Collective Maps and [Rough] Outlines . . .

First off, I'd like to thank everyone who shared topic suggestions in class today to build into the maps and outlines in this post. I'd also like to point out that the two maps and corresponding outlines in this post cover some divergent, some similar, and some overlapping topics and sub-topics.

Neither the maps below nor the outlines farther below completely cover the topic for your next essays. Since the maps and outlines below cover only a few of the ideas upon which you may wish to focus in your essays about learning with computers, I want to encourage all of you to feel free to draw ideas for your draft essays (2-03a) from both sets of shared ideas (§1A & §1C). You also are welcome to combine those ideas with others from your individual outlines and essay prep. posts, as well as from previous posts on the Writing Studio Blog including outlines or about computers.

For convenience, I arranged the main ideas (in blue) in alphabetical order during and just after class. However, as you compose your draft essays, I hope you will find better ways to organize your main ideas than that. Moreover, some of the topics in green may be just as important as the main ideas in blue. So I expect you to demonstrate flexibility in composing important and related ideas into unified paragraphs that will enable readers to follow your thinking easily from one main point in your essays to the next.

§1A, 2014.12.03

§1C, 2014.12.03 

Outline from §1A

Learning with Computers

• Applications
  • PowerPoint
  • Other
• Challenges
  • keyboarding
• Convenience
  • Google
    • Drive
    • Gmail
  • Search
    • Google
      • Images
    • Yahoo!
    • Other
  • Recording
    • Microphones
      • Built-in
      • Attached
  • Playback
    • CDs
    • DVDs
• Economy
  • Paper-less materials
    • Homepages
    • Other
  • Other?
• Importance
  • School
    • English
      • Keyboarding
        • Numeric keypad
        • Typing
      • Classes
        • Listening
          • Classwork
            • Pronunciation practice
            • Viewing
              • News programs
          • Homework
            • Pronunciation practice
        • Reading
          • Websites
            • News articles
            • Other?
        • Speaking
          • Classwork
          • Homework
            • EnglishCentral
              • speaking points
              • (pronunciation practice)
        • Writing
          • Book reviews
          • Comments
          • Extensive writing
            • Essays
            • Reports
    • Homepages
  • Society
    • Communication
      • Commentary
      • Other
    • Information
      • News
      • Publicity
        • Homepages
        • Other
    • Internationalization

Outline from §1C

Learning with Computers

• Applications
  • Computer-based
    • Search function
    • Typing programs
  • Cloud-based (online)
    • Sharing
    • Typing practice
    • Language learning
      • PowerWords
      • EnglishCentral
• Benefits
  • Ease of correction
    • written work
      • reports
  • Exposure to vocabulary
  • Increase in typing speed
• Coursework
  • Listening Classes
    • Classwork
      • CDs
    • HW
  • Reading Classes
    • Classwork
      • Online texts
        • news articles
    • HW
      • PowerWords
      • Reports
  • Speaking Classes
    • Classwork
    • HW
      • EnglishCentral
        • speaking points
  • Writing Classes
    • HW
      • typing
      • blogging
        • reviewing
    • Classwork
      • Mapping
      • Outlining
      • Peer-reviewing
• Disadvantages
  • Time loss
    • computer set-up
  • Dependencies
    •  
  • Diminished skills
    • calculating in your head
  • Physical strain
    • Eyes
    • Neck
    • Shoulders
• Other activities
  • job-hunting
  • ???

If you have concerns or questions about those maps or outlines, or how to use them, please feel free to spell them out in comments on this post, or voice them in person during the next class meeting.

[586 words]

Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1A

The graphic in this post is to remind you of topics that you and your classmates shared from your free-writing posts on Wednesday, June 11. If you click on the graphic, you will be able to get a close look at the sub-topics on small branches of the mind-map. I've made two such posts: 

• Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1A; and
• Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1C.

Please feel free to adopt topics, sub-topics, and organisational ideas from either of them to include in your next draft essays. 

[93 words]

Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1C

The graphic in this post is to remind you of topics that you and your classmates shared from your free-writing posts on Wednesday, June 11. If you click on the graphic, you will be able to get a close look at the sub-topics on small branches of the mind-map. I've made two such posts: 

• Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1A; and
• Language Skills: Collective Mind-Map of Topics from Free-Writing, §1C.

Please feel free to adopt topics, sub-topics, and organisational ideas from either of them to include in your next draft essays. 

