LAST!

Today was the last class for Rab's SE, and my brain is now full　of the latest online-technologies :) Thank you Rab for these practical tools, add-ons, web pages, stylish presentation makers, and more! This class was a very meaningful preparation time for my theme writing class in fall.

About the google chrome, I heard that it was the fastest browser for windows so my guess is that most of the ICU students are using it at home or at ICU. I am usually using firefox (because it has all add-ons I installed), however, I sometimes feel that the chrome is faster and reacts better. By the way, I never use safari or explorer at home.


I'm almost done with my web-page!:)looking forward to see other classmates' web on Sunday!

data for improvement

It is almost an end of this term.
I answered the four surveys for this Rab's class, and overall I am quite satisfied with what I gained from SE. I'm using prezi for creating my presentation, but I want to try Keynote next time. Also I keep subscribing the LifeHacker page which is very interesting and original.

This class was always held in front of the Mac PCs, so we did not get a good opportunity to talk or discuss with other class mates. Therefor, for the next year's Digital Literacy class, small group project might be proper for both using IT and making friends. I like the idea of this course as a preparation for theme writing, so the project can be an easy one that students work for two weeks or so.

sleeeeeepyyyyy
good night!

working day

it's almost an end of the spring term! My sophomore english class will (hopefully) finish in 2 weeks. I have a lot of duties right now so i really need time and passion lol

today in class, we worked individually on the project. I was searching for much information using google books and zotero. There are not much books and academic web pages that focus on the important roles of the Japanese Emperor. I guess it is relatively a non-discussed topic. My understanding is that most of the Japanese are not conscious of the contribution the Emperor make for this country.

I hope i can make my reasons strong enough to make people realize the greatness of our Emperor.

iMovie

In today's class, three members who were in Rab's ARW class(?) gave us a lecture on iMovie, another fantastic Mac stuff! This time, iMovie enables us to create a movie-like video with lots of themes, effects, decorations and more. You can insert subtitles and world maps if necessary.

I'm thinking of making a video using iMovie. i hope prezi works well with Quick Time Player.

I'm wondering about the homepage but, are these(listed below) the basic thins you need for the SE homepage??
presentation slides, video recording of myself, lists of books and websites, pictures
??

iPhoto

With all theses interesting and amazing Mac functions, I really started to regret buying a Windows computer even it was very cheap! For the next one, I would definitely buy Mac!

Today we covered iPhoto which can edit any photos and turn them into your favorite looking photos. I have this kind of photo-editing-software in my PC, but iPhoto is easier and plus it enables me to edit photos into more professional looking.

We also saw a short tutorial video for "skitch". It seems fun to share snaps with friends. However, skitch is for only Mac users, so I don't have a choice to use this thing...!

prezi

I really loved shantonu and saori's guiding class for prezi. Since I already knew about the prezi and was amazed by its unique presentation displays, I was playing around with it for several times (never used it for actual presentation). But, I realized that I had little knowledge about its functions....for example, I never noticed that colors and fonts can be customized! that's so basic thing in making presentations lol Their lecture was very beneficial and I really want to thank them :)!

new friend

Do you know Tumblr?It is a social blog for sharing photos and text. Similar to Twitter, you can follow other people and check what they have posted. You can enjoy tons of interesting photos which were taken by professional photographers. Just try once if you like those kinds of stuffs!


In Wednesday's class, I shared my theme-writing-information with Hirotaka whom I talked for the first time. Then I created a google site, a very easy and simple homepage. Rab said that we all would finish this course with our own websites containing all information about essay topics. I really need to spare some time to pursue my research on the topic! Hmm... I need TIME!

Apple is incomparable!

Today, for the first time, I used Keynote which is a presentation-maker for Mac users. It was AMAZING! Keynote is incomparable with Powerpoint (which I have been using for my whole academic life...) in many ways. It got numbers of stylish and sophisticated presentation themes so you can find the best theme which would match perfectly to the topic. Also, what I favored especially was a function to organize the way it appears during an actual presentation. For example, there were many unique ways to move to the next slide and to make text appear.

If one manages to use keynote properly, anyone can make an appearing and interesting looking presentation like Rab did in our NP class!

The only BIG problem is ..... I'm not a Mac user!! :/
I truly hope that in near future, Windows will come up with something similar to keynote!

presentation practice

With prepared presentation slides, we learned more effective way of showing information and images. Simple and strong images make audiences attracted to your presentation. In order to present effectively, you need to make sure that audiences are listening to your speech, not reading slides. The best way to train your presentation skill is to practice repeatedly and record them to listen how you speak. I'm very bad at talking in front of people, so I really need to improve the skill to do a speech...!

first time survey

For the first time, I created "Forms" at the Google document, and it was very professional.
You can choose the most suitable way of survey depending on your question. After receiving answers, the google doc automatically creates charts and graphs of responses. It is well organized and easy to use :) I actually conducted the survey and send it to SE members, and got an interesting reactions. Hearing different voices is always interesting!

