Decisions, Decisions and More Decisions
My first big decision was the format for my "Great Canadian City" scrapbook. I chose to make a website because there are more opportunities to create a unique design that will draw the audience's attention in a positive way. I chose to use the site Weebly to help me accomplish my goal because of several reasons. One of the reasons was my comfort level and expectations. Most people expect that they would do better on a program that they have used before as opposed to experiencing with a new program, and I am one of them. Secondly, I am more familiar with the functions from learning the techniques and skills during class. There are also more templates and features to use in a website in comparison to PowerPoint. Furthermore, there was also the possibility of HTML for myself to be more creative and in short, make a more attractive project. |
Then, I decided to make the title page on the top bar of the website rather than below the main menu because it makes the design more neat. As well, I believe that the title page should always remain on the page.
Next, I decided to separate my text with images. I did this to avoid the "text block" look and to make the information more clear for the reader. In addition, I separated the pages in a more organized manner by placing the sub-topics under their corresponding page on the main menu. This also helped give a more tidy look and aids to avoid confusion from the audience. Furthermore, I decided to use "Smart Art" because I wanted to display my information in more methods than simply text. As well, we had a short unit on Microsoft Office software and I felt that this was my opportunity to explore all the different functions that I may have not been familiar with. |
Also, I decided against the idea of using audacity or any other voice recording program, for that matter because I prefer writing my words. I believe this is beneficial for me because I am better at writing than speaking. As well, this prevents me from making a mistake by saying something wrong because I could just simply erase the mistake that I've typed.
Lastly, I decided to add the date of when the website was last modified to inform the audience how recent the information is. This is important because one might be searching for updated information that this website does not actually contain. |
The Good
The works in this project that I am most proud to share are the cultural activities and Google maps section. I believe that I displayed more extensive knowledge in those particularly areas in comparison to the others. I added videos, buttons and many other different forms of media that serve to make the human geography component more interesting and informative. In addition, I separated the information for the different events by giving each one their own specific page rather than filling one large page for all the events altogether, as that will get boring and confusing quickly. I think I did a good job on the Google maps section because I put the focus on the place of interest I was talking about to avoid confusion. I accomplished this by using Photoshop on my photos that were screenshots from my Google maps document. Furthermore, I believe that I applied the framework, What is, Where, Why There and Why Care for my city's places of interest well. |
The Bad
The part of the project that I found most difficult was the title pages and the migration information. I found these particular sections to be more difficult than the others for many reasons. Issues regarding the title page had quickly arose due to the fact that I was inexperienced with Photoshop and did not have the software at home. Therefore, I did not have much time to actually create the titles pages. As well, attractiveness is an important aspect to social media, such as websites. It was exhausting and frustrating because the title pages did not look how I wanted them to. The migration information was difficult for many to find. One of the root causes of this problem was that many cities did not have this type of information. Larger cities tend to display this, but not smaller cities which was exasperating. |
More Time, More Opportunity
If I had more time I would delve deeper into the information and create an overall better layout with more HTML coding. Furthermore, I could have reviewed my website more thoroughly and look for mistakes or ideas that could make my work even better. In addition, more time would have given me the opportunity to improve on small details. Nevertheless, I believe that I did the best that I could do in the amount of time I was given while balancing several other culminating activities. In short, if I was given more time I would have been able to showcase more of my ability for all the necessary and extra components. |
Changes?
There are many recommended changes to make this a better project in the future. One of those changes is to create two culminating activities, rather than one that is combined. Teachers have different teaching styles and look for different things, especially within two subjects. That being said, it is difficult for we, the students to accommodate the preferences and the expectations of both teachers. Secondly, I believe that there should be more time for the overall project or a larger time period between steps because it was very stressful to have everything finished within a short period of time. Although, I did like the concept of breaking the culminating activity into steps because it helped myself focus better and made the project less overwhelming, especially in our first year. |
Last Updated: June 1st, 2014