Research Journal Part 5

Link to website:
http://twoplayfulotters.com/students/lwagar.html
twoplayfulotters/lwagar

When I first began this assignment, it seemed incredibly overwhelming. I felt quite confused by the time I reached Step 4 and realized I had not interrpreted a few of the directions properly. I kept having to go back over these instructions and was determined not to give up and just post a question. I knew I had the tools in front of me even if it felt like there were some gaps. I could not find the Filezilla page I needed and realized it had not loaded the first time. My document was saved in my class file and not on my desktop. I did not understand what to do when I had made changes to the html file after I had uploaded the document to Filezilla. It was about this time that I convinced myself that I would never have a need to create a webpage again and all I wanted to do was be done with it.

After working through some of the troubled spots, I was excited to see some success. I realized that, being a tactile individual, actually working on the creation was all the lesson I needed. With practice, I began to experiment and decided to dive into the extra material since it contained some of the information I wanted to do on my webpage. After a few false starts, I was amazed that I was able to add the elements I wanted.

I can honestly say I am interested in doing this activity another time. Not only did I find it valuable, but it helped me feel as though I was the one creating instead of just interacting with webpages. I always wondered how to create a hyperlink and was successful twice. There are a few more things I would like to learn such as adding a picture or graphics and creating a new design rather than simply text.

This, and our other Journal activities were helpful in de-mystifying some of the elements of the internet. I learned to think critically and to not give up even when the task seemed overwhelming. I found that I was able to identify codes I had seen in my husband's programming and in some tools I use for Facebook and MySpace. I am quite grateful for the new knowledge I received this quarter and have found that I am better able to utilize the amazing amount of information we find each day with a simple click to open the Internet.