START Seminar – Class Summaries for Fall 2015

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24 - 28 August 2015 [Week 1]

Notes from previous START Seminars: Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Fall 2013, Spring 2013 and Fall 2012.

This semester we will develop web pages, work on our writing skills, and improve our presentation skills. We will use the hypertext markup language (HTML) with cascading style sheets (CSS) in conjunction with BlueGriffon (a free development platform) to build the web pages. All PowerPoint presentations must use the Assertion-Evidence format whenever possible, the assertion statements must be succinct and definitive, and the animations must be subtle and informative.

The web pages and PowerPoint pages will be based on a recent publication by Pope Francis who released his second Encyclical, Laudato Si', on 18 June 2015 (the official date of publication is 24 May 2015) with the subtitle: On The Care Of Our Common Home. The Pope calls for individuals to make a decision to act on environmental degradation caused by our irresponsible actions, consumerism, use of technology, human interactions, and much more. Choose one or more paragraphs (or topics) from Laudato Si' as the basis for your work. Each student will have a unique topic area. Laudato Si' may be found online (with citations) or as a .pdf file (with the Table of Contents starting on page 181).

The Pope released his environmental message; the Vatican released the Encyclical; and Hollywood released a trailer.

Subsequently, President Obama released his Climate Change Action Plan on 3 August 2014; more details may be found on the EPA website: Clean Power Plan for Existing Power Plants.

The International Islamic Climate Change Symposium weighed in the issue on 17-18 August 2015.

France will host the 21^st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) on 30 Nov 2015 through 11 Dec 2015. Keep track of some of the news leading up to this conference as reported by the United Nations.

The PowerPoint slides will use the Assertion-Evidence model (see the following two sites about the design of PowerPoint slides):

• A video by Michael Alley regarding PowerPoint presentations.
• A web site by Michael Alley entitled "Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides: The Assertion-Evidence Structure"

Grading rubric for the web site:

The grants project is still viable. I have found two funding opportunities that we may pursue (and there may be others – have you found any funding sources yet?):

1. NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (NSF S-STEM) at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15581/nsf15581.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click
2. NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education and Human Resources (NSF IUSE: EHR) at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15585/nsf15585.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click 

Assignment (due 31 August 2015): Send email with selection [5 points]

Each STARTer will select a unique paragraph from the Encyclical to be used as the basis for the web page and oral presentation. In order that there is no overlap with choices made by other STARTers, please select three paragraphs from the Encyclical that are of interest to you. Propose a succinct thesis statement for each of the paragraphs.

Submit your selections in a properly formatted document: use a title page (without page numbers), the subsequent page should be numbered as Page 1 and include the direct quotes, thesis statements, and a list of references (use as many pages as needed). Include direct quotes from the Encyclical (copy and paste the appropriate paragraphs) and be sure to reference properly. Each paragraph must have an associated thesis statement. Click here for a reminder about controlling page numbering by using sections and footers.

During the START Seminar each of you will select one unique paragraph from the Encyclical.

One way to cite this source may be the following:

Franciscus, 2015. Laudato Si‘: On Care For Our Common Home. Retrieved on 25 August 2015 from http://m.vatican.va/content/francescomobile/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.

The Splinter Group

The Year 4 Cohort will also meet on a day to be determined in order to improve learning skills, and to work with Word and PowerPoint.

All STARTers may attend the Splinter Group meeting, but the Year 4 Cohort must attend these sessions.

All Splinter Group notes and assignments will be reported on this page and distinguished by brown horizontal lines.

This week, the Year 4 Cohort reviewed features of Office 365 Outlook web mail (signature blocks and rules) and worked with Word (indents and referencing style).

This group will meet each Tuesday at 5:30-6:30 p.m. in WLLC 216.

31 August - 4 September 2015 [Week 2]

Selection of topics for web site and PowerPoint presentations will be determined; thesis statements will be reviewed and modified.

The START scholar group photograph will be held on Monday, 7 September 2015 at 5:00 p.m. Please dress accordingly.

