Creativity

     I am so glad that I used the "Time to Innovate" project in relation to my Passion Project. I was able to kill two birds with one stone, as they say. I created an interactive keynote presentation that walks users through the problems that students might encounter with their iPads. It starts with a satirical use of an into slide to break the tension, stating that by continuing to the next slide, the user was "embarking on a journey". By tapping on the button with that text, the keynote moves to the next slide. 

The next slide lists all the problems that could be encountered by students throughout the year as they use, update and play around with their iPads. The title of the slide says, "Are you having trouble with..." and then the slide lists wifi connectivity, using iCloud, glitchy screens, trouble sending or receiving emails, Accessing Self-Service, or watching videos as issues. Beside it are two buttons: maybe and nope. Selecting maybe directs you to the next slide to continue the journey, while nope guides you to a slide that says you lying because everyone has some part of their iPad they are having difficulty with! 

The keynote will be set up next to my poster board during my Community pitch and will be available for people to explore. I am sure that it will be a hit, or as much as a keynote can be. I am glad that I do not have to create another visual for my project and I am very excited for the pitch next Thursday!

Creating a Dynasty

I have learned a lot this week while working through some kinks with my Passion Project. Unexpectedly, most of those lesson came through me trying to explain the benefits of my project to other people, especially on college applications. I have mentioned my Passion Project at least once on every college app I have turned in so far, as well as on many of my scholarship forms. The idea of a student using school issued technology to benefit his peers and the school's administration is great material for essays.

However, I realized that my passion project would not be up and fully running until the end of the year, when most of the students are turning in their iPads. For my project to be useful to the school, a new, like-minded student would need to take the project over and continue to improve on it through the rest of his years at High School once I have graduated. This was a bit of an eye opener for me, and as the week progressed, I started to look for a fellow student with characteristics like mine who would be able to continue my vision with the website. 

I found such a student in my Technology Assistant II class. He is a Junior, but yet he knows far more than me about technology. He is fantastic with computer coding, which is evident with his 3D printing, and also teaches me daily more about the iPads that I am suppose to be the expert on. He is the perfect candidate to carry on my website. 

The Social Media Question

Social Media is a very debated topic, with most people being extremists to one side or the other. Social Media can be considered any form of social communication on the internet between large amounts of people. The most common platforms of Social Media are Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. In truth, their are advantages and disadvantages to Social Media despite where you stand on the topic. 

Ever since Alexander Bell invented and popularized the cell phone in the 1870's, mass communication has become an idea widely accepted into everyday life. The ability to communicate instantly with anyone around the world is very beneficial and increases the awareness of those who take advantage of Social Media. It broadens our worldview and keeps us informed with major events occurring around the world. 

However, this is the danger of bullying using this new system of communication. Using Social Media, bullies can hide behind hidden names and post hurtful material without any repercussions. It is hard to walk the fine line between being active on Social MEdia to enjot its benefits while still protecting yourself from other users. 

I will let my readers decide whether they believe if Social Media is more beneficial or destructive.

Meet Mr. Brian

In the past few days, I have really stepped up my work ethic on my Passion Project. I have been actively attacking my deliverables for first quarter, especially my website. Thanks to the guidance from my teacher, I decided to use Weebly for my website. I will post the videos and troubleshooting walkthroughs there instead of trying to jump on my school's webpage or onto the 2016 group on Schoology. This way, I can create my own interactive space that I can reuse over and over again, make changes to at any time, and furthermore, show to future employers to prove my skill with computer coding and computer design.  

In the next week, I plan on creating a list of all the problems that occur regularly to students that I could show how to fix. Some of the problems are: pairing your keyboard with your iPad, connecting to the internet/home wifi, reseting an iPad, creating an Adobe cloud account, backing up files to iCloud, backing up files to Schoology, protecting passwords using the Keychain app, setting up extra email accounts on the iPad, and many others. 

I have already discussed my project with my mentor, we will call him Mr. Chester Brian (my two favorite first names...). Mr. Brian is in full support of my project and enthusiastically agreed to be my mentor. He is the technology director at my school and believes that my passion project will actually make is job easier, since his fellow teachers will be able to use my site to solve their problems rather than calling Mr. Brian down to fix them. Overall, I like the direction my passion project is going and I cannot wait for my Weebly site to be up and running.