Post date: Feb 7, 2009 1:55:49 PM
This week our focus is on instructors. I struggled with research this week, until I finally found an opening that let me locate some pertinent articles. Obviously I was searching for the wrong thing. One of the articles I reviewed this week was about time management for instructors. I can definitely see how that can become an issue, especially if the instructor is taking on multiple courses and/or putting together content for courses at the same time. I also looked through my portfolio partner's pages, as well as the toolkits of all my classmates (and former classmates). I found a few useful links from them, and more of my own, and expanded upon my toolkit (as assigned). I also found the first limitation of Google Sites that I don't like. One of my former classmates, Judy, added Voki avatars to her site. I liked the idea and wanted to add one to my own portfolio. But Google won't accept the coding, so I was out of luck.
Only three more weeks to go. I'm a bit nervous about the final presentation because I am going to be out of town at a conference the week of the final. The good news is there is no collaborative work in Week 8, so I will have the opportunity to work a bit ahead, and get the reading and research done early in the week, without worrying about a partner's timeline.
I also discovered that the course they are telling us to register for for the March term is not the one they are selling books for in the bookstore. I emailed my advisor to find out what the situation is, but have not yet heard back.
EDIT: Oh, one other note, mostly for my classmates who may be on Facebook. If you want to feel more like a part of the University of Illinois family, go to the alumni association page. Grad school students (including Global Campus) are automatic members of the alumni association. You can sign up for a "illinoisalumni.org" email address, which Facebook recognizes as an official University email, so you can join the UIllinois network on Facebook. I'm not sure why doing that was so important to me, other than I want to be able to say I'm a student of the University...it makes this online experience feel more realistic.