WBL Reflection Journal

Thawsif Mursalin
Digital Design
WBL
Reflection Journal

Financial Literacy WBL

In this WBL workshop we learned all about finance. Mr. Franc was our guest speaker and our instructor for the day on Financial Literacy. Mr. Franc’s definition of Financial Literacy was being able to understand and read how money works and how it is circulated within the economy of buying and selling in the market.  According to http://www.investopedia.com,  “Financial literacy is the education and understanding of various financial areas. This topic focuses on the ability to manage personal finance matters in an efficient manner, and it includes the knowledge of making appropriate decisions about personal finance such as investing, insurance, real estate, paying for college, budgeting, retirement and tax planning.” The message that they are trying to get across is that anything from learning how to  pay mortgages or even invest in a stock market will count as being financially literate. In the lecture Mr.Franc mentions that there are certain desires that we all have. He distinguishes between the two. The first group of people he describes is none other than teenagers. He writes a list of what all teenagers are worried about and the number one thing on our mind is how can we fit into society. How are teens wanting to look in terms of fashion, in terms of being quote-on-quote “cool”? This should be on the lower end of the spectrum because as an adult you start to worry about this less. If we are just going to change our minds later in the future then what is the point of being involved right now. What we should be worried about the most is financial security. How can we make sure that we are able to live a successful life in the future? What are the next steps in ensuring that my future family will have enough to do what they want? And how can I stay invested in their lives as much as I am invested in cultivating my mind or making money? What is the path of least resistance? These are all questions that we think about as adults. If we are able to adopt such a mind-set as a kid then we can be that much more wiser in the decisions we decide to partake in as teenages. In the end Mr. Franc showed us that the fastest way to make money in the least resistive or painful path is to grow your money in a fund. He told us to stop purchasing items that cannot help you in the long run. Instead of paying a company to buy a product pay yourself with shares from that company. Become an owner not a consumer. Additionally he wants us to invest in things that do not depreciate in value. For instance shoes that cost above over $80 or name brand clothing that only have value because of the name of the brand in particular, the “Supreme” clothing brand.

Image :https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2016_32/1657946/wall_street_2_1d67594dfab0d76cb502d35689eae1f2.nbcnews-fp-1200-800.jpg

Lab 14 Reflection

Thawsif Mursalin

Digital Design

Lab 14

Reflection Journal

Simple Calculator With JavaScript!

       


        Lab 14 is all about employing what we know about JavaScript thus far. The user will have to be able to interact with the name, phone number, and E-mail boxes. What we had to do was create a site where there would be a very simple calculator off lab 13 with the the alert form boxes create a pop-up whenever someone puts in their name, phone, and E-mail and clicks the button that says "Go", all of it will register and a pop-up will show all of that information. This was very interesting as this is another thing that most websites have, which is putting your username to be part of the website and log in to. We built it off of our previous lab, 13. Which was our first ever JavaScript on Dreamweaver. What we had to do in lab 13 was to create an “interactive button” in which when clicked on, will show a hidden secret message of the website. Additionally we had to create text boxes that you could type in. These text boxes were document forms and alert form types. The text that we had to put for this particular lab was "This is my first ever JavaScript!" or something along the lines of first every JavaScript code.

I personally added a button for the hidden message encoded in CSS. I think that CSS is a useful skill to have because it made everything look flashy and nice. My button turned out to be orange but that’s not the only aspect in which I used CSS. I also used CSS in the background image of the JavaScript forms and message box. I used a solid fill color scheme, “Limegreen”. Also I added my own personalized favicon and placed it into the HTML code lining. Finally the navigation bar came so I included the same navigation form 2 projects ago. There were virtually no challenges other than using Camel Case characters, in which I adjusted to rather quickly. We changed document type to alert form instead and added spaces to put your name, number, and E-mail address.

All in all tailoring your website so that it has the ability to display information and let users see the output is key because it shows that would help create that user interaction with the website and overall experience of the user. You are demonstrating that you have the aptitude to express that you recognize JavaScript. This was a very fun yet simple lab. What is interesting is that I can place whatever inside the text boxes and when I click "Go", and then the pop-up box will display whatever I typed in. This is just the beginning of our JavaScript adventures, just wait for the exciting part.

