Wow, I can't believe another course is under my belt. The course started off introducing us to some more tools that we briefly touched upon in CEP810. Being an IT person and not a teacher in the K-12 environment I really struggled in the beginning of the course with teaching technologies and integrating them into the assignments. I spend my days developing web applications for faculty and staff which is pretty straight forward in thinking methods - collect the data, display the data and generate reports. So, to have to think of what other ways could someone learn this material was indeed very difficult and made me think about things differently. Talk about training an old dog new tricks. The plus side is that it made me a better educator in the long run. I did learn that there is more than one way of doing things and sometimes the 'easiest' isn't always the best way. The WebQuest and webpage assignments were easy to complete since doing web sites isn't anything for me, but the WebQuest pushed my knowledge again on the teaching technologies. It wasn't until the Stair project that I really learned what those pedagogical strategies are and how to use several of them to get information out to the students. In a way, the Stair was a wake up call for me. One knows they are in trouble when the instructor makes it obvious that I need to add more strategies. In the end, I came out successful and much more knowledgable on strategies and how to incorporate them.
The completion of this course has by far passed my personal goals about technology integration. Initially I thought it was just a course to create website and web site, but it became much more. I never thought of myself as someone being a 'digital immigrant' with my background, but from all the additional resources and techniques on integrating with technology, I find myself to be in that category from the beginning. Not only did the course provide some wonderful opportunities to learn something new, but those final projects are actually going to be used on regular basis.
New goals now? With CEP812 starting up in a week, my goals are that the course will be as challenging as this course was and it provides new opportunities and resources that I can take back and use. I've achieved one of my goals a few months ago by completing CEP810 after being away from school for over 12 years. Now, my next big goal is to move forward, complete the Certificate Program and start on the Masters degree. One of my smaller goals is to use the information gained from this course and to build on them. I see several uses out of Stairs for our college and WebQuests. I plan on meeting several of the faculty to discuss the possibilities of integrating them into things they teach and to hopefully creating a library of resources for Lyman Briggs College students and faculty.
On a personal note, thanks to Debbie and Julie for keeping their comments sincere and nice about my blog posts. I sure hope you both continue to blog because I enjoyed reading them.
Joe,
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to your statement about having to think about new ways to teach material and indeed this was very difficult. But you obviously learn quickly because I was very impressed with your collection of work. I loved the way you organized your WebQuest to inform students about Lyman J. Briggs. I especially like the evaluation tool you created. The rubric was detailed and I like the way you inserted pictures for the different categories. In fact, I have been reviewing quite a few of our classmates' projects and I am taking notes for my next project--This class included many talented individuals. It has been a pleasure working with you. I wish you the best of luck (not that you need it) in your future endeavors.
Julie :)
Joe, I have really enjoyed working with you. In the 12 years that I have been part of the certificate program, I always appreciate the perspective of those not in the regular classroom. I have to try to see the application of our lessons in a different light. It helps me to grow. Helping you, helps me to be able to think how to present ideas for integration support to our administrators at my day job in Howell. Thank you for letting me learn from you.
ReplyDeleteHi Joe,
ReplyDeleteI love that you are planning to create a library of resources for students and faculty!! And, as Julie mentioned above, I really like the appearance of your WebQuest...the navigation boxes on the left (I still can't figure that out), the pictures in your rubric...all very creative and interesting!! I have enjoyed working with you and have really appreciated your input and assistance. Stay in touch!
Debbie