Week Seven

Yay! It's the final week of this semester.

This final week we were to make a video showing everything we did for this course. I was glad that we did a blog every week. It made remembering everything pretty easy to attach and talk about on my video. I used Adobe Spark Video and absolutely loved it. Spark Video is, in my opinion, one of the easiest video makers I have ever used. I was able to add music in the background, my voice to whichever slides I wanted to, videos and pictures with captions on each slide. It also had a few different templates to use as well. Here is the link to my video.  https://spark.adobe.com/video/64CCpaE1qrv6P
After dropping it in the dropbox I realized it was only supposed to be 2-3 minutes and mine was almost 5 minutes so that is lovely. Hopefully, it won't be too much of a deduction on my grade.

I am so thankful that this semester is coming to an end after this final blog post, I have one Biology final left. Then, I will move on to Christmas break. Since I changed my degree to teaching I am going to take a class over Christmas break. Hopefully, it won't be too hard (it's only one credit hour). I want to wish everyone the best of luck through finals week and have a Merry Christmas and a bright New Year!

Week Six

Being a full-time college student, working three jobs, and maintaining a healthy social life can be pretty crazy and tiring at times. Right now in school, I am learning how to use multiple different apps and sites in my Microcomputer Applications class. We don't have a book which has its ups and downs. I enjoy not having a book because it gives us a little bit more freedom as far as our projects go. However, sometimes, I feel as if there is too much freedom allowed. It can be very difficult for me to choose between certain applications. For example, this week we had to research between a few sites on which to use for our presentation project. Slidebean, Emaze, and Prezi were our three choices. If I was on a computer, I would not be able to decide which one to use. I found that on a computer I enjoyed all three of them and what they had to offer. I just didn't have access to a computer long enough to do any of my projects. So, I had to use my iPad which decided which app I would be using. On my iPad, Prezi wasn't supported unless I got the app. I wouldn't use it over PowerPoint if I were to ever use them in my future, so I didn't download it. I couldn't figure out how to use Emaze on my iPad. So, that left Slidebean. Slidebean got the job done, but I wish there were more themes to choose from when creating my presentation. I found it kind of difficult to use compared to PowerPoint and Google Slides so I will not use it in my future. I have gotten to experiment with a lot of apps in these past 8 weeks. So not having a textbook was difficult at times. However, on top of having freedom with our projects, I also enjoyed the fact that we could watch videos about how to use each application. For other courses, where I had a book, I felt that I should only use the book to learn about the project I was to be doing. I really liked not having the book as it opened up more learning experiences.

I liked making the newsletter this week. Smore was simple to use and allowed for a lot of creativity. I did not like making the presentation.

As far as the rest of the school year has been, I have enjoyed it for the most part. I don't enjoy how busy I always am (especially with these 8-week classes), but I am surviving. My favorite project so far was probably the week in MicroApps where I got to experiment with all of the different Google Applications. I will most definitely be using these apps in my future. I love using them because I can access my project from any device including my phone. I used Docs to make my resume, slides to make a presentation for another class, and much more. If I continue down this path of becoming a teacher. I could even use these applications for teaching.

Link to my newsletter this week
https://www.smore.com/32a4b-abbey-s-journey 

Week Five

     This week was another rough week for me. We had to start a Pinterest account and a LinkedIn account. We also had to make facebook frames, an email signature block, email folders for organization, and certain events on a calendar using Outlook. This was all difficult for me beings I was sick all week and didn't have a computer handy. This was all kind of last minute for me. I learned quite a bit though.

     For the facebook profile picture frames I had to do a lot of researching. Every video I started to watch either used something I needed to pay for or was just simply way too time consuming and difficult. I did not want to pay for photoshop. I eventually found a website called PhotoPea. It reminded me a lot of photoshop. It was decently easy to use and I loved how it had many fonts to choose from as far as text goes. It took quite a bit of experimenting with to get even half of what I wanted. Being on a time crunch I had to settle with what I could get done in a timely manner. I made the SkillsUSA frame first and I don't like it that much but it looks good for viewing the profile picture when it is a square. When viewing the profile picture and the frame when it is a circle doesn't look that great. When I did the business club frame I fixed that problem. I liked the business club frame more than the SkillsUSA one, but I feel like I could have done a lot better on both. As far as the future goes, I can definetly see myself using PhotoPea.

     I liked making a Pinterest account for viewing hairstyles and DIY home decorations. I probably won't use Pinterest because I don't want to waste my time getting trapped into all of the cool ideas. It is like conspiracy videos on youtube; once you start watching one video, you don't want to stop, and next thing you know its three in the morning and you just watched so many conspiracy videos that you question anything and everything. (That's another story though 😉) I did not like that we had to make a short video about using Pinterest with the ShowMe App. Main reason, there are so many ShowMe Apps that I didn't know which one to use. I found this kind of aggravating because I only have so much storage on my little phone and I had no computer access until 8:30 on the Wednesday night before everything was due.
   
