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This paper is a reflection of the semester I spent working on User Experience Design and Web Development.

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CPSC 450 - User Experience Design for the Web

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CPSC 450 - User Experience Design for the Web

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Welcome to my Course Portfolio for CPSC 450!

This independent study allowed the opportunity to spend a semester diving into two areas of interest, User Experience Design and Web Development. I was able to combine my interest in User Experience Design with my interest in Web Development by learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and designing a number of different websites and activities that followed the User Experience Design Process and reflected many of the ideal principles of well designed UX.
First Attempt at HTML and CSS
HWS Leads Portfolio Site
HWS Leads Practicum Information
Tour of Buffalo
Click and Reveal Version I
Click and Reveal Version II
Bob Uffalo Activity Website

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This is an ePortfolio of the work I have completed in the HWS Leads Program. For this project, I focused on learning and writing HTML code. I worked with a pre-existing CSS stylesheet to learn how the use of classes connected the components of the HTML file to the effects specified in the CSS file.

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HWS LEADS

Practicum Experience 2020

Welcome to my portfolio website! My portfolio is a reflection of my experience participating in the HWS Leads Leadership Certificate Program, what I have learned, and how I applied the skills I learned to a project within my own community. The HWS Leads Program allowed me to take my community volunteering to the next level. My project was completed in an effort to support the WNY Children's Book Expo and KidsLit Week. The two events work to promote childnren's literacy throughout Wester New York.

Leadership Philosophy

Throughout my experience at Hobart and William Smith Colleges I have had the opportunity to be a leader in different ways. These opportunities include participating in the HWS Leads program, being a Global Ambassador, participating in Leadership Development Training through William Smith Athletics, and being Captain of the William Smith Golf Team. Each of these leadership roles has allowed me to learn more about leadership and how to improve leadership skills to be most effective.

During each of these roles I have learned that the most important qualities a leader needs to have is the ability to be approachable and empathetic. A leader with a welcoming and supportive attitude will encourage a positive and comfortable environment. This approachable and empathetic attitude is also essential in creating an atmosphere where individuals feel comfortable approaching you when they are going through a difficult time, need advice, or need help. Open communication and a trusting environment is a necessity between a leader and their peers.

Leadership is an important factor in positive and negative situations. In positive situations, a leader is the person who acknowledges the success the group has had, encourages new ideas, and supports individuals pushing themselves outside of their comfort zone. A leader is a critical element in a negative situation that has the ability to eliminate unnecessary stress and turn the situation into a positive one. The leader is responsible for standing up and being a voice in the group, helping individuals work out their conflicts with each other, and sometimes the one who must be tough when setting a standard of what actions are not acceptable. The leader is responsible for taking control of the situation, dealing with it, and finding a positive take away to motivate the group or individual to put their next foot forward and move on.

My experience as a leader has taught me that a good leader creates a supportive, encouraging, and trusting environment that allows each individual to grow and learn more about themselves and their peers. Being able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of others, allows you to support them as needed, while encouraging them to build skills in their weaker areas and teach others about their strengths.

Ethical Statement

I believe that everyone deserves the right to be able to express their ideas and be heard without negative criticism. My ethical philosophy is strongly based off of the commonly known rule of 'treat people the way that you want to be treated'. In an effort to be a good leader you are responsible for creating a calm, positive, and comfortable environment for the people that you are working with. Starting with this foundation will help to make people feel safe and aware that their ideas are welcomed without criticism. Each individual deserves to be heard and thought about with an equal approach.

HWS LEADS Practicum Experience

The Project

The Western New York Children's Book Expo is spear headed by Read to Succeed Buffalo, Medaille College, and Monkey See Monkey Do Bookstore. It is a non-for-profit organization, that secures funding to provide author and illustrator visits to the Buffalo Public Schools and other school districts in Western New York to enrich literacy development in elementary school children. These visits are a part of KidsLit Week, which takes place the week leading up to the event. KidsLit Week mainly focuses on students in grades pre-K through middle school. The WNY Children's Book Expo takes place on EXPO Saturday and is free to the public. My project was focused on supporting these two events by developing resources for schools and educators to use during KidsLit Week.

Goal

The goal of my project was to work with Medaille College Education Graduate students to develop author and illustrator presentations that would be a resource for Buffalo Public Schools to use during KidsLit Week. This week was focused on promoting the WNY Children's Book Expo and informing students about their favorite authors and illustrators that they would be able to meet at the event.