[93 words]

A Few Command (⌘) Combo's for Macs

In this post, I'd like to point out a few Mac keyboard commands that may speed up your browsing and editing. To use them, hold down the command (⌘) key and press the second key once.

Browsing: Stop and refresh:

⌘ + "." (a period–without quotation marks) = stop loading

⌘ + R = Refresh or Reload

Those two commands may be useful if:

• a webpage you're opening doesn't open as quickly as it should, or 
• a document or webpage you're viewing may have changed recently.

Editing: Select, copy and paste:

⌘ + A = select All

⌘ + C = Copy selection

⌘ + V = paste here

In general, you can use the similar commands on other operating systems that have a control (ctrl) key instead of a command (⌘) key.

[136 words]

Learning with Computers (1C)

Learning with computers

• Academic work
• writing classes
• other classes
• HW
• Online study & practice
• EnglishCentral
• video viewing
• vocabulary study
• speaking practice
• PowerWords
• vocabulary study
• Writing
• formal
• essays
• reports
• informal
• book reviews
• diary posts
• movie reviews
• Reading
• Typing practice
• touch-typing
• typing games
• Internet research
• report writing
• Home computing
• portables
• Internet connectivity
• Office tools
• Excel
• Powerpoint
• Word
• Advantages
• convenience
• file sharing
• Google Drive
• YouTube
• copy and paste operations?
• email communication
• Gmail
• access to information
• YouTube
• interpersonal connections
• entertainment?
• Disadvantages
• physical ailments
• eyesight problems
• other physical problems
• difficulties
• memorization
• ?

[139 words]

Learning with Computers (1A)

Learning with computers

• Advantages
• academic work
• HW
• reports
• presentations
• other assignments
• blogging
• dictionary work
• developing job skills
• learning to use programs
• office tools
• email
• dictionaries
• spell checkers
• touch typing
• Making files
• presentations
• graphs
• spreadsheets
• information processing
• word-processing documents
• reports
• using the Internet
• using paperless media
• getting familiar with useful sites
• news sites
• language learning sites
• English
• games
• jokes
• news programs
• other languages
• getting authentic English input
• YouTube
• translating
• phrases
• E to J
• J to E
• Equipment
• portable devices
• working anywhere
• storage capcity
• local storage
• personal information
• remote storage
• security systems
• Disadvantages
• developing dependencies
• electrical power
• mediated communication
• minimal physical activity
• developing physical ailments
• eye problems
• eye fatigue
• bleary vision
• back problems
• neck problems
• shoulder problems
• (obesity)
• time requirements
• information overload
• Coping strategies
• using solar power sources
• avoiding physical ailments from extended use of computers
• other solutions to problems related to using computers

[208 words]

Uni. Life: Outline 1C

Uni. Life: Outline 1A

My Start-Up Labels (2013)

This post is a derivation from a previous post on the Writing Studio Blog, Start-up labels (2012), April 22, 2012.

Here are labels that you will need to use for required posts on your blogs:

• books, brainstorms, drafts, essay prep., essays, fiction, free-writing, graphics, links, media, mind-maps, movies, non-fiction, outlines, quickposts, references, reviews, revisions, typing, websites (20)

For example, on book reviews, you will need to use at least four (4) labels, including:

• books, references, reviews, ... (all comma-spaced values [CSVs]); plus:
• fiction, OR
• non-fiction.

The label "references," and the minimum number "four (4)" for book reviews (above), are new for 1st semester this year. All book review posts will need APA-style references, for which your instructor will provide models and templates, from 1st semester onward.

Please feel free to use other suitable labels, as well. For example, genre labels like "adventure," "biography," or "history" (one or another, without quotation marks) are welcome. That is, as long as they reflect the content of individual book review posts.
For details on how to use other required labels, please see Sheet 1 in the Labels and Links page on the Writing Studio Blog.

Now, to jump-start your labels collections, please:

1. Copy and paste the 20 labels in the first list above into a new draft post on your own blog;
2. Entitle the new draft post, "My Start-Up Labels" (in title case, without quotation marks);
3. Copy and paste the labels in the list above into the Labels field on the draft start-up labels post;
4. Publish the start-up labels post on your blog; and then
5. Add a labels gadget to the sidebar of your blog.

____________________

Note: At present, the maximum number of labels that you can put on a post is twenty (20).

