Honors Thesis Colloquium 2009-10

Wordle is a web-based image generator–it takes a block of text and represents it visually. The size of each word is based on its repetition. Try it with a chunk of text from your thesis project! (This sample is from my blog.)

Check out this WIRED article on Pecha Kucha (otherwise known as fast-and-thorough PowerPoint presentations). Could you present your work effectively under these constraints? Is this a solution to the droning, lengthy PowerPoint presentation we all know and love to hate?

Watch the video at the end of the article, if you have time. I’d love to hear what y’all think in the comments!

Hi everyone!

Just a reminder that you can find me in the first floor reading room at Macaulay before class. I get in at about 1 PM on Wednesdays and I’m around until class begins at 4:10. While I’m going to stick my head in briefly tomorrow to say hi, I’m not always able to stay for your class–so if you have any technical questions or concerns, please make every effort to contact me before class. You can also find me in the reading room on Thursdays, 12-3. And of course I am always happy to entertain questions via e-mail.

Finally, you can post your questions as comments to this post, and I’ll answer them here.

Please do ask questions! I would like you to get more out of this set-up as the year progresses.

Hey everyone!

In order to allow Lee, myself, and your peers to comment, please log into your own e-portfolio and go to your Dashboard. There are 2 things to take care of here!

1. Under the “Tools” category at the lower left, please click on “Spam Karma 2” and adjust your spam settings. EDIT: Please UNCHECK the box that says, “Automatically insert SK2’s ‘X spam eaten’ message in your eportfolio’s footer (enable Advanced Options to customize it).” And above that box, choose the level of spam filtering you want. “Normal” and “Kinda mean” are both OK.
2. Under the “Settings” category at the lower left, please click on “Discussion” and UNCHECK BOTH BOXES in the “Before A Comment Appears” section.

Thanks! Please e-mail with questions!

You’ve got your personal sites going and you’ve registered for the course site, you say? Great, but there’s one more thing I hope you’ll do as we get this semester rolling!

1. Log in and go to the “Dashboard”, the back end or inner workings of your sites. You can do this from either your own personal site or from the class site.
2. Click on your name (to the right of “Howdy”) in the upper-right corner of the screen.  Make sure that you select your full name (ex: “Lindsey Freer”) from the drop-down menu next to “display name publicly as”. You want your posts to be signed with your full name, not your username.
3. In the same screen, also change your password (if you have not done so) to protect the privacy of your account. Make sure to jot down your username and password somewhere so you can log into your ePortfolio account in the future.
4. Add an image of yourself (preferably a headshot) so that we get to know one another more quickly.  To do this, go to “my account” (top left of screen, in the menu bar) and choose “profile” and then “change avatar.”  you can then upload a picture that will travel around with you on the ePortfolio site.

Thanks!

Hello everyone, and welcome to your course web site! Here are a few things to know as we get started.

The technology component of this course has 2 different parts:

1. The central course web site, located at: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/honorsthesis09/.
2. Your own personal portfolio site, located at: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/somevariationonyourname/.

The central course site includes the class syllabus and other helpful information. It will feature a link to each student’s portfolio site. It will also host links relevant to your research, and a blog for class discussion.

Your personal portfolio site will include the assignments Prof. Quinby asks you to post, as well as your drafts and notes and research-in-progress. (Don’t worry — it doesn’t have to be public unless you want it to be! You can password-protect individual pages or your entire site. See Lindsey for details.)

In order to get started, you need to do the following things:

1. Sign up for your own personal e-portfolio site. You have been e-mailed instructions for this, but you can also sit down with Lindsey and walk through it step-by-step. Stop by the reading room at least a half-hour before class and we’ll get you started.
2. E-mail Lindsey your username and the e-mail address you used to sign up, so that she can add you to the class site.

One of the benefits of this system is that you only need to remember one username and password. Logging in to one site will allow you to access both sites.

An e-portfolio can be constructed in any number of ways. It can just be a blog, or it can be a set of static pages (like a web site), or a combination of both. Further information will be here on this blog throughout the semester. You can also e-mail your questions, anytime!