Powerpoint presentations

One of my favorite powerpoint presentations was Jenny's presentation on the camp she works at during the summer. I think a summer camp like that is a great idea and that she would take part in a cause like that is very admirable.

I also liked Taylor's chinese writing powerpoint. I found it interesting how he compared the forms of chinese scripture with the writing of english. Very cool.

Powerpoint

Powerpoint has been a tool used by students for school and work presentations since it was introduced. I don't think I can even count the times that I've sat up trying to get my slides to transition from left to right, instead of right to left. Lemme tell you, it's pretty frustrating.

Obviously the most generic piece of advice I can give my classmates is to be simple with their slides. All to often students try to get very complicated and fancy with their powerpoint presentations and they just get boring instead of get better. (Or I just get more frustrated that they know how to make their powerpoint do cool things and I don't)...

I find things like loud sounds and crazy, headache-inducing transitions to be very distracting and takes away from the point of the presentation.

There are also 5 things I consider to be very important in a powerpoint...
1. Don't just have a powerpoint, print out some written documentation for people who may have missed the presentation.
2. Limit animation
3. Make the template for each slide consistent, if it's not, I find myself trying to figure out which theme will be next instead of paying attention to the actual presentation. (I think thats called ADD, but I'm not sure...)
4. Don't include too much data on the on-screen charts like pie-charts and barcharts.
5. Use the right colors! Color can increase interest and improve comprehension.

My Experience With Excel

During the weeks using Microsoft excel, I learned how to do numerous things that I did not know how to do previously. First off, I now know how to use the fuction tool. This option has come in very handy to compute different numbers and to make charts, it's hard to imagine ever using Excel without completely understanding this particular tool, it has made the program so much easier to use.
I also learned how to fully take advantage of the chart option. Before this class, it was hard for me to get a decent looking chart but now, I can make a chart or graph in no time.
After talking to my Dad, I found out that he spends a lot of his time at work for American Airlines making and analyzing spreadsheets of everything from part numbers to the number of passengers per week.
In the future, I hope to use Excel as a part of my business as an easy way to store and analyze the many numbers in the business world.

Field Trip to CLT

Because I was on a trip to Round Rock for baseball, I was unable to go on the center for learning and technology on the first floor of the library. I did however learn some interesting things through both the library website and by talking to classmates. I actually had no idea how infinite the resources at the library were, specifically from a technology standpoint. For example, there is a digital audio lab on the first floor of the library where students can record audio digitally and manipulate it with a synthesizer and editing hardware.

I think the room that could help me the most throughout my college career is Studios@CLT. This area has many computers and color printers along with multimedia software. This is the room that I could utililize to the greatest extent both in my computer skills class and in my other classes.