Beware! I am now molding young minds.

Just popping in to say congrats!!!

Fantastic. I'd LOVE to take a class like this. I bet it would be interesting. Congrats jpin, good for you! I hope you enjoy it immensely!

Boston to Milwaukee isn't that far of a commute... sign up I still got room in my late class

Hey, JP...a quick question. Have the designers in your area bought into InDesign much yet, or are they still sticking with Quark and PageMaker? (I'm a PageMaker user myself...I have to work on PC...hubby is Microsoft Certified, so I literally have "in-house" tech support...hahaha!)

I'll be the heckler in the back of the class! Tee Hee.

Yeah, Indesign is really starting to take off. Quark has been such a pain in the butt to work with for so long that people are ready and ripe for the alternative. My school switched to Indesign 2 years ago when they switched to OSX. They had ordered a volume license of Quark 6 (which is the only version to work natively in OSX) but they didn't get it until after the school year started.

They went out and did a survey of design studios and which program they used. Almost all of them used Indesign to some extent and most of them were leaning in the direction of completely switching over. So the school decided to drop quark and switch as well.

It offers so many more functions then Quark I think you would have to be silly to not make the switch in the near future. Quark has refused to change in any dramatic fashion for years. Soon their stubbornness will put themselves out of business because they aren't the only player in the game anymore.



Good thing... you probably need it :wink:

Enjoy.

I wish I could remember the source, but source remarked, "Some days teaching is like lifting an elephant."

Yeah, I do! But to be fair, if I worked on a Mac, I'd need tech support, too. I only do design occasionally, and I've never been interested in knowing more about a computer than it takes to run the programs. I just drive the car, I don't work on it.

I spend more time writing these days than designing. That's how public relations goes. You never know what you're going to be asked to do. And you can't be the best at everything you do, so you have to have good support and lots of contacts.

Thanks for the info...I agree with you 100% about Quark....always having to waste time opening new boxes, etc. I always found PageMaker easier & faster for what I do. I was wondering whether to get the latest upgrade or go with InDesign. I think I'll take your advice...right after I check with my service bureau!

InDesign is similar to quark in that you use boxes to hold type or an image, but the proccess of making boxes and the features that are available once th boxes are there are considerably better than Quark.

One of the biggest features is the use of transparency in InDesign which is a feature that Quark, for whatever reason, has just refused to do. Plus, the integration between Indesign and Photoshop or Illustrator is practically seemless which saves a ton of time as well. It is a much more powerfull program than pagemaker when it comes to page layout and is worth the investment if you do a lot of it.

ps... RE: the tech support... I wasn't implying the operator needed the tech support so much as the OS itself needed the tech support. Just a cheap jab at Windows from a die hard Mac guy.

Oh, I understood what you meant. I get it all the time. Besides, in my case, the operator DOES need the tech support! Hahaha....

The other reason I've always stayed with PageMaker is that the PC version of Quark frequently causes problems with output at service bureaus here, and they don't like it. Whatever I go with, I have to make sure it outputs well.

I've assumed all along that InDesign would work better with Photoshop and Illustrator, because they're all Adobe. I do a lot of page layout and multi-page documents, and PageMaker has always been great for this. I can't imagine how InDesign could be "more powerful"...I will have to check it out.

So I had to lay the hammer down already last night.

Since it is a studio class, much of the time is spent working in class, asking questions and working one on one. I realized right away there are 4 types of students:

1.) They pretty much know what they are doing already but do just the minimum required and nothing more.

2.) Know a little of what they are doing but learn fast, try to figure things out, ask questions when they can't and are eager to learn.

3.) To lazy to figure things out so ask questions in hopes that I will do it for them.

4.) Are completely lost but don't ask questions.

The first project was due last night and one of the #4 came up and asked if she could have an extension. I said, "it depends, Why do you think you deserve an extension?" Her response was she didn't understand what was going on and needed more time to figure it out.

I then asked her why she didn't ask for my help. I could see that she was having problems so I made it a point to stop by her desk more often to see if she needed help. Everytime I asked if she had questions or needed help, she said that she was alright and figuring it out.

So she said she was just so confused that she didn't know what to ask and there just wasn't enough time to figure it out.

I explained that others in the classroom were having problems as well, but that they took advantage of the two entire classes and asked questions when they ran into obstacles. They figured it out in time, with my help, and turned in their projects completed and on time. I told her that she should turn in what she had done and that there would be no extension for this project.

Think I was to strict?

EDITED: to correct silly spelling errors

No. Their boss isn't going to give them an extension, why should you, given the circumstances? I think you did the right thing.

not at all

one of lifes lessons is that those who dont speak up get left behind
if you dont ask for what you want or need, dont expect someone to give it to ya.


you rock jp.

Thanks guys. That is kind of what I was thinking.

I also gave very specific directions for handing in the project which not everyone followed. It really is to bad when you turn in an "A" project but end up with a lower grade because you can't follow simple written directions. Oh well... the goal is to make it a learning proccess for them. Hopefully they will learn from their mistakes.

Well, they'll know next time to pay more attention, won't they. BTW, I don't think an extension would have helped the student you mention so you were right not to grant it, but you might offer to be available after class or via email. It sounds like she's too embarrassed to ask her questions because she knows that she understands the least of anyone in the class.

Yes, yes!
But thankfully, on other days, it's like soaring with eagles!
(I just wish there was more of the eagle stuff! :wink: )

Congratulations & good luck, jp! Enjoy!

Jpin, you rock. Don't forget it.

Well, yesterday was the last day of class. Final project was turned in and most of them look pretty good at first glance. I think the semester, for the most part, went pretty well. I do have one "F" to hand out (he hasn't been to class in about 4 weeks and is three assignments behind). I think most kids will be pretty happy with their grades... a couple of A's and a bunch of B/C's.

They asked me back for next semester, which I accepted, but am not looking that forward to it. I will be teaching Computer studio 2 next semester which is mostly Photoshop and a little bit of Flash. I am expecting it to be more tedious and less fun then this semester.

I used to think that I would really enjoy teaching, but I am realizing that I may not have the patients for it. There are only a couple of kids, out of 30ish, that really want to learn and do their best. Most of the others do the minimum possible and get by with mediocre projects and grades. That drives me crazy.

It's like the old question: What's the difference between ignorance and apathy?

I don't know and I don't care.

Good one, George.