Hurray! As of today, I have a master's degree in Teaching and Learning with Technology! I was struggling with my last (Capstone) class because I had been hospitalized for a second surgery to repair blockages caused by corinary heart disease. This is a result of my diabetes. I had 4 stents put in my heart in September. I really had to work hard to catch up with all of the work, but I did it! And, I ended up with an "A", bringing my GPA to 3.90!
I learned a lot in this program and had some really good instructor's. I am proud to call Ashford University my alma mater. Great school! I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a supportive online college experience.
One of the things that I learned how to create is a non-linear Powerpoint presentation. The thing that makes if different from a normal PowerPoint presentation is that the user can navigate within the presentation. Using action buttons and hyperlinks, you can make a presentation interactive and let the user go through it at their own pace. I LOVE PowerPoint!
Another Web 2.0 technology that I learned about was creating an online portfolio. The site we used for class is called Glogster. It had several nice features, but seemed a bit unprofessional to me. I am going to look for a better option and will post a link to my portfolio when I have completed it.
So, what are my plans for the future? I plan to take a few months off from school and will then begin on the journey to get a doctorate degree in e-Learning. I want so much to teach college-level online courses. A doctorate will enable me to do this. It will take me anywhere from 3 to 5 years. This should coincide with my ability to retire from the Library.
No that I'm done with school for a few months, I hope to continue to post to this blog and further journal my educational path. For now, it's time to put some time in experimenting with various software products and other technologies. I'll keep you posted on what I discover.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
I'm back!
It's been month's since I've even been on this site. I've been taking a few classes that required a lot of my time and thinking. I just haven't flet like there was anything to blog about. Actually, I have a lot to share and take note of. Since my last posting, I've been exposed to webinar software. I LOVE it!
In a collaboration class that I took, (and LOVED), I was exposed to Webex and GoToMeeting. I really enjoyed playing around with it, setting up meetings, interacting with my teammates, and working with some phenominal people! I experienced a bit of seredipity when I was able to purchase a year's subscription of GoToWebinar for the new staff training committee at the library where I work. This is living my dream! I will be able to teach others how to use this software. I will be able to facilitate meetings. I will be able to conduct training presentations. Yeah. Very cool!
So, I am taking a Leadership class right now and am quite frustrated with the teachers inability to give thorough and concise instructions. I am not alone in this dilema. I have been in touch with a fellow student, or should I say she contacted me. She's just as frustrated. But, there is only one week after this one and it's going to blow my 4.0, but I have to just accept it. If I get an A in the rest of my classes, I'll wind up with a 3.9. Still not bad for grad school!
I am being haunted by the fact that I have a discussion post that needs to be written and posted this evening. I must move on for now. But, I AM back and will continue to return.
In a collaboration class that I took, (and LOVED), I was exposed to Webex and GoToMeeting. I really enjoyed playing around with it, setting up meetings, interacting with my teammates, and working with some phenominal people! I experienced a bit of seredipity when I was able to purchase a year's subscription of GoToWebinar for the new staff training committee at the library where I work. This is living my dream! I will be able to teach others how to use this software. I will be able to facilitate meetings. I will be able to conduct training presentations. Yeah. Very cool!
So, I am taking a Leadership class right now and am quite frustrated with the teachers inability to give thorough and concise instructions. I am not alone in this dilema. I have been in touch with a fellow student, or should I say she contacted me. She's just as frustrated. But, there is only one week after this one and it's going to blow my 4.0, but I have to just accept it. If I get an A in the rest of my classes, I'll wind up with a 3.9. Still not bad for grad school!
I am being haunted by the fact that I have a discussion post that needs to be written and posted this evening. I must move on for now. But, I AM back and will continue to return.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Learning so much and loving this class!
In the past couple of weeks we have been learning about absorb-type, do-type and connect-type activities, as well as many cool free programs! The types of activities I mentioned are from our textbook, E-Learning By Design by William Horton. Horton describes absorb-type activities as ones where the learner absorbs knowledge, "typically by reading text, watching an animation, or listening to narration" (Horton, 2006, p. 38). A do-type activity is where the learner is involved in exercise, experiment, and discover activities. Connect-type activities link the learner to "prior learning, to work and to life" (Horton, 2006, p. 41). I have been using my Windows 7 upgrade training from work for my activities. It has really helped me to make my training more interesting and streamlined.
The coolest freeware that we have used is called Jing. It is from Techsmith.com. It is a screen capture software product that is extremely easy to use. However, I had a very frustrating time at first because my internal microphone no longer is working. I ended up going to Best Buy and buying an external microphone and fumbling around for days trying to get it all to work properly. But, it was well worth it! I think I will be using Jing to create all kinds of training!
