Project Proposal!

Updates can be found at the following Google Doc

Mentor Report w/ Ms. Burns!

As our group began our ventures into the real world of digital videography and web hosting, we had realized we had some questions needed to be answered in order to truly extract the best fruit out of our efforts. We realized that we needed a mentor to lead us through the project, to guide us through the maze of inhibitors. We looked no further than Mrs. Burns, the Web Design teacher at Washington High School. Our team scheduled a meeting with her on Thursday November 12th during Husky Period in her classroom at Washington : F245. (She can be reached via email at lburns@fremont.k12.ca.us).

At the meeting, my fellow team members: Jaison Selvajothi, Taj Shaik, Matthew Krawczyk, and Randal Wood were present. First, we thanked her for all of her valuable time and proceeded to start the meeting.

We started our stream of questions with a question about marketing our site to increase views. She stated that, marketing your site will be easy through "social media campaigns" (Burns). She wanted to make sure that before marketing our site, we should have a clear purpose or image so that way viewers can easily find what they are looking for. "Viewers should be greeted with a simple web interface and easy to use UI" (Burns), and with the help of stock images Burns stated that creating an appealing website would be very easy.

We continued our interview with another question about getting sponsorship from the district for the website. She stated that the district uses wordpress and "doesn't know the logistics of FUSD sponsorship of websites" (Burns). She said that some of your best options are Weebly, Wordpress, one of the school loop sites the district provides, or GoDaddy (with subscription based fees). She definitely promoted Weebly as it is the platform she uses in her classes.

We went on to discuss about web UI and some of the ways to get a good looking UI to attract customers. "So of the best platforms are those provided by Weebly or Wordpress" (Burns), but also to look at designing one through GoDaddy's services. She stated that the place where we can obtain a UI will be dependent on where we find obtain web hosting.

As we finished our questions regarding web hosting, we moved the meeting's focus to one about developing content on the website. We asked her specifically about uploading content onto the website and ways to upload video footage onto the site. She stated that the best way to handle about these things is to use the web hosting service features "by using the plugins to external video sites like Youtube provided by the web hosting service" (Burns).  She stated that by using such external plugins, we can run a much cheaper site and not worry about storage issues.

As our meeting came to a close, we felt extremely prepared for conducting this project. We thank Mrs. Burns for all the time she spent with us answering our questions! We definitely feel prepared to make the first steps into the world of the Big Ideas Project.

Research Article: High-School Promoting and Rhetorical Precis!

Link to Annotated Article

High school teacher and newly acquainted journalism class editor Tina Gainer, in her article, "High-School Promoting" suggests that managing a magazine publication with informative entries can be a rewarding process that even ends up being a true work of art. She develops her claim by first illustrating the original challenges she and her students faced in sharing something so huge with a community, then by illustrating the process of initial organization. Next, Gainer follows chronological order as she discerns the ways that the team marketed for funds, followed by choosing the finalized software that was used, before finally detailing the editing and publishing process. Gainer's purpose is to inform high school students and other scholars about how beneficial publishing to a real audience can be in order to also guide some motivated students along their way of doing so. She creates an informative tone for her students, advisors, and any interested readers alike.

Research Part Four: A School's First Attempt to Publish a Newspaper!

Some schools are attempting to bring back a student newspaper for a variety of 21st century purposes, including exposing free speech, and informing others. In her article "PHS Brings Back Student Paper" Colleen Williamson explores how four students in a 21st century Journalism Class are bringing the old newspaper back into publication. For example, "Parsons said he and his class are receiving guidance and help from the Parsons Sun in laying out and publishing their papers, but the content is developed by the students through brainstorming sessions" (Williamson). Just like them, we have the guidance of Mr. Skillings and the Hatchet as experienced people who can help us make this paper look as good as its potential allocates it.

Research Part Three: Publishing to a Real Audience!

Publishing to a real audience can be an enriching experience to students. As we progress through this project, eventually the newspaper will be an opportunity to showcase to more than just an individual such as a teacher, another student, or a family member. In his article, "The Power of Audience", Steven Levy claims that "When student work culminates in a genuine product for an authentic audience, it makes a world of difference" (Levy). Instead of writing assignments having a make-pretend audience for different topics such as persuasion, expository, and narrative, students know that a genuine audience will read the paper and perhaps have at least a temporary effect. Overall, this unorthodox technique may easily be the most effective in creating the best lasting product.