     So, instead of a ShowMe App, I chose to use an app called Spark Video. Spark Video was actually really easy to use. I was able to add a screen recording to my "pages" and then put my voice on it. I could also put words on it and music in the background. I actually really enjoy Spark Video.

     I set up the LinkedIn account and found that a lot of people I know used it at one point in their lives. That being said I do not think that everyone that I invited still uses the app. I don't this this is an app that I will use. I already have a job that I love working at a local bank. If I do go on to become a teacher, then I may use this app to find a teaching job. However, I want a job around my hometown. I want to teach at a small school, then move on to teach at a larger school. I found that not many smaller schools use LinkedIn.

     Making the signature block was difficult from my phone but I got it done and was actually very pleased with it. I like how it is super easy to add to my email. I also really liked how creating the folders in my email made everything so much more organized. I was not very sure how to add events to the calendar so I had to research that as well. I am really bad at using calendars since I live my life one week at a time. I never go on vacations unless someone plans it way in advance. I am just difficult like that.

Week Four

This week was just a little overwhelming for me on top of my job, other classes, and being sick, but I pulled through. I used several different applications and a few that I had never heard of before. In the past, I had already used Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Sheets, however, I had never heard of Google Drawings, Google Forms, or EverNote and OneNote.

This week, I had to make a form/survey for one of my projects. I didn't even know what a form was before this class if I am being honest. I used SurveyPlanet for my Evaluation Form/Survey assignment. I started to use Survey Monkey, but it wouldn't let me make one without paying for it. I then attempted to use Typeform. I completed making the whole survey and I love the way it turned out. However, when I went to publish it or share the link to it, I had to pay for it. So, I started over and used Survey Planet. I did not like it as much as I liked Typeform. It did not have as exquisite templates and I had more tools with using Typeform. Since I needed something to turn in, SurveyPlanet had to be enough for me. I really like Google Forms as well. I found it very easy to use and I liked the templates. The templates I thought were fairly easy to change as well.

Another assignment that I had to do required me to experiment with all of the Google Drive applications I mentioned earlier. I had to act like I was planning a vacation. I planned the vacation as if I would be going to the Bahamas with my family and close friends. Google Drawings was kind of interesting to me. I couldn't figure out how to work it at first, but then I started to figure it out. I liked how you could make different types of lines and shapes. Another feature I really liked about drawings was that I could add clipart and pictures to it. Using Google Docs, sheets, and slides were very easy for me due to having used them throughout my entire high school years. If I had to choose between using Google docs and Word, I would choose Google Docs. However, I would choose Excel over Sheets, and Powerpoint over Slides. I feel as if Excel and Powerpoint have more to offer and are easier to run.

The last thing I did this week involved experimenting with OneNote. I actually really enjoyed working with OneNote. I found OneNote way easier and more user-friendly. They both had the same concepts as far as notetaking goes, but OneNote was easier for me to use and I found it more attractive than EverNote. I thought it was kind of fun and interesting. It was fairly easy to use as well. I could see myself using this application in my future for my school work and studying. I really liked the drawing tab. It is nice for making arrows and circling something that you want to put an emphasis on. I didn't like the assignment that went along with it though. I don't use a lot of technology. I mean to do my homework I have to borrow my boyfriend's computer and the computers at the bank I work at. I am hardly ever on the same computer so saving items is always difficult unless it is something that has an online account attached to it like Google Drive or Office 365.

Week Three: Part Two

For the second part of this week, we had to use Canva to make a CD cover, ID card, book cover, Calendar, and one of our choice. Since I used Canva for the first half of this week's assignments, the second half was pretty easy. I already knew how to work and use Canva because of it. Out of these five projects, I liked doing the calendar the most. I made it from scratch and made it countryside themed. The only thing I didn't like about it was how time-consuming it was. I made all twelve months, I wasn't sure if I needed to, but I did anyway. For the project that had to be our choice, I chose to do a postcard invitation. I pretended like it was for my 21st birthday even though I am only 18. I wouldn't make an invitation to anything before then unless I get married (but that's a-whole-nother story). I had fun using Canva but I feel as if I should have used Publisher a little bit more for the first part of this week.

To tune into my personal life, my sister is in full swing in junior high basketball, I am still working hard in school and my jobs, and I hate snow. Snow is just a lose-lose for me. If the roads get slick I can't make it home or leave my driveway if I do make it home. Then, in order to get to my boyfriend's family's house, I have to make it up a steep gravel road. Last year, I went off into the ditch. I wish I had a truck instead of a little car or both. It's nice to have a car with great gas mileage though because of all the driving I do between college, work, and socializing.

