Friday

Friday

Well, I made it through the week. As I reflect back on the week this evening, I realize how much I have learned. I learned a lot about PLE's and flipped classrooms, not to mention the information I gathered from the other presentations. Of course there were so many different types of technology that we learned about. Dr. Dunn made learning techie stuff fun.  Most importantly what I will take from this class doesn't come from the content but from watching Dr. Dunn. (Bandura's social learning theory in action)

I really appreciated how he made everyone feel valued and respected. Usually in a situation like this you say "I can only speak for myself" however, after spending a week with only 13 others in a class I did get to know what they thought. No matter how trivial the question (or time consuming in my case) he took the time to work with you. He encouraged and had patience. He made us laugh and enjoy a very stressful week. He was in tune to his students needs and personalities from the get go. He was professional but at the same time extremely approachable. Professors like this are few and far between. I feel very blessed to have had him as my professor for my first intensive.

Now I'm off to show my family what I learned....sock puppets and blabberize :-)

Thursday

Thursday

 

Well today seemed a bit less stressful. I enjoyed learning about Audacity, I can see using that some. 

Had fun with Sock puppets and learned about some new apps. Spent a bunch of time on group work. A bit worried about the prospectus but Dr. Dunn says he will go over it tomorrow. I'm exhausted mentally, emotionally (that is more to do with outside factors) I'm ready to go home and reflect over all I've learned. They sure do pack it in during this week. Dr. Dunn has tons of patience, all of us are asking him a million of questions and he does a great job answering all of them. 

 I look forward to seeing everyone's presentations tomorrow. I've learned a lot this week. 

 

Wednesday

What I took home today was great information about the dissertation process. Dr. Dunn did a great job laying it out for us. Wanted to go see the dissertation defense but my partner and I had to work

 with Screenr.  I have renamed it Screamr because it made me want to tear my hair out and scream. Way too much work for a 1-2 minute video. Both me and my partner had difficulties with it on our computers. I'm a Mac and she's a PC so who knows why. Seems quite a few others also had some difficulty with the process so at least it wasn't just me. I don't see that I will ever be using that.

I've learned a lot about Prezi through our group work. We have one group member who is terrific with tech stuff so it's been a great group experience. Go Robert!!!  I will be using this in the future. Really enjoy researching the flipped classroom concept. 

Dr. Dunn talked to us about Webquest and we have an assignment to build one. Not real interested in this assignment since it's not something I see myself ever using again. Wish we could pick from some different options that might relate to our individual settings. Just a thought.

Tuesday

I think my head exploded today. This had more to do with having problems with my mac than anything else. Very frustrating to watch demonstrations but I can't follow along because it's different on a mac.
Dr. Dunn showed us lots of tools to use. Some I can see using some not so much.
As with anything it just takes lots and lots of time to play around to figure it out and how you can apply it. Than to remember all the instructions. Still having problems with Endnote. Really want to use it but will have to spend more time figuring it out.
My group worked well today and seems to be we are focused. Off to work.

Monday 

My first day of my first intensive. Whew, I'm tired! 

Wasn't real sure how I was going to handle this week.  I buried my mother who was also my very best friend this past Saturday, had to say good bye to my brother and his family (they are headed today to live in Germany for 3 years) So I've had a very hard few days. But Dr. Dunn really made the class not only bearable but fun. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week. 

Was worried about Endnote but Dr. Dunn hung in there and helped me. So often teachers/professors will begin to help but if they run into problems say they will get back to you and move onto the next student. Nope, he stayed with it and helped me till I got it. We got to work with our group and I believe it will work out fine. Gotta run and work on the group presentation.

Have a wonderful evening.

Martha

My thoughts about technology in general before our intensive begins.

Some days I feel like this when it comes to technology:





Some days I feel like this when it comes to technology:

Overall, I'm pretty comfortable with most of what technology has to offer. I'm savvy enough to take online courses, teach online courses, Have my own websites, WWW.MovementPlus.com and www.WholeChildPublishing.com   a blog,  send and receive emails, digital pictures, make photo books online and so on. However, I'm not real good at the lingo. Had to work at those quizzes we had. I try to stay up to date on the latest tech stuff but it moves so quickly I'm sure I'm behind on something. I have two girls who of course know more than me when it comes to downloading songs, videos and the iPad/phone. They help me when needed and lucky for me, my husband works in the IT industry and can help me when I get frustrated. I'm excited about this course and being able to learn how to use technology to be a better teacher and to learn how to connect with students. I look forward to meeting everyone and taking my very first intensive.

Take Care,

Martha Swirzinski