Final Paper
Click on the file below to see the final paper.
| lapin.doc |
User Test Feedback
Click here to go to the document summarizing the user test of this site.
Feedback
The first feedback I heard from most of my colleagues is the issue of language. I am struggling as to how to deal with that. I tried putting the tabs in both languages, but that made the tabs too long for the top of the page, and the tabs being on two lines across the top were distracting as well. I was able to find another template that I liked which allowed the tabs to appear along the side rather than the top. In this way, the dual language tabs are together and they appear in a cohesive column along the left margin. I am much more satisfied with the result.I teach my classes in the target language. The students that would be using this website would have no difficulty reading the material or navigating the site in German. I slip back and forth between the languages all day as I converse with my colleagues and my students. Feel free to add into the mix that I also teach French, so I speak three different languages every day all day long. Therefore, the boundaries between the languages are blurry for me. For the purposes of this website, I will need to make conscious decision as to how I want to work with this and be sure that I am consistent throughout the site.Andy made the valid comment that, once you are at the vocabulary wiki, there was no way to get back to the main site. Therefore, I made links regular intervals in the wiki to return to the home page of the website. Now that I think about it, the more logical return might be to the vocabulary page from which they entered the wiki. More than one person suggested the need for pictures. Bret made the comment that much of the site is swimming in a sea of white. I can’t deny that criticism; it is bland and lacks glitz. On the other hand, I want to have substance to the material. I feel like I can add the bling once I get the substance right. To me, this is reminiscent of the first reading we had about surface. I want the core to withstand scrutiny. I can always polish the surface later, but it is good too know what others expect.I am very glad that we did this exercise. I needed the fresh eyes to help me find the weak points in my project. I have introduced the website to my students and hope that they will also provide a good viewpoint for improvement.
Brainstorming activity
The results of my brainstorming are located at this page.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd3zcnfz_14gscjzrhk
PowerPoint
My PowerPoint is is about Hyperinflation in Germany from 1914 to 1923. Unfortunately, the transitions that I put into the presentation did not carry over into Zoho Show or Google presentations.
Hyperinflation
A flash version of the PowerPoint is here.
Social Networking
Click here to go to the Wiki which the Navigators created for our research project. We found information on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and Ning.
Web 2.0 Social Networking
Of the social networking site that the Nagivators researched, I feel that Ning.com is the best suited to my purposes. One of the best features of this site is that a private site can be established for a group of invitees. I am anxious to keep my students' work private and not share it with the world. This is to protect their identities for the most part, but they also prefer the security of knowing that their work will only be available to the small group that they trust.Since this is a unit based on reading a novel, the students will keep a reading journal through blogging. They should write a short summary of the plot of the story as they read each day, any new insights into the characters and any questions they have for me or their fellow students. They can also give a personal reaction to each reading assignment. The students can also work collaboratively on projects. They recently wrote a short play based on the action of one of the chapters. This endeavor would have been well-suited to the collaborative possibilities of Ning. Click here to reach the Damals site I created on Ning.
Technology Tools
WeeblyJingNingI-Spring ConverterVoiceThreadPowerPointFlip Video
