The evolution of our project

Development of our project

During the first lessons, in October, we decided to make a website about astrology and started working on our project proposal. We immediately began our datacollection on the internet and made descriptions of the content of the most interesting websites. During the first weeks we asked our colleagues some questions about this matter, f.e. wether they believed in astrology, wether they read magazine horoscopes etc.
We continued our datacollection in November and December, which also included the sorting of the answers we received from our fellow students. Miss Greenman approved our project proposal on the 14th of November. During this period we also agreed to present our project on the 20th of march. During the weeks before the holidays and the exams, we already started writing the texts. Also, a table of contents of the website was compiled.
After the exams, in February, we learned working with Dreamweaver during two training-sessions. The writing proces continued. After the Dreamweaver-sessions we started to build the website. During this period we attained the approval of certain authors to use their work in our project.
A tutorial with Miss Greenman was held on the 13th and 14th of march. We corrected the indicated mistakes and started preparing the presentation. On the 20th of march we presented Classtrology to Miss Greenman and our fellow students.
During the weeks after the presentation we made some corrections and we finished the website.

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Technical Report

First of all the screen was divided into four rows. The last row consisted of two columns. In the left column a nested table was inserted. This nested table would become the navigation bar. To create the navigation buttons, nine rows were inserted in this nested table. Each button was coloured dark blue (#000099) as this was in harmony with the other colours. The reason for the range of colours will be explained later. Each button was given a name relating to the subject of the linked site. Links were made of each button by selecting the title, folowed by clicking on 'modify' and 'make link'. The links were coloured white (#FFFFFF) as this would benefit the readability. In the right column of the last table the texts were inserted.The first row of the page always contained the title of our project, so that the reader would immediately notice that the website is about astrology. In the second row the subtitle is present on every page to make clear that the site is most of all an online discussion about the sense and nonsense of astrology. The third row contained the title of each part, as announced in the navigation bar. Spinning stars have been put next to the title because this added extra value to the astrological atmosphere. These stars were obtained from a website which offered animations for free. Between the three titles, a bold gray horizontal rule was always inserted to give a more orderly impression to the reader. As the spinning stars did, the colours also contributed to the astrological atmosphere. The colour yellow (#FFCC00) was chosen as background colour and the colour blue (#000099) as writing colour. The blue colour reminded us of the sky and the yellow colour of the moon and the stars. This contrast also benefited the readability.
The symbols of the Chinese birthsigns and pictures symbolising the five elements of nature were also added - with permission. David Geert also assisted us in developing the guess-game, which was inserted as part of the intended personalised approach.
As we are no web-building specialists and David Geerts had only two helping hands the original purpose of inserting a discussion board to the website was not met.
Since we considered the information and discussion about astrology to be more important than the lay-out and we did not want this infomation to get lost in a mixture of figures and colours, the classtrogy website is a very basic website. Our main aim was to create a simple and a well-organized website about astrology. We all think that we have attained our goal.

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Presentation

This project and website were presented to the First Class students of 2001-2002 by the Classtrology-team on Wednesday March 20th 2002. The sound recordings of the presentation will (hopefully) be placed on this page in the near future.

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Report and Evaluation

As part of our language learnig, every team had to write a report and an evaluation on the presentation of another team.

Genderbands evaluated our presentation and www.YouthTravel and Theatre both wrote a report.

At the beginning of their presentation, the members of the classtrology team introduced their team briefly. Inge explained why they chose this project. They wanted to find out more about the origin, the working and the science of astrology. They were curious about why people read their horoscopes, and whether those people believe the predictions are true. The questions they asked their classmates were related to those issues. Following the introduction of the team and their motivations, Inge gave a short introduction to the website (http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/iccp/iccp4/). Their website provides a short introduction to astrology. The theoretical parts are limited their aim was not to provide an exhaustive account, but to raise questions in a simple and entertaining format. However, they did add some links, to give more theoretical information and make it more easily accessible. The information on the net is very extensive, so the links just offer a selection. The main aim of their project was to set up an online discussion about astrology: the sceptics versus the devotees. Ending the introduction, Inge explained the course of the presentation: Ilse would guide us through their website, Tiny was going to tell us more about the interactivity with the students and Marijke would report on the paranormal exhibition.