We discussed the value of using blogging and Twitter as viable learning tools. I'm not crazy about Twitter, but I can see where there may be times when it might be useful. My suggestion was to use it for a scavenger hunt. Overall, I have learned a great deal about constructing training and I think our instructor, Dr. Rhia Roberts is awesome! I wish I could have her in every class!
The coolest freeware that we have used is called Jing. It is from Techsmith.com. It is a screen capture software product that is extremely easy to use. However, I had a very frustrating time at first because my internal microphone no longer is working. I ended up going to Best Buy and buying an external microphone and fumbling around for days trying to get it all to work properly. But, it was well worth it! I think I will be using Jing to create all kinds of training!
We discussed the value of using blogging and Twitter as viable learning tools. I'm not crazy about Twitter, but I can see where there may be times when it might be useful. My suggestion was to use it for a scavenger hunt. Overall, I have learned a great deal about constructing training and I think our instructor, Dr. Rhia Roberts is awesome! I wish I could have her in every class!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Do-Type Activities
This week, we are working with creating "do-type" activities. Most of the training that I have created has been what is known as "absorb-type" activities where the learners watch a PowerPoint presentation while I instruct them in person. I have created some practice lessons that learners have completed and sent back to me. The first time I did this was way back in the late 1990's when I conducted a training on Microsoft Word basics. The assignment was to edit a fairy tale that I had written and left blanks for the learner to fill in using some of the things they had learned like changing font color, size and style. The fairy tale was about Princess Colleen, so it was really funny to read the things that people wrote.
For this week's assignment, I went to a website that I have used for years, http://www.puzzlemaker.com/. This site gives you several options for creating puzzles, such as crosswords and word search puzzles. It's really easy to use! Give it a try. I created a word search puzzle using Windows 7 terminology. All I did was enter the words separated by commas and it created the puzzle for me. Here it is:
Until next week...happy learning!
For this week's assignment, I went to a website that I have used for years, http://www.puzzlemaker.com/. This site gives you several options for creating puzzles, such as crosswords and word search puzzles. It's really easy to use! Give it a try. I created a word search puzzle using Windows 7 terminology. All I did was enter the words separated by commas and it created the puzzle for me. Here it is:
C O N A O H Y R X J R W B X S D P J G B G S Y U H S E M P A Q E J V D W N M B H P I R B Y G R S M O P P I A A V V Q F G T A K D M L Y K N H C E F S F V T N E I Z E S Y N J R Z R P L I B S E S E T O N I P X T Q W N T Q X P L S M J A P P S Y X G E F H M R B E W O K J Y P N C U C A W T R I A D V Z S V P T P D S T I C K Y R Q F T Z A V D V Z X I G T Q F C T E O R A B K S A T H I R Z U H M R H O D F T B D X W M P I C I E S M T M G Z U U J Z A S A X A AEROJUMPLISTNOTESOPERATINGPEEKPINNINGPREVIEWSEARCHSHAKESNAPSTICKYSYSTEMTASKBARWINDOWSUntil next week...happy learning!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
New class
It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted. I began a new course, EDU 652: Instructional Design and Development. So far, it's been interesting. We have learned that there is a whole lot more involved in creating valuable online classes, than just having information to share and putting it together. In the last course, I learned that using a content template helped to organize the course content. This has been a good resource. Now, we are learning to conduct a needs assessment prior to creating content. This is also a valuable prep tool.
In our first week of class, we discussed e-learning and the value of using wikis as a learning tool. We also discussed the various ways to create and use PDF's. I used to use Adobe Pro at work to create pdf's for our website. It's become much easier to create pdf's now that the option to "save as a pdf" is included with Microsoft Word.
This week, we have been working with Winzip to create a zipped file. There is a bit of a learning curve with Winzip, but it's fairly straightforward. Once you understand the terminology, such as "extracting" content, you can create compressed files that are easier to send through email. Here are a couple of Youtube videos that explain how to download and use Winzip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOikZyC0V5k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U6DSH6wE1w
I think a good use for this would be to zip all portions of an assignment - PowerPoint presentation, assessment tool, documents, etc. - and send out to students on a weekly basis. You would need to include a "readme" file with instructional guidance and any necessary explanations.
The assignment for this week is to create an absorb-type training. I am going to use the new features of Windows 7 as my topic since this is the training that I am currently conducting at work. I am knowledgeable of the topic and that makes it a lot easier to put it all together. Our instructor has given us a template for submitting our assignments that includes writing an abstract and embedding a link to the training materials. I decided that I would open a Slideshare account to post my PowerPoint presentation. Hopefully, this will make the hyperlink able to be followed. Trying to embed a link to the file on my computer didn't work last week. My instructor asked me to contact Tech Support to find out how to embed the file. UAfter waiting almost 20 minutes to get someone, I was basically told that he didn't know how to do this and couldn't help me. That's why I decided to try using Slideshare as an option. Hope it works!
