So Monday morning I had to take the subway to Brooklyn so that I could get fingerprinted by the Department of Education. It was actually pretty simple. It only ended up taking me about 2 hours to do, which included getting there and getting back. Of course when I went their electronic fingerprint taker was down I guess so I had to use the old fashioned black ink and paper route. At least they gave me a wet wipe at the end!
School is going well. Classes are still interesting, but the pace has definitely picked up for some of them. The pace for my job is also picking up. We'll probably be in the schools by the end of October so before that happens I have to go through and make sure all of the equipment is working and organized.
I do have another flash homework assignment to post, this one is the front page of a website. But I'm still researching how to actually post a flash file into blogger. It's a bit more complicated than I originally thought, but as soon as I have the time to sit down and figure it out, I'll post it :) The other ones I was able to post because since it was basically just a picture, I took a picture of it through the computer and converted it to a jpg or picture file so it would be easy to upload. But now that we're starting more interactive type assignments that won't work anymore haha. But I'll figure it out and get back to you :)
There's a party that the student senate is hosting tonight, so I'll go to that and it should be fun. Expect a post early next week talking about my theatre adventures this weekend :)
Cheers!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Look ma, I made a snowman!
Here's the newest creation from my programming class :)
This was made entirely using code and a single green square. I made all of the different shapes by changing the length and width and rotation and transparency etc. And all of those changes were made using the programming language and not by drawing a new object. Cool huh?
This snowman was made the same way. There is only one object that I started with, which was a single black circle. I changed different aspects of the circle in order to make each part of the snowman ^_^ Isn't he cute? He has a flower!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Of Speakers and Comedians
Hi again :)
Well classes have been progressing as usual. It feels like I've been here both forever and no time at all, which is kind of a strange experience. It seems like I do so much every day that I have to have been here for years, not just weeks. But it's all fun. Grad school is so much better than Undergrad so far if not simply because almost everything I'm learning is fascinating and are things I actually really care about.
I think I'll start recently what I've been doing and work backwards today. Just to spice things up ;-)
So yesterday (Friday) I met up with people in my Video Games class and we played the board game Settlers of Catan. It's a hard game to explain, so I won't try, but if you haven't played it, it is quite fun. Oh, I should mention that yes, playing this game was one of my homework assignments for the week. Cool, right? Then, a little later in the day, I hung out with James which was fun :) (James is a friend from high school for those who don't already know him) Then in the evening, I played board games with friends. I was also productive on Friday and successfully passed online my Certificate of Completion of the National Institutes of Health Web-based training course "Protecting Human Research Participants". It basically told me how to be ethical and follow the rules when researching using humans and since I'll be part of the research group for my job, I had to complete it. I also have to go get fingerprinted for the same reason since I'll be in the schools, so I'm hoping to get that done on Monday hopefully.
Backing up to Thursday night, I had my seminar class. The speaker/professor in charge, is a faculty member in my department and we talked about Multimodality and mobile culture. It's kind of hard to explain. But when that was over, there was a Comedy night on campus so I got to see a variety of comedians. They were all pretty funny, but of course some were funnier than others. And that's about all of the news for today! This weekend is another homework weekend, plus I need to work on making sure all of the video equipment is up and functioning for my job.
Well classes have been progressing as usual. It feels like I've been here both forever and no time at all, which is kind of a strange experience. It seems like I do so much every day that I have to have been here for years, not just weeks. But it's all fun. Grad school is so much better than Undergrad so far if not simply because almost everything I'm learning is fascinating and are things I actually really care about.
I think I'll start recently what I've been doing and work backwards today. Just to spice things up ;-)
So yesterday (Friday) I met up with people in my Video Games class and we played the board game Settlers of Catan. It's a hard game to explain, so I won't try, but if you haven't played it, it is quite fun. Oh, I should mention that yes, playing this game was one of my homework assignments for the week. Cool, right? Then, a little later in the day, I hung out with James which was fun :) (James is a friend from high school for those who don't already know him) Then in the evening, I played board games with friends. I was also productive on Friday and successfully passed online my Certificate of Completion of the National Institutes of Health Web-based training course "Protecting Human Research Participants". It basically told me how to be ethical and follow the rules when researching using humans and since I'll be part of the research group for my job, I had to complete it. I also have to go get fingerprinted for the same reason since I'll be in the schools, so I'm hoping to get that done on Monday hopefully.
Backing up to Thursday night, I had my seminar class. The speaker/professor in charge, is a faculty member in my department and we talked about Multimodality and mobile culture. It's kind of hard to explain. But when that was over, there was a Comedy night on campus so I got to see a variety of comedians. They were all pretty funny, but of course some were funnier than others. And that's about all of the news for today! This weekend is another homework weekend, plus I need to work on making sure all of the video equipment is up and functioning for my job.