After the introduction, Ilse had the floor. She guided us through their website. From the home page we surfed to the 'history' page. Ilse explained that the origin of astrology was outlined here. The 'occidental'-button leads us to the web pages that give an introduction on to Occidental astrology. In this part of the site the team firstly explains the star signs, and indicates some celebrities who share an astrological signand then showed predictions for 2002 for the different signs. Tiny announced the game they had prepared on their site and mentioned that this would be played by those present during the presentation.-Then via the 'chinese' button we saw how visitors could access their animal sign and discover which characteristics these signs have. In the 'opinion'-section the online discussion runs high. The classtrology team questionnaire replies and also an interview with a devotee, who considers himself a 'specialist' are made available here. At the end of the exploration of the site, Ilse shows what we can expect from the following buttons: 'birthdays' : the birthdays of the students who replied; 'links': links that provide more information on astrology; 'project': their project proposal; 'who we are': an introduction of the team members.

Interactivity was the main aim of the team. They wanted a discussion on the sense and nonsense of astrology. Tiny explains how the team set up an online discussion with the students: three questions were posed to them: Do you read horoscopes in magazines? Do you believe in astrology? Do you think people with specific birth signs all have similar characteristics? The team put the answers on the site and divided them in two camps: pro versus contra. By analysing the answers, they conclude that most of us believe the future lies in our own hands. Most students believe that the predictions are not true, because they differ from magazine to magazine. However, there are some who believe in the power of astrology and in the predictions, because they experienced that some predictions had come true. Others state that astrology is not a science and exists only because some people have found a way to make money out of it. Finally, the presentation was concluded with an interactive demo of the classtrology designed game which remains open to any visitor to the site.

In the third part of the presentation, Marijke tells us about their adventure to the paranormal exhibition in the Brabanthal of Leuven. On this exhibition there were a lot of stands of numerologist, hand readers and mediums - which was a bit scary because they had contact with the dead. There was only one astrologer present: Herman Hacherman. So they interviewed this 'expert'. Marijke explains this man was a real devotee. He emphasized that astrology is the study of three data: day of birth, hour of birth and place of birth and the interrelationships with the planets at that exact moment.

To end the presentation, Inge concluded with a few remarks. The specialist could not convince them to believe in astrology, some team members became even more sceptical. They enjoyed making the site, although they had no experience at all. The team thanked their fellow students for their cooperation.

The Classtrology group started their presentation with an unusual introduction by introducing themselves and adding their astrological signs. An explanation about their motivation for this project followed. They wanted to find out more about astrology, not from the viewpoint of devotees, but purely out of interest largely generated by the growing popularity of this phenomenon.

The goal of the Classtrology website is to provide a limited introduction to the subject and an online discussion forum about the reasons for believe or disbelieve. Inge ended the introduction with saying who would be doing what during the presentation.

Ilse guided us through the website (http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/iccp/iccp4). An overview of the content of the website was provided. The homepage featured links to history, Occidental astrology, Chinese astrology, opinions of sceptics and devotees, birthdays, links, project and a 'who we are'-button.
The interactive component in the project was established by a survey among the students and an interview with a specialist on this matter. Their online student survey was constructed on the basis of five questions. Their conclusion was that the disbelievers found astrology applicable to everyone and that horoscopes in various magazines differ on the same day. Believers on the other hand thought that a greater power must exist because some of the predictions proved to be correct. The collected data were used to personalize the website. The Firstclass members' birthdates were connected to their corresponding Occidental and Chinese signs. A game element (the 'guess who' game) was implemented in the site using the collected data. A famous Indian specialist Shamra replied to their e-mails trying to convince all of us to believe.
The fourth speaker, Marijke, presented their visit to the paranormal exhibition in the Brabanthal (Leuven). Different stands with e.g. mediums, numerologists, palmists and astrologers could be visited. At the exhibition they had an interview with a professional astrologer called Herman Hakkerman. He told them that he had previously been a sceptic, but ten to twelve years ago he became interested in astrology. First he designed his own computer programme to make predictions and later he started his own business 'Urania Astrologie'. He predicted the future of his business which is not so bright, but nevertheless he feels it is his destiny. A handreader told him that he would die at 60 if he did not go to Rome. The impression of the Classtrology group was that he was a real devotee but also a bit of a freak. He was very persuasive until the salesmanship kicked in.
The following subject was the evidence and testing of astrology on his truth level. The website gives an overview of scientific research and the Classtrology team did their own test by comparing online horoscopes. The conclusion is that horoscopes are vague and inconsistent.