Once you've published your start-up labels posts, with 20 labels in the label field as well as in the body of the posts, the labels will show up in your Labels gadget. Then, when you compose new posts, you will be able to choose appropriate labels for required posts, rather than having to type them in by hand.

[357 words]

Stars or stories? A Rough Outline

This post displays a rough outline of points to consider in planning and drafting your comparative movie reviews. The topics listed below came from maps prepared in both classes. The second option, comparing the same stories told and retold in different movies, didn't get any takers this time. So this outline focuses mainly on the stars, that is, on the same actresses or actors performing in the two or three different movies that your teams have chosen.

There are three things I'd like each team to consider while re-reading this outline from classwork last week:

1. This is not a complete outline for any particular review; it's an aggregate. Topics that you didn't announce in class may be just as important as some of those represented here, or more so. For instance, examples of genres and settings in this outline are just that, examples. You'll need to tailor topics that you chose from this outline to suit the movies that you're reviewing.
2. It isn't necessary to cover all of the points in this outline in your reviews. For instance, you needn't cover stars['] other roles, or lives outside acting. Similarly, some of the stars you'll be focusing on may not have won awards for their performances in the movies you've chosen. So please decide for yourselves whether any particular type of content will complement or support your comparisons of stars' roles, or detract from your reviews of the movies themselves.
3. The order and arrangement of topics in your reviews may well differ from those in the outline below. These are just the ideas that you and your peers shared with the class. You should consider arranging these and other topics you cover in ways that make it easy for readers to follow your ideas as you develop your reviews from one paragraph to the next.

If you have concerns or questions about possible content or organization for your joint movie reviews, please spell them out in comments on this post, activate the option to receive follow-up comments by mail, and feel free to respond to your classmates and peers in follow-up comments as well.

[438 words, including 78 in the outline]

Class notes: Nov. 28 classwork, group work, & homework

Yesterday was a big day in Writing IV, as those of you who attended will recall. Yet, as I have learned to expect, it was also a day on which there were technical challenges, not the least of which (for me, at least) was display of class notes on laboratory monitors.

The screenshot below, an enhanced version of my class notes, more or less reflects board work and general instructions from class yesterday. Square brackets enclose enhancements in this retrospective, or responses to questions in one section of the class or another.

Screenshot of enhanced Nov. 28 class notes, 2012.11.29

Essay prep. posts, as well as previewing, actual viewing, or reviewing of the movies that teams choose, are essential components of the homework assignment for this week.

Please click on the graphic above to get a closer look, or zoom in on it in your browsers. Then, if you have any questions or concern about the classwork, group work, or homework in that outline; please spell them out in comments on this post before the end of November.

Last but not least, I'd like to ask you again to share what you learn from posts on the Writing Studio Blog with your classmates and peers. Thank you in advance for your continuing cooperation.

[187 words]

My Language Learning Story: Map[s] & Outline

This is a model essay prep. post.

Mind-map of my language learning history (2012.06.28)

The graphic above, a FreeMind export (PNG), shows a recent version of the mind-map that I started in classes on Wed., June 27. ... [Here is a snapshot taken June 27:]

Mind-map of my language learning history (2012.06.27)

Below is an outline ... from an HTML export from the ... [extended, 2012.06.28] mind-map, copied and pasted into and out of Microsoft® Word to get the bullet points for various levels of the outline.

My language learning story

• childhood
• pre-natal
• ?
• early years
• mother tongue (English)
• parents
• older brother
• pre-school years
• family
• parents
• siblings
• relatives
• grandparents
• aunts & uncles
• neighbors
• friends
• elementary school
• English
• secondary schooling
• JHS
• NA
• SHS
• French
• skills
• listening
• speaking
• pronunciation
• intonation
• reading
• writing
• sub-skills
• grammar
• vocabulary
• college
• French
• upper division courses
• post graduate
• overseas experience
• France
• cultural exchange
• homestay
• travel
• with friends
• alone
• work
• (graduate studies)
• Japan
• work
• travel
• France
• intensive course
• travel
• revitalization workshop
• French
• graduate studies
• French
• intensive course
• Japanese
• online courses
• library services
• English
• Canada
• Spanish
• Mexico
• life-long learning
• English
• French
• Japanese
• Spanish
• What's next?

[248 words]

University Life: Aggregate Topic Outline

University Life

Aggregate mind-map: main branches

Aggregate mind-map: §§ 1A & 1C, 2012.05.16
(Click for closer viewing.)

