Happy Valentine's Day!

What a weekend it has already been-- start with Friday the 13th, Add a little Valentine's Day, and what happens to people in one weekend is a bizarre occurrence. I have always been a fan of full-moon, Friday the 13th kind of creepiness that tends to go on. Yesterday was somewhat uneventful, but I did see my fair share of crazy throughout the day. I had an mri on my wrist and the hospital was packed chock full of crazy... I suppose that's everyday, but it seemed especially busy yesterday.

As for Valentine's Day, also strange, I will be spending it on the farm... I am posting this link to a piglet born with heart-shape-spots just a few days ago.. haha, seemed appropriate.

Portal Me Up!

The SAIC portal. Wow. A piece of glorious web confusion.

I have so many complaints about this site I'm going to begin with things I like, so that I don't annoy myself with my whining. I really like that there is a 'personal note' and 'public note' that gives me updates of what my teachers/clubs/art ed folks are needing me to see; the public piece about what's going on in the school and museum each day has also been helpful many times. I must say however, that almost everything below my little email box has been completely ignored. The weather is there? Really? Never had any clue.

As far as usability, I'd give it a C. It's all there --the portal links to everything SAIC you could need.. the real trick is finding it! I dislike the lack of a smooth transition between tabs. Not a fan of the Courses Tab that you have to backtrack home to the courses tab each time you want to look to another class. It seems as if there would be an easier way.

For the go.artic.edu site, I am more than a little irritated by the setup for logging in. I don't like that after 10 minutes or so logged on your email no longer shows up 'session timed out'. With my other school address (which oddly I still use), as I type in the link, there is a box that pops up while the page is loading with user name and password, so there is no separate page to log-in. Also, while you're logged in, you are for the entire time the browser is open. It's quite nice for someone with a personal computer, but I assume SAIC does this so you don't have to log into the computers in school.

For the rest of the go.artic.edu page, there is a generall quality/feeling of helpfulness. But my skeptical mind thinks this is a front. Perhaps I should read the 'tips' section to try to figure out how to put my SAIC mail on my iGoogle page, and never look at it again.

Okay --I just gave myself a little heart attack with all that whining.

Give me a feeling --Frustration.

So the past two days have been a sort of blur of teaching experiences... Yesterday was really frustrating. I felt the day was set up in a rather disorganized and hectic way, when it really could have gone much more smoothly.

At any rate... Today was much better. I observed at Proviso East High School for a few hours with a woman I met at the MCA Educator's Salon. She seemed familiar for some reason, so I asked if she wouldn't mind my visiting her classroom.

I have heard a lot of interesting things about Proviso --it's not exactly in the best neighborhood, there are lots of fights, and I know that there is an issue with attendence, violence, etc... I guess it is a blessing that I'm not really familiar with that kind of drama, but today there was no shortage of it!

I was really impressed with the way everything was handled, but there were a couple of fights that broke out in the short couple hours I was there. Glad to be done with part of my observation, and looking forward to going back in a couple weeks, but it has definitely been a strange couple of days.

Makes me curious as to where I will end up teaching for the long haul....

Hyde Park Art Center...

As I am sitting IN the Hyde Park Art Center (obviously well-prepared in doing my hw), I notice that the site does not have quite the same smooth feel of the building.

When you enter the building, the first thing that hit me was the smell of art. It smells like new walls, like people creating something... It has that art-smell I am so fond of.

The site however-- doesn't quite match that art-smell. I appreciate the exhibition schedule being right up front -the first thing I look for in an art-site, what's there! I also like the colored headings, but the gallery and the brightness of the cafe have a much different vibe that I would like to see matched in the website.

I also enjoy the "Get Involved" tab being so open and applicable. That is something that while generally encouraged, is usually hidden.

--Molly

Web Critique

http://www.cps.edu/Pages/home.aspx
The Chicago Public Schools site is user-friendly and offers various text sizing, which I appreciate. However, I found it a bit dead-ended. I'm not sure if they are in the process of an update, but I found that most links lead to nothing of interest. For example, the section for "I want to help" leads to a dead-end HR site. The design is great, the way each would-be user is set up with several options is excellent. Overall, I would say excellent design and usability, but lacking content.

http://www.artic.edu/aic/
The newly updated site contains a plethora of content. The site is clear user-friendly, and the design on the new logo is great. The throw-back to the original writing on the outside of the museum shows that even in this move-forward time with the modern-wing, the tradition of the museum is in tact. I like the design of the site with the crisp white backdrop, and the slide show of images on each of the pages is a nice additional touch.

http://www.naea-reston.org
I like the design of the site, the colors are soothing and work well together (I wouldn't expect anything less from a community of artists). In the community section, the student artwork (ArtSonia) is a great show of work, as well as a good way to communicate what educators are working on now. The usability of the site is good as well, the links are clear and the photos are visually interesting and relevant. I really like the updated site.

Cyberpedagogy

Hello all---
After taking a break from blogging for about a month, I am continuing with this blog for the Cyberpedagogy class at SAIC.

Looking forward to connecting with everyone and hearing all of your ideas.

-Molly