Big ILE Update - January 25, 2016
The past three months have been a journey in planning and time management - this entry will reflect on my successes and failures with respect to my ILE - The Dual Project!
What originally began as one project, quickly became two - and the time split contributed to an increased amount of stress. Do I have regrets? Yes and no... I am extremely happy to have worked on both projects - Editing the website will carry into the second semester as it is a never-ending job and the rest of the second project (BOINC) will be deployed beginning second semester. My successes: the website is 95% done! There are a few major areas that I am still working to update, but other than that, the major migration that I began during June 2015 (during my finals) is complete. I learned a bit about coding and HTML along the way and used a fragmentation technique to break up the work into manageable "chunks" to make sure I was impossible to become overwhelmed with the amount of work that had to be completed.
My second project, BOINC deployment on old computers began shortly after my previous update in October when I learned that computers around the school were in the process of being replaced with the old ones to be left outside to gather dust. Why not put them to work??? I gutted and cleaned nearly 70 computers - scavenging components to rebuild the systems maxed out. I was left with about 20 usable Windows PCs and six Mac G5's. Together they run BOINC under an account tied to the school to give back to the greater scientific community. The Windows computers were supposed to come online in December, but I have hit a few roadblocks in the process, thereby pushing the start time of those computers to February. As of the end of January, we have almost surpassed 1,000,000 credits for our current project Einstein@Home.
I formally presented my ILE to the class and community on January 15, 2016 during the final for HelpDesk. While I think my presentation was good, there is lots of room for improvement. I could have shown more pictures of me actually working on my projects, rather than just the results of my efforts to help the audience better connect with my discussion. Given that we presented in a large room, I could have spoken more clearly and been louder. Most importantly, I could have shown more enthusiasm and more passion. I am passionate about all of the work I have completed and it will no doubt pave the way for the future of the Northgate High School Website as well as how students at Northgate use old tech. However, I don't think I was enthusiastic enough about my accomplishments during the presentation. The ILE serves as a similar comparison to the Senior Project required at Northgate and my second semester project will most likely tie in directly with what I am doing for my Senior Project. The possibilities are endless!
What originally began as one project, quickly became two - and the time split contributed to an increased amount of stress. Do I have regrets? Yes and no... I am extremely happy to have worked on both projects - Editing the website will carry into the second semester as it is a never-ending job and the rest of the second project (BOINC) will be deployed beginning second semester. My successes: the website is 95% done! There are a few major areas that I am still working to update, but other than that, the major migration that I began during June 2015 (during my finals) is complete. I learned a bit about coding and HTML along the way and used a fragmentation technique to break up the work into manageable "chunks" to make sure I was impossible to become overwhelmed with the amount of work that had to be completed.
My second project, BOINC deployment on old computers began shortly after my previous update in October when I learned that computers around the school were in the process of being replaced with the old ones to be left outside to gather dust. Why not put them to work??? I gutted and cleaned nearly 70 computers - scavenging components to rebuild the systems maxed out. I was left with about 20 usable Windows PCs and six Mac G5's. Together they run BOINC under an account tied to the school to give back to the greater scientific community. The Windows computers were supposed to come online in December, but I have hit a few roadblocks in the process, thereby pushing the start time of those computers to February. As of the end of January, we have almost surpassed 1,000,000 credits for our current project Einstein@Home.
I formally presented my ILE to the class and community on January 15, 2016 during the final for HelpDesk. While I think my presentation was good, there is lots of room for improvement. I could have shown more pictures of me actually working on my projects, rather than just the results of my efforts to help the audience better connect with my discussion. Given that we presented in a large room, I could have spoken more clearly and been louder. Most importantly, I could have shown more enthusiasm and more passion. I am passionate about all of the work I have completed and it will no doubt pave the way for the future of the Northgate High School Website as well as how students at Northgate use old tech. However, I don't think I was enthusiastic enough about my accomplishments during the presentation. The ILE serves as a similar comparison to the Senior Project required at Northgate and my second semester project will most likely tie in directly with what I am doing for my Senior Project. The possibilities are endless!
WHAT IS MY ILE? - Updated 10/1
Glad you asked! My individual learning endeavor for the first semester is a complete overhaul of the entire NHS website. Not only does this entail many hours of fixing outdated information, reformatting sections of the website to better suit the environment, but it will also require me to learn HTML and CSS to customize the website in ways that the editor we are using (Schoolloop) does not provide.
Sub-components of this project include the creation of department websites (such as English and Science) as well as offering teachers custom-made websites.
Below is a screenshot of the Teacher Directory, which has been my main focus as of now. It is nearing completion and should be finished by mid-December. Click the screenshot to go to the Teacher Directory and try it out for yourself!
Sub-components of this project include the creation of department websites (such as English and Science) as well as offering teachers custom-made websites.
Below is a screenshot of the Teacher Directory, which has been my main focus as of now. It is nearing completion and should be finished by mid-December. Click the screenshot to go to the Teacher Directory and try it out for yourself!
ILE Notes
9/8
Discussed the possibility of the implementation of Moxtra in an English classroom
Discussed using my website work as the first semester ILE
Working on filling out SMART planning sheet
9/4
Narrowing down the ILE to a collaboration project via Moxtra - designed to let the thoughts flow outside of class
9/1
Discussed in detail the concept of an ILE and its importance
Work on generating ILE concepts
Discussed the possibility of the implementation of Moxtra in an English classroom
Discussed using my website work as the first semester ILE
Working on filling out SMART planning sheet
9/4
Narrowing down the ILE to a collaboration project via Moxtra - designed to let the thoughts flow outside of class
9/1
Discussed in detail the concept of an ILE and its importance
Work on generating ILE concepts