Project Preparation

To prepare for the project, I met with Ann Ryan, leader of Read to Succeed Buffalo, and Kim Krug, owner of Monkey See Monkey Do Bookstore to go over the project goals, establish a timeline, and finalize the expectations for each author/illustrator presentation. I also spent time researching technology tools to find one that would work best to create the interactive digital presentations.

Process

I worked with students from two Education Graduate courses at Medaille College in Buffalo, NY to develop author/illustrator studies for 13 different authors/illustrators. I spent a Saturday teaching two classes of Medaille Education College Students. The class was focused on teaching the students about the WNY Children's Book Expo, informing them about the author/illustrator project we would be working on together, teaching them how to use Google Slides, and presenting an example of a completed author study project.

I created templates for the students to use. The template was a Google Slide presentation that broke down the project requirements and expectations onto each slide. The goal of using the template was to have a uniform template to cover the required content, while allowing the group creative freedom to develop it how they felt was best for the author or illustrator. I split up the students into groups and shared the group on their specific author or illustrator slides. I spent the class working with the students to develop content for their presentations, answering their questions, and helping out where I could. The goal was to complete the presentations by the end of the class.

The week after the class I took time to go through each project and ensure all the necessary requirements were included. Some presentations were completed fully to the highest expectations and others needed a little bit of touch up work. The presentations were loaded onto one website and sent out to educators in the Buffalo Public Schools. These presentations were then used during Kids Lit Week to educate and excite students about the authors and illustrators that were coming to the WNY Children's Book Expo that weekend.

Some project examples can be viewed here.

Results

The results of our project were seen on the day of the event. The WNY Children's Book Expo was a huge success. Students from all over Buffalo came to meet their favorite authors and illustrators. The kids were able to participate in different activities that each of the authors/illustrators coordinated, get their books signed, purchase new books, meet their favorite characters, and listen to their favorite authors read stories.

Leadership Theory I and Leadership Theory II

My experience with the HWS Leads Program began my sophomore year. When I first entered the program I was under the impression that leadership just came naturally to people, based on their personalities. My time in Leadership Theory I and Leadership Theory II really opened my eyes to what leadership really was, how to identify good/bad leadership, and how to improve my own leadership skills. These courses taught me the importance of pushing yourself to become the best leader you and be. I no longer saw leadership as a personality trait, I now saw that leadership is something that is learned, practiced, and refined.

Leadership Theory I focused on the foundational elements of leadership like ethics and values. We were able to practice identifying our own values through "I Believe Statements". These statements were a way to identify and communicate what you believed in and what you thought was valuable. These statements act as reminders to the important ethics and values behind strong leadership when situations may get tough.

Leadership Theory II built on what we learned in Leadership Theory I and focused on leadership in a broader sense. We were able to learn about different types of leaders, as well as leadership within large organizations, businesses, and entrepreneurship. This course really communicated the the extent to which strong leadership can have a positive impact. I learned that leadership was a way of thinking and a way to encourage yourself and others to focus on the future with a positive growth mindset.

Public Speaking

The Public Speaking course gave me the opportunity to tackle one of my biggest weaknesses. Going into the course I knew I was confident with public speaking in a small setting. However, when it came to large presentations or speeches, I seemed to lose my confidence. This course broke down public speaking into small chunks that I could practice repetitively until I found strategies that worked best for me. Each class was focused on learning about a new type of public speaking, how to properly prepare, and how to give the presentation. Over the semester, I became increasingly comfortable with getting up and giving a new type of presentation each week. I had mastered the skill of preparing, slowing down the speed of my voice, and had gotten comfortable with the idea of intentional pauses. I was comfortable and confident public speaking infant of a large group of people at the completion of this course.

My Reflection of the HWS Leads Certificate Program

Looking back on my time at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the HWS Leads Program stands out for being an essential part of my personal development. The program not only taught me about leadership, leadership skills, and the importance of developing leadership skills, but it also taught me how to apply these skills to better improve my community and myself. Through this program I have been able to identify my strengths and weaknesses as a leader, as well as develop strategies to continue improving my skills. This program prepared me for my future by strengthening my confidence in my leadership abilities, strengthening my public speaking skills, and pushing me to grow outside of my comfort zone. I feel confident and prepared for any challenges that I may face in the next steps of life. The HWS Leadership Certificate Program has adequately prepared me with the skills necessary to succeed.

