Blog 4: Web Evaluation

To be completely honest, I had a little bit of trouble with this particular blog assignment. We were to select a website or webpage online and make suggestions to how it could be improved. The website I chose was www.klove.com. It is an online site for the K Love Christian radio station. I asked myself what kind of things I could suggest to them so they could change their page up a little bit, but I could think of nothing. It has all the main choices right there on the page; including news, music, ministry, contests, events, and so on and so forth. They even have an online store that can be accessed. If I was to write a letter to the webmaster, this is precisely what I would say....

To the creators of the KLove website:

I believe that creating a website to correspond with your radio station is a really good idea. However, if I was to recommend or suggest one tiny thing, it would be that you have more info for teens on your page. For example, a button for information about certain camps for preteens and teens, or information on how they could get involved in their own community; such as tips on how to get involved in church and a youth group. It would also be neat if you had a significant amount of information for college age kids, how they, too, can get involved in a church, and what to do if they will end up having to go alone. Other than that, I think your web page is very helpful, positive and encouraging!

Kari Lieberman

The information that KLove is putting out is for religious aspects, and I think that they do a good job of it. Although, I do believe someone would need to know about or have heard the radio station to understand the website and what it's purpose is. However, I think that the website has a bit more information than they give on the radio. Granted, it is a website, and much more information can be gathered from there than from a radio station.

I think that if I was going to really critique a website, I would need to start out looking for something that I was trying to find. Usually, if that was the case, perhaps I would not be able to find it on the particular website, and that in turn would frustrate me and pose a suggestion I could make to the designer of the webpage. Also, if it was a news webpage, like my hometown newspaper's page, www.vicksburgpost.com, I would probably make a suggestion as to something such as not having negativity be right on the screen when I visit the site. I know that I have no control over that, and the media decides what gets the front page, but I would rather see something positive appear.

Blog 3: Defining Your Website’s Objectives

http://ci.unlv.edu was a very helpful site. I did have to click on a lot of sections to get to where I needed to be; however, it was very self-explanatory. On this website, they had a variety of different news stories that had to do either a teacher or student that was recognized for something good that they did. This caught my eye and made me interested in finding out more about these people's background. Also makes me think the program here must be good! There was also an area on this site that gave links to other important sites an Education Major may find important.

The USM website actually gives me a little trouble. When you go to the main page, there is that drop box on the top right where you can click on what department or school you want to see. Well, when you click on the Education department it does not go to the Education's site. It's also not very self-explanatory on how to get to the actual site. I'm not lazy, but I'd rather not stress myself out digging for information on the Internet.

OVERALL PURPOSE

The purpose of this assignment is to design a website that would be useful and helpful for any person that was interested in getting an Elementary Education degree. Hopefully, if my site is made correctly, I will have possibly lured more people into this major and helped them go in the right direction. I looked at the things in the other websites that I disliked, and I will be sure not to make the same mistakes that they did.

READER PROFILE

My primary reader is going to be high students. When I was in high school, I did not have a clue about what I wanted to major in or what I wanted to be when I grew up. I do think if I had come across a well put together website about my major now I would have decided on this major earlier in my college years. Instead, I have changed my major a couple of times and am now behind. The reader's relationship to me is solely on the fact that I am a Elementary Education major, so I can relate to them better then if just some random person put this site together. The responsibility of my reader would be to take the steps he or she would need to take to sign up for classes. On my site, I would make sure they knew exactly what classes they would need to take so it wouldn't be hard on them. Also, students that see or read my site do not necessarily have to be very interested in becoming a teacher. But maybe after they see my site and know how easy it is to get to the end they may become an Education major. The readers are most likely not very familiar with my subject or my specialty. Like I said before, I didn’t have a clue about what I was going to do when I left high school. I’m sure there are several students that feel the same. There are several communication preferences the reader and myself should take in account. This ranges from if the student has some kind of learning disability, to whether or not they are qualified to even get into the college let alone this particular major.

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

I have taken numerous English classes in my day, so I pretty well rounded when it comes to things to write about. Since I am an Education major, the age range of kids I will be teaching definitely influences the way I write.

USABILITY OBJECTIVES

Some of the keys questions my reader may ask while reading would be 1. Are there any special classes I need to take my first couple of years in college? 2. How long does the program take until I am an actual teacher? 3. Are there scholarships that are strictly for Education majors?

