I ocassionally searched some web design resources for my tentative homepage building. The URL sites I read a little bit more in past time are: http://www.utexas.edu/learn/, in particular, http://www.utexas.edu/learn/pub/html.html, and UIUC's http://www.uiuc.edu/help/creating.html. I like them simply because they are simple for beginners and easy to follow. Based upon the information I got from them, I learned the basics about internet and homepage building.
I really want to learn more in this course. I thank you for your provinding this opportunity and instructions.
Wang (Chengzhi)
cwang2@uiuc.edu
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 16:48:16 +0000
From: Dave Huber <dhuber@students.uiuc.edu>
To: j-levin@uiuc.edu
Subject: assignment #1
After having read the "Harnessing the power of the web" tutorial, i found that it:
was concise (by its own admission), but detailed enough for most people, especially novices to this are of interest.
followed good instructional techniques, initially giving the reader an overview of what they can expect to reap from the tutorial.
was extremely well organized into groups & subgroups that were clearly marked (traditional outline as well as iconically). This is a help in a medium that lends itself to jumping around...the reader always knows his/her place.
as with any good page, provides links to other related areas of interest or more detailed information.
gave a good deal of support for web-based intruction/learning even before describing how to do it.
gave a good many examples of actual projects (even a directory) that could be used as models or as a catylst to a differing idea.
covered a lot of bases that might otherwise go unattended (parental consent, email addresses published or not, acceptable use policy specific to the project, planned resting periods, debriefing, marketing you success with the media.....)
_________________________________________________________________
The tutorial I chose can be found at:
http://www.extreme-mac.com/html/index.html
This is a tutorial on how to create html documents, and it was invaluable when I created my home page at my previous school. Some of the things I liked about it were:
it comes in a downladable application form. This was helpful for me due to my very slow computer/modem speed.
it is far more interactive than a booklet on the same subject.
it is clearly outlined.
it starts at the very basic level.
it encourages you to copy sections of text, then alter them as you see fit.
it can act as a handy reference to things you may not reall, such as color codes, and lets you see them as they appear on screen.
it shows you the product just before the explanation, then shows you multiple options.
the chapters are short enough so that you do not become discouraged or bogged down.
while it is not an exhaustive amount of html information, there is more than enough information to get a user to create a very good page. Using information on "GifBuilder" (in fact, downloading it from a related page), I was able to begin easily animating my own gif files which made, at least for me, my page much mre interesting.
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 12:44:25 -0500
From: Jiaying Lin <j-lin3@students.uiuc.edu>
Organization: edpsy387
To: j-levin@uiuc.edu
Subject: URL for EDPSY387_Jiaying Lin
Dear Prof. Levin,
Here is the URL for HTML tutoring http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutors.html
Description: This web site covers different topics on HTML programming, which includes JavaScript, DHTML and layers Tutoring, JavaApplet and CGI...etc. It is a nice page to learn the basic concept of different aspects of HTML. Also, you can get some goodies, such as different kinds of JavaApplets, to start up and "decorate" your homepage.
Evaluation: Since this webpage is for tutoring, the author doesn't put a lot of detail on how to do HTML programming. So it is not too overwhelming for the beginner. Besides that , the author seems to try to relax the beginner, his writting apparently is close to the spoken form, such as "Actually, Java is pretty easy. It's just reeeeeeeaaaaal testy", "So, do you want a JavaApplet, Huh?". As a person who still thinks programming is a tough job even though I had one-year programming experience, I basically like to learn every computer language in much more fun way and relaxed atmosphere. My point is that the writing style is one of the most important factors of having me decide to look at this page or not. PS: The drawback of this site is that some of the links are broken.
Jiaying Lin
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1998 16:50:07 -0500
To: Jim Levin <j-levin@uiuc.edu>
From: "Michael J. Pennisi" <mpennisi@students.uiuc.edu>
Subject: EDPSY 387 Assignment
Dr. Levin,
I tried to keep in the spirit of the day by finding a tutorial that was related to technology integration. The Web site I found has the URL:
http://web66.coled.umn.edu/Construction/Default.html
This site is a tutorial about how computer networks are designed. It explains the function of key equipment as well as the process by which data packets move from computer to computer.
This is a good starting site for educators who want more perspective on the wire that they stick in the back of their computer. As more and more schools are wired, more and more teachers will see hubs and/or routers in their buildings. They should have a basic idea of what these devices do in the same way that they should know what a breaker-box does. Furthermore, most teachers find themselves typing in long numbers when they configure their machines TCP/IP software. This tutorial may help them to appreciate the purpose of these numbers.
