Nick McCann's Online Projects

Example A

What is IT?

IT is short for information technology. Information Technology is very important and needed to the Information era. Information Technology is a very broad subject that encompasses several information aspects within a large organization or company. The functional area of an Information Technology department within a company is concerned with the design, development, and installation, implementation, management, and processing of information systems and applications.

Information Technology is a field being used to develop, use, manage, and study computer-based information systems in organizations. It’s also term that identifies all forms of technology used to create, store, manipulate, exchange, and use information in its various forms to assist companies with processes such as observational and decision making. Combinations of hardware, software, and telecommunications networks are the tools used by IT professional to collect and distribute useful data.

Professionals with such expertise support innovation, planning and management of information infrastructures and coordination of information resources. System development by IS staff involves not only organization-wide integrated systems, but also support for individual and departmental application development.

Information systems have become a critical part of the products, services, and management of organizations. The effective and efficient use of information technology is an important element in achieving competitive advantage for business organizations and excellence in service for government and non-profit organizations. The information technology/information system strategy is an integral part of an organization strategy.

It has both logical and technical components. Logical components include mission, functional and information requirements, system configurations, and information flows. Technical components include IT standards and rules that will be used to implement the logical architecture.

What is an online portfolio?

An online portfolio is an extension of an individual’s resume, displaying in-depth information about the subject and their knowledge on the internet. Portfolios record and showcase student learning. They are online evidence of student work, student achievement, and student reflection. It can include various things such as the student’s course work projects, examples of what they are capable of, as well as a way to contact them. The audiences of the electronic portfolio in most cases are future employers and teachers. A portfolio can be an authentic performance based assessment tool for an instructor. It can show what they hope to accomplish and displays what they can bring to your organization based on the aspects of the portfolio.

Model Instructor's Web Site

Model Instructor's Website (Joe Touch, ISI): Most of the instructors have a great website because of their experiences and knowledge in their area. It was hard to find a model instructor's website. I would say that almost all of the instructors relating to information technology at University of Houston have a great website. Thus to reduce my confusion, I went to Information Sciences Institute (www.isi.edu) because of their research in the areas of Information Technology.

I personally liked the simplicity of the webpage created by Dr. Joe Touch, which was easily understandable and definitely navigable. The page was created with both the students and the research organizations in mind, which plan to spend less time in finding the most relevant information. The page lists the picture of the instructor, his research, contact information, his publications and as well as projects. One of the key things is that the professor provided hyperlinks to most of the project pages and affiliated institutions. The color contrasts created is not too harsh for the eyes and provides a clean and simple look.

In my personal opinion, I like the way the information is laid out in three vertical columns on the page, where each provides a distinct information but making the page understandable. Finally, when talking about the advantages, professor has used the hyperlinks to provide further information rather than putting all the information on the same page, thus keeping the design highly readable. Last but not the least, like the other face of the coin, the only disadvantage of professors webpage is uncompressed image sizes, which made the navigation (back and forward) little slow.

To add to a model instructor's website, I would like to mention the model course website. This outstanding website is best to get all information relative to the course. I not only like the colors and theme in this website but also the content where the students can easily navigate to the sample materials that was done previous semester. Instructor also have the portal website link from his website which enhances its provision of the contents

Model Student Online Portfolio

There are many web pages on the World Wide Web, but how many good web pages are there amongst them. As I surfed the web, I came across very sad and disappointing web pages that shouldn't even be posted. There should be a law against that, but that's for another day.

As I was surfing the web looking for a good web page, I came across Kevin Crockett's online portfolio. At first, it wasn't an extremely great piece, but it had potential. It had all the things I liked in a web page. Kevin Crockett had done a very good job in creating a clean and simple online portfolio. He didn't use too many colors nor did he spam it with needless information. He put down what he wanted to say. The one thing that Kevin Crockett impressed me with was his age, this young kid is only 15 years old and he's already way ahead of his fellow classmates. "I can recall playing with transformers and watching TV most of my teen years", I'm just amazed at the talent this Kevin Crockett has. Only if I started out at that age, I'd be creating some great pieces of art.

Kevin's page has a simple layout to it, is broken down into different sections containing relevant information. This keeps his web page well defined and interesting like different rooms of a house. He didn't use too many colors and he used good colors for easy viewing. The navigation is very clean and easy to use, which does not confuse the viewers and make their web experience non-irritating. Once you look at his work, you'll understand that Kevin Crockett isn't just some ordinary 15-year-old kid. This kid has talent and then some. I liked this site very much and knowing that he's only 15 years old makes it all the more extraordinary.

Your Portfolio

My online portfolio is an extension of my experiences, talents, skills and other valuable commodities that audience view others would appreciate. It allows audience a vast array of options. My audience will be the medium size companies looking for developers or systems analysts

A student can use an online portfolio to get ahead of the competition. By creating an online portfolio, a student can use it as a stepping-stone to an infinite array of job options. They can list skills, education, and special awards they have worked hard to obtain. Anything an employer might want to see can all be created on an online portfolio. Now, instead of just a resume, a face and personality can be placed with the name.

An artist can use an online portfolio to showcase their work and skills. Instead of customers coming to see the work, it can all be showcased via the online portfolio. Even if it’s a musician, their music an be places in the portfolio, too. The possibilities are limitless.

Businessmen can put down skills, projects and achievements within their workplace for further advancements. They can now give employers their online portfolio URL address as a business card so it can be easily accessed. All the information is at a touch of a button.

With the internet available around the world, an individual’s options have extended itself globally. The online portfolio can now extend all around the world, and the usefulness of the online portfolio has grown more significant. People can expand without limiting themselves with boarders, and make new opportunities in places they never imagined. An online portfolio is limitless, only limited by the creativity of the creator.

©2004 Nick McCann