We had to bump the discussion of Williams and Tollett, and the planned workshop on web design ideas because too few people had done that homework. Then the brief tour of Dreamweaver got ugly and people experienced about 6 different things that can go wrong. Things were slow at times, too fast and confusing at other moments. No one left class with a clear sense that they accomplished "real" work on the personal website.
I spent a couple hours tonight reflecting on the class, and have come to the following decision:
I'm going to shift the WIKI part back to the last portion of the class and move more personal website work into the middle. This will enable us to make good progress on our sites.
Don't feel too frustrated if you're lost. You poked around in Dreamweaver, tried a few things (links, modify a template, make new pages based on a template, change some colors in the stylesheet, etc.) And you got a general look through some key parts of the interface.
I do have Dreamweaver screencasts to help with each part of the interface, and with making key modifications to the templates. These will be helpful in the coming weeks.
Let's come to class with our work ready to go next Tuesday, pick up the pieces, and carry on!
We'll talk about Williams & Tollett, Krug, our draft website content, and our designs. We'll also put our content into 4 pages on the website and actually upload a "draft" personal website. Bring your feedback for your peers so they have something to work with as they revise their own content.
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3 comments:
You are so right. Class was a terrible experience. For me this class is like graduating from Kindergarten and ready to go the first grade and then you find out that you have been skipped to the 10th grade. I am lost. I have no idea why I do not get it. I am going to try to begin to exude more positive energy because my way is not working. The only time I seem to get it is when I am in the classroom. I know that I need to learn these things especially since the internet is increasingly becoming a part of our everyday.
Well I kind of disagree. Yeah class was a little hard but this was our first time using dreamweaver. Many of us and especially me have never heard of dreamweaver so of course it would be a little hard. I am really hopeful that this will turn out really well in the end. I am looking forward to my finished product.
I agree to some of this post. I found a lot of the stuff on dreamweaver confusing, but I know programs like this take time. When I am learning a program, it is always hard at first. However, once you get used to something its like second nature. I'm sure in time it will become a lot less difficult and some really cool websites will be constructed by the students.
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