I'll leave you today with a quote from an e-mail I received from the student senate here at TC. It amused me greatly so I thought I'd share. It may be pretty cheesy, but for the most part I actually kind of agree with it :)
"A reminder that Teachers College is a magic place; sort of like Hogwarts or "A Night At the Museum". There is magic in the walls of TC. It is an old magic that has touched many minds. Look Dewey's bust in the eyes. Tour the dungeon that is the commuter lounge. Make a wish at the wishing wall (upstairs from media services). Or just sit in an empty classroom and absorb the educating effect of the walls. The magical quality really is one of the best parts of this place."
Monday, September 20, 2010
And another week begins!
Well it's Monday. A new week is starting which means another week of classes! Actually for the most part I'm really liking my classes. They cover really interesting material and class discussions are intriguing and thought provoking. I haven't had any real papers assigned yet, so we'll see how that goes once they start getting assigned haha.
This weekend was fun. It was one of my friend's birthday so we had a small celebration.
Neither of these is the cake that we got for my friend (we got her an assorted cheesecake which was still delicious haha) But, look at how pretty! The one on the right is an oreo mousse cake and the one on the left is also some sort of chocolate mousse creation. And it's a sunflower!
The rest of the weekend was reserved for studying because apparently that's what graduate students do ;-) Also, just so you don't think my entire graduate school life is fun and games (as previous posts may have led you to believe)...
See, see! I do study! This is what I did all day Sunday...minus the trip to the Haggen Daz of course....
This picture, I just thought it'd be nice to see what the outside of TC looks like. The buildings are rather pretty after all :)
This weekend was fun. It was one of my friend's birthday so we had a small celebration.
The rest of the weekend was reserved for studying because apparently that's what graduate students do ;-) Also, just so you don't think my entire graduate school life is fun and games (as previous posts may have led you to believe)...
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
New Job! and fun pictures!
As some of you may have heard, I am now partially employed :)
I will be working as a Graduate Assistant for for a research group on campus who are studying the use of a web-based software program (that they created) to help Latino adolescents better their academic writing in English. Basically most of what I'll be doing is bringing video equipment to their test school and video tape the sessions with the students, then transfer the footage to the computer and organize it so it can be analyzed. I'm really excited because it sounds like a great opportunity where I can use a lot of the skills I have acquired throughout the years.
On to more visual things...haha
So as you might know one of the classes I'm taking this semester is Flash Programming. So I wanted to share our first homework assignment :) In class I drew a Smiley Face and for homework I had to draw a House! Haha, ok so now stay with me here, I know that sounds silly but it's harder than it looks. It takes a lot of code just to make something so simple and it looks kinda like:
function Main() {
var circle1_mc = new mc_circle();
circle1_mc.x = 200;
circle1_mc.y = 120;
addChild(circle1_mc);
}
Main();
So pretty much just using that code (called ActionScript) I can make these!
I will be working as a Graduate Assistant for for a research group on campus who are studying the use of a web-based software program (that they created) to help Latino adolescents better their academic writing in English. Basically most of what I'll be doing is bringing video equipment to their test school and video tape the sessions with the students, then transfer the footage to the computer and organize it so it can be analyzed. I'm really excited because it sounds like a great opportunity where I can use a lot of the skills I have acquired throughout the years.
On to more visual things...haha
So as you might know one of the classes I'm taking this semester is Flash Programming. So I wanted to share our first homework assignment :) In class I drew a Smiley Face and for homework I had to draw a House! Haha, ok so now stay with me here, I know that sounds silly but it's harder than it looks. It takes a lot of code just to make something so simple and it looks kinda like:
function Main() {
var circle1_mc = new mc_circle();
circle1_mc.x = 200;
circle1_mc.y = 120;
addChild(circle1_mc);
}
Main();
So pretty much just using that code (called ActionScript) I can make these!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Photo Tour of the Suite
I've been getting a lot of requests for pictures of my suite, so here you go :) I'll explain it first and then put all of the pictures in a row. Basically as you walk in the door to the suite you see a hallway. Down the hallway are 4 of the bedrooms. If you turn to your right you see the shower room and then the door next to it is where the toilet is. If you instead turn to your left you see the kitchen. Further to the left in the kitchen is a little table with three chairs (there isn't any room for more haha). Then if you basically do a 180 degree turn, off of the kitchen is my room. So the door to my room is next to the entrance door to the suite. And then my room itself is pretty standard with a desk, bed, dresser, and wardrobe. All in all it's pretty nice :)
Weekend fun
Well, I had originally planned on having a very quiet, restful, and homework filled weekend. But alas, that was not to be the case. haha.
