DL 10, Assignment 4

(i thought i uploaded this but apparently i didn’t so here is the reupload)

our fourth assignment for digital learning was the DL Portfolio thing we had to make- a portfolio for all the things we have achieved in school thus far. unfortunately, i created a powerpoint for this project; a powerpoint that’s saved to my computer. since this lovely software doesn’t have the option for uploading files, i had to find a way to convert my powerpoint file into a link. wonderful. click here to see the powerpoint i made. thanks bye x

DL 10, Assignment 3

so

The topic for the third DL assignment was Social Media and Me. Not much else to say about it. Here is the presentation I made:

 

https://www.canva.com/design/DADx4F-_CLk/RueN5sNdN9c-3AJbb5KSXQ/view?utm_content=DADx4F-_CLk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton

 

Thank you for your consideration have a good day x

Winter Market Reflection

Today I’m going to be describing my experience in the 2019 Winter Market, by answering some questions that were posed in the rubric.

For the Winter Market, my group(Emma and Xeo) and I worked together to create a start-up to sell products for the sale. Our business, called Snowssentials, sold two products- Christmas trees made of teabags(Tea Trees), and hand warmers(Winterwarmers). These products were designed with warmth in mind, and were meant to be sold in the wintertime. The products we made were also easy to make, and relatively cheap to buy the materials for. Through making the products, my group and I bonded together quite a lot- we planned the creation of each product, we held surveys together, we made the products themselves together also. I would consider Emma and Xeo to be some of my closest friends, and I’m really happy to have had the opportunity to work together with them. During the sale itself, my partners and I worked our hardest to try to market our products to potential customers, and as we were able to sell out and obtain quite a sizable profit, I would say that we were successful. I can attribute all of this to our communication skills, which, incidentally, will be the core competency I will be reflecting on.

Next, I’m going to be examining my experience during the Winter Market.

Were any academic concepts utilized to reach the goal you were trying to accomplish?

Our group definitely used the academic concepts we learned in Marketing class. For the entire duration of the market, our group was constantly evolving and adapting to the market- increasing and decreasing prices, bargaining, striking deals, and so on. We learned to be fluid and flowing in the business scene and not to stay rigid and still with our prices. During the third day of the market we also introduced a new product- Hot Chocolate Trees, in order to attract more consumer interest. This ties in with one of the other questions/prompts on the rubric.

Did you need to change your approach after new information and experiences were presented to you?

The answer to this is yes. On the third day, sales were slow. This was the least profitable day of them all- thinking about it in hindsight, it may be because customers did not know about our new hot chocolate trees, and many people had already bought a Tea Tree or a Winterwarmer, so they didn’t feel the need to buy another tree. We reacted to this by changing our marketing strategy- we made sure to promote the hot chocolate trees more than the regular tea trees, in an attempt to lure customers to our stand. Evidently, this worked, because on the fourth day we made tons of sales and even sold out. We also learned to adapt in response to other businesses- shortly after introducing the tea trees, we learned that there was another hot chocolate packet seller. Once we learned this, we made sure to emphasize how much value they were getting from buying a hot chocolate tree from Snowssentials. A big part of our hot chocolate tree marketing was comparing our trees with the hot chocolate packets from the other vendor, with phrases such as, “for $5, you can buy a Hot Chocolate Tree consisting of 8-10 packets, whereas at [other seller], an individual packet would cost you $2”. We learned to adapt to not just the consumers, but to competitors in the market as well.

The final step is to articulate learning- by using responses I have just written to talk answer yet another set of questions.

What did you learn?

I learned how to interact with customers, how to make a marketing spiel, how to strategically set prices and how to market to other people. Essentially, I learned how to better communicate with others to try to convince them to buy my product, and I learned how to adapt to a changing environment(the marketplace).

How did you learn it?

I learned it through experience- through talking with potential customers and trying(sometimes rather desperately) to buy our products.

Why does it matter?

