers now. Should be able to finish the html part of module 3 tomorrow - it's a very big module. Am way behind...

The week so far

Not much to report, except of course hard at work on my assignment, which as usual, I have left rather late. Despite the pressure, am really enjoying exploring new sites, software and online resouces like articles. There is some amazing stuff out there. Have decided to use a range of resources for the annobib, not just things like 'How To...' tutorials. Will have to add my learning links to my page and get some screen shots on too.
Have decided to stay away from the discussion board for a couple of days. I've been spending a lot of time on it, mainly just reading (which can be fruitful) or sometimes posting comments/questions. But it does keep me away from the assignment and finishing off the modules which I am yet to do.
Confidence has definitely grown and curiosity definitely sparked through this course.
:-)

Something new...

Finally!!! I've been able to upload a picture to my blog. Has taken a long time to be able to do this - I know it's meant to be easy, but just couldn't get it to work when I went through the Template, Add Page Element, Add Picture path. Finally asked Blogger for help and found if I just use the pic icon in the top bar it was easy to use. I also posted a question on the db which two people were kind enough to answer for me, even though I still couldn't get it to work. I can see I'll enjoy this feature, though important not to overdo it I think.
Next challenge, uploading some screen shots. Have also just learnt what Labels are and how they work. There is so much to learn, and am finding Blogger pretty good for someone not technical like me.

Online chatting

Participated in my first ever online chatting today through webCT with classmates. Had no idea you had to press enter to post your message, but finally worked it out. It's a strange thing - very immediate, fast and can take a while to read three messages that pop up together. Threads of conversations can get lost - I asked a question or two that didn't get followed up, or sometimes non-related things come in first before an answer. As others commented, being able to touch type is an advantage! I guess since we were just having a general chat and had nothing specific to chat about, our subject matter went all over the place, and because of that, you can't necessarily participate in everything. But I can see that if a group met to chat about a specific topic it could be very rewarding and fruitful. It was certainly nice to 'meet' some classmates in a different way to the discussion board. It was nice knowing that someone was in from overseas. And I really liked the immediacy in comparison to the discussion board.
I can't imagine what it would be like having a large number of people chatting at one time together. We had about 8 today by the time I jumped in.
I installed ICQ yesterday but now every time I turn my computer on it tells me there is a problem with it and I can't use it. I asked about it on the chat, but no-one seems at all interested in using it - I guess it's old hat, but I wouldn't know.