Friday night there was a big party out in the courtyard so I went to that with a bunch of friends. Then Saturday during the day I did some homework for a little while and then met up with friends and we had a board game night. We played cards and Taboo and also...yes that's right....Twister. haha. Now let me tell you, there's a reason little kids play twister and its because they are much more flexible than me! It was a lot of fun though.
Then this morning, one of my suitemates took us all to Chinatown for Dim Sum. It was delicious! Now I am very full but as soon as I finish this post (and then one I'm planning afterward) it will be on to homework!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Video Games for...Health?????
Hi!
So last night I had my first seminar class where we had the speaker I mentioned in my previous post. This was seriously an incredible topic. I walked into it a little skeptical I have to admit. Video games about health? How can that be interesting at all? Well it's incredible what kind of research they are doing these days. There are tons and tons of different researchers creating games for every age and every health related topic or disease or disability. Two of the examples that she gave were ones she worked personally on, one was Bronkie the Brontosaurus, a dinosaur game geared towards kids and teens with asthma. Basically in the game the person has to avoid all of the asthma triggers and keep their character from wheezing too much in order to win the game. They did a large study with it and found that kids and teens who played the game had 33% less emergency hospital visits and days missed from school because of their asthma than those who played a different video game.
The other study they did was for kids and teens with Diabetes, the game had a similar concept only it was about keeping the character's blood glucose levels steady. But they found with this one that there was a 77% drop in emergency hospital visits! And this was just the average, some of the kids never went to the hospital to begin with who were playing so this is a huge number. I think she told us that that would save about $2,000 per kid in health related fees, and I believe what she was saying is that it saves both the family as well as the health care system in general.
Basically it was really really interesting and I can't believe the kind of research they are doing in this field! If this sounds at all interesting, I would definitely check out
www.healthgamesresearch.org
You can actually do a database search and see specifically what kind of research into games is being done in whatever area you are particularly interested in.
We'll see what happens after my video games class actually starts meeting, but I really am starting to become more and more interested in this field of educational video games. So who knows where that will take me, but for now it's pretty dang cool!
So last night I had my first seminar class where we had the speaker I mentioned in my previous post. This was seriously an incredible topic. I walked into it a little skeptical I have to admit. Video games about health? How can that be interesting at all? Well it's incredible what kind of research they are doing these days. There are tons and tons of different researchers creating games for every age and every health related topic or disease or disability. Two of the examples that she gave were ones she worked personally on, one was Bronkie the Brontosaurus, a dinosaur game geared towards kids and teens with asthma. Basically in the game the person has to avoid all of the asthma triggers and keep their character from wheezing too much in order to win the game. They did a large study with it and found that kids and teens who played the game had 33% less emergency hospital visits and days missed from school because of their asthma than those who played a different video game.
The other study they did was for kids and teens with Diabetes, the game had a similar concept only it was about keeping the character's blood glucose levels steady. But they found with this one that there was a 77% drop in emergency hospital visits! And this was just the average, some of the kids never went to the hospital to begin with who were playing so this is a huge number. I think she told us that that would save about $2,000 per kid in health related fees, and I believe what she was saying is that it saves both the family as well as the health care system in general.
Basically it was really really interesting and I can't believe the kind of research they are doing in this field! If this sounds at all interesting, I would definitely check out
www.healthgamesresearch.org
You can actually do a database search and see specifically what kind of research into games is being done in whatever area you are particularly interested in.
We'll see what happens after my video games class actually starts meeting, but I really am starting to become more and more interested in this field of educational video games. So who knows where that will take me, but for now it's pretty dang cool!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Hungarian Pastry Shop
I think Wednesdays are going to be my hardest days because I have 2 classes, and one of them I'm pretty sure is going to be challenging. My Instructional Design Theory class seems to be a confusing structure with a lot of reading. It'll all work out though I'm pretty sure, I'll figure out how to work within the professor's teaching style. My 2nd class is the recitation portion (basically a lab) for my programming class. I think this is actually going to be pretty fun. The TA is fun and energetic and as long as the code doesn't kill me I think I'll be okay! I'm going to try and post any of my flash assignments on here because I think it will amuse people to see and hopefully they will be interesting!