It matters, because these are skills that I will be using later in life. Knowing how to properly and appropriately talk to others and learning how to quickly adapt to a changing environment are important things to learn.

What might/should be done in the future?

In the future, I will try to use these skills more effectively. In the future I want to involve myself more in the whatever process I am using these skills in- although I did contribute towards the marketing of our product, I have to admit that I was not as active as I wanted to be, and my partners probably did more than their fair share of talking to customers. Talking to customers can be an awkward thing, and I really hate awkwardness, so on the first day I tried my best to not talk to customers. Now though, because I have more experience with this, I can guarantee that, at least, I will make an effort to speak up.

 

 

 

 

DL 10 Assignment 1 – Introduction

Hello hello, my name is Andrew. I’m not sure if you’ve read my About Me section or if I even set it up properly, but on there is all the information about me that you need to know.

[REDACTED]

So, for the first assignment, we needed to do the following:

  • Add a YouTube video
  • An image with “impact”, and
  • A quote that means something to you.

I felt like I needed to list those out because why not okay stop judging me

DL Assignment 1, Part 1 – The YouTube Video

YouTube Clip:

yes the thumbnail is kinda creepy but don’t judge a book by its cover you meanie

This is the video I chose. It’s the official music video for the song Alligator Sky, by Owl City and Shawn Chrystopher. I picked this video for a multitude of reasons: 

One, the song is absolute fire. It’s incredible. Most underrated song of the century. I don’t want to listen to your ’70s boomer music, I want to listen to this.

Two, the music video(I feel) is an analogy for climate change. It depicts a barren, abandoned Earth covered in litter and newspaper articles that hint at humanity departing Earth for some other planet. It’s hauntingly beautiful and it blends in perfectly with the music. The two singers are in astronaut suits, probably because the air on Earth has gotten so polluted, it’s unsafe for humans to breathe in. At the end, they lift off in a rocket and leave Earth behind, which is also mentioned in the song’s chorus (Where was I, when the rockets came to life/ And carried you away). This is particularly relevant in today’s world, as our Earth reaches a breaking point. If we continue our destructive cycle, we’re going to end up with the world depicted in the Alligator Sky- a barren, abandoned world, as all the humans have already left to find life elsewhere. Hopefully, that future never becomes reality.

I’d also like to think this song symbolizes a kind of breaking up and letting go. The singer is asking, “where was I when you disappeared?”. “Alligator sky” is also a unique kind of wordplay; I assume “alligator sky” means “the sky ate you up”, the way an alligator would eat prey. However, the song also talks about motivation(Even though I’ll never know what’s up ahead/ I’m never letting go/ I’m never letting go) and not giving up. I think this part of the song is referring to never letting go of life, and to keep moving on. The rap part of this song also talks about not giving up, too. For example, this passage:

“Uh uh, that’s not a plane, that’s me/ I’m sittin’ where I’m supposed to/ Floating on a cloud can’t nobody come close to”

It seems to be talking about heartbreak, healing, and getting stronger, and I adore it. It’s a beautiful, motivational song with tons of hidden messages and little Easter eggs for you to find. Please listen to it. You won’t regret it.

Three, Owl City. Best musician the world has ever seen. His songs sound like they were lifted straight from dreams. The beauty of Owl City songs is otherworldly. Not only is this an artist I love, it is also one of my favourite songs.

DL Assignment 1, Part 2 – The Picture

An Image with “Impact”:

Behold.

This masterful piece of art is also my avatar. I feel like this picture describes me in so many ways.

