Investigation- day 1 Digital Commerce

E-commerce (sometimes called web-based commerce) is the term used to describe the activity of doing business on theInternet.


It includes business-to-business, business-to-consumer, and even consumer-to-consumer transactions that involve the buying and selling of goods and services, the transfer of funds, and even the exchange of ideas


E-commerce includes functions such as marketing, manufacturing, finance, selling, and negotiations.


The phrase can also refer to downloading software, accessing games, or downloading content such as journal articles and books.


Business-to-consumer e-commerce can provide customers with convenience and access to a wide range of goods and services, while allowing businesses to reach large or unique markets.

Components of business-to-consumer e-commerce include security measures, "shopping carts," payment options, and marketing.

The electronic shopping cart is a popular feature that allows consumers simply to click on a button to select one or more products for purchase. When the customer has finished shopping, the cart system allows the consumer to "check out."

Various payment options exist to facilitate business-to-consumer e-commerce. These include digital or electronic cash, electronic wallets, and micropayments.

Because e-commerce allows businesses to reach a worldwide market and to compete around the globe, creative marketing and promotion of a web site is crucial to the success of an Internet-based business. This must be balanced with sound business practices, however.

The Internet has changed the nature and structure of competition. In the past, most businesses had to compete within a single industry (such as groceries) and often within a specific geographic area, but the Internet is blurring those boundaries.

An important difference between traditional business and e-commerce is the elimination of the middleman, known as disintermediation .

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/e-commerce.aspx

Reflection on my Digital Service Announcement

                   For my digital service announcement I created a brochure on digital commerce to help others understand that even though buying and seling online seems safe, digital commerce still poses many dangers.
                   I think in the end my brochure turned out really well because it had a lot of information, and it was really focused on the main points and it didnt really stray off topic. I think that even though it was good, I should have been more productive. During thansgiving I had no internet connectin whatsoever, and when my parents finally got me a modem for Black Friday it took us 5 hours to set it up! When I finally did get internet though, the only problem I had was that I didnt have a poster! So I decided to do a powerpoint on google docs but I didn't think that it would be acceptable because it was a powerpoint so I created a brochure just in case. Then yesterday I saw in my e-mail that googe docs was unable to e-mail my powerpoint, so  I was glad that I was able to check the blog and make sure that my product for this PSA would be acceptable.

Public Service Announcement Topic

For my public service announcement I will do the topic of Digital Commerce so that others can be more aware of the policies and restrictions that are put in place that do or dont allow us to download content off the internet.

1. America Offline-What does this mean? It means that lots of people all over America do not have access to Internet which is unfair because Internet access means more jobs and opportunities for everyone.
2. Digital divide- How does this impact you as a students? In our modern world it is essential to be able to have good Internet access because we need to be able to communicate with those investors from China and all those places. Or if we decide to go into medicine we would probably want to communicate with people from all over the world in order to find a cure to cancer.
3. Unequal Access-How can lack of access to the Internet impact your future? A lack of Internet access could mean that my grades would lower dramatically because I need to access the Internet to do research for papers and projects that I have and also it wold mean one less way to communicate with teachers and friends.
1. MOBILE ACCESS
4. Innovators-How will lack of digital access impact us as a country? This lack of access means that jobs could go down, lots of people work or study from home through the Internet and without access there wouldn't be as many educational and career opportunities. Many lawyers and senators and representatives can only communicate through the computer so without Internet all of these things become impossible.
5. What are the options for better Access? I guess the only way is to present it to the city as a problem and see if the funds are available to help get the Internet access improved.
6. Explain the Final Recommendations?
7. What could be done to increase Internet access and create more choices for communities nationwide? Communities need to come together to raise the funds to have an opportunity to have their Internet upgraded. Maybe at least to see what Japan is doing to be able to provide faster Internet access at a lower price. 
8. What actions need to be taken to keep the Internet open for users and innovators? We need to be able to see how other countries are doing it and be able to follow in there example.

MY OPINION: I think that in order to get more

My Research Paper- SO FAR........

Alvarez 1

Alexis Alvarez

Mrs. Tijerina

English Language Arts

November 3, 2011

[Title here]

            What is something that all news channels have in common? No, not those annoying morning-talk-show hosts. Every morning individuals can be sure to here about the weather, sports, and of course celebrity drama. Celebrity drama is so common and normal to everyone that hearing about it everyday has become so normal, so routine. The question is, why is it always celebrity bad behavior? What about celebrities’ good behavior? Celebrities’ bad behavior is covered more in news stories than their good behavior because it causes controversy, affects many individuals, and causes social disruption.
            The first reason why celebrities’ bad behavior is more covered by news stories than their good behavior is because it causes controversy.