• Access
  • bus service
    • KGU liner
    • other buses
    • nearest bus stops
    • timetables
      • first bus
      • frequency
      • last bus
  • train service
    • nearest station
      • distance to uni.
  • automobiles
    • taxis
      • rates
    • personal vehicles
      • parking
• Buildings
  • locations
  • maps
  • newer buildings
  • older buildings
• Extra-curricular activities
  • clubs
    • culture
      • tea ceremony
      • other
    • sports
  • events
    • festivals
    • graduation
    • parties
    • other
• Food services
  • breakfast time?
  • lunch time
    • bakery
      • food quality
      • prices
    • cafeteria
      • food quality
      • prices
    • convenience store
  • dinner time?
• Shops
  • bookstore
  • convenience store
• Wish list
  • fast-food shops
    • MacDonald's
    • other
  • more elevators
    • (see: Buildings)
  • multi-lingual signs
    • English
    • other languages
  • music store
• Faculties
  • Commerce
  • Economics
  • Foreign Languages
    • English
    • other
  • Social Welfare
• Graduate school
• Facilities
  • Library
    • collections
      • books
      • DVDs
      • magazines
      • newspapers
      • references
    • study spaces
      • report writing
      • other activities
  • e-Campus Center
    • computer labs
      • Macs
      • Windows
    • work stations
  • English Lounge
    • activities
  • Gymnasium
    • training room
  • other
• Special programs
  • Certification exams
    • training courses
    • test sessions
  • Study abroad opportunities
  • other
• Timetables
  • 1st per.
  • ...
  • last per.
  • evening courses

[271 words]

My Startup Labels

books, brainstorms, drafts, essay prep., essays, fiction, free-writing, graphics, links, media, movies, non-fiction, outlines, quickposts, reviews, revisions, typing, websites

[20 words]

Flash from the Past: Book Reviews for 2nd Semester

This is a snapshot of 2nd semester book review notes from last year (2010-11). Though the due date undoubtedly will change this year (2011-12), the guidelines and no-no's remain the same.

[33 words]

Wow, What Did I Miss? (2nd sem., day one)

In case you're not back from your summer holidays (or forgot classes started today, like I did about this time last year :-), here is a snapshot of class notes reflecting what we did. The main activities and assignments today covered accuracy (labeling issues), fluency (free-writing and extensive writing), portfolio (PF) foundation building, and homework.

To get a closer look, please click on the graphic (above). To find out details, please ask a classmate or peer who attended. If you have questions about classwork and other assignments shown here, questions your classmates and peers cannot answer, please post them in comments on this post. 

Last but not least, please plan to attend every class meeting for the rest of the semester, or to gather this sort of information on your own from now on. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. 

See you next week!

[145 words]

Rough Class Outlines for Draft Essays: §1C

This post represents rough outlines developed in class from proposals of themes and foci for your next essays, thematic reviews of the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire. Once you choose a major theme or two from the outline from your section (§1C), you are welcome to draw related ideas from the outline for the other section doing thematic reviews of the same movie (§1A).

You can get closer looks at the snapshots showing expansions of various sections of the class outline by clicking on the graphics in this post. Again, please feel free to mix and match themes and foci from the outline for the other section (in a separate post), with those from your class (above). 

Assignment details for your draft essays are in course calendar event descriptions. You'll be getting automated reminders by mail a few days before your essays are due. Please read those messages carefully and completely. Then, if you have concerns or questions about the current assignment, please spell them out right away in comments on this post, where everyone can see them – at least two days before the assignment is due.

[4 words {remainder of text 

replicates previous post}]

Rough Class Outlines for Draft Essays: §1A

This post represents rough outlines developed in class from proposals of themes and foci for your next essays, thematic reviews of the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire. Once you choose a major theme or two from the outline from your class (§1A), you are welcome to draw related ideas from the outline for the other section doing thematic reviews of the same movie (§1C).

You can get closer looks at the snapshots showing expansions of various sections of the class outline by clicking on the graphics in this post. Again, please feel free to mix and match themes and foci from the outline for the other section (in a separate post), with those from your class (above).

Assignment details for your draft essays are in course calendar event descriptions. You'll be getting automated reminders by mail a few days before your essays are due. Please read those messages carefully and completely. Then, if you have concerns or questions about the current assignment, please spell them out right away in comments on this post, where everyone can see them – at least two days before the assignment is due.

[188 words]