GRANT RECIPIENTS:

Ninon Rodriquez, Arts and Philosophy, Wolfson Campus
nrodrigu@mdc.edu

As originally conceived, the project was supposed to “iron out the kinks” of an already existing website that needed to become more user-friendly and efficient. For instance, when students clicked on slide-show presentations within the website, it was difficult to click out of them as they became ensnared in a “cyber loop.” Furthermore, these slide-show presentations took up a lot of space, making it very difficult for students to download music, slide presentations and links, especially from home. Another problem was that when students downloaded information from the website, they were unable to print it out directly due to the fact that the margins of the printed document were incompatible with the website’s. As a result of this misalignment, students would have to cut and paste the website information onto Notepad so that one quarter of the information would not be lopped off.
With the goal of making the website more accessible and functional, Brian Colleary set out to use a new format for the slide presentations. He first resized the scanned the works of art, optimized them for the web and then re-inserted them into the website by using Front Page 2002’s slide show format. These new slide presentations enable students quicker download time as well as access from their own homes, using a 56K modem and even a 28K modem.
And then the unforeseen happened. A part-time employee, inadvertently and without authorization, made changes to the site, resulting in it being completely inaccessible to our students during the critical last two weeks of the Fall semester. Brian helped identify the cause of the problem and attempted to facilitate its correction by going through the appropriate channels. Unfortunately, the site was not recovered until Brian put it up himself the first day of the Spring semester (with the help of the new syllabus).
My story, however, has a happy ending. The aforementioned part-time employee has dedicated a lot time to further transforming my HUM 1020 website. First of all, he has realigned the website pages, enabling students to download information directly from the site. Secondly, and more importantly, he has changed the website’s form and functionality by making the content and scope even more student friendly. In fact, the website now looks and “feels” differently. This has been achieved through the redesign of the website’s format, based on the new Wolfson Campus’ generic template. Furthermore, the art is now showcased to be reproduced and appreciated as best as it can be in a digital media. Much of the information presented, moreover, is more easily accessible. For instance, sample essays can now be quickly downloaded as they have been re-located on the margins whereas before they became buried within content materials. Finally, the website is more efficient since it has been redesigned to consume as little space as possible.

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My newly revised HUM 1020 website is located at www.mdc.edu/wolfson/departments/art&hum/art.hum.1020.htm.
In order to check the validity of the project, I devised a questionnaire that asked students the following questions:
• How often did you use the HUM 1020 website during the semester?
• How much do you attribute your success in HUM 1020 to the website?
• Compare your performance in HUM 1020 due to the website to your performance in a non-website course this semester.
• How would you improve the HUM 1020 website?
Approximately 200 students responded to the survey in a most positive manner. Over and over again, students said that they accessed the site frequently. Almost every student responded by saying that they hit the site at least once a week, many much more frequently. Students cited that the site enabled them to perform better than in classes that have yet to add comparable web content. They particularly mentioned their reliance on slide presentations, test reviews, sample essays and cool links. Many students would like for us to add additional links that are relevant to content material.

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I have already shared my revised website with my department. I would now like to showcase my website campus and college-wide because it is such a valuable educational tool for faculty and students. One plan is to send my website to District and campus administrators because I believe that more College resources need to be channeled to such web projects. At the time that I encountered my technical problems, I realized the lack of communication between Network Services departments as well as the lack of employees within these departments. We need to commit to expanding these departments if the College is going to provide better services for its students and the community. Above all, these departments need to understand that they need to provide better services to the faculty. Finally, if there is anything that I have learned is that these departments are undermanned.

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