WILLIAM SMITH GOLF

◘ William Smith Athletics Leadership Development: Rising Stars & The Core

◘ Team Captain 2019-2020 Season

STUDY ABROAD GALWAY, IRELAND

◘ SIIF Grant Recipient - Golfing in Galway

◘ Global Ambassador

Project Overview

This ePortfolio is the final component to complete the Hobart and William Smith Colleges HWS Leads Leadership Certificate Program. This website is also apart of my Independent Study Course, CPSC 450. My Independent Study is focused on Web Design, User Experience Design, and Web Development. I built this website with HTML code to demonstrate my HTML code skills that I have learned. My Independent Study Course projects are based off of the WNY Children's Book Expo and the book, Buffalo From A to Z: Come Take A Tour With Me. My portfolio for my Independent Study can be viewed here.

Contact Information

Email: allison.scumaci@hws.edu

Phone: 716-796-9149

LinkedIn: Allison Scumaci

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HWS LEADS Practicum Experience 2020 Welcome to my portfolio website! My portfolio is a reflection of my experience participating in the HWS Leads Leadership Certificate Program, what I have learned, and how I applied the skills I learned to a project within my own community.

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This website is the main page for the two activities that I developed based off of the book Buffalo From A to Z: Come Take a Tour With Me, written by Brigette Callahan & Kristen Warham. This website includes links to the 2 activities as well as information for teachers or parents providing context to the activities.

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This is the final version of the Click and Reveal Activity. I developed this version after redesigning Version I and making improvements where that version was lacking. This activity follows the User Experience Design Principles much better than the Version I.

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This is an interactive activity based on the book Buffalo From A to Z Come Take a Tour with Me, written by Brigette Callahan & Kristen Warham. I created the activity using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. This is the first of two versions. This version required a significant redesign before it was able to be considered a final version.

# data[].attributes.body
This is an interactive activity created based on the book, Buffalo From A to Z: Come Take a Tour With Me, written by Brigette Callahan & Kristen Warham. I created the activity using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. I used many of the User Experience Design Principles that I have been studying while designing this activity. My focus for this project was completing the Design Process as well as developing skills in JavaScript.

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This webpage displays information about my HWS Leads Practicum Experience project. I developed the webpage with HTML and CSS code. This project allowed me to practice how to present content as well as have an experience to learn more about CSS and the capabilities of CSS within a stylesheet.

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HWS Leads Practicum - Spring 2020 - Independent Study Project

Allie Scumaci

The WNY Children's Book Expo

A full-day event created for children to interact directly with authors and illustrators through readings, book-signings, presentations and demonstrations.

Kids Lit Week

Internationally acclaimed authors visit local schools, libraries, museums and other cultural venues in an effort to inspire a love of books in students grades pre-k through middle school.

Author Study Project:

An effort to motivate and inform students in pre-k through middle school about the WNY Children's Book Expo and to inspire them to read

Creating author and illustrator studies

Target audience: students pre-k through middle school

Presentations will be featured in the Buffalo Public Schools during KidsLit Week - the week before the WNY Children's Book Expo

Elements Included in Project:

1. About the Author slide

2. Fun Facts slide

3. Book Summary slide

4. Author/Illustrator website slide

5. Coming Soon slide

6. Awards/Recognition slide

Project Implementation

I worked with stduents from two Education Graduate courses at Medaille College in Buffalo, NY to develop author/illustrator studies for 13 different authors/illustrators. Once the presentations were completed, I took time to go through each project and ensure all the necessary requirements were included. The presentations were loaded onto one website and sent out to educators in the Buffalo Public Schools. These presentations were then used during Kids Lit Week to educate and excite students about the WNY Children's Book Expo.

Photo Gallery

Presentation Examples

Brigette Atlas-Callahan & Kristin Madej-Warham Presentation

London Ladd Presentation
Lulu Delacre Presentation
Jacqueline Jules Presentation

Shelley Rotner Presentation

Allison Scumaci - Hobart and William Smith Colleges - 2020 ©

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The WNY Children's Book Expo A full-day event created for children to interact directly with authors and illustrators through readings, book-signings, presentations and demonstrations. Kids Lit Week Internationally acclaimed authors visit local schools, libraries, museums and other cultural venues in an effort to inspire a love of books in students grades pre-k through middle school.

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This is a basic website I developed with the main goal of testing out various elements of HTML and CSS code that I had learned from various Udemy Online Courses. There is no specific intent of the information on the website, it was purely  a way to experiment with what I was learning with HTML and CSS.