Research Part Two: Video Editing!

Video editing has now become a very easy tool, compared to of years past. Everyone essentially has a very capable camera in his or her pockets, which is the smartphone. Thus, a wide variety of mobile and computer apps exist, each capable of creating long videos that can be uploaded to Youtube or any external website. For the first part of my research, I would like to look for an ideal app for smartphones and tablets. Since most of my classmate's footage will be done on mobile, editing and creating a beautiful product should be done on their phones as well. In his article, "10 Excellent Video Editing Apps", Eric Larson claims that one app, called Magisto, is a "self-described "movie maker," Magisto lets you experiment with basic edits, like trims, filters and transitions. You can also throw in background music and edit sound effects" (Larson). Since it is available on both iOS and Android, I'd like to see my classmates use this universally, and be amazed by the ease of use and friendly user experience of the application.

Research: Technology in Education!

As we progress into the twenty-first century, technology is becoming a growing part of many's lives. In Ali Twaha's article, "Smart Classrooms to Boost E-Learning", Twaha observes how technology is changing many student's learning experience, especially in third-world countries. For example, with an individual computer, one can "cover the entire basic educational syllabus, allowing facilitators to teach any subject or grade. All the equipment in the SPIS is customized to use in a solar-powered environment" (Twaha). As countries take the massive leap into using technology in education, classrooms here in the United States make the same progress, creating an easier, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly education.

New Beginnings: Newspaper!

After forming a team with Jaison and Randy, and a group with Taj and Matt, I have decided to take the fundamentals of my project to a more grandiose scale. I have decided that I will help the entire class in publishing a newspaper, website, and videos in letting their hard work be known to the Washington community. It is important because not only do the students now have a better aid in creating better produced videos, but they can also let their work be known to the public. This also leads to the portion of their project in which they have to create a lasting impression and result on the community need they worked on. By going on this new route, I will be able to help them understand technology in education, how to publish to a real audience, and find the easiest video editing platform. I'm excited to get to work.

Research Part 2!

In "High Cost of SAT-Prep Classes Hurt Low Income Students Aiming for College", readers understand that without a sufficient SAT preparation course or a so-called "boot camp" that institutions like Elite or Kaplan offer, students are unable to show their true abilities to their dream colleges. The state of Connecticut's 2011 Teacher of the Year, Kristen Record, says that “students take their first SAT in October of their senior year, cold, with no preparation, no guidance, no previous SAT-test taking experience.  It’s no wonder that many of them score below the state average.” Students, including all schools, are told that these exams are decidedly important towards their futures, but nothing more. This is an issue that must be solved through in-depth involvement towards successful planning before the exam.

First Issue Research!

In the article, "The SAT, Test Prep, Income, and Race", Alex Tabarrok claims that "The average SAT score among those with a family income of $20,000-$40,000 is 1402 while the average score among those with an income $100,000 higher, $120,000-$140,000, is 1581 for a 179 point difference". This is a huge difference, as students in families who are unable to support themselves at a camp often find themselves on the lower end of the scale.

While there may be outliers, this is a clear case that lower class individuals NEED someone to help them along the way. As colleges increase their dependence on standardized testing, some of these families are even more disadvantaged. Since most of these people have access to the internet, a global good that is increasingly available, I see a direct solution to resolving the SAT class problem.

Inspiration and the Plan!

Today, there is a looming problem that has affected many students in their future plans. That is, standardized test preparation. When I say standardized tests, I mean college preparatory ones such as the SAT and ACT. It has been said that, without a subscription to a camp or class, it is almost impossible to succeed at such a test. Conversely, these tests play a propitious role in the college admissions process; as a result many students are unable to succeed on their roadmap towards their post high school careers. To resolve this, or at least make an attempt, I would like to create a free course of videos that may help underprivileged students around the United States and the world learn how to tackle some of the problems that may appear on the SAT I. These videos may be published to my Youtube channel, or to an external website that I publish. On each video, I will record myself either on a whiteboard or screencast my computer screen in working through math, writing, and critical reading problems for the SAT. By seeing my methods, other students may use it to garner hope and intellect for when they take the SAT themselves. Not only does this save money, but I believe I would be elated to help other students out and see them succeed, when otherwise, they may not have the chance to do so.