HRE 490-Foundations of Technology and Learning
End of Course - October 2008
DONE! Finally. We can now say that we have 1 down and 8 to go. I know I will be glad for the break we will get between courses, even if it is only a week. I have realized that there is a lot of work that has to be done in these courses in a very short amount of time. I have also realized that even when I don't think I can do any more reading or writing of papers for classes, that I can still do it. After all, how can I go and assign the same types of things to my students - homework that is - if I am unwilling or believe that I am unable to do it myself! I have also realized that doing some of this work and letting my students see what is expected in a course and program like this ones has given them a new insight as to what is expected in some college courses. It has also caused some of them to realize that the teachers are not asking them to do things that we are not willing to do too! I am asking them to do research, write papers, and work with each other on projects - granted these are in a traditional setting - but I am also doing the same things in my class just in a different format. I think once I have another course done, I will feel as if I really have the format of the online course down better and will be able to better manage my time in the courses to follow.
Early October 2008
As the course progressed, I have realized what I need to do and how to work more effeciently and how to get my work done with a little less stress and last minute rushing like what I was doing at the beginning of the course. I am now just hoping that I can finish these last few weeks and get my final presentation done without any technical issues during the actual presentation. I have realized that taking classes online is much different than taking classes in a more traditional setting. Not only are these classes different due to the structure of the class - online versus traditional face to face - but also with it being a much faster paced course - 8 weeks versus 15 weeks.
September 2008
This course is much more involved than I thought it would be. I must admit that I did not realize how much work it was really going to be. I am now realizing that I must really practice what I preach to my students. I am always talking to my students about not waiting to get things done, and I am really trying to do this – get my projects done as soon as I can and not be waiting until the last minute to get them done. This is much harder than I had expected however in comparison to when I was in college for the first time. I am learning a lot however and this is causing me to look at the classes that I teach differently. I am trying to slowly change the way I am teaching my courses so that I can integrate some of the ideas and concepts that have been discussed so far into my own classes.