First, this picture has an air of awkwardness. The hat drooping over the dragon’s head and the too-small wand all give off a feel of not fitting in properly. That’s me. I don’t fit in. Everyone that has met me will probably describe me as unique if they don’t know me well, and weird if they do know me well. Furthermore, I love dragons and draconic things(I don’t know what you’d call them). They fascinate me and I find it especially interesting how dragons of different cultures have evolved. Even dragons of the same culture have different variants. The Western dragon, although portrayed mostly as evil and greedy(mostly thanks to the famous story St. George and the Dragon, which is the first ever story about knight-saves-princess-slays-dragon, a common story trope I absolutely despise), also has stories about it that revolve around a dragon being the “good guy”, such as the Welsh story Lludd and Llefelys. Then, you have the Eastern variant- the long, snakelike deities that are said to be harbingers of fortune and wealth. It’s crazy how one animal that may or may not exist(you never know) has spawned so many legends. It’s fascinating. I have always been captivated by dragons and I especially loved this depiction of them in this picture.  Lastly, how could you not love this picture. It’s great. I love the dragon’s expression- like he’s posing for a photo that he doesn’t really want to be in(hence the awkwardness) but still enjoying it nonetheless.

Now, if I were a philosophical kind of person, I’d talk to you more about dragons or whatever and the deep meaning behind it all. But, I’m not a philosophical person. And, right now, it’s 10:53 PM. I want to sleep. And, I’m stressing out about Science because our group is kinda behind and we haven’t brought in all our materials and I’m worried I’m gonna get a bad mark and fail Science aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

So, let’s leave it at that.

How has this picture impacted me? Well, this picture has impacted me because I felt like I could relate to a piece of art, which is pretty uncommon for me. I feel like if my life were to be summarized in a photo, it would be a burning pile of garbage but since that’s not very pleasant, this is what my life as a photo would be. It’s not exactly symbolic and there are no really deep meanings as to why I relate to this, but I felt like this picture was important enough to share with you. It has character, magic, and it gives off an air of awkward/funny that I feel describes me perfectly. If he had been holding a book or something, it would have been perfect(since I love reading), but this is good enough. I wish I chose something more inspiring, like what the other kids likely chose, but I really don’t have any pictures like that, so this is what I’m settling with.

DL Assignment 1, Part 3 – The Quote

Quote:

I actually have two quotes, but they’re part of the same conversation. They don’t make sense without each other.

 

That’s impossible! The Americans only know how to make razor blades.

-Hermann Göring

We could do with some of those razor blades, Herr Reichsmarshall.

-Erwin Rommel

 

This quote was (allegedly) made during the Second World War, after German general Erwin Rommel briefed Hitler on why his attack at Alam el Halfa failed. Rommel stressed the superiority of the Royal Air Force as the reason why the German forces were repelled here, and that prompted Göring to bring up the question.

I love Rommel’s subtly sarcastic attitude towards Göring. We’ve all had those days when something goes wrong, such as when you lose a strategic battle to the British and your plans for domination in North Africa are ruined. I’ve had those days, too. Sometimes, you just need to let out the negativity by projecting it onto someone else, preferably someone you dislike. Although he was a WW1 air ace, Göring had been promoted to commander-in-chief of the German Luftwaffe mainly due to his close connections with Hitler, and therefore never really earned the respect of the generals he commanded. In this quote, it seems like Rommel is trying to find a reason for his defeat at Alam el Halfa so he doesn’t land in hot water which, to be fair, isn’t unreasonable. If you were a military commander in Nazi Germany and you just lost a strategic battle, you wouldn’t want to be blamed for the failure.

I feel like I can really relate to Rommel in this context. Some days you just don’t want to be tested, and when someone does try to test you you need to show them not to mess. Since Göring was Rommel’s superior, obviously Rommel couldn’t’ve said anything particularly horrible to him. This reminds me of some days, when I’m in a particularly foul mood, when some teachers(mainly in middle school) feel like they need to give me some more negativity by landing me in trouble for ridiculously small things. I once got in trouble because the teacher had asked a question I didn’t know the answer to even though I didn’t raise my hand. She got mad at me for not responding quickly enough, and for talking slowly to her(she thought I was patronizing her). I talked slowly because I didn’t want to get anything wrong, hello? It’s on days like this that you really need to let out some negative energy, possibly through overt sarcasm.

I also picked this quote because it’s pretty funny in a weird way. I really can’t describe why I find it funny. It just is. Maybe it’s because of the sass that went into this phrase. I still love it.