Week 15: Gaming for Greatness

Looking back on elementary school, problems can oft look comical. For example, my biggest foe was neither personal nor academic, but a logical journey: namely, the final level of Zoombinis. I struggled for what seemed like weeks (it was probably a few hours) with my eyes glued to the orange Macintosh, my palms sweaty with the pressure of the situation. 

Like I said, life was tough back then.

But I know for a fact that I was not alone in this problem -- one of my good friends and I had a serious bonding experience judging the attractiveness of the Mary-Ann or blonde ponytailed creature. In class this week we discussed how educational games like Zoombinis is becoming ever more popular as a learning tool for students young and old as education is becoming more and more technologically driven. Oregon Trail, MathBlaster and Where In the World Is Carmen SanDiego? keep their appeal because, for all intents and purposes, they're secretly educational. I may have been learning to solve logic problems, but I definitely didn't know it at the time. 


Knowledge Adventure is a site solely dedicated to providing free educational online games for kids, ranging from ages toddler to 12 with a wide range of subject matter. I don't know about you, but I'll be playing the animal game.


Sara Solano has rollerskates for feet.

Week 14: Bunny Slippers in First Period

I was a driven student with absolutely no desire to take the required health class in high school. Sure, I went through the motions and took PE, but...health? I know how STDs work and since that was pretty much all they desired to hammer home, I was pretty confident that I could function in society without this class. While I normally wouldn't turn down an easy A, I certainly regretted not being able to take another AP class instead to boost my GPA. So I did what any other obnoxiously competitive  kid would do -- I took health online.

This week in class, we explored how not only are classes offered for high schools and colleges, but entire degrees are available via strictly online classes. Colleges like University of Phoenix and public school programs like Florida Virtual School allow students to connect to the classroom without having to leave the comfort of their rooms -- which is excellent for returning students working full-time jobs or who cannot otherwise attend classes regularly.

Onlineschools.org compiles statistics, rankings and reports for online schools for K-12 and colleges in helpful articles and info graphics.

Sara Solano is still competitive, but in more refined, subtle ways. Like tripping you.

Week 13: America's Online...and So Is Your Boss

With all of this technology inundating us on a daily basis, it would be foolish not to think it would heavily influence the work force. More and more, paper applications are being disregarded for what can be saved as a PDF. Resumes, cover letters and digital applications are all the rage across the employment plane. Not only this, but employers are looking more and more toward personal websites to be a resource for finding information about applicants. 

This week in class we discussed establishing a professional presence on the Internet via Google Sites. For a project, we include a home page, resume, personal information and work samples. My first project for my web design class was to hand-code a personal website (ssolano.com, if you're interested) using XHTML and CSS. While it was an infinitely tedious endeavor, having a link to put on a resume has been an excellent addition to make me stand apart from other applicants. Especially in the journalism field in which the movement is toward online media, showing competence professionally online is a great way to reassure employers that you are a valuable asset to their company. 

This article from MarketWatch goes into how to not only be competent online, but how to make sure that you appear professional in social media and other things that can be Googled by employers. 

Sara Solano can design you a website. Seriously, pay me.