Lynda.com Excel Triaining

While the last blog post was about Word, this one is all about Excel 2013. Lynda.com has a variety of training sessions for different programs.

Chapter 1 of the essential training deals with the absolute basics showing you where the different tabs are and only talking about what they do. I suggest only doing chapter 1 if you have never used or heard of Excel. Chapter 2 goes through more basics like how to copy and paste and how auto fill works. Again, if you have used Excel before for class or work, I suggest skipping this chapter as well. Chapter 3 has very slightly more advanced content like how to do if functions and averages. There is value in the last three lessons of chapter 3, but not too much you could just learn on  your own.

My overall thoughts on this tutorial are basic and long for no reason. I personally knew most of the first three chapters, but I was hoping for more advanced knowledge on it. Thanks to classes like Biology lab and Chemistry lab over the past year, my knowledge of Excel has grown. I recommend this tutorial to those who have never used or seen anyone use excel before. It would d be great for you!

Center for Learning and Technology

http://youtu.be/tQ9w6-etwH4

Above is a link to a video taken at the Center for Learning and Technology (CLT) here at Trinity University. We gained an incredible piece of technology last year. It's a new 3D printer that can print larger scaled objects and it's in the CLT!

The CLT is a great place located on the 1st floor of the library that has great technology for you to use for your classes. It includes a computer lab, some conference rooms, cameras, audio equipment and even screens to hook your own computer up to for group projects. It's a great place to get work done and even better if you are a technology geek like myself.

Lynda.com

Lynda.com is a great place to learn how to do almost anything. I simply searched for Word essential training and learned so much! The speaker was easy to follow and very straight forward. When I fell behind in what she was doing, I could pause or go back in the video to see what I missed. That is a lot easier than trying to keep up with the class! Two of the many things I learned with this tutorial was the picture styles and SmartArt. If  you don't know what I'm talking about, then head over to Lynda.com, search word essential training and find out! ;)

Just a hint...from my new logo

Adobe Illustrator was easy to use and self explanatory. I made this logo using it. The symbols represent my love for music, neuroscience (the brain), animals, peace, love, happiness, technology, fashion and Asian culture. I put Queen Cherry with a crown due to the fact that sometimes I can be a little diva :)

That copyright though....why you need to know the ins and outs

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Copyright is the government guarantee of the right to copy and redistribute (sell), perform (plays) and derive works (something based on the existing work) any kind of “intellectual property”. Copyright is important because it encourages people to be creative and inventive. People want to invest their time and get a reward back on their hard work whether it be money or credit.

Copyright takes effect when someone makes a fixed tangible meaning of expression. This means when you put something physical or fixed, whether it be an article published or a post on a blog, the protection takes effect immediately. The protection lasts throughout your life and even 70 years after you die! Now, after that time span has expired, your work enters the public domain, the copyright expires and all bets are off. You cannot renew a copyright, but there are people, like Disney, who are trying to extend how long a copyright is in effect.

Do not get copyright infringement and plagiarism confused. Plagiarism is claiming something as your own, but it will not land you in jail. Copyright infringement is copying someone’s hard work without their permission and can land you in jail with a pile of fines. There are ways to use people’s work without getting pegged with copyright infringement. Fair use allows you to copy safely and it is lawful as stated clearly in 17 USC section 107.

 There are four factors related to fair use:

Purpose of copying: why are you using it?

Nature of original work: where did it come from?

Amount and “substantiality” of copying: how much are you using and what is the core of the source you are using?

Effect on market value: Is what you are using a big seller or is it big in the market?

These are only a few facts on copyright, but you can use these links to learn more:

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

http://iraa.trinity.edu/iraa/x118.xml

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/article-30100.html 

Network Server Diagram

Here are two network drives and one folder that you can access on campus and use for all of your classes.

Have a taste of my personality...and what it meant to me

The VisualDNA personality quiz uses pictures to get a sense of your personality. They ask questions like "What would you do with $200 right now?" and give you around 8-10 pictures to choose from. While most of the pictures could be interpreted the same way (for example, a bunch of shopping bags would ndicate that you would happily shop that $200 dollars away), some of the pictures, like the ones that represent emotions might be interpreted differently.

This quiz characterized me as a seeker and here is a little bit about me from each category.
Time: I have tunnel vision when it comes to solving problems and I tend to put things off [hence why I am doing this blog so late :) ]

Energy: I am bursting with energy, but when I need downtime, I become a ghost and disappear! wooooo (attempt at a ghost sound)

Love: Just like my love language, I accept love in the physical sense and according to the quiz, I fall in love quite easily. You better watch out! ;) (lol jk jk)

Money: While this section did not really talk about money, it does say that I am adventurous and up for many things, so I should always have change lying around to accomplish those things.

Fun: I am a couch potatoe according to this quiz and hat is why I am adventurous. 

If you are looking for something to guess your personality in a new way, then this is the quiz for you!

Best Tech Tip

The talk Todd Siebold gave today on a few techniques to use with the technology on campus was very insightful. I did not realize that I could obtain a USB drive from IT services with software like antivirus for my own computer. While a friend of mine that works for ITS already taught me how to use the VDI website, it was still a good refresher to hear that I can log onto the school desktop computer from my own laptop. It would be nice to know if ITS has a list of websites or a list of different illegal downloading situations that I could use when I am on the web. I think it might decrease some of the downloading incidents.