Ten80 STEM Reflection Journal

Thawsif Mursalin

 Digital Design

York College 1080

Reflection Journal

STEM 1080 at York College

3/3/17

     During the trip on Friday [STEM trip at York College] the class of digital design was involved in an immersive 3 hour long exposure to topics in stem.  This experience provided so many of us to enjoy and appreciate all the different parts of STEM. The one that I partook in was the RACE program. In this workshop I was able to see race cars that were remote controlled and witnessed how they operated. We also were given the opportunity to interact with the RC cars hands on however we couldn’t do so because of the time constraints that we were given. But I do know that my friends got the chance and and even drove it around a small track. Even though time was substantially inadequate and we didn't really learn much at all, RACE was one of the things that STEM permitted kids to do and it is an excellent platform to be a member of as there are many opportunities to be successful in life, with this career. I feel as though this workshop was not worth class time however because of the fact that we took so long just to even get started learning about RACE. Additionally TEN80 STEM is affiliated with the U.S. Army, which means that it is possible to apply for a full-ride free college tuition package and work towards our aspirations and job if we enroll into the army boot camp. Personally I know that I will not be joining the army due to medical problems and health concerns but I will always have a social responsibility to be a part of the STEM community!

Lab 13 Reflection

Thawsif Mursalin

 Digital Design

Lab 13

Reflection Journal

More JavaScript!

       Lab 13 is all about employing what we know about JavaScript thus far. The user will have to be able to interact with the name, phone number, and E-mail boxes. What we had to do was create a site where the alert form boxes create a pop-up whenever someone puts in their name, phone, and E-mail and clicks the button that says "Go", all of it will register and a pop-up will show all of that information. This was very interesting as this is another thing that most websites have, which is putting your username to be part of the website and log in to.  We built it off of our previous lab, 12. Which was our first ever JavaScript on Dreamweaver. What we had to do in lab 12 was to create an “interactive button” in which when clicked on, will show a hidden secret message of the website. Additionally we had to create text boxes that you could type in. These text boxes were document forms and alert form types. The text that we had to put for this particular lab was "This is my first ever JavaScript!" or something along the lines of first every JavaScript code.

I personally added a button for the hidden message encoded in CSS. I think that CSS is a useful skill to have because it made everything look flashy and nice. My button turned out to be orange but that’s not the only aspect in which I used CSS. I also used CSS in the background image of the JavaScript forms and message box. I used a solid fill color scheme, “Limegreen”. Also I added my own personalized favicon and placed it into the HTML code lining. Finally the navigation bar came so I included the same navigation form 2 projects ago. There were virtually no challenges other than using Camel Case characters, in which I adjusted to rather quickly. We changed document type to alert form instead and added spaces to put your name, number, and E-mail address.

All in all tailoring your website so that it has the ability to display information and let users see the output is key because it shows that would help create that user interaction with the website and overall experience of the user. You are demonstrating that you have the aptitude to express that you recognize JavaScript. This was a very fun yet simple lab. What is interesting is that I can place whatever inside the text boxes and when I click "Go", and then the pop-up box will display whatever I typed in. This is just the beginning of our JavaScript adventures, just wait for the exciting part.

Lab 12 Reflection Journal

Thawsif Mursalin

 Digital Design

Lab 12

Reflection Journal

My First JavaScript!

          

       

         How exciting! We finally wrapped up our unit on CSS and we are now moving ahead to JavaScript programming! Lab 12 was our first ever JavaScript on Dreamweaver. What we had to do in this lab was to create an “interactive button” in which when clicked on, will show a hidden secret message of the website. Additionally we had to create text boxes that you could type in. These text boxes were document forms and alert form types. The text that we had to put for this particular lab was "This is my first ever JavaScript!" or something along the lines of first every JavaScript code.

            I personally added a button for the hidden message encoded in CSS. I think that CSS is a useful skill to have because it made everything look flashy and nice. My button turned out to be orange but that’s not the only aspect in which I used CSS. I also used CSS in the background image of the JavaScript forms and message box. I used a solid fill color scheme, “Limegreen”. Also I added my own personalized favicon and placed it into the HTML code lining. Finally the navigation bar came so I included the same navigation form 2 projects ago. There were virtually no challenges other than using Camel Case characters, in which I adjusted to rather quickly.

     Learning JavaScript is substantially imperative for impending Web Designers, such as myself because the website might otherwise have no interactive components with the user so that they would enjoy the website to the fullest and so that it is not just a fancy looking website with a couple of buttons. Interaction with the user is key to making a successful website and this is only the first step to being a great Web Designer. I am happy to know that I am learning JavaScript and will most certainly use this for when I am getting a job in the real world with coding.

Project 3

Thawsif Mursalin

 Digital Design

Project 3

Reflection Journal

Respect for all!

Respect for all is a vital subject to discourse about for there is a multitude of people in this world who are prejudiced and disrespect people, places, things, and ideas. The topic that I have chosen to address covers Respect for all under the ecosystem. You wouldn’t treat your house like an ash tray unless you are a complete moron, so why would you treat Earth like one? The fact of the matter is that pollution has been the leading cause of economy crashes, unsafe working conditions, and the foul stench of what has been rotting for ages now in dumps. We need to literally clean up our act, it is because of us that we might not have a clean future for us in the long run for the next generation. So please pick up your recycling bins and reduce, reuse and recycle! My project focuses on the problem with the ecosystem and pollution at hand, the facts, and the solutions on how we can cut down our losses.

