Summary of Final Project


	Summary of Project Experience


	Somehow as I have gotten to this point the desire to look at this site one more time is not appealing in the least. I don't know what to say yet I know I am supposed to be able to state with confidence why I have done what I have. I think what is important is to to help readers understand what my experience was as a self learner and how I came to this state in completing my final project. If anyone reads my journal log they will get somewhat of a sense for my experience. I began this project in January, 1999, with no knowledge of Fusion 3.0, and a very limited knowledge of web authoring or the Internet for that fact. In a little less than three months, I feel very confident with this software and in producing quality web sites for use on the Internet. I anticipate using the information I have gained and the skills I have developed for the rest of my life. I spent about fifty hours familiarizing myself with Fusion and its tools and another hundred hours writing, reading, creating, proofing, and working out the bugs of the material that the reader has before them. After spending one hundred and fifty hours with Fusion I feel like I am as familiar with this software package as anyone around and have come to appreciate its value and its advantages as well as anticipate the bugs and the limitations which are still in the program and that should be corrected with future versions of Fusion 3.0. Although I noted many of the advantages and disadvantages of Fusion in my personal log I should review for you the major pluses and minuses of Net Objects Fusion 3.0 again. Advantages Definitely, the number one advantage of Fusion is the ease of site management. It is simple and quick to create uniform pages with the same look and style and working buttons and links. In less than five minutes I can create a 30 page web site with multiple levels and working navbars, links both internal and external, all working with the same uniform layout. After pages are created, they can be moved around with a simple click and drag motion and Fusion changes all links and buttons to conform to the new positioning without having to go through the entire site page by page. This feature is a sure time saver for the web author. If an author wants to change a style for his entire site, it only needs to be done once and then the entire site is adjusted to the new style rather than having to go to every individual page to make the changes. Another nice bonus Fusion provides is the ease to move around a site with the use of nav bars and the site mapper. Although the sitemapper had a few bugs I struggled to work out, it was well worth the extra time. This feature gives the browser a click of a button on any page a graphic view of the entire site, where they have been, and where they are headed. Disadvantages There are several problems I encountered with Fusion 3.0 over the past few months. First, Fusion 3.0 creates hidden HTML codes that the web author never sees. How this creates problems I am uncertain, but there are things going on that the author never sees. This hidden HTML is not accessible to get at to look at or fix. Also along the same note, Fusion 3.0 sites are very large. Memory for my site is close to 50 MB. This takes considerable time to upload, download, and publish. With publishing in Fusion 3.0, every time you have to publish, Fusion publishes the entire site rather than just the changed assets of your site from the previous publish. This is time consuming with one publish being around 20 minutes. I understand that the new version of Fusion has corrected this problem. Creating forms, frames and data publishing in Fusion 3.0 is very complicated. Unless later versions of Fusion improve in this area, I recommend users do not include these features into their sites unless they are very strong technically or have help from others that understand Fusion 3.0. Another disadvantage in Fusion is the difficulty users have at manipulating existing styles to create their own. With some styles a person can change fonts, size, and color and on another style you can't. This should be uniform through the program Fusion also claims to have some great sizzle with its animation options and DHTML, but frankly it is very limited in what it can do. Hopefully future versions of Fusion will incorporate more flexibility that have the potential to really spice up a site. Fortunately, if you run into problems with Fusion 3.0 or later versions you can access the Net Objects Site for tutorials, trouble shooting, reported problems by other users and a whole host of other issues that can assist the web author. Structure of the Site Another important part of this summary is a discussion as to the value of the structure of this site. I wanted to keep this site simple and concise, yet I struggled to limit the content to what I felt was relevant. I probably could have taken another month and added an additional thirty pages. This certainly wasn't practical so I felt the initial site needed to cover the basic needs for the volunteer teacher in the LDS Church Educational System. In Unit 1 I attempted to introduce the beginner and the inquirer as to what the purpose of CES is. Most people accessing this information in the future will already be familiar with the purposes, objectives and commission of CES, but it still is important to be reminded. In a sense, I felt Unit 1 provided the beginning as well as the experienced teacher with the information needed to obtain their bearings. Like the mariner that has been lost at sea during a storm, when the first available chance to obtain their bearings (their latitude and longitude) from the stars, they seize the moment. Likewise, I hope Unit 1 provides LDS teachers with their longitude and latitude of teaching in the LDS classroom. Unit 2 was developed to provide information about the role of the gospel learner. Often we take so much time as teachers determining what we must do to be better teachers that we forget the principles of learning. Gospel learning is much different than learning in secular training. It requires the presence and impact of spirituality in the learner. This unit deals with principles behind