We also worked on our presentations. I need to improve my skill to provide an interesting and appealing presentation!

essay topic

Knowing reliable academic sources is essential when conducting a research for anything. In CM(Communication Via Multimedia) page which you can access from google group, there are numbers of web pages for better searching. Also the CM1 -Research page introduces more practical way to do a research. By understanding them, finding sources can be no problem at all!

The saying, a picture is worth a thousand words, tells us that a photo or a picture plays an important role when you want to address a statement. flicker from Yahoo offers pictures with no copy rights, therefore you can use them in your essay without any anxiety of being arrested!!


About the essay topic, I was gonna write about the Emperor system in Japan, saying that we should abolish the system because (to me) the benefit of their existence was unclear and our tax was used for their living. But... maybe I'll change the topic since I found it difficult to find sources in English ...even I used the pages that Rab taught us in class. Now (because I did some research on the Emperor and learned their importance for Japan)I'm thinking of saying that we Japanese should be more aware of the greatness of our Emperor and realize its contribution for the peace. I think it can be arguable since there are a few communities demanding abolition of the Emperor system....

I'll look for much information on this topic!need to put sources in zotero!!!

practical use of the Internet

With tens of thousands of websites in the Internet, it is very difficult to find practical page for any purposes.
Rab taught several websites which enable you to watch or preview short movies online for free. Freedocumentaries and Media Education Foundation have lots of movies and documentaries categorized by topics. YouTube and Veoh can also be useful for academic purposes.
When searching information for one's essay, it is okay to use DVDs and documentaries as well as books. I'll check these websites above to see if there is any matching video for my topic :)

ZOTERO!

I already knew about the zetero from last year's ELP class and it has been very helpful when writing my essays, especially works cited. Today, however, I learned the latest zotero functions and was grateful to realize them. I always wanted to have an online-zotero with every source I put previously. I knew that there was a portable zotero , but it needed USB stick all the time, which is too bothering for me :(

Rab taught us today how to sync with zotero server online which enables to merge the online-zotero and the home computer zotero. With this function, I always can draw out information I liked from any computer in the world. THIS is what I wanted! Essay writing will surly be more efficient!

Also, there was a way to organize plenty books and documents in zotero by tagging them. You can also leave memos for each information to remind important pages and phrases.

Zotero has been my good friend when writing essays and will surely be so.

Stuff you better know!

I changed a design and a theme for my Blogger, and now it looks so pretty:) I was surprised with numerous numbers of fonts that you can apply for the blog! Everyone should check it out and re-design your page to make it attractive!

As always, Rab offered us some useful tools that we can use for the rest of our academic lives.

Instapaper(for safari browser) eliminates all the distracting ads and displays only the article you want to read. It simplifies the complicated web page into a sheet of paper with every information you need! It has a function to save pages that you wish to keep for your later review, which is very useful when you writing an essay.

Evernote Web Cliper(for firefox browser) is similar to Instapaper, but and also save photos and short movies attached to the articles. You can access to Evernote through iPhone, iPod Touch and any other smart phones you have.



this has nothing to do with Sophomore English Class...but there will be
★LAMBS LIVE on April 25(mon) ★@新D 多目的ホール
please come and enjoy yourself with Latin Music：）thank you!

firefox addons

I have been using firefox as my browser for almost an year. Some of the firefox add ons offer comfortable environment when using the Internet. During the class, I had a chance to examine popular add-ons I didn't know and actually installed one to my home computer. It is Foxtab, a tab that you can display your most favorite websites just like pictures in an art museum. Its is a popular 3D tab and can be chosen from several layouts. It enables you to access your favorite sites only by a click. I found this very useful and attractive because it has this cool and simple display similar to Cooliris. I also found this firefox add on for strong password security, LassPass Password Manager. It creates strong passwords and the add-on automatically saves them , therefore you only have to remember one password. It also automatically fills forms so you can save time. I haven't used this LassPass Password Manager, but since I repeatedly use the same password, this certainly offers me a better security.

I want to take a full advantage from this Digital Literacy class to make my ICU life more efficiently and useful:)

SE with Rab Again!:)

I knew that Rab's SE class is popular that students are determined by lot, so I prayed to win the lottery ...and here I am! I had Rab for my ELP in spring, and since then I had been a fan of his way of teaching, making us question the media and introducing the world we never knew. (I love his unique Scottish pronunciation too lol) Anyways, I'm very looking forward to this Digital Literacy class.

I'm not quite sure what I need to cover in this post, but so far I learned that gmail system has upgraded, Safari has cool add-ons, and Cooliris enables us to do a research in a very stylish way. Cooliris's display was so much alike to that of iTunes!