The most useful strategy that I have found on different websites is a search box. One would need to just type in a few key words and everything on the site that is pertaining to those words will pop up. If this doesn’t work, there could be an email or number for the student to call.

PERSUASIVE OBJECTIVES

I am hoping that the reader leaves my website with more interest in becoming an Education major. I will stress on my site that if there is anything they do not understand, or have any questions at all they can contact me and I will do my very best to get back with them as soon as I can! I want them to feel stress free.

STAKEHOLDERS

The stakeholders would have to be the faculty and staff that would be included in my website. I would also have a section where former students leave comments, blogs, their email addresses, etc. The will all be affected in a positive way because I would make sure to bring out only the best things about this major and the people who help put it together.

CONSTRAINTS

The biggest factor that affects my writing and credibility is that I am not an actual teacher yet. I do not start my teaching program until this fall. But, this could actually benefit the students even more because I will be able to constantly update everything since I’ll be going through it.

The Dream of the Rood

Blog #2
This past semester, a class I took required us to read a few Anglo-Saxon poems. One of which was called “The Dream of the Rood.” The main focus of Anglo-Saxon poetry was often centered on Christianity; spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and getting churches started. In this poem a man has a dream, and in the dream he sees the journey of Jesus Christ to his crucifixion in the cross’s point of view. Basically, he saw how the cross started out as a beautiful tree and then was eventually cut down and formed into a cross. In the man’s dream, the cross is humbled and feels terrible about playing a major role in the death of Jesus Christ. The controversy going on during the time that this piece was written was, as I stated before, the spreading of Christianity. These Anglo-Saxon writers believed that no matter what happened in life, as long as they were loyal to God and obeyed His will by spreading the gospel and witnessing to the lost, that they were bound for eternal glory in heaven.
The publication is believed to be around the 6th or 7th century, and I believe that the issue the writer (unknown) is addressing is that of the cross’s humility toward the supreme being of Christ. The cross knows he must go through with it, and also knows that it is the duty of Christ to be crucified to save the world from their sins. It is kind of like a ‘catch 22;’ in the poem, the cross says, “Once I was made into the worst of torments, most hateful to all people, before I opened the true way of life for speech-bearers” (The Dream of the Rood). At the same time, the narrator of the story, who is also the dreamer, describes the worthiness of devotion to the cross, and looks forward to the righteous being able to enter heaven.
As with most of Anglo-Saxon poetry, the looking past the negative and looking towards eternal glory is stressed repeatedly. Therefore, the writer’s purpose, to me, was to show how this ordinary man had this dream about the crucifixion of Christ, and told of how the cross even felt guilty. The writer entails both Christian and heroic themes in the poem, due to the fact that the cross was, at first, “beckoned with gold; gems had covered worthily the creator’s tree. And yet beneath that gold I began to see an ancient wretched struggle, for it first began to bleed on the right side” (The Dream of the Rood).
The word choice of the writer is simple. He does not use many special words or slang, but that of Anglo-Saxon poetry. This is a really good poem, and I recommend it for any type of reading. It’s crazy to me how it is dated all the way back to the 7th century, and it still muzzled its way into our English books today.

1. Student Profile

My name is Kari Lieberman. I am from Vicksburg, Mississippi, and I am majoring in Elementary Education. I have a part time job waiting tables at Chesterfield's restaurant, and I enjoy working there very much. I haven't really done much writing since I have attended school at USM. I transferred from Meridian Community College, and this past year was my first time living here in Hattiesburg. When I transferred, my major was Public Relations, so I am new to my Education major. Last semester in my World Literature class, we had to write a close reading paper. I had never done this before, so I was a little surprised when I found out I had to write a 5-6 page paper on a tiny passage from a novel. I didn't understand how that was possible when I could easily explain my point in a few sentences. It was difficult, but with help from my teacher I was able to get my point across and ended up with a good grade on the essay as well.

To be completely honest, writing is not my favorite thing to do. While I was a PR major, I took classes that involved graphic design, as well as a few mass communication classes. We had projects such as creating brochures and mock newspapers, and that was an easy thing for me to get excited about.

I'm hoping that with this course I will learn to appreciate writing more, as well as be able to write better than I do now.