 In this project the difficulty was the time management. I have tried to learn how to manage my time through alarm clocks, creating a tentative bell schedule, and even timing myself on a regular basis. When it comes to coding I take more time because of my indecisiveness to decide on what to do. Even with the wireframe drafts that I have constructed, they prove to be of no avail because I end up changing the whole format my work anyways. Additionally it took time positioning where everything would go, for instance how to determine the absolute position of an object such as a navigation bar or something like placing an image at a specific point on the screen. Whilst trying to figure this out I was placing the images according to the absolute location, however when the window was resized my images would all of a sudden go off the screen entirely. The easiest part of the project was the wire frames because I enjoy brain storming. I switched my idea all 6 times that we did the wire frames for the project and I explored all my options this time. Even after 6 drafts of the wire frames I still had trouble finalizing on even one of the drafts.

 I find this project to be very helpful as I get to learn about how the world suffers from human made disasters like pollution. Also, with creating or trying to create a professional website, I learned how to create new things with CSS like adding footer to the bottom of the page to show my name, copyright, and fake contact information. It was a very helpful project to do and I learned a lot during my time doing this. Later on this will help me in my future endeavors when coming face to face with those like Donald Trump who says that that pollution does not exist. [Tell that to the gaping hole in the ozone layer Mr. Trump!] 

Lab 11 Reflection Journal

Thawsif Mursalin

Digital Design

Lab 11

Reflection Journal

Respect for all Wire Frame Final Draft!

          

        In this lab we finalized our homepage wire frame. What I did was create a concurring theme with green since my project is on the ecosystem.  Lab 11 is the final homepage wireframe for the Respect for all project. What we were supposed to do in this wireframe was add color, finalize our fonts, and have an improved outline based on the feedback we received from our peers. This wireframe is important as it will show what I am going to put in my website and the layout of how it should look with the fonts and colors. This also meant that the content of the homepage had to be real, so we went ahead creating the banner, the logos, and eventually move on to the creation of the other aspects of our website like the sub heading navigation bars.

There were some difficulties when I was creating the final wireframe because I was confused on how I should make the layout since I had in total 6 drafts to choose from all of which had a different element of style to it, of this website and didn't know what fonts or colors to use for the text or background. Through-out this project I was highly indecisive. I had a lot of trouble with time management this semester because I am running out of time at my house. I have made other dedications that go beyond school that are not negotiable. If I hadn’t had these constraints I would be spending a lot more time on completing and researching for my projects.   After I finally got feedback from the other students of the class and even from Ms. Ramirez, I realized that my third draft layout/presentation was the best fit for my purposes than the other ones that were presented, so I held through with the arrangement as shown through Jupiter grades.

I learned in this lab that constructive criticism is significant because sometimes you do not realize your mistakes until it’s too late. It is also imperative that you know how to take the criticism and don’t easily get offended by an opinion or comment on your work especially when they are just suggestions that you have the power to inculcate or not in your projects and labs. This will be very advantageous for forthcoming labs and projects as I will take what I learned about feedback and take it into deliberation once creating another wireframe or project.

Lab 10 Reflection Journal

Thawsif Mursalin

 Digital Design

Lab 10

Reflection Journal

Respect for all Wire Frames!

              

  During our time with lab 10 we created wireframes for our Respect for all website, later to become our project, and we needed at least four pages a homepage, why page, facts page, and how page. What I did for each wireframe was have a different navigation bar because I was getting tired of reusing my old one over and over again, the same font family, size and type, consistency of alignment of posters, navigation bars, and images,  and have each text talk about each respective subheading of each paragraph. Since this was just a wireframe we did not have to have actual legitimate content instead we just needed to quote on quote fill the lines up. Additionally the text could be absolutely random until it was given a proper background research check. I mainly used boxes and ipsum lorium texts.

See here for text: “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam a lorem non erat ultrices pulvinar nec in arcu. Nullam urna lorem, tristique ac purus at, tincidunt tincidunt tellus. Aenean hendrerit sagittis neque, eu imperdiet odio facilisis sed. Pellentesque volutpat aliquet nibh, vitae molestie lacus maximus non. Duis lobortis, velit in egestas facilisis, ex ante sagittis nisi, tincidunt sodales lectus massa sit amet lectus. Pellentesque viverra felis purus, eget bibendum odio molestie at. Nunc at facilisis ipsum. Duis maximus lacus id lectus rhoncus lobortis. Duis ac rhoncus dui, feugiat hendrerit mauris. Aenean ac sodales mi. Nullam ut augue ac urna volutpat condimentum. Pellentesque pharetra dui lorem, eget blandit urna efficitur quis. Fusce aliquet erat nunc. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Nullam ullamcorper, purus vel suscipit bibendum, lacus metus ultricies urna, non volutpat turpis erat sed neque.”

