Adding Photo from Picasa

 It took me a while to figure this out, but I have successfully added an image from Picasa to my blog.  The online tutorials didn't help.  There is no Blog This! button in my tray, as was suggested.  Or if it is there, I didn't see it.  At the top left menu, I found something similar in Create. I'm getting a little better at exploring.

I thought I published this, but alas, not.  Let's see if it works this time this way...sigh.

Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon

Apparently, it shows up as a draft., not an image...frustrating.

Moving Right Along...

My Instructional Website is finished and submitted.  I see many similarities between the instructional website and the webquest.  They have an introduction page, they have objectives, tasks, resource links and a means of guiding or walking the student through the project.  The webquest had sections for instructing other teachers.  I suppose that could be included in an instructional website, optionally.

My instructional website is one section/unit/project within my second year horticulture landscape design II course in higher education.  I created it as though the course textbook did not include a section on designing rain gardens.  I will include it in my CMS next.  The webquest will be another section/unit/project in my CMS. It is on the topic of designing a garden space with willow structures. The podcast I created will be the introduction to another section on extending the growing season with high, medium, and low tunnel structures.  The overall theme to my landscape design course is that good landscape design can be creative and cost effective to include all garden users.   It can serve many purposes besides aesthetics and there are many niche markets to consider for the landscape designer.  This is a course I would be excited to teach.

Hot Potatoes

I just finished creating a crossword puzzle and a short quiz for my instructional website.  It took me hours to learn and it was not easy, but I have to say it was a lot of fun!   Hot Potatoes is definitely going into my toolkit for future use. 

I like twitter.  I like when I go over the 140 character limit and it tells me I need to be more creative.  For some reason I don't mind being pushed by a computer, like I mind being pushed by humans.  So much of what I follow on twitter, though, is redundant.  Three organizations will repeat the same information.  Some organizations tweet hourly or every so many minutes with nothing of value, for days on end.  But it sure has been helpful with providing information on the Ohio storm cleanup efforts.  So I will take the bad with the good and continue to follow twitter.  I learned a new word from twitter, this week, derecho. And saw an image showing exactly what it is. I am a weather channel junkie, but never heard them use that word before.  Television and the internet has made science come alive for me.  It was one of my worst subjects in elementary and high school, as there were never enough good visuals to help me understand the text. 

I like blogging, too.  It gives me time to reflect and gather my thoughts without pressure.  And of course I get to chose the subject matter.  I've read  other bloggers posts this week that have included photos of their property damage and experiences with the storms  that they have encountered.  So different than having someone tell me on the phone what they experienced.  Blogging makes it more real. It's also an unobtrusive way to stay current while I'm immersed in my coursework. 

It's finally hitting me.  One more week and I will have completed the masters program.  It's so hard to believe.

Instructional Website

I need to get moving on my instructional website. I have been reflecting all day.  Now I need to sit down with paper and pen and write it out.  I can still see a design better on paper than on the computer screen.  And although I can type out a blog post or tweet or respond or write a discussion post without composing on paper first, big projects require being in a closed room with no distractions and no computer.  I hope its just a habit that will evolve into being able to work at the computer full time at some future date.  Now that I think about it, I used to compose my discussions on paper before posting, when I first starting taking online courses.

I'm afraid I was overambitious with my design for my instructional  website.  Except for having 8 pages planned, but now I see I need to have 10.  So  students will design a rain garden for a client that is having pollution runoff and rainwater ponding issues on their property.  Similar to what I experience when we have a big rain on my property.  So as a student what do I need to know to design and construct one with current best practices.  Its falling into place now...

Near the End of Week 4

I finished my podcast and submitted it on time.  I tried to edit out some of the noise, but actually kept making it worse the more I edited.  I don't understand the mechanics very well of sound and manipulating sound.  And watching the blue waveform move around is distracting, while speaking.  Thankfully, I had taken the podcasting workshop previously, so I didn't have to relearn the entire process, just parts of it.  I didn't install the LAME application correctly and can't figure out how to, so I uploaded the podcast in iTunes as a WAV file , then converted it to an MP3 file, copied it and pasted it on my desktop.  I then uploaded the MP3 file to Google Docs, which thankfully  was easy to do. I am grateful for my colleagues' help in the podcasting discussions In the Computer Apps course, as many of us were struggling with the process, while for others it was a breeze.   All I could think when I was finished was, "What an ordeal!"

I understand the need  for audio instruction for students who have reading challenges of whatever kind.  So I know I need to practice and get better at podcasting and screen casting.  I also need to include the scripts for hearing impaired students.  It is a matter of prioritizing and making these things a part of every project I do.  Some day I will do all this with little thought.

Now I need to focus on my instructional website and the wiki.  Then I will put it all together into the CMS Moodle to create my whole course.  I chose horticulture since gardening is the top hobby in America. Some people will turn their hobby into a business at some point in their life.  And more horticulture businesses are needed with the global warming issue, we are currently experiencing.

My course is a fictitious landscape design II course. My podcast was about extending the growing season with high, low and medium tunnels and hoop houses.  My instructional website is about designing and constructing a rain garden to solve ponding and pollution runoff issues.  My webquest was about designing and constructing garden structures in a park space with willow plantings. I tried to imagine what I would benefit from learning if I were to take a landscape design course. I believe putting more horticulture courses online will allow more people to benefit from higher education's knowledge resources. Everyone can't be driving to bricks and mortar universities for the small offering of hands on horticulture courses.  With the Internet, effective applications, and creative thinking, we can bring the courses to the students.Win-win.

End of Week Three

I just posted some information to the wiki.  I've read several sources to see how they recommend designing a website.  I am breaking the steps down a little further, as I think more smaller chunks of information work better when creating a large project, such as a website.  I am reading a book on designing websites, Web Style Guide, 3rd Ed (actually I have the 2nd edition as well to see what the difference are), by Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton (2008).  I get more out of reading paper text and it allows me to get away from the computer screen for awhile.  A book is more comprehensive than web pages, which I need in learning new skills.  I will be able to add more content to the wiki as I continue to read the book.  I didn't find much on the Internet about designing instructional websites, specifically. Not sure why. Maybe it is a new concept? 

And Add a Smiley

Today, I submitted my second website design this week.   It was for a website design workshop.  Two similar but different assignments from instructors with two similar but different perspectives.  So now I am reflecting on website design.  I still want to learn more, maybe not to become an expert, but I am still no where near where I wish to be.  The content of an instructional website is what is most important, so to me I need to develop the content first by imagining that I am the student in the class.  And asking the question "What do I need to know to learn how to do...whatever it is?"

With the content of the instruction complete I can then design the website that will house it.  At least this approach makes more sense to me.  And I admit, most things in life I have done backwards, so I think I am on the right track for me.  "To thine own self be true..." (William Shakespeare). 

So now I need to catch up on blogging and reading others blogs, log in to twitter, and catch up on the discussions.  And add to the wiki on a topic that I know a little more about now.  Hopefuly, that's all