Until next week...happy learning!
In our first week of class, we discussed e-learning and the value of using wikis as a learning tool. We also discussed the various ways to create and use PDF's. I used to use Adobe Pro at work to create pdf's for our website. It's become much easier to create pdf's now that the option to "save as a pdf" is included with Microsoft Word.
This week, we have been working with Winzip to create a zipped file. There is a bit of a learning curve with Winzip, but it's fairly straightforward. Once you understand the terminology, such as "extracting" content, you can create compressed files that are easier to send through email. Here are a couple of Youtube videos that explain how to download and use Winzip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOikZyC0V5k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U6DSH6wE1w
I think a good use for this would be to zip all portions of an assignment - PowerPoint presentation, assessment tool, documents, etc. - and send out to students on a weekly basis. You would need to include a "readme" file with instructional guidance and any necessary explanations.
The assignment for this week is to create an absorb-type training. I am going to use the new features of Windows 7 as my topic since this is the training that I am currently conducting at work. I am knowledgeable of the topic and that makes it a lot easier to put it all together. Our instructor has given us a template for submitting our assignments that includes writing an abstract and embedding a link to the training materials. I decided that I would open a Slideshare account to post my PowerPoint presentation. Hopefully, this will make the hyperlink able to be followed. Trying to embed a link to the file on my computer didn't work last week. My instructor asked me to contact Tech Support to find out how to embed the file. UAfter waiting almost 20 minutes to get someone, I was basically told that he didn't know how to do this and couldn't help me. That's why I decided to try using Slideshare as an option. Hope it works!
Until next week...happy learning!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Social Bookmarking and Critiques
This week was both interesting and frustrating. Our first discussion board asked us to add our classmates to our Facebook and PBWorks accounts and also to critique our classmates accounts. The interesting part was viewing each others' accounts. Everyone's account had a different "flavor". Some classmates added videos, some had links to blogs or websites, and some included apps to their Facebook accounts. The wikis that were created ranged from very in-depth to just basic construction. One very interesting trend was the number of lessons on the use of technology. The frustrating part was in trying to figure out how to add our classmates to our groups. Actually, creating the group in Facebook was quite challenging since I kept running into the problem of having to add members when creating the group. Once it was explained that I could add myself as a member, I was off and running. Being a somewhat private person, I found the idea of adding my classmates to my private Facebook account very unappealing. So, I created a new account with a slight variation to my name and used a different email account. This worked well.
Our second discussion board dealt with the idea of whether the use of technology is "re-wiring" our brains. I do believe that there is some validity to this, but mostly I think it's a combination of what is now socially acceptable and the fact that this technology is becoming an acceptable and preferred way of learning. This does concern me a bit as an older student. I think that the ability to collaborate with people of mutual interests from all over the globe is fascinating! I just don't think there's been quite enough research done to state outright that our brains are being re-wired. I am interested to see what new research is done in the coming years.
Our third discussion board dealt with creating an account in Delicious - a social bookmarking tool. I'd heard of Delicious before this, but didn't really see the pratical usage. That's because I wasn't looking at it as a way to collaborate with others. As I have read more and actually created my account, I am seeing that this may end up being quite useful to me in a personal and professional way. I certainly have seen that this is something the library where I work could connect with our patrons by creating a full "library" of bookmarks on a variety of subjects. It is almost mind-boggling to think about the possibilities!
We had two assignments this week. One was to write a letter of intent to our boss, department head, etc. to ask for permission to use a social networking site in our jobs or classrooms. I think this may really come in handy to me as I try to get our library "on board" with using Facebook for mini-training sessions for our staff. In researching the topic, I found quite a few journal articles that discuss the topic of social networking and libraries.
Our second assignment for the week was to answer the critical thinking questions from chapter 6 of our text book. This chapter deals with micro-blogging, like Twitter. I still am not convinced that Tweeting is something that I'm going to find practical, but there were several applications in the text book that I plan to explore. Who knows, I may end up to become an avid tweeter in the end?
This week was pretty labor-intensive. I found it quite difficult to keep up because a dear old friend passed away suddenly after a 2 week fight with cancer. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, life has a way of throwing you curves that are unexpected.
Until next week....Happy Learning
Our second discussion board dealt with the idea of whether the use of technology is "re-wiring" our brains. I do believe that there is some validity to this, but mostly I think it's a combination of what is now socially acceptable and the fact that this technology is becoming an acceptable and preferred way of learning. This does concern me a bit as an older student. I think that the ability to collaborate with people of mutual interests from all over the globe is fascinating! I just don't think there's been quite enough research done to state outright that our brains are being re-wired. I am interested to see what new research is done in the coming years.