Assignment (due 7 September 2015): First Franciscus PowerPoint presentation [10 points]

• Build a PowerPoint presentation that has the following slides: [1] title page, [2] thesis statement, [3] appropriately animated assertion-evidence format slide to support the thesis – if you are feeling adventurous then you may use two assertion-evidence slides that support the thesis, [4] closing statement, and [5] reference slide (with at least two references: Franciscus (2015) and another reference related to the evidence presented in Slide #3.
• After reading the thesis (Slide #2) be sure to explain to the audience why the topic is important and why they should pay attention to your presentation.
• The closing statement (Slide #4) should explain to the audience what you want us to do with the information you just shared with us.
• Save the file to U:\START\Fall2015\franciscus (you will make a presentation on 7 Sep 2015).
• The filename must start with your last name and must not have any spaces within the filename.
• Submit one printout (six slides per page horizontal, pure black and white) before class begins.
• Send the PowerPoint file to me with an appropriate email.

The Splinter Group

Work with Karen Madden, Director of Academic Support Services at JSC.

7 - 11 September 2015 [Week 3]

Nasser, Shayna, Steven and Heather made a presentation on their chosen topics.

Start working with HTML. Go to http://www.w3schools.com/ and click on 'Learn HTML'; be sure to use the 'Try it yourself' button to see what happens.

See the HTML link on the class web page for more resources related to web design.

Decide if you want a 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio for PowerPoint. Click: Design > Page Setup > Slides sized for > make your choice.

To set the new aspect ratio as a default on the PC, click here.

Assignment (due 14 September 2015): Franciscus PowerPoint update [20 points]

• Improve the first draft of the PowerPoint presentation based on my comments and what you learned from watching others present.
• Be sure to incorporate the work of Franciscus (2015) into your presentation.
• Save the file to U:\START\Fall2015\franciscus.
• The filename must start with your last name, must not have any spaces within the filename, and have an updated version number so the earlier version will not be overwritten.
• Submit one printout (six slides per page horizontal, pure black and white) before class begins.
• Send the PowerPoint file to me with an appropriate email.

A couple of other important requests:

• Please complete the spreadsheets related to the information required by NSF.
• Please update your short biographical statement and send it to me so it can be incorporated into the group photo.

The Splinter Group

We will work with PowerPoint (Assertion-Evidence Model, animations, formatting, and shortcuts)

14 - 18 September 2015 [Week 4]

Adobe Photoshop (sizing, saving, and erasing extraneous material).

Building HTML files.

Assignment (due 21 September 2015): First attempt at HTML [10 points]

• Create a folder that has your lastname as a subdirectory of U:\START\fall2015\student\.
• Put a copy of default.htm and myjsc.css into the folder created above.
• Rewrite default.htm to make it your cover page and link it to a new page called research.htm.
• Insert one figure into research.htm, with a proper figure caption, and refer to it in the text.
• Link research.htm back to default.htm.
• Insert a reference in research.htm that is hyperlinked to its source. In order to create a hanging indent in the reference list, be sure to put the following code before the authors' names:
  <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in">
   

Note: DO NOT copy from Word or PowerPoint and paste into HTML files – use Notepad to strip codes from text.

The Splinter Group

Worked with the following topics in Word:

• Tabs: left, center, decimal, dot leader, and right justified.
• Turning off automatically numbered lists.
• Indents.
• Format painter tool.
• Figure captions linked to a figure where text flows around the group.

21 - 25 September 2015 [Week 5]

We will work with tags in HTML. See an example of some codes here. Use 'Ctrl-u' to see the code, or right-click and select 'view source'

Anchors are used to link to a specific place on a page. To create an anchor, look at the discussion below:

To set an anchor (a link) to a specific place on a page, add (for example) the following code: <A HREF="#kanat2015">Kanat 2015</A>

For a figure caption, the code could be as follows: Figure 1. Caption for figure (<A HREF="#kanat2015">Kanat 2015</A>).

The code ends up looking like this: Figure 1. Caption for figure (Kanat 2015).

Place <A NAME=kanat2015></a> at the location you are seeking (in this case, the code should be in the references section just in front of the author's name), yet I placed <A NAME=kanat2015> at the beginning of the Upcoming Events subtitle below, so clicking on the link will bring you to that section.

Note the use of the # sign; it is required at the linking location and not allowed at the final location.

Assignment (due 28 September 2015): Second attempt at HTML [20 points]

• Update your web page and be sure to include at least one figure (with caption and referred to in text) and at least three referenced statements.
• All references in the text (and the figure caption) must anchor to the correct citation in the reference list.
• The citations in the reference list must link to the source.

