PowerPoint Helps Showcase the Star of the Show: You!

After reading the articles concerning PowerPoint presentations, I feel I am guilty of a few mistakes I have made in the past concerning my assignments. I found the "Top Ten Slide Tips" article to be very helpful. It had extensive information concerning what graphs to insert into a presentation. This article also talked about bullets and when you should use your own notes instead of putting it all on a slide. The second article titled "Recommendations for Faculty on PowerPoint" had a great deal of information concerning design. Design is important when it comes to a PowerPoint presentation because your design should complement your speech and not overpower it. Some things I find annoying about PowerPoint inserting video and sound into a presentation. I tend to get frustrated when I need to do this for an assignment. Here are some important guidelines to follow when putting together a PowerPoint presentation together. First you should keep your presentation relatively simple. This means there shouldn't be lots of pictures and text that cover the entire slide, but a simple slide that covers the main points and isn't crowded. The second guideline would be to use color to your advantage. By using color you can draw your audience in closer which is always a good thing! People respond to color so it is important to pay attention to this detail in your PowerPoint. The third guideline to consider is limiting what you put in your bullets. Often too much information is crammed into bullets on a slide making the overall presentation look confusing. Instead try to use just a few main points to keep it simple. The fourth guideline is to use better quality graphics rather than clip art. Many times clip art is easier ,however the results aren't the same. By using your own photos you can add a personal touch ,yet still look professional. Lastly the fifth guideline is to use the notes option on Microsoft PowerPoint. Using this tool will allow you to keep your ideas together without overcrowding your PowerPoint. Overall PowerPoint is a good tool where people can convey their ideas and data to an audience. The most important key to a good PowerPoint is how you connect with the audience. Your PowerPoint should complement your speech.

Using Excel: Now and Later

After using Excel in class, I learned many new features that I did not know about. The main component that I learned dealt with functions. I did not know how to use Excel and put in functions , but now I can see why it is important to know how to do this. I find functions in Excel to be particularly helpful when calculating large amounts of numbers in a chart or graph. Currently in my biology lab class we have been using Excel. Now I can quickly insert graphs that include my data. Excel has been very helpful for that class.  I definitely feel I can use this program in the future as well. When I enter the work force I will be better prepared to use Excel and all it can offer. I think it is a great program once you understand all the different options available. One academic field that comes to mind when using Excel would be accounting. CPA's deal with numbers and tax returns so they use Excel or versions of Excel every day.  Excel can be useful for so many businesses because most deal with numbers. I am glad I got to work with Excel. I feel I have a better understanding of the program now.

Is This Picture Real?

After looking at the Pictures that Lie on the CNet News website, the one picture that stood out to me was the University of Wisconsin picture. I chose this picture due to the controversy that could arise from this one image. The original picture was from a 1993 shot of a football game at the university. Later in 2000 the University wanted to show a picture of just how diversified the campus was. Instead of taking a whole new shot they decided to photoshop a picture of a black student. The student's picture had been taken in 1994. By photoshopping the image, the image looks as if the students were all at the same football game without any question. The whole idea behind the manipulation of the photo was to project an image of diversity and how it is seen throughout the university including popular school football games. The photo was not necessarily harmful , but rather deceiving. For future students making decisions on where to attend college, they expect correct information concerning the school. The school probably would have been better off taking a whole not picture instead of photoshopping a student into the image. Photoshopping is a great tool , however there are many instances where pictures that are created can become questionable.

Technology and Learning at Trinity

After vising the first floor of the library, I collected some information for a few rooms that could help me in the near future with an assignment. One area that was interesting to me was the Digital audio lab. In this room are CD players, turn tables, and other various music recording devices if anytime you ever needed to record a song. I think it's awesome that we can have access to this type of equipment at the library. Another room that could come in handy would be the media presentation lab/integrated learning center. The media presentation lab has touchscreen with a stylus and speakers located around the room. Here a group of people can view presentations. The integrated learning center is a great place to get a hang of a new program.Here mac's and PCs are readily available for students as well as Trinity staff. Currently Blackboard is being switched over to T-Learn so there are many instructional classes for TA's on how to use the new system. The Studies@CLT has been the most help for me so far this year. I am currently taking a film class so Trinitv puts movies on where I can watch them at my own convenience. Trinitv uses Ethernet rather than a wireless connection so I make sure I'm connected ,but other than that I really like using the system. Overall I feel I can use integrated learning center for this class if I ever needed help with any system Trinity offers. I feel this part of the library can be useful for me.

What's the Deal with Copyright and My Music?

Yesterday's presentation on copyright was beneficial with a lot of new information. I learned a few facts such as the first copyright law was passed before the Bill of Rights. Another cool fact I learned was that the original time of copyright used to be 14 years. This has all changed and in this day and age I learned it is extremely crucial to understand copyright laws. As students on a college campus, copyright laws are highly enforced. I did not know that 4% of all file sharing that’s done happens on college campuses include lawsuits that are aimed at higher education. This includes the popular use of file sharing especially when it comes to music. When I was at home I never thought of getting a copy of a cd as anything, however after this presentation I have learned some important information. Now I understand why there are penalties for this acts. A person can be charged between $13,00-$17,000 for a download of a single song. I did not know that file sharing could cost a person that much! As students on a college campus we need to take certain precautions concerning file sharing. For starters, we should immediately stop downloading music and files for our own safety. There are plenty of websites such as iTunes where you can purchase a song for ninety-nine cents or a whole album for a good price. There are other websites such as Rhapsody where you can pay every month and download as many songs as you want with no penalty. Another alternative that I like to use is youtube. Whenever I'm on my computer I like to open up youtube and play some songs while I'm doing my homework. By being unaware of the consequences concerning copyright and file sharing we can prevent many problems.