Our third discussion board dealt with creating an account in Delicious - a social bookmarking tool. I'd heard of Delicious before this, but didn't really see the pratical usage. That's because I wasn't looking at it as a way to collaborate with others. As I have read more and actually created my account, I am seeing that this may end up being quite useful to me in a personal and professional way. I certainly have seen that this is something the library where I work could connect with our patrons by creating a full "library" of bookmarks on a variety of subjects. It is almost mind-boggling to think about the possibilities!
We had two assignments this week. One was to write a letter of intent to our boss, department head, etc. to ask for permission to use a social networking site in our jobs or classrooms. I think this may really come in handy to me as I try to get our library "on board" with using Facebook for mini-training sessions for our staff. In researching the topic, I found quite a few journal articles that discuss the topic of social networking and libraries.
Our second assignment for the week was to answer the critical thinking questions from chapter 6 of our text book. This chapter deals with micro-blogging, like Twitter. I still am not convinced that Tweeting is something that I'm going to find practical, but there were several applications in the text book that I plan to explore. Who knows, I may end up to become an avid tweeter in the end?
This week was pretty labor-intensive. I found it quite difficult to keep up because a dear old friend passed away suddenly after a 2 week fight with cancer. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, life has a way of throwing you curves that are unexpected.
Until next week....Happy Learning
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Creating online training
This past week we have been working on creating our own lesson in Facebook and our PBWorks accounts. I found the PBWorks wiki format much easier to work with. In creating my Facebook account, I found myself spending most of the time trying to figure out how to create a group without having a list of email addresses to use. I still haven't figured it out. The rest of the time, I was searching for ways to do what I wanted to do. It was frustrating and a non-productive use of my time. The wiki, on the other hand, was very easy for me to work with. I got really into it and was encouraged throughout the process because it came together easily. The program worked the way I wanted it to and I enjoyed it.
Our discussions this week involved reflecting on our experience creating the Facebook and PBWorks accounts and whether we thought that Facebook or PBWorks could be used to replace an existing LMS like eCollege or Moodle. My thoughts on this is that a wiki could probably be used to create an LMS, but I don't see it being done in Facebook. My first question is why would you want to do this when the existing products like Moodle already do such a nice job for free? Why recreate the wheel?
Our second assignment this week was to read and reflect upon the article, Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail and Learning 2.0 by John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler. The article addresses and explains the evolution of the Web into education and how it is evolving still into a more participatory environment. It was quite interesting to read how things evolved on the Web, especially since I am of an age when there was no Web. My son just mentioned this morning how computers have existed his whole life and he has been taken along in the journey in a natural and matter-of-fact kind of way. For people of my generation, we have had to seek out how to be involved, and more importantly, whether to be involved. Most of the people I work with have either never attended college or it was quite some time ago. They are either intrigued by the Web, or intimidated by it. Access to information, and education in particular, has taken on a new direction and environment that is moving and evolving quickly. At work, my focus is on those that do not want to be left behind, but do not know where to begin. All of this occurs while I am new to it myself to a great extend. But, that's what Learning 2.0 is all about - learning by participation, student from teacher and teacher from student.
Lastly, I am including a link to a couple of articles that I found interesting from Edutopia. Hope you find them interesting, as well: http://www.edutopia.org/student-reflection-blogs-journals-technology
As always...Happy Learning until next time.
Our discussions this week involved reflecting on our experience creating the Facebook and PBWorks accounts and whether we thought that Facebook or PBWorks could be used to replace an existing LMS like eCollege or Moodle. My thoughts on this is that a wiki could probably be used to create an LMS, but I don't see it being done in Facebook. My first question is why would you want to do this when the existing products like Moodle already do such a nice job for free? Why recreate the wheel?
Our second assignment this week was to read and reflect upon the article, Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail and Learning 2.0 by John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler. The article addresses and explains the evolution of the Web into education and how it is evolving still into a more participatory environment. It was quite interesting to read how things evolved on the Web, especially since I am of an age when there was no Web. My son just mentioned this morning how computers have existed his whole life and he has been taken along in the journey in a natural and matter-of-fact kind of way. For people of my generation, we have had to seek out how to be involved, and more importantly, whether to be involved. Most of the people I work with have either never attended college or it was quite some time ago. They are either intrigued by the Web, or intimidated by it. Access to information, and education in particular, has taken on a new direction and environment that is moving and evolving quickly. At work, my focus is on those that do not want to be left behind, but do not know where to begin. All of this occurs while I am new to it myself to a great extend. But, that's what Learning 2.0 is all about - learning by participation, student from teacher and teacher from student.
Lastly, I am including a link to a couple of articles that I found interesting from Edutopia. Hope you find them interesting, as well: http://www.edutopia.org/student-reflection-blogs-journals-technology
As always...Happy Learning until next time.
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