More eXe Analysis

I was in a bit of a rush when I wrote my last post. A good resource for everything and anything about eXe is their wiki-manual. I somewhat retract my statement of about the WYSIWYG template of the program. If someone was really picky and did some little research, you can sort out the html and then recreate the format or even just the wallpaper.

What I like the most from this program is that you can create your own iDevices or modules depending on how you'll use it in your class. Thinking about eportfolios, any of the iDevices currently installed can be used in a variety of ways. It just depends on how creative you are or how you want to present your work.

The downside though, I feel that the interface is not very intuitive. Years of watching TV and playing videogames resulted in me having really minute attention spans. By my count, I clock in at 1/30 of a second. Well maybe not that much but somewhere close to it. Short attention spans prohibit me from reading the manual. I had to force myself in order to use the program. It does have it's click and add quality to it, experimentation is needed to become somewhat familiar with how each iDevice works.

eXe-cuted...FINALLY!

eXe Portfolio
Originally uploaded by riacale.

I finally found time to learn and actually use the eXe program. Here is a sample page from it. I dare not complete my full-portfolio because of time constraints. Except for non-customization of its look, this program is quite dandy!

On the personalization front, you can actually choose different looks. I think there are about 6 or 7 styles to choose from. This type of templates is what people normally called WYSIWYG templates. The one I chose is called "Garden". The default setting had an image of a world map above the sidebar, which would be perfect for International Relations students (i.e. me!).

The way the program works is through something called iDevices. Each of these can serve different purposes, much like different components of a syllabus. Now that I think about it, the whole program works much like a syllabus. Compared to Pachyderm, the program can do so much more.

If you want to see the entire thing, you can download a zip file of it.

Download file

eXe-cuting

eXe-cuting
Originally uploaded by riacale.

Thanks to D'arcy's recommendations, I have looked into an XHTML editor called eXe. Initial impressions are a bit mixed since I have only experimented with it for a short period of time.

I must say the program is perfect for instructors looking for a companion to their classroom course. Pages for activities, image galleries, etc. For Arts Co-op purposes, the all around goodness of having reflection pages makes this perfect for professional development.

eXe has a similar style with Pachyderm. There are templates available for people to use. Customization might be difficult, I could be wrong. A very convenient feature is its "cut and paste" style, so no html knowledge required. Best of all, text documents can be uploaded! Woot! A very large advantage over using Pachyderm. As Arts students can testify, we are all about the writing. If we can't do anything else, we can always write. Love it or hate it, it what sets us apart from many Faculties. A bite tangential there.

Anyway, let us see how I progress with this. It suddenly became busy here at OLT.