Final Reflection

On the first day of class I thought this is just going to be another typical computer class. Then I looked at the class manual.I had no idea what most of the things listed on the manual were.Not only did it look strange to me, it looked like it was so much work. I look back now and Dr. Strange was correct when he said we needed about fifteen hours a week for this class alone.Yes, this class took a lot of my time, but it was well worth it.

I remember creating my first Wordle. It seemed fun and pretty simple. Then it came to the part to embed it into our blog. I followed the directions and it didn't seem to hard. I found out that paint tool on Windows Vista does not work and will freeze up your computer. I never knew this because I never used it before on my laptop. I had to get my assignment done, so I googled the problem. Yes, I found out that the paint tool was not compatible with Vista. I read a post that some users had downloaded Paint.NET on their computer to replace the paint tool. So I took the chance and downloaded Paint.NET and it worked just fine. I was able to take a screen capture of my Wordle and continue using Paint.NET.

My next difficulty was getting comfortable in front of the webcam. I never really put my webcam to use. I was actually horrified when I saw that we would have to do video recordings. Well maybe not horrified just a little nervous. I'm glad Dr. Strange assigned video recordings because otherwise I don't think I would do it on my own. I recorded myself reading Little Red Riding Hood. It wasn't so bad, but I did feel a little foolish at first. I'm sure I will get better with more practice. I did learn one thing from the experience, my daughter loves to video record herself, so I am sure that other children do too.

One of my favorite things in this class was watching the interesting videos that Dr. Strange assigned. Everything that I watched in class really made me think.My favorite video was Randy Pausch's Last Speech:Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.At first I saw that the movie was over a hour long and I was just thinking I hope this isn't boring because I usually don't like listening to speeches. Then when Dr. Pausch was closing the speech I was left wanting more. I learned, I laughed, I wanted to cry, and I was inspired. I learned to give your best at everything. Don't give up just because things start to get tough. It is okay to have fun and learn at the same time. I also learned from Pausch that if you are doing something wrong and someone correct or criticizes you, they care and don't take it the wrong way. It is sad that Randy Pausch passed away, but he looked like he lived his life to the fullest until the end.

Prior to this class I have never had my own blog page. I knew what blogging was, but I wasn't real familiar with it and didn't know how it would be useful to me. Well after blogging for a few weeks it started to become fun. I like reading other people's thoughts and commenting. Blogging is a great way to share thoughts and ideas. It's kind of neat being able to interact with people in places other than your hometown. I am now leaving the class with a desire to start another blog page of my own about my experiences as an education student. Hopefully, I will get a chance to blog with my future students when I do begin to teach.

Also, prior to this class I never really knew how technology could be used in the classroom. Thanks to many of the schools that we followed for Comments4Kids and Comments4Teachers, we were able to see how may teachers use technology in their classrooms. We saw children blogging, making podcasts, using videoconferencing in the classroom, and so much more. To see students know more about using technology than I do really made me open up my eyes. If I am going to prepare students for the future, I need to keep up with the times. Unfortunately, I wasn't exposed to technology in my earlier years in school, but I am not going to let that hold me back. Like I said if a kid can learn it so can I.

My only complaint with EDM 310 is that I took it in the summer. I really felt pressed for time on completing the assignments. I feel that if I had more time the quality of some of my assignments would have been better. For the first time in a while, I am leaving a class feeling satisfied that I got my money's worth. I am not only leaving this class with more knowledge about technology, but I am leaving this class a different person. I have a very different outlook on education now. I just hope and pray that I will be able to teach in a school that promotes and supports technology in the classroom.