Topic Sentences

THESIS STATEMENT: Celebrities' bad behavior is more covered by news stories than their good behavior because it causes controversy, it affects a large majority, and it causes social disruption.


Topic Sentence 1: The first reason why celebrities' bad behavior is more covered by news stories than their good behavior because it causes controversy.


Topic Sentence 2: Another reason why celebrities' bad behavior is more covered by news stories than their good behavior because it affects a large majority of people.


Topic Sentence 3: Lastly, celebrities' bad behavior is more covered by news stories than their good behavior because it causes social disruption.

My Introduction Paragraph for IA2(Prompt1)

                            In today's quickly changing world, we have evolved to the point where everything is all routine, common sense, and clear to understand. Everyone has evolved to the point where perfection isn't just a concept, but an expectation. Celebrities can be icons or role models, but however others process them, bad behavior causes controversy and is more noticed than good behavior because it isn't expected, it's irregular and out of their stereotypical expectations. Celebrities' bad behavior is more covered by news stories than their good behavior because it causes controversy, it affects us all, and it causes social disruption. (Thesis Statement)

EVALUATION

             The last part of the design cycle is to evaluate myself. I need to rate myself from a 1 to a 6 in every stage in the design cycle based on the postings to my blog. Then I am to rate and evaluate my peers on how well they did in every stage in the design cycle.

INVESTIGATE:

In the investigate step in the design cycle, I would rate myself a 6 because I was able to identify my problem and formulate a design specification. I think I did a good job in rating the two tools that I was considering using.

PLAN:

In the plan step in the design cycle I would rate myself a 6 because I was able to firstly plan out all of my time with the gant chart, and was able to create my three designs and chose one. I also reflected on why I chose it so that everyone would better able to understand my methods.

CREATE:

In the create step in the design cycle I would rate myself a 6 because I think I did an awesome job with saving the URL and the hyperlink and everything considering that I had never worked with this kinda stuff before. I also feel really good about the game because it looks really fun but I haven't gotten a chance to play yet.....................

EVALUATE:
In the evaluate step in the design cycle I would rate myself a 6 because I think I have done really good with creating and keeping up with my reflections, and I am very excited about going and reviewing the products of my peers.

My Progress in the Evaluate Step

            So far I am pretty much done with everything, but the only thing I have left to do is to survey the 6th graders. I think it would be to complicated to gather them up and have them test my product right here in school. At first I though that I should just let them answer the survey on my blog by posting it as a comment. I think though that I should just type a document explaining my project and the link to my game and the questions so that they could just do it from home. I can then probably print out like ten or so sheets and visit the sixth grade classes in power period and announce to them what I'm doing and if any of them want to help me out by reviewing my product.

Self Reflection

1. How can my learning serve my community?

The goal for me- essentially- is to go to college. In order to do that, I will have to stay in school and study hard. And another person from the RGV to have gone to college will help better my community because it will diminish statistics and barriers that many have yet to overcome.

2. How can your future projects become better?

 Now I know that I am not limited to these tools, and next time I know that I have more options to chose from which will be beneficial because it will help me to expand and I will have more options of how to present.

3. What have you learned about yourself and what you will continue to do or not do and why?

In doing this project I have learned that I like working and presenting through my blog to my teacher. I think it ensures accuracy and it makes it easier to interact with the different tools and programs that my teacher has provided. Working with a blog not only allows us to be creative, but it helps to make sure that there is no miscommunication between teacher and student. And I thimk that even after this project I will continue to post to my blog because it really helps when you are trying to use the design cycle  when doing a project, and it makes it easier for the teacher to track my progress.

4. How do you feel about your final product? What would you rate yourself on the Rubric scale of 1-6 for each part of the Assessment Criterion?

I feel really good about my final product because I worked really hard on it and I feel that others will be able to benefit greatly from it. For the rating, I know that I would rate myself a 5 in the investigate step because I really did do the research and everything, but I was unaware of all of my options, and for that reason I would rate myself a 5. In the plan step I would rate myself a 6 because I think I did good considering the due date and how I was able to divide and plan out my time according to the due date of my project. In the create step in the design cycle I would rate myself a 6 because I was able to use my resources effectively in order to create a product that will be effective. In the evaluate step, even though I haven't  entirely finished it, I would rate myself a 5 so far because I am doing a good job reflecting so far.