Stay warm and safe as this Winter weather pushes Fall away. Also, don't forget about Daylight Savings this weekend!

This is the calendar that I made from scratch this week.

Week Three: Part One

This week in MicroApps II, we were to experiment with Publisher and/or Canva. Since I have used Publisher in the past, I decided to use Canva for all of my projects this week. I found that Canva had a lot to chose from as far as templates wise. However, I did not enjoy looking at all of them and did not really like any of them, so I made my own templates for the majority of the projects. I enjoyed Canva's templates more than Publisher's. I realized after I finished all of my projects that I should have just used Publisher since I made my templates from scratch. I like using Publisher more as I found I have more freedom with Publisher. One of the things I liked most about Canva, was the elements tab. With the elements tab, I could add cute stickers and other nice pictures that did not clash with my backgrounds. I will add snapshots of a few or maybe all of the projects we had to do this week.

The first project on the list was a business card. I enjoy making business cards as I used to have a business with my family called Warm Wraps and Toasty Toppers. We would knit scarves and hats and that was our entrepreneurship project for 4-H. For my business card, I chose to do one for my current profession under the Investor's Community Bank. 

The second project was a greeting card. As I read "make a greeting card", I was excited; however, I read that it had to be a greeting card thanking someone for an interview. I was not sure how to go about this so I chose to just make a thank you card. I pretended like I was making another, cuter, shorter version of the thank you card I sent to my boss for the interview at the bank.

The third project, an award certificate, was kind of fun to make. I liked to play with the transparency of certain objects. I didn't know anything about Skills USA so I had to do a little bit of researching for it. I don't really like my certificate at all, but I also made it completely from scratch. I just didn't find the templates on Canva fitting for this project.

This is the award certificate I made mostly from scratch.

For the fourth project, a coupon, I was stumped for a little bit. I didn't really want to have a boring design and I haven't seen a coupon that looked very eye-popping. After a while, I came up with something that I sort of liked and called it good. Instead of one coupon, I put four because I used one of Canva's templates and changed the pictures and color scheme. I thought it turned out very nice.

Week Two

     This week we made family newsletters! I actually really enjoyed doing this project. I almost want to send this newsletter to my family that lives in Montana.

     After researching what all people put in newsletters and looking at Pinterest of course, I found it very easy to create my own. I looked at a few different websites for creating my newsletter. I did not use Word, because I have used Word so much in the past, and I wanted a challenge. I also didn't like the premade templates in Word either. Looking at pictures through Google, I found a template that really caught my eye. This template was through Lucidpress.

     With Lucid press, I did not have to subscribe or buy anything. However, I did have the option to subscribe and buy a pack if I wanted more access to certain things, like other templates and other rights. I just made an account and got to work. I really loved how the website let me change the template in any way I wanted. I added my own pictures, changed sizes of text and shapes, and also edited the colors of the shapes. Another thing I really enjoyed about using Lucidpress was that it was really easy to add links and buttons that I could attach links to without having to show words. For example, on my second page, I have a Facebook button that can be clicked on and it will take you straight to Facebook. I could also work on my newsletter using this site from any computer. With other websites, I found that I would have to redownload the pictures to the computer I was working on if they weren't already placed on my newsletter. On the contrary, with Lucidpress, any picture I needed to use was downloaded to the website so I didn't have to redownload them.

     The thing I didn't like the most about this project was coming up with articles and other things to talk about in my newsletter. Once I came up with topics, however, it became easier.

     I was able to publish my newsletter to the public and make a link to see my newsletter as well. Don't be afraid to check it out @ https://pubsecure.lucidpress.com/c852ef6e-b951-4cb1-971a-ba40290fac60/.

     On another note, I learned how to change the time zone of my blog. Originally it was showing my posts two hours off from when I actually made them. So I posted my first blog at noon exactly and it was showing that I posted it at 10:00. Another thing I learned about using this site for my blog is that when typing, I can't use the tab button to create an indent for my paragraph (or at least I haven't figured out how to yet), but instead I have to push the space bar five times to create the indention.

     I also figured out how to add an image to my blog! Check out the section to the side an image of the author.

That is all for this week! Tune in next week and don't be afraid to leave me notes on how to improve my blog! Thank you all.

Week One

Since we haven’t really done a whole lot this week in class, this post will be mainly for figuring out how to post. I chose to create my blog through google as I have done one before through google many years ago. I am still experimenting with layouts and all the sorts so bare with me.
I am looking forward to the next 8 weeks. Thanks!