Digital Arts Service Corps - surveys

Trying out Survey Services

Ben Sheldon — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:25:25 +0000

A lot of the work at the CTC VISTA Project is getting information back from our VISTAs and their supervisors. I've been trying out two different Survey Services and I thought I would post some of my opinions on them.

Basically, we have a lot of questions that can take the form of a survey/poll. Recently I created one to ask what VISTAs are coming to the NTEN conference, and a regular one (well, I've done it twice now) for supervisor's to complete as a brief monthly report. It's basically a bunch of formatted questions with---the best part---a way to put in everyone's email address and then easily see who has filled it out and who I have to call and bug, err, check-in with.

*Survey Monkey - This is the most common one that people say when you ask "what should I use to make this online survey?". It works, but it's kind've ugly, clunky, and you don't have a lot of options for styling (no html!). But it lets you make a pretty complicated survey with different pages and paths (eg. If you answered "no" to #1, skip #2 and go to #3).

*Wufoo - Just by the name you know it's going to be colorful and shiny. Which it is. Everything is all clean and crisp and fancy feeling. You can customize all the styles with html and CSS and they offer lovely reports. But the surveys are kind've limited in layout. It's all on a single page. Also, while all high-tech, it has some non-user centric features. The most irritating of which is that help-text only shows up when hover over the form, making it easy to miss, or hard to scan the entire survey at a glance.

Both of them cost money if you're trying to do anything more than dead simple, which is to be expected. I've looked around for Free options, but haven't found anything that has that option to see who '''hasn't''' responded. But they make collecting information very convenient---though you still have to act on it. As always, technology is cheap, thinking is hard.

What is going on at Cyber Y?

Leena Silverman — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:12:47 +0000

I think that I have just gotten over my first hump in introducing myself and what my role is in the organization, now it is time for action.

Here at the Cyber Y computer lab we just hired an intern to help maintain the computers and printers and also help with children when programs are running.

We are trying to set up a successful "open access" time. We want to find good ways to advertise to the community that we have open access and also we are looking for good surveys to give to the community to understand what they need and want out of the open access time. Because we would like to set up computer literacy classes for grown-ups and or seniors citizens.

So, for the little kiddies after school i am working on implementing a program called Kinetic City. This children's computer program is an entertaining way to learn standards-based science. It is the ideal combination of technology and hands-on collaboration. Basically, kids learn reading, writing, and basic computer skills along with a little science thrown in. First though, i need to learn the curriculums and train the existing staff at the YMCA to promote capacity building. Then i will have groups of kids that will go through the program through out the year.

M y next big goal is to set up a youth media program during spring and summer for teens. Got lots of ideas. I'm thinking media literacy and media production for girl teens.

Working away

Richard T. Anderson — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 01:33:16 +0000

Well it's day two and I thought I'd better get around to doing a blog before Danielle comes to Grand Rapids to kick my butt. :D

I've basically been on the job for two weeks already. The Grand Rapids Community Media Center hired me as a contract worker for two weeks so I could get a head start. Get some training in before the school year started so I wouldn't be jumping in cold with students.

I'm working mostly with an organization within the GRCMC called MoLLIE, short for Mobile Learning Lab for Information Education. One of the things we do is go into a few of the Grand Rapids Public Schools and teach students to make short videos based on something they are learning in class. Today we were at a special school here called Zoo School. It's for bright 6th graders and is a small school run at the John Ball Park Zoo.

Even though my ex-girlfriend of 4 years had three kids and I've been a substitute teacher for the past 2 years, I was still nervous about going into the class today. But I didn't need to be. I worked with a great group of kids. That won't always be the case, I imagine, but it was agood way to start.

So, altogether five of us went in to a class of 30 armed with video cameras, tripods, and microphones. We split into groups of six. Each group had three pairs that were working on a report for a particular animal. So all the students took turns behind and in front of the camera.

On Thursday we do the same with a second group at the school. Then on Thursday we bring in the iBooks with their footage on them and they edit. There won't be a lot of editing to do this time around. We kept it very simple as we only have two hours per session with them.

Another thing I did today was work on surveys. We want to find out what kind of services our Community is interested in. So we made three surveys. One to take to the schools, one for non profit organizations that work with kids, and one for the general community.

These surveys will hopefully give us an idea of what type of new programming I can help the GRCMC and MoLLIE develope. I'm very excited to get that going.

Well, I think I'm running a bit long. So, I'll stop here.

Peace,

Richard.

P.S. I love that I can indent my paragraphs.