5. What would you do differently in regards to your planning and execution of your plan?

I think next time I would try to be more time efficient and work outside of class in order to use my time more effectively and be able to accomplish more.

My Progress in the Evaluate Step

              So I have already finished my product, and yesterday I was able to create my survey from my dad's phone. The last steps that I have to take in the evaluate step, is to survey the sixth graders (I haven't really found any 6th graders to test my product yet, but I think I can just handout my survey with the URL to my blog so that they can test and evaluate my product from home). I also need to reflect on the steps that I took and why I took them, I also need to evaluate my product as well as my blog and rate them. Then next week we will be peer-evaluating.

Evaluate

In the evaluate step in the design cycle,I have to evaluate my final product and my use of the design cycle. In order to evaluate my product to see how useful my product will be in helping teach a sixth grader how to use the design cycle,I must somehow be able to test the sixth grader on how effective my product was. I have decided to create a survey that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of my product. In my survey not only will I ask about simplicity or how hard/easy it was,but I will also ask if try had fun playing,if they would recommend it to a friend,and if it helped them learn about the design cycle easier.

Survey:
1.On a scale of 1 to 10 how easy was it to access this game?
2.On a scale of 1 to 10 how much fun did you have playing this game?
3.Would you recommend this game to a friend?
4.Did this game make it easier to learn about the design cycle?
5.In 3 complete sentences name 3 things that you learned.
6.Were there any errors or flaws in this game? If so name them and what could/should be done to correct them.
7.Was it beneficial that ther were several game formats to chose from?
8.Do you think your teachers should provide this resource to other sixth grade students?

My Progress in the Create Stage

Today I was able to complete my game, but not the surveys. Here are some screen shots of my work so far. I was able to type up my questions in the game generator, and put the questions into game format.

The game that I have created can be formatted int the different game formats available in class tools, and here is the hyperlink and some screen shots of the multiple formats. http://classtools.net/widgets/quiz_1/HAIFP.htm

Create

Now that I have chosen a design, I will begin the create stage in the design cycle. I had created 3 test designs, each with only the minimum amount of questions needed. I thought it was a good idea to create some sample games of each design so that when viewing the steps that I've taken and viewing my progress, people would be able to get an idea of what I'm doing-and be able to try it themselves and see why I chose the design that I did. When I actually begin my actual product, I will create more questions (as the minimum needed is 10) and I may also throw in some trick questions to keep players interested. I will take screen shots of all the steps I take in creating the final product- such as typing up the questions and answers, viewing the different formats that are availible for my final product, and finally publishing my final product. In the create stage I also have to create the surveys in order to have 6th graders evaluate my final product in the evaluate stage.

Questions for final product:

1. The design cycle is an?*MYP Criterion
2. The design cycle can help you when you want to?*Create a final product
3. The design cycle has how many steps?*4 steps
4. In the design cycle rubric there are how many stages?*6 stages
5. The first step in the design cycle is?*Investigate
6. The second step in the design cycle is?*Plan 
7. The third step in the design cycle is?*Create
8. The fourth step in the design cycle is?*Evaluate
9. What do you have to do in the first step of the design cycle?*You have to IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM, DEVELOP THE DESIGN BRIEF, AND FORMULATE A DESIGN SPECIFICATION
10. What do you have to do in the second step of the design cycle?*In the plan step of the design cycle, you have to DESIGN A PRODUCT OR SOLUTION, AND PLAN A PRODUCT OR SOLUTION
11. What do you have to do in the third step of the design cycle?*In the create step in the design cycle you have to CREATE THE PRODUCT OR SOLUTION, FOLLOW THE PLAN, AND USE APPROPRIATE TECHNIQUES AND EQUIPMENT
12. What do you have to do in the fourth stage of the design cycle?*In the evaluate step in the design cycle you have to EVALUATE THE PRODUCT OR SOLUTION, AND EVALUATE THE USE OF THE DESIGN CYCLE
13. You record all of your progress when doing your project and using the design cycle because?*It helps you in the evaluate stage because you can see what you could have done better, and you can see any possible mistakes or flaws made that could be corrected

CREATE- Reflecting on my creation

19.  Did I follow my Plan ?

Yes I have been following my plan and because of that my project has been going well because if i had jumped straight into the create stage I would have a hard time because I would want to make changes or undo stuff and it'd be harder to get it in on time.