I like the design of the tutorial in that the scale of the discussion increases from the basic premise of ingredients necessary to make two computers 'talk' to each other to a couple of LANs wired together into a WAN and then connected to the 'Net. In addition I like the extensive use of graphics to illustrate ideas. Another feature is that the author has included check points where the user answers a quiz question about the function of some critical component.
Changes I would recommend would be to take some clutter out of the graphics. The pictures have network numbers everywhere without a clear explanation as to why they are there (i.e. the numbers as displayed make the pictures more difficult to follow). Also, the tutorial would benefit from an animation routine showing the travel of a packet from one place to another with pop-up messages describing the chain of events. Also this tutorial could be expanded with some brief explanations about the benefits/disadvantages of different wiring schemes.
I think others in class would actually be interested in this tutorial at some point during the course.
Sincerely,
Mike Pennisi
___________
I used to be with it, then they changed what 'it' was.
mpennisi@students.uiuc.edu
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 16:29:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: gayle-marie holmes <holmes1@students.uiuc.edu>
Subject: 1st EdPsy 387 assignment
To: j-levin@uiuc.edu
1st assignment for EdPsy 387:
I'm Gayle Holmes. My goals for this course are to better understand computer technology and how to use the computer effectively for educational purposes.
The URL of the education tutorial that I found is: http://www.elliottwave.com/education/index.htm
The site is Elliott Wave International's Education Center. The purpose of this Center is to teach the Wave Principle. The Wave Principle is a detailed description of how groups of people behave. It reveals that mass psychology swings from pessimism to optimism and back in a natural sequence, creating specific and measurable patterns. The Principle is one of the most widely accepted methods of market analysis in the world. There are two main sections in this site:
1. Introduction to The Wave Principle
2. A Comprehensive Course on the Wave Principle
The Comprehensive Course consists of 34 lessons. Once you register, a new lesson is available every 24 hours.
From: "René Rosas" <r-rosas@students.uiuc.edu>
To: <j-levin@uiuc.edu>
Subject: Introduction
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 08:48:40 -0500
Hello Dr. Levin,
For my tutorial I have selected http://www.webchic.com/primers/index.html (It seemed appropriate). This site is loaded with the most basic information regarding the www, email, and computers, and intended as an introduction for new users. In addition, this site contains information for conducting research online, newsgroups, and a tutorial on html.
As a novice myself, I found this site unusually well sequenced. I was taken step by step in a progression that I that I could relate to, through the above mentioned topics. I do wish the pages were better linked so that you could get back to the TOC quickly, rather than having to hit the back arrow through every page.
From: "Noelle C. Smith" <knsmith@advancenet.net>
To: <j-levin@uiuc.edu>
Subject: Ed Psy 387 Homework Assignment 1
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 17:00:36 -0500
Greetings,
The tutorial I worked through was "HTML Crash Course for Educators." http://www.gsn.org/web/_lib/_html/edweb/htmlintr.htm The areas covered were:
Introduction to HTML
Headers, Titles, and Paragraphs
Stylized Text and Other Tricks
Hypertext Links
Intermediate HTML Design
Using Images
Conclusion: Putting It All Together
This sight provided a basic introduction to "writing" html pages. The set up was clear and easy to understand with one exception - the Headers page. Here the creator talks about the title, but does not clearly indicate whether it is the title of the page or the text that appears on the bar above the menus. While other html tutorials/guides list the proper commands to enter, this site provides examples and shows the outcome one would receive using such commands. An interesting part of this tutorial was the option to take an interactive quiz. The creator provided a place to input a sample page and then to test it's success. Unfortunately, none of the quizzes worked. The first quiz allowed me to arrange my page but when it was time to view the results, I received "HTTP/1.0 501 Not Supported." For the rest of the quizzes, I was not able to reach the site to begin the quiz. The tutorial wasn't a complete loss because my husband explained that I could practice in notepad or wordpad. This would be a good note to add to the site directions; not everyone would have a resource to question in their home.
Noelle Smith
210 Kenwood Rd. #337
Champaign, IL 61821
217-359-7064
From: "Kenneth Smith" <knsmith@advancenet.net>
To: <j-levin@uiuc.edu>
Subject: Intro and tutorial review
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 19:27:44 -0500
Dr. Levin,
At Web66 I found the Network Construction Set (http://web66.coled.umn.edu/Construction/default.html), a tutorial on setting up and explaining how a LAN and WAN functions. The tutorial progresses through eight chapters beginning with an introduction and explanation of the basic parts of a network: the computers, the cables, the transceivers, and the routers. Stephen Collins, the author, then describes how the computers' IP addresses and information packets are sent from one machine across the network. Finally, he describes the communication between computers located on different networks by means of the router.