this type of teaching, and ways that teachers may approach teaching students so that edifying, not just informing, can happen. In Unit 3 I wanted to be able to focus more on the tools a religious educator can use to be better prepared and more effective in the classroom. From my experience beginning teachers and many of our volunteers struggle in several ways. They aren't sure how to prepare for their lessons, they are uncertain as to what methods to use and how to teach, and they struggle with maintaining order in the classroom. Hopefully this unit will provide useful information that addresses all three issues and assist any struggling teachers. Unit 4 is a combination of important skills any teacher should be able to use with an acceptable level of proficiency. I could have inserted twenty pages in this unit but felt like the four that were included are sufficient and of value for the beginner and the volunteer LDS teacher. Perhaps in the future I could break this unit in to more specific areas and incorporate other areas of teaching like cooperative learning, teaching to the multiple intelligence's, and a whole host of other things. The final portion of this project is my journal and summary. Here I have established by logging my activities exactly what it took to produce this product. I have tried to be myself and provide insight into my experience as a self learner that shows both times of intense frustration, as well as times of learning and excitement. For future web authors I think this journal will be the most valuable source of information they can access as they sort through their own experience as self learners and creators. Value of Project Activity This portion of my summary is for me. What did I get out of this experience? To start with, I must say that I have gotten far more out of this experience than I have anything else I have done in my Master's program. I have enjoyed my experience. I enjoyed being an autonomous self directed learner. I wonder why I have not done more of this before. The initial fears I experienced in the beginning stages of this project were quickly set aside when I came to know that if I really couldn't understand something I could go to Dale. It helped to know that it was normal to not know why things didn't work, and it was all right to have problems from time to time. Dale would say, "sometimes that just happens when you are working with computers." I came to realize that I was learning something new that no one else knew anything about. This provided a sense of adventure each night as I came to face new challenges. I became hungry to learn. I don't recall the last time I have felt hungry to learn. It feels good. This hunger to learn has caused me to reflect deeply about self directed learning like this project I have undertaken. It also causes me to consider how I teach. Is my teaching moving students to search and learn for themselves? Do I help my students obtain a hunger to learn? What must I do to change my teaching? I don't know all of the answers yet. This project has helped me obtain and develop skills I didn't have. Several skills I have obtained throughout the process of completing this project include the following: 1 - How to present important information in a polished professional manner that is both attractive and interesting. 2 - Learning computer software and using technology that initially seems insurmountable to many. 3 - Organize vital information for (religious) educators and present it in a logical meaningful way that moves teachers to a better understanding of quality teaching. This has been a rich experience that I would do again and recommend to anyone. Rationale for why it would be good to put on the web As a religion teacher in the Church Education System for the past 7 years I have seen many teachers missing the simple directions and focus that a religious education guide like this can provide. With over two thousand teachers in one hundred and fifty one nations of the world, CES teachers need to be able to access information that provides uniformity and conformity to the mission and objectives of CES. Because teachers are spread out throughout North America and across the globe, many teachers find themselves isolated and lack contact and the ability to attend inservice meetings that enhance teaching skills and keep teachers fresh in the classroom. A handbook of instruction like this may help complement teaching, compensate for the feelings of isolation, and may also provide a focus for the beginning and volunteer teachers. Producing a high quality product such as this can cut the Church's cost considerably. Having this site produced provides those that have the technology access to this information as an additional resource. As the LDS Church continues to grow, the ability to communicate in a unified way to all of its members become increasingly more difficult. Through this technology the message is communicated across the glove in any location as long as there is technology provided for teachers to be able to use and access this information. Another thing to consider is that this does not have to be published on the Internet but can also be provided in the form of computer based instruction on a compact disk that can be used in inservice meetings or mailed to isolated teachers that are unable to attend The flexibility of being able to continually updated at a relatively low cost new teaching ideas and additional content for teachers is another plus for this type of instructional. However, when it comes right down to it this online resource for LDS teachers should be produced with the following purposes in mind. To inspire teachers to more effective and powerful teaching in the LDS classroom. To help teachers know and understand the principles behind quality religious instruction. To guide teachers in applying these principles in the classroom so that quality religious instruction is assured. To help teachers develop quality teaching skills for religious education. To provide a resource of information for teachers that will compliment their teaching. Total Hours to complete project - 165 hours. End of Project

Journal of Experiences

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