So I'm sure you're wondering when I'm going to get to the point of this post and talk about the subject title. Yes, last night I finally ventured into the Hungarian Pastry Shop. I ended up on an impromptu quest for something sweet at about 9:15pm last night and so I suggested we go there! The atmosphere was pretty nice, it's a very chill place with a lot of tables and people sitting there studying, or just chatting, or whatnot. I had the Dobos Torte, which was only okay. It was sweet and good and satisfied my craving for chocolate, but I've definitely had better. To be fair the better one I had was actually in Budapest....so I hadn't gotten my hopes up too much. I think the problem with this one is that the cake part seemed a little bit stale. But anyway, I'm sure I'll go back and then I'll try some of the other pastries because they all definitely look good. And Adam and Jenny, if you happen to read this, yes I will bring a boxed assortment at Thanksgiving :)
So, today! It's about 9:40am currently, I'm meeting my friend Ju Yeon at 11 and we're going on an adventure to the grocery store (I've found someone who also doesn't really know how to cook!) and then meeting up with more friends for lunch at 1pm. Class is from 3-4:40, which is the social internet media class. I have to lead a group discussion on one of our readings which is all about does technology cause history to change or is technology just a result of the changed history (it's very chicken and the egg) I'm thinking I'm going to show this youtube clip at the beginning as my way of engaging the class. It's very amusing so I'll link to it here too:
Introduction to the Book
Then from 7:10-9pm I have my first coreseminar class, which is required for all first year students in my program. The speaker actually sounds very interesting. I'll repost her bio from an e-mail we were sent yesterday. And then tomorrow is TGIF! No classes, and probably lots of homework :P
e-mail repost:
On Thursday, September 9th, Debra Lieberman will be the speaker in MSTU 4000. Dr. Lieberman is a communication researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also directs the Health Games Research national program www.healthgamesresearch.org funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to advance the research, design, and effectiveness of digital games for health. Additional information about her and her work appears below. This event is open to all interested faculty and students in CCTE, whether or not formally enrolled in MSTU 4000. We are fortunate that she has agreed to be a part of our class while she is visiting New York, and I hope to see you on September 9th.
PRESENTATION TITLE: Health Games: New Developments in Research and Design
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION: We are seeing explosive innovation and growth in the genres, technologies, and behavioral health strategies of health games. However, we need more research to guide their design so that we can assure that they will be engaging and effective. What have we learned so far about the design of health games? Where is the field heading? This talk will present an overview of the field, provide examples of well designed and well researched health games, and discuss prospects for the future.
PRESENTER INFORMATION: Debra Lieberman, Ph.D., conducts research with focus on processes of learning and behavior change with interactive media, with special interests in digital games, health media, and children's media. She is a communication researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also directs the Health Games Research national program www.healthgamesresearch.org funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to advance the research, design, and effectiveness of digital games for health. Debra consults for health organizations, education agencies, and media and technology companies to help design and evaluate media for entertainment, learning, and health behavior change, for people of all ages. She has contributed to the development of games that have significantly motivated and supported players' healthy lifestyles, self-care behaviors in a variety of health areas, health-related self-concepts and skills, and academic and problem-solving ski!
lls.
Her clients have included Apple, Disney, HopeLab, Kaiser Permanente, Knowledge Adventure, Konami, The Learning Company, Philips Medical Systems, Pixar, WebTV, WestEd, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Zowie Intertainment, and many others.
So I'm sure you're wondering when I'm going to get to the point of this post and talk about the subject title. Yes, last night I finally ventured into the Hungarian Pastry Shop. I ended up on an impromptu quest for something sweet at about 9:15pm last night and so I suggested we go there! The atmosphere was pretty nice, it's a very chill place with a lot of tables and people sitting there studying, or just chatting, or whatnot. I had the Dobos Torte, which was only okay. It was sweet and good and satisfied my craving for chocolate, but I've definitely had better. To be fair the better one I had was actually in Budapest....so I hadn't gotten my hopes up too much. I think the problem with this one is that the cake part seemed a little bit stale. But anyway, I'm sure I'll go back and then I'll try some of the other pastries because they all definitely look good. And Adam and Jenny, if you happen to read this, yes I will bring a boxed assortment at Thanksgiving :)
So, today! It's about 9:40am currently, I'm meeting my friend Ju Yeon at 11 and we're going on an adventure to the grocery store (I've found someone who also doesn't really know how to cook!) and then meeting up with more friends for lunch at 1pm. Class is from 3-4:40, which is the social internet media class. I have to lead a group discussion on one of our readings which is all about does technology cause history to change or is technology just a result of the changed history (it's very chicken and the egg) I'm thinking I'm going to show this youtube clip at the beginning as my way of engaging the class. It's very amusing so I'll link to it here too:
Introduction to the Book
Then from 7:10-9pm I have my first coreseminar class, which is required for all first year students in my program. The speaker actually sounds very interesting. I'll repost her bio from an e-mail we were sent yesterday. And then tomorrow is TGIF! No classes, and probably lots of homework :P
e-mail repost:
On Thursday, September 9th, Debra Lieberman will be the speaker in MSTU 4000. Dr. Lieberman is a communication researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also directs the Health Games Research national program www.healthgamesresearch.org funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to advance the research, design, and effectiveness of digital games for health. Additional information about her and her work appears below. This event is open to all interested faculty and students in CCTE, whether or not formally enrolled in MSTU 4000. We are fortunate that she has agreed to be a part of our class while she is visiting New York, and I hope to see you on September 9th.