Also, please take a look at the biographical statements on the 2015 Annual START Scholar Photograph and send any corrections to me – it has been updated and Steven now stands behind Shayna.

The Splinter Group

Worked with Word and discussed the contents and format of a resume.

Assignment (due 29 September 2015): First attempt at resume and reference list [20 points]

• Create a resume and reference list as discussed in class demonstrate your understanding of the intricacies of Word.
• Print both documents (staple only the resume) and submit at the start of class.
• Send both documents attached to a well-written email before class begins.

28 September - 2 October 2015 [Week 6]

We will no longer use BlueGriffon to develop HTML pages; BlueGriffon adds unnecessary code to the .html pages. Please start using Notepad++; click here to download a free version.

Shortcuts will increase development speed

ctrl-s     save

alt-tab  swap between active windows

ctrl-r     refresh browser

ctrl-c     copy

ctrl-v     paste
 

Activities for the day

• Remove all default.* files except default.htm.
• Remove all *.bak files.
• Fix all internal links to .html pages and figures by removing all references to drive letters and folders.
• Clean up the code and delete all extraneous commands.
• Fix links between default.htm and research.html.
• Change the <title> of the pages (default.htm and reasearch.html) to reflect the content of your work – limit the title to a few words.
• Update default.htm so it is enticing and informative.
   
• When referring to a figure in the text be sure to capitalize the 'F'. Be sure to refer to the reader to the figure.
• Figure captions should use a three-part format and the citation should have an anchor at the appropriate reference in the reference list. For example: Figure 1. Title (Author, Year).
• Fix the references: alphabetize, italicize title, use a hanging indent, hyperlink to the source article, and put a period at the end of each reference.

Assignment (due Monday, 12 October 2015): Make the changes noted above [20 points]

The Splinter Group

Reviewed development sections in Word and discussed resumes.

Assignment (due Tuesday, 20 October 2015): Make the changes to your resume as discussed in class [20 points]

5 - 9 October 2015 [Week 7]

Fall Break – please be careful.

12 - 16 October 2015 [Week 8]

Work with Photoshop and Notepad++ to finalize web pages.

The Splinter Group

Introduction to Excel.

19 - 23 October 2015 [Week 9]

Presentation by Eliza Doncaster.

Assignment (due 2 Nov 2015): Improve the web pages [40 points]

• Add section titles: minimally use Introduction and References, yet include other appropriate subheadings.
• Use .css file for format of document (colors, fonts, headers, etc).
• Include a proper title on both default.htm and research.htm.
• Include a proper title in the <title tag> – consider using the same <title> for all pages.
• Make sure the references have a consistent style and link to the source.
• Set the page width (possibly 1000 pixels).
• Check all links.
• Be sure to use and cite Franciscus (2015).
   

This assignment was not assessed; no grades were assigned.

The Splinter Group

Assignment (due 27 Oct 2015): Learning Styles Project [30 points]

1. Go to the Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire and take the 40-question survey.
2. Use the Windows Snipping Tool to cut out the graph associated with the report.
3. Include this graph in a Word document. Create a figure caption for this graph and refer to it in the text. The figure caption should have the form:
   Figure 1. Results of Learning Style Questionnaire (Soloman and Felder, nd).
   The figure caption and the figure should be grouped together so text can flow around the object. Be sure to add the complete reference to the reference list and following the referencing guidelines.
4. Next, review the VARK guidelines, take the VARK questionairre, and assess the VARK results.
5. Present the VARK scores in a well-formatted bar chart using Excel. Be sure to save the Excel file with an appropriate name.
6. Create a figure caption for the bar chart created above and discuss (and refer) to chart in the text. Be sure to add the reference for the VARK to the reference list.
7. Be sure that both figures are of the same width and large enough to view (hold down the shift-key when dragging a handle to size an object in order to maintain an appropriate aspect ratio).
8. The Word document should have your name, date, title of activity, appropriate page numbering, 1.5 line spacing, and a reference list.
9. Use the following subheadings in the paper (embolden and underline each subheading; there may be many paragraphs within each subheading):
   Title page — with appropriate information.
   Purpose of the activity — Discuss the intended goals of this activity (how one learns and if the efficacy of these tools).
   Results — Discuss each assessment in a separate paragraph (or more) and refer the readr to the appropriate figure.
   Analysis of the assessment tools — Discuss the similarities and differences between the two methods; evaluate these tools. Were the types of questions similar or did they inquire about different aspects of how you think and respond? Which, if any, of either evaluation tool would you recommend to others?
   Discussions — Discuss the benefits, if any, from doing this activity; did you learn anything about your learning style? Will you do anything different because of this activity?
   Conclusion — Provide a brief summary of the project, your results, and future choices you may make because of this work.
   References — Use proper format. Be sure to reference all statements that are not your own.
10. Please send an email with the file attached and bring a printout to class.


