Week 7 Discussion

This week's discussion question is: "Read through Presenting with PowerPoint: 10 Dos and Don’ts and 10 Tips for Creating Successful Business Presentations articles. Describe in a Discussion Board posting (in 100-150 words) the four tips you consider the most valuable for good presentations. Please respond to two postings from others in the class."


Below is what I answered. What do you think?


Keeping the slide number down is important because when presentations become too long people lose interest and focus on what you are presenting. If your presentation is 25 slides long I doubt that whatever you are presenting is going to keep people's interest. Hand material out at the end that summarizes the key points of your presentation. If you give it out before you finish your presentation people will assume that they can get all of the information they need from the handout and not pay as much attention to the presentation. Using photos, clip art, and graphs will help your audience visualize the points you are making. The use of a situation appropriate design theme is also very important because you don't need something that's going to take away from the information you are presenting. Keep in mind who your audience is. These are the four tips that I think are the most important or valuable when making PowerPoint presentations.

PowerPoint Presentation in Week 7

I wanted to share what my PowerPoint for week 7 looks like, so I have included in this post the title slide. I think it looks pretty good, and although I have done more intricate designs in the past, I think this slideshow is pretty good. I just decided to use Shorter's seal and the school colors to accent the text boxes. I think I shoud get a decent grade on the presentation. I did put some effort into the presentation, and I hope that my professor likes it as much as I do.

finger eleven - Paralyzer (Video)

Some Music I like.

Week 6 Material and What my Student Website Looks Like

This is what the screen looks like when I get into the Moodle Website. People often ask me what my classroom looks like, so I thought I would share. It is not very easy to go to school and not get the benefit of listening to my instructor lecture in person. This is significantly different that what I had at another school (which I will not name).  This week in my Introduction to College Learning class we are learning about the APA formatting style. APA stands for American Psychological Association and the APA style refers to a style of formatting papers and reports and the sources used to write them. I have some experience with this, but I am going to review this week's lesson and make sure my skills are sharp.

Week 4 and 5: Goals and Time Management, Preparing for Exams

In addition to this week being the anniversary for 9/11, I am thinking about my goals in this class and my time management. I have come to the conclusion that my goals are right where they need to be but my time management skills need a little work. I am trying to create more time not only for my studies but for myself as well. This will not be easy and it will take some trial and error, but I think that if I can put my mind to it I can accomplish just about anything. I just have to remember not to put any unnecessary pressure on myself by trying to accomplish impossible goals. The key to it all is to keep it all manageable.

Managing time and note taking are essential to preparing successfully for exams. It is important to study material, but no one should spend all night "cramming" for an exam; this process simply does not work. Take breaks during long study sessions but be mindful of how much time you have. Using flash cards is one way that you can practice for exams; you can write key terms on one side and their definitions on the other. Have someone test you during a study session. If you are preparing for an essay exam, write a practice essay to help get your creative writing skills going. Get plenty of rest and do not study when you are tired. You cannot focus when all your body wants to do is shut down.

In Remembrance: 9/11 Ten Years Later

This week I will not be writing about academics. I will be writing about the tragedy that changed America forever. This Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and out Pentagon. I had never before felt unsafe as a citizen of this country and this horrific event shook me to my core, as I am sure it did every single American Citizen.

I was asleep when the first two planes hit the World Trade Center, but when I woke up to get ready for work, my dad was telling me what was going on. At first, I asked him what movie he was watching. he said "No, son, this is for real." I stood there watching the Towers on fire in a numb and mute state. I could not believe what was happening. Who would do such a thing? Why did this happen? As much as I wanted to stay and watch the coverage, I had to get ready for work.

As I was showering my mind was trying to understand what was going on. Would work be safe? Should I call in? I was able to pull myself together enough to drive into work where everyone was watching the coverage on a television at the Coffee Bar. There were not many customers at all, and it was very eerie as I looked into the faces of coworkers. Some of them were crying, some of them had shocked and disbelieving looks on their faces. One thing was for sure; we all knew our country would never be the same again.

The front page of the AJC on 9/12/01

Many things have changed in our country since that day. Airport security is tighter, the government is monitoring us more, and we all realized how everything in our lives can change in an instant. As the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack approaches, I urge all Americans to remember and honor those who died but also to honor and remember all of our soldiers, both past and present, alive and dead who have sacrificed so much so that our amazing nation could continue to be the freest nation in the world. We should say a special prayer and thank you to all of the First Responders and their families who lost their lives or loved ones when the Towers came down. Those brave men and women deserve our thanks and our support not just at this time of year but every day because they help to keep us safe by putting their lives in danger.

To all of the Men and Women who serve us both in our Armed Forces and Domestically, from the bottom of my heart, I say THANK YOU for your service.

Week 3: This Week's Material

In my Introduction to College learning class, we talked about successful habits for studying and completing homework assignments. Note taking was also a topic, and more specifically, a certain way of formatting and taking notes called the Cornell System. Here is a link to the Cornell system: http://lsc.sas.cornell.edu/Sidebars/Study_Skills_Resources/cornellsystem.pdf

In our discussion forum, everyone talked about how they concentrate on homework and what our strategy is for completing it. Some of my classmates had some really good ideas and there may be somethings that others have suggested that I will try to incorporate into my homework completing skills.