Class blog – Page 35 – Online Reporting, Research & Writing

Tuition costs in Michigan

It is always interesting when comparing college cost because they are always on the rise. The prices can change year to year and they are only going up!

We are going to compare sixteen 4-year universities in Michigan. The total cost of a year in college can range from $15,419.36 to $25,204.00 in 2017.

The University of Michigan -Dearborn cost is lowest in-state cost with your total cost being $15,419.36. The room and board are the lowest at U-M Dearborn, at $1,600.00! However, if you want to live in Ann Arbor you are going to pay the most at $9,468.00.

The cost of college can be very overwhelming, but don’t be scared of student debt. There are many ways that can cut the cost. There are scholarships, grants, and final aid is available for those students who qualify. I currently do not pay for room and board. I commute to and from school, so that also saves me money. Don’t be afraid of students debt. You can’t put a price tag on education!

Google fusion tables- Adult cigarette smokers in 2010

Gathering a data set off the internet for cigarette smokers around the United States was a bit tricky but I ended up finding a great one and made a Google Fusion Table.

The data shows adults that are currently smokers in the United Sates. The fusion table is divided into 3 buckets. The yellow dots are based between 9.1 up to 15.3 adults who smoke, the green dots are based on 15.3 up to 21.567 adults who smoke and the purple dot are between 21.567 up to 27.8 adults who currently smoke and are all out of 100.

Screen Shot 2018-02-14 at 5.51.57 PM

African American Graduation Rates in the Country

Picture sourced from The Washtenaw Voice.

Education has been expanding and accepting more as the years go by. However, students of color, specifically African American students, are not always provided with the best resources or skills needed in order to succeed in college.

A data table that looks at racial groups comparing the percentages of total number of students graduating to African Americans graduating is tremendously different. By searching through this, it appears that graduation rates remain in the high 50s, never exceeding the high 80s percentile.

When comparing the total graduation rates of college students to African American students, it is clear to see that many of these students are not doing as well as they could be. In Nevada, graduation rates of African American students are at a low of 43%. Many states report numbers in the 50s through 70s.

Some data is not collected for some of these states, but it is not necessarily needed if someone wants to look at the data from within a state.

This gap between education could be fixed in many different ways, but the problem has to be found before action can take place. It will also take a lot of time since this has been a problem for many years.

Voter turnout in Michigan by county 2016

By using Google Fusion Tables, it is easy to develop a story with the information provided in a map style. A map shows a further breakdown of data when there is a lot to cover in a set.

Instead of talking about the data as a whole, the ability to discuss one county or one region is possible. Take the region of southeast Michigan as an example. Talking about voter turnout in this area is now made easy because readers can visualize what they are reading about.

Voter turnout in the 2016 election by counties in Michigan.

Curious citizens are able to click every county and receive a number of how many people voted in each county. The voter turnout in Michigan by county in 2016 is displayed above, with only how many people voted; no politics involved.

Google Fusion Tabels gives the opportunity to provide maps without bias, such as the table above. This way there can be real data without having one side preferred over the other.

Canva, a free custom graphics tool

Screen Shot 2018-02-14 at 5 — Canva home screen.

Canva is a tool to create graphics of many sorts, such as, posters, postcards, banners, and much more. Canva is an free and easy to use builder that anyone can customize. There are templates that you can use that come in various sizes for a specific poster you want. The templates include:

Social Media Posts
Documents
Blogging & eBooks
Marketing Materials
Social Media & Email headers

Screen Shot 2018-02-14 at 4 — Canva templates

Once you choose you template, you can choose your own layout. With this, you can change the colors of the poster, font, and images. There are tons of combinations that you can choose from. You can also start from a blank template, if you don’t want to start on a pre-made template.

I have used Canva various times in high school to create posters for upcoming events. I still use Canva now for classes that I need to make a custom graphic.