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      About GreekGeek                                                                                                                                                                   

 

Who is the Greekgeek?

This website has been established and maintained by Bruce Jones, a graduate teaching assistant for NT Interpretation at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte.

 

Beginnings…

While serving the wonderful students of Dr. Roy Ciampa’s NT Interp in 2003, I found myself answering the same questions, or helping with the same problems over and over.  So one day I put together a quick little website, www.greekgeek.net.  The first thing students needed help with was fonts.  Which font do I need?  How do I know if I already have it installed?  How do I install it if I don’t?  How do I use it?  Just about everything up on the site is a response to helping the students with their assignments.

 

In the spring of 2005, while serving as Dr. Jim Sweeney’s TA for NT Interp, our class had grown to over 60 students!  I was traveling quite a bit this semester (I work for a major software company), and was not able to meet one on one as much.  So I started adding the videos and the Bibleworks tutorials. 

 

Goals…

The goal of this website is to serve NT Greek students.  Particularly, helping them figure out how to use the computer and software tools they may struggle with.  Also based on student papers and emails, I have attempted to add content that will help with the areas students struggle with the most – with a special focus on those areas that are more remedial.  The intent is not to create a website that replaces classroom instruction, but rather enhances and complements it.  The thought behind the grading keys is that they help quantify those specific skills that students struggle with.  Looking at the results by means of these keys, I will add content at the biggest and most frequent problems students have.  Currently the area that seems hardest for students is grammatical diagramming.  I look forward to expanding a step-by-step grammatical diagramming tutorial that will be specifically targeted at the errors I see in student’s papers at the basic level.

 

I am a professor, want a class page, but am not web savvy.  Can you create a class page for me? 

I am considering this.  One of the strengths of the website now is that it is very focused, and it is easy to find what you are looking for (I hope).  Email me at my hotmail address - thegreekgeek -  (without the dashes) and put the words “PROFESSOR REQUEST” in the subject. Please do not add this email address to any lists you have for devotion of the day, etc.!  (See the tips on avoiding SPAM in the Computer menu area).

 

How is Greekgeek developed?

Most of the tool type pages are developed using Visual Studio.NET.  The screenshot tutorials are done in Microsoft Word so that I can give the template out, and have others easily develop new content.  The Hebrew vocab tool, and some of the UV Chart Tool has a Microsoft SQL backend.  The “How to type in a Greek font” tutorial has some simple XML behind it.  The videos were created with Microsoft Windows Media Encoder.  The Grammar Guides with the flowchart look were created with Microsoft Visio.  The Grading Keys were developed with Microsoft Excel.