Wireframes are crucial as they are important for it entails what the future final product, outcome, or website/creation will be about and look like so that people/customers may give back constructive criticism and feedback on how to expand and develop your ideas about a creation before creating the final masterpiece. It is also good for partnerships because other people can connect/join on what you are working on. Additionally they can bounce ideas off of each other and have their own opinions and ideas on how they would like their website can eventually look like and how it can be good to present.  

In the end I had 6 beautiful wire frames that all so good that I could not choose between the options that I have created for myself. I learned that creating wire frames is great for planning out for the future. It is similar to making a schedule. You will have promised to do well on the project by which you must turn in to the owner/person who will have hired you.

Project 2 Reflection

Thawsif Mursalin

 Digital Design

Project 2

Reflection Journal

Character Website!

The persistence of project 2 was to create a website to represent our favorite cartoon character whether that be anime or Saturday morning television show. My favorite cartoon character ended up being Goku from dragon ball super. The reason why I choose him was because he is incredibly overpowered. Honestly for those who are Dragon Ball Super die-hard fans you can understand why. [Honestly though super Saiyan blue with kaioken times ten?]  In order to convey my character on to my website and to represent Goku is by creating a home page about him, an about page to display where he came from, how the website was created and a copyright page for all the images that were used and where all the information was found.

There were some difficult and easy parts about creating this website. One difficult part was again the time constraints. I had a lot of trouble with time management this semester because I am running out of time at my house. I have made other dedications that go beyond school that are not negotiable. If I hadn’t had these constraints I would be spending a lot more time on completing and researching for my projects. For instance I realize that my website is lacking a lot of CSS, cascading style sheets. This is what keeps your website dressed and look nice from afar; basically if coding and programming was an essay the CSS would be the hook that draws people into the actual site to even care about the content in the first place. The easiest part of the project was honestly the navigation bar. I had no trouble with the navigation bar because I have already used it in a previous project of mine.

            In this project we are given a lot of freedom, which is why I like this project. The whole point of the project was to see how far we could get with our new found skills in the CSS branch of coding. We go to choose our favorite characters; we were able to use any image as long as it had a copyright section where we had to list the sources in which we found the images or articles in the first place, and finally we were given the freedom of how we wanted to convey our message of our character. It is a shame that we could not present the project however, this was due to the time constraints that we were given.

Thawsif Mursalin
Digital Design
CTE Expo
Reflection Journal

CTE Expo 2017

In this year's CTE Exposition we had many freshman incoming and we had to show that our academy was the best. We were able to organize ourselves into different sections. Their was a sophomore, junior and senior section. The sophomore section had to stick to the boards. We had just finished our first marking period project which was the business card project. The juniors were working on HTML and their websites which they had to create a site where they could show off their biographies of their favorite characters. Seniors had the most advanced projects with the video games and the movie websites, using a program called flash and java script. This type of organization was a key aspect of the whole exposition. This was significant because even Ms. Hyde, our assistant principal said we had the best organization with this layout. Another part of organization was how the desks were all arranged. We had to move and orient the desks in a way that was appealing to the eye, so we came up with the semi-circle design in which the boards were all put around. The final piece of organization was when we all dressed in business attire, this shows how we were able to even organize ourselves as individuals outside the CTE Exposition.

        When appealing to the freshmen Ms. Ramirez was on top of everything. She made sure that all of us were engaging. What she mean't by this was that she wanted all of us to find a freshman, introduce yourself, talk about the class a little, and finally we must direct them to our boards. I feel like the freshmen were pretty impressed by our academy because we were able to demonstrate our organization and our work all in one shot. They might have actually even be overwhelmed with all the positive energy in the class. In the future we can maybe change how the class room looks with the lights, maybe add a few more lights, something similar to Video Production.

AP College CSP

Thawsif Mursalin

Digital Design

Mrs. Ramirez

1/8/2017

AP CSP Exam

The Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles Exam is an exam designed to test the depth of knowledge of students on ideologies of computer programming and how they work. The test is split into 2 categories.  The total length of the test is 5 days of 90 minutes each, which is equivalent to double period classes consisting of 45 minutes a class to complete. During the first half of the exam students must come up with a project called a computational artifact. The artifact is ether a poster, a video, or an mp3 file. The purpose of creating this artifact is to test your understanding of how to create a project on the spot and to explain the purposes of the computer/technological advancement innovation and/or invention. The most likely scenario is that students will create a PDF document of the artifact. In this case the PDF file must not exceed 3 pages in length. The video must not be longer than 1 minute in length. A rubric will be administered on the test for further detail. The second half of the test is a written exam and involves both a multiple choice and short response section. The written responses can vary with the amount of words it needs from 100 to 250 words per task for instance, 2A is 100 words while 2C is 250 words. If the student passes this exam they will receive college credits, because this is a college level course.