We’ll spend about half of today’s class getting the online tools that we’ll use during the term set up. Specifically, we’ll look at the Scholar site briefly, I’ll share some tutorials from Lynda.com, and we’ll get connected on the Google+ Community for the class.
After we have those tasks taken care of, I’ll share an online site and ask you to post in the Community about the conclusions you can draw based on the multimodal resources that it uses. Don’t panic if you’re not sure what I mean when I talk about multimodal texts—I’ll give you some basic definitions before you get started.
Scholar: Our Scholar URL is https://scholar.vt.edu/portal/site/english3844s14
Lynda.com: Lynda.com is a tutorial site that is free to all VT students, faculty, and staff.
- Design Aesthetics for Web Design with Sue Jenkins
- Foundations of Layout and Composition with Sean Adams
- Before & After: Things Every Designer Should Know with John McWade
Google+ Community: Our community is named Writing & Digital Media Spring 2014.
Useful Resources:
- Frequently asked questions about Google+ Communities
- Mashable’s Google+ Communities: A Beginner’s Guide
- TechRepublic’s Seven tips for using Google+ Community features
Homework
Go to one of the Lynda.com tutorials linked above and watch three videos. Look for general advice on what makes a webpage work, and be ready to discuss what you found at the beginning of class on Tuesday. Focus on general principles rather than any specific details on how to code something.
[Photo: Air cargo Amsterdam schiphol by Pieter v Marion, on Flickr]