General

Making Presentations

Throughout the class, I had to make many presentations alone and with groups. Often I had to use a visual aid - such as a poster or overhead transparency - or an actual thing which I had made. Making those visual aids so that they would get the attention of the class and also be useful to my presentation was important. Being able to use these aids, as well as talk to my audience at the same time is difficult. I had to make sure I knew exactly what I wanted to say beforehand so I wouldn't forget anything and so the presentation wouldn't loose its focus. Maintaining eye contact and keeping the audience involved in the presentation were also critical to success.

Taping Presentations

All of the presentations I gave were taped. This was good because it let me see how I was doing. For some reason there is no way to tell what you look like while you're giving the presentation.

Self Critiques

After each presentation, I watched the tape of it and made a brief critique of how it went. I made notes of things I did right and things that I did wrong each time. For the most part, I was happy that I was able to keep eye contact with the audience. I tried to work on being more comfortable in front of everyone and being better prepared.

Final Viewing of the Presentation Tape

At the end of the course I watched the entire tape of all my presentations. They were all in order so I was able to see how I progressed and improved. I was very happy with the later presentations because I appeared more relaxed, which made the presentation much more interesting and watchable. I would also like to point out that I hardly ever wear that sweater. It's just a coincidence that I wore it almost every time I gave a presentation. From watching the tape I felt like a cartoon character who never changed his clothes and I will remember that the next time I do any sort of project like this where my picture is taken on several days over a long period of time.

Making Web Pages

Other than presentations, the next most important way of presenting my work in the class was through web pages. For the most part I used a WYSIWYG editor, like FrontPage, because I don't know enough HTML. And while my pages for the class lacked the brilliance and madness of my personal webpage, it was the first time I had to make something that was actually functional and aesthetic.

Working in Groups

Much of the work for this class was done in groups. Throughout the portfolio, I have mentioned this for nearly each project. That is one of the things that made this class unique. While I've become used to doing problem sets alone for other classes, I was required to work with other people to get the job done. This meant that I had to depend on other people, and they had to depend on me. We had to plan meetings, delegate work, and make compromises on all aspects of the projects. In the end, I would say that I was happy with the way all of my groups worked out. Of course some were better than others, but I couldn't call any of them bad. We were always able to make things work, agree on what we were doing, and just get the job done.