To conclude, Inge told that their opinions about astrology had not changed, after the project they are still sceptical. They ended their presentation by thanking the students for their interest and their corporation.

First of all, we discuss our overall impression of the website being presented by Classtrology.
It was clear that they invested a lot of time and effort in the content of their website. Every aspect and subject was also very elaborated and complete. In their presentation they mentioned their low technical skills, and we also observed that their website didn't contain much variation. Despite the fact that their website was the main subject of their presentation, they didn't bother to make it more appealing.
The fact that they wanted to build an interactive website, became very clear when they showed us the game they constructed. This was a very funny and creative way to personalize their website. They also integrated the names of the students in the descriptions of the different star signs.
Secondly, we give our opinion on the presentation. Like we already mentioned, the website was well constructed but very simple. Therefore their presentation gave a long impression. It would have been more professional to give a powerpoint presentation, besides the website. In that case, the public wouldn't had difficulties to pay more attention.
It was more difficult to follow the presentation because some of the members didn't speak to the public, but constantly watched the screen with low enthousiasm.
The introduction of the presentation gave us a clear overview of what we could expect. They pointed out that they didn't want to give a theoretical presentation and that is what we got. The vocabulary they used, was well chosen.
Thirdly, to end our evaluation, we want to emphasize that we appreciated their effort by visiting a paranormal exhibition and interviewing a devotee.

Nine months after the beginning of this English course, it is time to make an analysis of what we have learned concerning the English language. The overall impression of this course was: learning while doing. We wrote texts and corrected them after the remarks of Miss Greenman, we accomplished to make an English website and presented the result to our fellow students. Making mistakes during all this, helped us to realise how much of the English language we can still learn.

Although we assume our language-level is rather good, we have to confess that some very important remarks could be made. Generally, a lack of passive constructions was a major error in our texts. There was an overuse of 'you + verb' in stead of the passive verb and an impersonal style. Sometimes our texts were written too informal because we wanted to grip the reader and make it readable. This had to be avoided as it was said in the first lessons. A scientific style was required. We experienced, during the writing, that one should find the golden mean between an informal language and a dull text. This is also something to pay attention to while presenting the project: on the one hand one can not be too informal, but on the other hand one must succeed in keeping the attention of the audience and making it a presentation which is pleasant to listen to. The most frequent errors made in our texts were abbreviations like 'isn't - doesn't - that's - can't - won't - it's' and so on. We were told this is spoken language, which can not be equated with written language. In a scientifical writing style one should say 'does not' in stead of 'doesn't' and so on. We also learned that abbreviations such as f.e. and e.g. should not be used in scientifical writing. One should use the full word, namely 'for exmple' and 'example given'. Mixing up 'then' with 'than' is a mistake that was also regularly made. 'Than' is used when something is compared with something else. 'Then' is a term to refer to a space of time. We overused 'when' and underused 'if' , probably because in Dutch when is also used frequently. While correcting our texts, we also noticed that Dutch constructions were often used and translated into English. This does not always result in a good English sentence and is also something to pay more attention to in the future.

Presenting a project requires good personal preparation, clear agreements in advance and of course strong nerves. In our case, there were no real problems with the two first conditions. Some experienced problems with regard to the nerve-aspect. I personally noticed that it helps addressing the audience. This makes it also more attractive for the people who are watching the presentation. Having a good relationship with the audience also includes not standing with your back to the audience while presenting (although this is not easy while surfing through the website), speaking loud enough, making eye contact, not solely addressing the teacher, making sure that the audience is looking at the correct screen shot and so on. One should also pay attention not to be too repetitive, try to avoid too much curser spin, try to be -or at least look- relaxed and most important try not to be text dependent.
Our presentation was not that sophisticated because of our limited technical skills. In consequence, Powerpoint was out of the question (however this makes a presentation more pleasant to attend). We also had only a short period of time to finish the website and prepare the presentation. The presentation was very simple and we tried to point out the most important data of our project.

Concering the website building, we learned working with Dreamweaver (during an 8 hours Dreamweaver training session, thaught by David Geerts from the Mediacenter) which was a fantastic experience. Ilse was so enthousiastic about it that she even built her own site about malawi cichlids, very small but beautiful fishes. This (Dutch) website can be found on http://www.geocities.com/malawimeer/index.htm. More information on how we have built this website can be found in 'technical report'.

Classtrology

online discussion about the sense and nonsense of astrology

An ICCP project

Project Proposal