Final Post of BITE 5200

I can hardly believe this is the last required post of BITE 5200! This has been a great class. I have learned how to blog. Actually, I had never really been interested in blogging, but it has been fun. I have enjoyed reading my classmates' blogs as well.

Since it is Thanksgiving this week, I want to end this blog with giving thanks for my many blessings! I have a wonderful husband and two terrific sons. I am also thankful for the opportunity to go back to school. Learning is a passion of mine and hopefully, after I graduate, I will be able to teach others the importance of learning and improving oneself through education. I am thankful for my job. It is because of our President at the college where I work that I have been able to continue my education. Education is stressed by the administration and all employees are encouraged to further their education.

Since we have just celebrated Veterans' Day, I am very thankful for the many people who have sacrificed their lives for my freedom! I am also thankful for the soldiers that are fighting for my freedom today. It reminds me of Christ who also gave His life for my freedom as well. I cannot go and fight; therefore, I want to say 'thank you' for all the veterans that may read this and anyone who is currently serving our great country!

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and remember to count your blessings!

Creating my web pages

Where does time go? It seems like the semester just began and it's almost over! Just about 3 weeks to go. I have enjoyed my BITE 5200 class because it has allowed me to be creative. Even though each project has taken a great deal of time, they have been fun. I have designed a website for our current assignment. I have very limited knowledge on how to design a website, so it is simple. This website gives brief highlights of a mission trip to Honduras last summer.

Check it out: Debbie's Homepage

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

How I feel about group projects!

I am pretty sure all of you have been assigned to complete a group project in school by now. How do you feel about group projects? I know the logic behind group projects is to learn to work on a team. But give me a break! All my team projects at work are so different than working with people I do not even know. In my BITE classes, obviously every student is a distance education student and lives across the entire state. So the only correspondence is via email. Going into a group project, no one knows each other's strengths and weaknesses. Some are good organizers, others good writers, and others can't seem to do anything! At least at work, we know each other and what we can each accomplish and tasks are assigned accordingly. Not so with group projects in BITE classes.

I am working on a group project this semester in another class and even though it is going pretty good, it is still very challenging to keep people on task and agree on some issues within the paper. At least when I work alone, I only have to answer to myself. That is why I really am enjoying this class. All the projects are personal creations of my own which allow me to express my creativity. I enjoy graphic design work, therefore, the projects in this class are enjoyable.

I hope everyone else is enjoying the class and doing well!

PPT Presentation on Honduras Mission Trip

I have just completed my PPT presentation assignment for BITE 5200. This was a fun project. I chose to chronicle my mission trip to Honduras. I had the privilege of visiting Honduras during the summer of 2008. A group from Princeton Baptist Church went to Tegucigalpa to work with local missionaries to complete the construction of a Sunday School building for a small village church. Doing this PPT presentation brought back many wonderful memories of my trip.

I believe anyone who has the opportunity to visit another country should seize that opportunity. Visiting another country helped me realize how blessed I am to live in the United States. The division between the rich and poor was much greater in Honduras. I learned that a middle class is basically non-existent but slowly emerging. There were so many squatters living in cardboard houses dotting the countryside. Even though the people our church worked with were very poor, they seemed very happy. I came to the conclusion that you never miss what you have never known!

Learning to use Camtasia

It is hard to believe this semester is passing so quickly! I have just completed my projects using SnagIt and Camtasia. I have used Camtasia in the past but I had never heard of SnagIt. It is really a neat program to learn. I thought it was fairly easy and I really liked the options available to change a picture.

Let me tell you my story using Camtasia. I also had a large group project due in one of my other classes this week so I thought I would use Camtasia to produce a really nice video with an image of myself along with voice narration. I created this nice powerpoint presentation and used Camtasia to add voice and video of myself. I completed the recording fairly quickly and easily. Then I spent the next two hours trying to produce my video as a .wmv file. I have never been so frustrated in all my life.

Finally, I emailed some of my group members and asked them if they knew much about Camtasia and immediately I received two responses. Boy, did I feel silly after realizing that I had not moved my recording to the timeline! Such a simple but very important step in producing my video. Then I was able to complete the project. After going through all of that earlier this week, this week's assignment using Camtasia in BITE 5200 was really easy.

As the semester progresses, I find myself busier and busier. There are so many projects due this semester. I am only taking two classes, but they still take a lot of my time. Now you know my adventures this week with Camtasia. I hope your experience with Camtasia has been much smoother.

One More Try!

I tried to load the video a second time and it did not work. This time I am using a different computer. Let's see what happens.

Getting Frustrated!

Ok, so I was able to create the blog and put up a picture of the family, but I could not figure out how to post a video (which was part of our assignment). I made the video and after getting frustrated on trying to figure this thing out, I decided to write about it. Wouldn't you know it, the video icon is on the new post page!! Now I am going to try and upload my video. Wish me luck!