I found this tutorial to be a very fundamental and understandable description of how a network works. It succeeded in helping me to better understand what a network does. The absence of page controls to navigate the tutorial is one criticism I have of this site. The other is a lack of links for both cross-referencing the web site and links to other web-sites that have additional and advanced information on the topics covered within the tutorial.
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 1998 21:58:18 -0500
To: j-levin@uiuc.edu
From: Emad Alghazo <a-alghaz@students.uiuc.edu>
Subject: URL
Hi Prof. Levin, As I was browsing the internet I came upon this web site
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr034.shtml
I thought that it was very interesting. It is very Informative of the concept Inclusion, It gives links to other related sites which I think is very helpful. However, the first page of the site is distracting because of the visuals and the blinking. It takes a while for the information to download. I hope that this is not only happening on my PC.
Thank you and have a nice day.
Emad
___________
Emad M. Alghazo
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
College of Education
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
a-alghaz@uiuc.edu
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 13:16:51 -0500
To: "Dr. Jim Levin" <j-levin@uiuc.edu>
From: Andrea Depew <adepew@uiuc.edu>
Subject: Psych 387 correspondence
The sites that I found are as follows:
http://www.psych.purdue.edu/~coglab/
This is a cognitive psychology online laboratory that allows the users to actually test experiment on line and make decisions about their results. There is a list of demo's and one can do the experiment by clicking on the icon. Information about the experiment (eg: "Sternberg's memory search task") will then be displayed with instructions about how to go about testing the experiment. But, went you press the icon to load the computer responds that the URL is not on the server. I suspect that this means that this can only be accessed from a purdue u based server and is used for the class that the professor teaches. It was a rather exciting way to have students study experiments and teaches in a way that cannot be done in the classroom.
http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/sen_tut.html
This tutorial seems to have been developed in 1995 (with some portions from 1994) and it is unclear if it has been updated since that time. It does use very nice graphics on the home page to direct the individual to the appropriate information. It also has icons on the bottom of the pages to direct the reader back to various links in the tutorial or to related tutorials. The first topic on the tutorial reads like a book with little direction about advancing to the next pages (but he does say this is a draft). The other topics provide more navigation direction within the content. If this material is really from 1995, it appears to be a nice early effort. (But how does one tell about when something has been updated?). There did not appear to be anything new from this professor in the main page for psychological tutorials and demonstration page.
http://www.illusionworks.com/index.html
A web site devoted to optical and sensory illusions. It can be navigated quite easily and gives clear explanations. graphically pleasing. Gives pictures, sound and motion to get the information across. Some of the sites that are in the home page are not fully developed but those pages that are up and working are quite interesting. The site is copyright 1997, but appears to be undergoing change. The top banner of the home page proclaims the multiple awards that this site has received.
Thanks for your time. See you in class tomorrow.
Andrea Depew
UIC CON
Urbana Regional Site
408 N. Goodwin (m/c 076)
Urbana, IL 61801
333-9167
From: "Adeoye, Blessing F. CER" <b-adeoye@cecer.army.mil>
To: "'Prof. Levin'" <j-levin@uiuc.edu>
Subject: Exemplary Personal Web Pages
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 08:56:26 -0500
Dear Prof Levin:
URL for some homepages that I have used for tutorial and learning:
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/491
http://www.sea.gwu.edu/student/sbraxton/ISD/isd _homepage.html
http://www.train-me.net
httpwww.asymetric.com/oll
Blessing Adeoye
Architect
b-adeoye@cecer.army.mil or adeoye@students.uiuc.edu
TEL: 217-352-6511 x 7466 FAX: 217-373-6724 http:\\www.cecer.army.mil
Visit my homepage: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/badeoye
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 16:11:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Heekyung Choi <choi309@yahoo.com>
Subject: [edpsy387]delayed homework for week 1 and 2
To: j-levin@uiuc.edu
Hi, Dr. Levin,
Week 1 Assignment <Exemplary tutorials found by class members> URL : http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/hchoi8/1stweek.html
http://www.gre.org/cbttest.html
This web page gives detailed information of computer-based test of GRE, a new form of taking the exam. It is useful for the test takers who has not used computers for testing purpose.
It provides a link to <http://www.ets.org/cbtdemo.html>, where we can download a demo program with which we can experience what the new form of test is like. (It was provided real-time, without download, before.)
Heekyung Choi