Posted In: Reflections
This week in our ENGL 460 course, my classmates and I were introduced to CSS or Cascading Style Sheets. This is a programming language that supplements HTML, allowing us to style our websites any way we’d like.
For me, and what seems like a majority of the class, the article explaining the basics of CSS was understandable. Starting with rules with elements (selectors and declaration blocks) and then hitting on the specific actions one can take in CSS (changing text and layout with tags, classes and IDs), the article was thorough and useful in understanding the possibilities available to us using this programming languages on our own sites.
Especially useful was the direct application instructions (adding the code into our own website) and the links to instructions on more specific CSS commands to modify our websites. Nevertheless, most of my classmates were cursed with the inevitable: feeling like they have a strong command of the information presented in the article but feeling completely lost when faced with putting these ideas into action.
Many of my classmates discussed their struggles in the week’s reflection post. The levels of confusion and reasonings for that confusion seemed to vary. Some feel like they lack experience, my classmate Kailey stating that she has “never worked with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) before or really any of the things we learned about.” Others couldn’t name the reason for their issues with the information but simply explained that they felt incapable of applying the material. Rebecca opened her reflection post with a witty statement: “To put it simply: I have no style.”
Clearly, the material covered in our course is challenging and foreign to many people. Dr. Pilsch clearly knows this as he is trying his best to aid each of us individually to succeed. So once we finished reading his article for the week and we are faced with a task that we feel unable to take on, where do we go from there?
Just like any other college course, we must step outside our comfort zone of the materials available on Canvas to find resources to answer our questions. For the most part, I believe my classmates did a great job of doing this. Brooke found a video on YouTube called “CSS – Add Design to Your Website” and she explained her reasoning for doing so.
“I thought that a YouTube video might be more helpful to someone if they learn better visually or want to feel like someone is actually walking them through the steps.”
Brooke acknowledges her strengths and weaknesses and is unafraid to look for ways to supplement her learning where she feels she is lacking. Some of my other classmates used similar methods for understanding CSS. Kailey found another article online about the basics of CSS. Rebecca came to the realization that she “will probably need to research more about GitHub styling and possibly find instructions on how to implement exactly what” style she wants on her website.
Some of my classmates went to their most useful resource for answering their questions: our professor! Kailey visited Dr. Pilsch via Zoom call during office hours. She was able to ask about things she was confused about and learn more about how to apply the specific style she is considering implementing on her own website. Rebecca understands the value of office hours and described her desire to attend them. Since she is unavailable during Dr. Pilsch’s typical office hours, she plans to schedule an appointment to meet with him and discuss her difficulties some time in the near future.
Others were less positive about their understanding of how to implement CSS into their websites, instead describing their efforts and how they were unsuccessful. Camryn, although trying her best, explained her difficulties with the hands-on activity.
“It is now four a.m. and I’ve officially given up on making my blog look stylish. I guess GitHub just doesn’t want my blog to look nice. What a shame. So my conclusion as of now, is that this will have to wait for another day.”
Luckily, Dr. Pilsch has taken notice of the problems experienced by nearly all of his students. I personally have made use of Microsoft Teams to message Dr. Pilsch directly to get help on my own questions. And in order to give us each enough time to get our questions answered and implement our knew styles onto our websites, the deadline for our hands-on activity has been extended another week, a decision that each of my classmates, including myself, was thankful for.