PRESENTATION TITLE: Health Games: New Developments in Research and Design
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION: We are seeing explosive innovation and growth in the genres, technologies, and behavioral health strategies of health games. However, we need more research to guide their design so that we can assure that they will be engaging and effective. What have we learned so far about the design of health games? Where is the field heading? This talk will present an overview of the field, provide examples of well designed and well researched health games, and discuss prospects for the future.
PRESENTER INFORMATION: Debra Lieberman, Ph.D., conducts research with focus on processes of learning and behavior change with interactive media, with special interests in digital games, health media, and children's media. She is a communication researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also directs the Health Games Research national program www.healthgamesresearch.org funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to advance the research, design, and effectiveness of digital games for health. Debra consults for health organizations, education agencies, and media and technology companies to help design and evaluate media for entertainment, learning, and health behavior change, for people of all ages. She has contributed to the development of games that have significantly motivated and supported players' healthy lifestyles, self-care behaviors in a variety of health areas, health-related self-concepts and skills, and academic and problem-solving ski!
lls.
Her clients have included Apple, Disney, HopeLab, Kaiser Permanente, Knowledge Adventure, Konami, The Learning Company, Philips Medical Systems, Pixar, WebTV, WestEd, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Zowie Intertainment, and many others.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
And it has started!
Well classes have commenced. I had two classes, then a nice 4 day weekend, and now it's back to the grind! Or as I said on facebook today, it's time to buckle down and get to work...but I think I'm going to need a bigger buckle!
I've basically been spending my time hanging out with new friends that I made who are all extremely awesome people.
My two classes I had so far were okay. The first one was the Instructional Design of Educational Technology which was a little overwhelming to be honest. There is going to be a lot of readings and the professor expects a lot from us. My goal is to try and do a little bit every day though so I should be okay. The next class on Thurs was the social internet media class which was very interesting, the professor seems very nice, and the material seems very interesting. Speaking of that class, if you're interested feel free to peruse the blog I had to create for this class. It probably won't be very interesting, but hey, maybe you get bored sometime haha. Allison's Class Blog I will ask the favor, please don't comment on that blog because, as I said before, it's for class.
This weekend was pretty fun. We threw a surprise birthday party for one of our friends. On Sunday I went with some friends to see an interesting interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Inwood Hill Park which is way way way upper Manhattan, pretty much at the tip. It was set on a college campus during a fraternity/sorority scavenger hunt. The actors were great though and it was a very funny production.
I also took a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond so I could get some kitcheny supplies. Now I can actually cook things! I got my room cleaned up and its really starting to come together. My desk is still a bit of a mess but that's my next project.
This morning I've been working on homework and this afternoon will be my first programming class.
I've basically been spending my time hanging out with new friends that I made who are all extremely awesome people.
My two classes I had so far were okay. The first one was the Instructional Design of Educational Technology which was a little overwhelming to be honest. There is going to be a lot of readings and the professor expects a lot from us. My goal is to try and do a little bit every day though so I should be okay. The next class on Thurs was the social internet media class which was very interesting, the professor seems very nice, and the material seems very interesting. Speaking of that class, if you're interested feel free to peruse the blog I had to create for this class. It probably won't be very interesting, but hey, maybe you get bored sometime haha. Allison's Class Blog I will ask the favor, please don't comment on that blog because, as I said before, it's for class.
This weekend was pretty fun. We threw a surprise birthday party for one of our friends. On Sunday I went with some friends to see an interesting interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Inwood Hill Park which is way way way upper Manhattan, pretty much at the tip. It was set on a college campus during a fraternity/sorority scavenger hunt. The actors were great though and it was a very funny production.
I also took a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond so I could get some kitcheny supplies. Now I can actually cook things! I got my room cleaned up and its really starting to come together. My desk is still a bit of a mess but that's my next project.
This morning I've been working on homework and this afternoon will be my first programming class.
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