Note: A significant component of the grade for this assignment will be based on the use of proper figure captions and proper references.

26 - 30 October 2015 [Week 10]

Monday START Seminar is cancelled; START Splinter group meets on Tuesday.

The Splinter Group

Worked with Word and Excel.

2 - 6 November 2015 [Week 11]

General review of web page functionality.

The Splinter Group

Reviewed writing style of the Splinter Group web pages.

9 - 13 November 2015 [Week 12]

Monday START Seminar will focus on writing — be sure the text on your web pages is clear, succinct, written in the active voice, grammatically correct, spelled correctly, informative, properly cited, refers the reader to the figures, has appropriately formatted references, and everything else that counts for good writing.

The semester is almost over; be sure your web pages follow the guidelines posted at the start of this semester.

The Splinter Group

Splinter Group meeting is cancelled this Tuesday.

16 - 20 November 2015 [Week 13]

Assignment (due 16 Nov 2015): Writing Style [20 points]

Post your sentences in a shared document found at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xCAarAueOyBO7vH3kIU7pDOJPY0hKsPw3UKVfn3CGAw/edit?usp=sharing

START Seminar was cancelled on 16 Nov 2015.

The Splinter Group

Splinter Group meeting is cancelled this Tuesday.

23 - 27 November 2015 [Week 14]

Thanksgiving Break – please be careful.

30 November - 4 December 2015 [Week 15]

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meets this week in Paris, France.

Thousands for rallies and protests, including over 570,000 people, have been taking place all over the world to acknowledge this event.

Live reports from the conference are provided by the BBC and can be found here.

Assignment (was due on 16 Nov 2015, yet delayed until 30 Nov 2015): Writing Style [20 points]

Post your sentences in a shared document found at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xCAarAueOyBO7vH3kIU7pDOJPY0hKsPw3UKVfn3CGAw/edit?usp=sharing

Assignment (due 7 Dec 2015 or 8 Dec 2015 if you come to the Splinter Group): Final Web Project [40 points – out of 145 total homework points this semester]

Revised grading rubric for the web site:

The Splinter Group

Splinter Group will meet this Tuesday.

Final Exam: Monday, 14 December 2015 at 4:00 p.m.

Upcoming Events

National Council of Undergraduate Research
30^th Anniversary Meeting
University of North Caroline at Ashville
Ashville, NC
7 - 9 March 2016
http://www.cur.org/ncur_2016/
(Expected to attend: Heather, Shayna and ?)
 

Northeast Section of the Geological Society of America
51^st Annual Meeting
Empire State Plaza Convention Center
Albany, NY
21 - 23 March 2016
http://www.geosociety.org/Sections/ne/2015mtg
(Expected to attend: Nasser, Tania, Les and ?)

2016 Meeting of Posters on the Hill
20^th Annual Meeting
Capitol Hill
Washington, DC
19-20 April 2016
http://www.cur.org/conferences_and_events/student_events/posters_on_the_hill/
(Expected to attend: Heather, Shayna, Shavonna, Katie and Liz)

Geological Society of America
128^th Annual Meeting
Denver, Colorado
25 - 28 September 2016
http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/2016/
(Expected to attend: ?)

Past Events

American College of Sports Medicine
New England Chapter Annual Fall Conference
Rhode Island Convention Center
Providence, RI
15 - 16 October 2015
http://neacsm.org
(Attended: Hans, Kelsey and Eden)
 

A Future in Oncology Research and Treatment Conference
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Norris Cotton Cancer Center
One Medical Center Drive
Lebanon, NH 03756
17 - 18 October 2015
(Attended: Eden)
 

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