20.  How could I have improved on my creation?

Maybe I shouldn't have limited myself to the arcade game in classtools because I'm sure that there are more effective arcade game tools out there.

21.  What will I do next time that I did not do this time?

I would be sure to expand my choices because I want to make sure that I don't limit myself to just 2 arcade game tools.

GANT CHART

My project is an estimate of about 200 minutes/60= about 3 days and a half in technology to complete my project.

25 minutes to finish 3 designs and choose 1

15 minutes to type up design on blog

45 minutes to create product

15 minutes to post my progress on my blog

18 minutes to type up my evaluation on my blog

20 minutes to create my survey

30 minutes to find the 6th graders

30 minutes to test and review my product with the 6th graders

Investigation Reflection

In the investigation proccess of this project I have worked very hard in investigating and looking for a solution to the problem of teaching a 6th grader how to use and understand the design cycle. I would rate myself a 5 on the design cycle rubric because I have explained the problem under the questions that we cut and copied onto our blog. I think I did a really good job investigating because I looked at two resources and I tested both of them and calculated which tool would be better to use by rating it on a one to five rubric that consists of measureing simplicity, passwords, and accessability.  Then I reflected on which would be the better tool, and I choose one based on my ratings in the two rubrics. The only reason why I have rated myself a five and not a six was because I was unable to gain accessability into my first resource because they gave me a password that was hard to type in and help me access the account I had to create in order to use that tool, and if I get to do this project in the future, I would try harder to gain accessability into the first tool. I am now currently working on brainstorming three different design specifications for the tool that I have choosen, and it is realy coming along so far.

Brainstorming Designs

ARCADE GAME DESIGNS  

DESIGN 1:
Arcade game on all sections of the design cycle rubric- investigate, plan, create, evaluate- including questions about and order of the design cycle rubric http://classtools.net/widgets/quiz_5/isoTw.htm
(design 1 screen shot)

DESIGN 2:
Arcade game on actual design cycle - including trivia on content and what should be expected from each step in the design cycle http://classtools.net/widgets/quiz_6/50Qyi.htm
                                                                              
                                                                 (design 2 screen shot)  

                                                

DESIGN 3:
Arcade game on on only content included in design cycle
http://www.classtools.net/widgwets/quiz_5/isoTw.htm



(design 3 screen shot)

Now that I have brainstormed three designs for an arcade game that I am going to create using the Class Tools game-creating program, looking at these designs, I think it would only be reasonable to go with design 2 because it included a lot of the topics I am hoping to cover while creating this game, while design 1 would be on the design cycle rubric- and I think that the sixth graders first need to look at and understand the design cycle before they are explained the rubric. Design 3 doesn't include a lot of the topics that I am hoping to cover while I create this arcade game. I think that I will be creating design 2 because  it relates more to the problem that I was assigned to search for a solution for- to teach a 6th grader what the design cycle is and how they can apply it. (Note-All games are set on default so that the 6th grader can choose what game they want to play, but with the same questions for each design) http://www.classtools.net/widgwets/quiz_5/isoTw.htm

PLAN:

14. Brainstorm ideas. Use the chart below 

My three ideas were a game on the design cycle rubric, a game on design cycle content, and a game on just explaining the design cycle and what its all about. 

IB Brainstorming Chart .pdf found in schoology under “materials”& then files

15. What idea did you choose to demonstrate the design cycle and why did you choose it?

I chose to demonstrate the design cycle in an arcade game because I think that 6th graders would be more attracted to an arcade game than to a poster bard or a slideshow presentation.

16. Does your idea meet all of the requirements?

Yes because I have met the objective of finding an effective way to teach 6th graders about the design cycle.

17. Use the story board paper below to plan your presentation.  Include how many levels you will have, what will be on each level, how will you include teaching skills to young students, and what will your questions be about.

story board.pdf found in schoology under “materials” & then files.

18. Explain how you will use your time to get your project finished in 12 days:

In another one of my posts I made a gant chart to help me estimate the amount of time it would take me to do everything, and to make sure that I will be making effective use of my time.

REFLECT on your learning

In this project I have been able to learn about how to effectively use hyperlinks in my blog and how to take screen shots which can be really helpful and benefit me not only in this project but in future projects as well.

Class Tools- Rubric

                              

      Class tools is very easy and simple to use and get into. I'm sure that anyone can figure out how to use it, easily.

            For my rating in simplicity, I gave class tools a 5 because it is really simple to use. As soon as you get there you start typing your trivia questions and answers so that you can then have them processed into a game of your choice.

