After thinking about Rogers categories I consider myself to be an Early Adapter. I cannot consider myself an innovator because I often work with technology that has been proven effective in other areas not necessarily related to education. I feel that as an early adapter I'm often looking how to implement new ideas in current work processes to make them more effective.
For example, in my current job as a project assistant I'm always looking for ways to improve communication with our target population consisting of faculty, supervisors, and students. As a web administrator I new that the next logical step from using plain html was to implement CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to a website in order to improve navigation. Also, CSS provided easy ways of changing the appearance of a site as it was all contain in the attached style sheet. I had seen the effectiveness of CSS in several other pages around the net and decided to adapt an implementation that would meet my needs. After sharing my finds several of my coworkers saw the benefit of implementing CSS as it made their program sites more effective and was less complicating than creating complicated server site websites or html sites that were difficult to update.
Activity Log:
Monday - Listened to podcast, posted responce item
Tuesday to Thursday - continue work on Project 1 and Project 2
Friday - post comments on other responces.
13 comments:
I think alot of us can fit into this section. We tend to use the technologies that will benefit us because we know they have already been tested.
Hi Edgar,
I am learning so much from other classmates. What is a CSS? Of course not knowing this surely puts me in the lager state according to Rogers'; however, don't you think a person technology development depends on their need or certain technology?
Please blog me with the answer to CSS. Thanks Dorothy
Edgar I am sending you my blog address because for some reason Brian deleted me. I have contacted him to put me back on the list.
http://dorothyoliver-edd.blogspot.com/
Edgar,
Thank you for looking for new ways to make our current work processes more effective. We need you at our school!
I am also interested in CSS? How does it work?
James
Hi James,
CSS is used to eliminate the use of tables to construct a website, like it was commonly done. With CSS you constructed through layers and specify each layer behaviour through one or more style sheets. There are great examples of what can be done with css and some resources in the following page.
http://www.csszengarden.com/
Hope this helps!
So many of us are thinking we are early adopters rather than innovators. But the question I have is this, who is ahead of you? Who are you looking to for ideas on what to try?
CSS is good, and recommended. I just wish all browsers would parse it the same!
Hi Edgar,
Great post. It is great that so many of you are talking and advising on CSS. Great idea.
I also use technology that has been tested after reading reviews, attending confrences, and listening to classmates. However, I have noticed that by comparison of my peers, I do seem to be more intune with what is currently being used.
Great information!
More school sites need early adopters to give advice to the other teachers who struggle with technology.
Edgar,
I would have to agree with Cassandra that many people fit into this category. I for one use many different technologies that I'm familiar with, use regularly, and have been tested and proven to work. I can't really call myself an innovator because although I am socially connected I am not one to be adventurous enough to take major risks when it comes to technology.
Edgar,
I actually saw your response to Dorothy on her Blog regarding CSS and arrived here to see you have had some further discussion about it. I am very interested in CSS as a Best Practice for Website Design. An additional benefit to CSS is the accessibility piece. I don't know a whole lot about the details yet, but am having the concept drilled into me at every conference I attend at the moment. I would actually like to attend a conference session specifically on the topic in the near future. Are any of your projects dealing with CSS? Glad to see you placed the csszengarden link up, love that site. :-) If you have any suggestions on a reasonably priced place to gain more information on CSS specifically, I would appreciate it. Also, doesn't Dreamweaver have the option to do CSS? Just got Dreamweaver in the office and looking forward to learning more how to use it.
Davena
Hi Davena,
This website is a great way to start, http://www.w3schools.com/css/
it has tutorials and other information, it is what I used to begin with some of my projects. Currently I'm working on 2 websites that I created using CSS, they are still in the development process as I'm addind final touches, but will be completed soon. Dreamweaver allows you to create style sheets but does not offer a tutorial so you would still need to learn the basics. There is also a software package that allows you to check if your website will be compatible with the different browsers and it also allows for you to create the style sheet by selecting all the different options, it is called Style Master
http://www.westciv.com/style_master/
and its free for 30 days if you would like to try it out. Hope this works for you, please let me know if you have any questions and don't forget to share any findings as we can all learn from each other.
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