Advice for incoming students

The only advice I have to give is to make sure you get to class and to get help when you need it (its always readily available). If you do this you should be fine. This really is a useful and interesting class, and believe it or not, you will learn a lot.

My own pic that lies

This is my very own "pic that lies." It is a picture of a baby clouded in cigarette smoke. This was made from two different pictures. I got the baby picture from Stock Exchange, and the smoke came from a picture of a cigarette that I found using Google Images. I created this image by first making the baby picture black and white. Then I cropped the smoke out of the cigarette picture and placed it over the baby. I used the blur tool to better connect the two pictures and then added the text. The purpose of this picture is to encourage smokers to quit. I don't think the manipulation is harmful; it isn't promoting a lie or anything. It's just a tool meant to illustrate the consequences of smoking/secondhand smoke.

PP Presentations

Though everyone did an awesome job with their PowerPoint presentations, the ones I choose to write on are Satchie's ( single market) and Jessica's (forensic psych in the courtroom). Both chose very specific topics to present and delivered the information well. Satchie and Jessica both designed their slides with consistency and used, not only relevant, but meaningful images. Also, they used their animations wisely. They designed their presentations well and were very knowledgeable about their topics.

PowerPoint

The PowerPoint help articles I've read all seem to focus on making presentations for a business/professional setting; however, they do raise some good points on how to make PowerPoint presentations a little less boring. The biggest piece of advice given is to keep the slides simple, as simple as possible. Text should be limited, to avoid reading from the slide. Don't go overboard with animations and other special effects. An interesting take on making PowerPoint presentations is that the slides should, basically, be meaningless without you, the presenter. Another huge piece of advice, do not rely on the features that are built into the PowerPoint program. They have been seen a million times already. Try searching the web for new, more exciting images to use as a background or for relevant video clips.

CLT

The CLT (Center for Learning and Technology)is filled with all of the technology you could ever need during your time at Trinity. All of the equipment at Trinity is managed at the CLT, except for the computers. There are several computers there (They have both Macs and PCs.) with lots of advanced video and audio editing capabilities. They also have a video production studio that students can use whenever they need to. It is also where they shoot Trinitv. There is another studio filled with audio equipment and pro tools for students to use. These studios can be used for class projects, making audition recordings, or whatever else you might want to use them for. Some of the equipment found in the CLT is available for checkout, video cameras for example. There are conference rooms located in the CLT that are mostly used for training faculty, but students may use them as well to practice giving speeches or presentations. These rooms are equipped for video conferencing. The CLT recently launched lecture capture where they record lectures and make them available for students online. They also have a blog service, so faculty and students can host blogs for Trinity.

Excel

So, we recently wrapped up the Excel portion of the class. Now, I knew Excel was very useful for business professionals, so I never felt it would be of any use to me personally. I was wrong. It turns out that Excel can be a tremendous help in an academic setting (especially college) as well as at home. Excel 2007 comes equipped with several common and important mathematical and statistical formulas that can be used to help you on your assignments. Since the formulas are already set, all you have to do is enter the missing data and you'll get your answer immediately. There are even engineering formulas available. Excel also comes with templates to help with budgeting and financial planning. It can help you figure out car payments, plan for fundraisers, and prepare budgets for college or Christmas. Excel has something for everyone.

Here's an interesting tidbit, you can even make an awesome Spirograph with Excel!

Chris Nolan

Chris Nolan, one of our assistant librarians talked to us about how to better utilize search engines and evaluate websites for accuracy and relevance. I learned about how Google ranks its search results. Other than by relevant terms, Google ranks results according to the number of links to the result from other sites. I also learned about setting search limits, such as adding ":gov" at the beginning of the search so that only government sites are returned or using "-site:" to dismiss certain sites. He also told us what information to look for when evaluating websites, which includes: date the article was changed or published, the domain (.gov, .edu...), and bias. Directories are also good ways to find information, especially for research assignments. There aren't as many sites to sort through, so the information tends to be a more focused. One fun thing I learned from the presentation is that Google has several "easter eggs" available for us to use. For example, there is a way to search using different dialects, like pirate and pig latin. These are just small ways to make the search experience a little more enjoyable. Chris Nolan's presentation taught me more about how to search more effectively.

It's a fake?!

The Internet is filled with numerous images ranging from unbelievably beautiful to quite bizarre. However, with the technology available to us today, you may or may not be surprised to find that many of those images have been tampered with. It is getting harder to tell which images are real and which aren't, with sophisticated design software like Adobe Photoshop being made available to the general public. I have posted an example of an altered picture above. It is a picture of a pair of jackalope, a species of rabbit with antlers which have long been rumored to exist. The manipulation is obvious; antlers have been added to the heads of two rabbits to convince others that the creature actually does exist. This particular image was found on a postcard. No one knows when it was created. I chose this image to share because the jackalope is an interesting (though fake) creature, and the image is very convincing. It is a harmless picture because it is a fairly common knowledge that the jackalope does not exist.

Copyright

Many large corporations have been cracking down on copyright violations, most notably record companies. There have been several cases, recently, where record companies have sued file-sharers for thousands and even millions of dollars. It is apparent that file-sharing does violate the copyright law; however, there is a huge disparity between the amounts of money individuals are being sued for and the number of songs downloaded. Why are the record companies getting so much for so little? I agree with those who believe the decline in album sales has something to do with it. Record companies aren’t making as much as they used to, so they are trying to make up for it by taking file-sharers to court and suing for huge sums. If they are suing for the amount lost from potential sales, it doesn’t add up, especially when individual songs can be purchased for less than a dollar on the internet. Oftentimes those songs aren’t even from the same album or artist. I’m not saying that file-sharing shouldn’t be punished, but the punishment should be altered to better fit the crime.

Diagram of TU's LAN

Computer Survival Skills

Joe Hatch came to talk to us about computer survival skills, and he gave us some valuable information. He talked about the different causes of slow computer performance and provided us with solutions, such as using CCleaner and defragging (Windows users only). He talked a little about the threats of viruses and identity theft. (Remember, any personal information should be sent over the TUSecure network, and even then you should double check who you are sending it to.) There was also some information about Mac support given, but it wasn't any help to me since I use a PC. Overall, I learned quite a bit from Mr. Hatch.

Hey, I'm Aubrey

My name is Aubrey, and this is my first semester at Trinity University. My hometown is Texas City, TX, also known as Toxic City. Back home, I live with my mom and two sisters. I have a brother, but he spends most of his time with his friends. At the moment, I am trying to decide between becoming a psychology major or going the health professions route. It is turning out to be tougher than I expected. My non-academic interests are music and reading. They are great stress relievers. I love finding a new song to listen to, and who doesn't enjoy a good book?


I am looking forward to broadening my knowledge of Word and Excel. I've used them a few times, but the work only required basic knowledge of the programs. I generally don't use computers for anything other than surfing the internet, so I know I'll gain a lot of new information.

My fact for the scavenger hunt is that I can wiggle my ears, just a little.


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