             On passwords I rated class tools a 4 because you can make up your own password to save your game to, which makes it all the more simpler, but I'm not to sure how accurate or private this method will be.

             On accessibility I rated class tools a 5 because all you need to access class tools is the URL. And as soon as you get there the steps and instructions are pretty simple and straightforward. Class tools is very easy to access and I think that because of all of these categories, class tools got an overall high score.

Purpose Games- Rubric

         Purpose Games seems simple yet professional at first sight. When you first try to create a game though, you must create an account. After going through the process of creating a user name, you will then have to insert your e-mail adress to which you will be sent a password.
                 I gave the simplicity a 3 because it seemed like it be kinda easy to understand, but you'd need to make sure that you knew what you were doing.                                                                                       I gave the passwords a 1 because even though you were e-mailed your own individual password, you had to go back and forth between your e-mail account and your game account, and the password that was e-mailed to you was long and complicated and hard to understand and type in.                                   I also gave it a 1 on  accessibility because unfortunetly I was unable to access it myself and therefore purpose games got an overall low rating.

  

Day 2- Investigation Reflection

   Today I researched an arcade game. I found two different types of games- one at http://www.purposegames.com/create and one at http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/quiz. The create a game tool at purpose games was one that I was not able to get into because the usage of that tool requires you to have an account and an e-mail address where it will e-mail a password to you. I saw that it was very difficult to simply get in because the password they sent me was long and complicated and the log-in wouldn't take it. The tool at class tools was much more simpler and easier to use because as soon as you get there you can begin creating without having to make an account, and if you want to save it or you don't want anyone else to edit it, then you can create your own password and save it, which helps using this tool much easier. I think in the end I will have to use class tools even though purpose games looks much more advanced because class tools is easier to use and also easier to access.

Area of Interaction: Community and Service , Approaches to Learning & Human Ingenuity

Significant Concept: Design Cycle can be used to solve problems

Unit Question: How can my learning help my community? How do I make Sound Choices?

INVESTIGATE: (Write in complete sentences) Identify the Problem

1. What is the problem you need to solve? Explain to a 6^th grader what the design cycle is all about by creating a presentation. (3d, PPT, movie, game, Poster)

2. How does the Design Cycle apply to the real world? In the real world, the design cycle is used on a daily basis. People need the design cycle to be able to create things such as buildings and projects.

3. How will this project serve my community? It will show 6th graders how to use the design cycle, which in turn will help them to create their own projects and to develop their own creative ideas.

4. How can my learning help my community? My goal, essentially, is to go to college, which helps my community because I will come back to my community and be able to give back as a successful adult.

5. How do we live in relation to each other? We are all able to contribute to the community- which makes it certain that we all need one another, helping us live in relation to one another.

6. How does this help others? Hopefully this project on the design cycle will contribute to the community by helping others (mostly 6th graders) to understand how to use the design cycle.

7. What are the requirements for this assignment? We are required to update our blogs on our progress and also record all the steps we take so that they can be reviewed on the evaluate stage in our blogs.

8. What is the Design Cycle? The design cycle is a process used to create things. It can be used to do a number of things, such as presentations, and even in real life- such as architecture.

REFLECT on your learning.

Day 2

9. Spend one day experimenting with DESIGN CYCLE your presentation. List five things your learned about the Design Cycle: Your first step HAS to be to investigate, because you can't just jump into things and start creating. Also, planning is the key step because it helps you and your teacher understand what you are doing and it helps make sure that there are no misunderstandings and that everything is falling into place correctly. Planning also involves coming up with different designs which is really helpful to both student and teacher.

Day 3

Design Brief

10. Write a short statement of what you are going to make, why you are going to make it, and for whom you are making it. I plan to make an arcade game because it is more interactive and I think learning is easier when they are using the tool and learning. I'm making it to help 6th graders unerstand hoe to use the design cycle.

Formulate a Design Specification

11. What are the requirements for this assignment? For this assignment I have to make the design easy to understand for a 6th grader, and my presentation should be at least 2 minutes long.

12. What are the limitations you have with this assignment? We have to find a way to describe and explain the design cycle in a short amount of time because we have a two minute limitatio.

13. How will you "test" your presentation? I will create a survey with questions such as how effective it was with helping them study the design cycle and wether or not they would use it again, and if they would recommend it to a friend, as well as queations on simplicity and accessability.

REFLECT ON YOUR LEARNING