EDLD 5366 Final Reflections (February 2012)

Completing the EDLD5366 course is one of the most productive things I have done during this program. The reason is simple; it was the course that involved every ingredient of the previous courses, and mixes it with my favorite topic, design. During the first week learned about C.R.A.P. and used that knowledge to create a poster that could be used with our colleagues. Individual activities are important to make sure we get the concepts and understand them, and then we shared them with others to compare and contrast different perspectives within the same topic. The following week we completed the second individual activity when we created a logo for our “persona” as a teacher. To accomplish a good logo, one needs to do a deep reflection about us, create a description of it, and finally create a visual image that can describe those characteristics. That individual piece of us, became part of our websites later (week 4), so it when from individual work, to group collaboration. Also the animation was a productive form of learning new techniques to teach, to learn, and to share, since it was created by each one of us and later shared for feedback with he rest of the group.

All these new techniques added a new category in our skills we use while teaching. Technology is a wide topic, and when it is used for education, we can never say: “we know it all”. These set of skills form what we can call visual-technology-methods or multimedia resources, something that I personally know existed, but never really implemented them on my lesson plans.

After learning all these new concepts I feel so confident I can even start passing them around my colleagues at school for them to integrate them into their own lesson plans and teaching experiences.

An interesting fact about this course is that we interacted with each other and learned about each other equally. All experiences gave a meaningful purpose to the ultimate goal of the course, and all experiences guided our results for all of us to perform at our best. By sharing the information we processed, we learned and taught at the same time.

A good way of knowing the quality of our answers (and performance in general) was by sharing ideas via web site or discussion boards. Positive criticism is a very important factor when learners are getting concepts, processing new theories and ideas, and learning methods they will later be using to teach others.

It is of critical importance that all members of this course bring all the new concepts to the field right away and practice the methods mastered after the class. There is no reason why educators shouldn’t share all this ideas and use them in the classrooms for the students to take advantage of them.

Finally, we should strongly suggest that each one of the learners of this course create a website, apart from the one crated by the groups for week 4’s assignment, and start a collaboration with other colleagues from their different campuses, and even include students encouraging them to participate and learn all the basic concepts like C.R.A.P.

All teachers must keep in mind that the experiences gained during this program are to be shared and used productively in the classrooms, campuses, and even at a district level.

Web Conference December 11th, 2011 - 2nd Conference Reflection

For this particular web conference we couldn't make it live, but both, my wife and me watched it later and did our reflections on it. The conference was very helpful for us. The participants were asking questions that I would ask if I was doing it live, so I felt like everything I needed to know was being covered. One of the questions that I appreciated was about discussion board for week 5. We were confused to see that not everybody was doing it, so we started asking about the reason. After watching the meeting, all our questions were answered. Later, students asked about the services provided by Epic, and the fact that they were having problems with the "self-evaluation" part of the assignments for week 5. Dr. Abernathy clarified that the service was changed by the system and Epic, and that the part that corresponded to it was being excluded from the week 5 completions due to the confusion that it produced.

Even though we weren't there at the right moment the meeting was being held, both of us found lots of answers that were concerning us and that made us wonder about some of the assignments for this week.

PSA Team Project for EDLD5363

Reflection on the Web Conference on ED5363

This Wednesday we met at a web conference for the Lamar University Technology program ED5363. During the meeting a lot of questions got answered by the associate proffesor Mrs. Abernathy. The group has many concerns about last week’s assignment and about this one for week 2 as well. The instructions included on the week’s summary and the instructions within the file of the assignment didn’t quite match, creating some doubt within the group of students. The conference helped to clearify some of this confussion as well as helping some students (including my wife, Jessica andmyself) to find a group for the upcoming assignments for weeks 3-4-5. We were able to share our experiences for this week’s assignment, and at the end of the meeting we found a group that seems to be helping a lot with all our questions and concerns for the rest of the course. Another thing that was important, was the fact that we didn’t know that all the members of one team needed to be on the same class section. That gave us a chance to become team with the rest of our group, because one of the previous members belonged to a different section. We have been already invited to the discussion board our team was having via Google Docs, with an e-mail confirmation for the rights to edit and review the document where the conversation is taking place.
Overall, I think this conferences are a great opportunity to ask all the questions we have, and to feel like this can be our class time inside a classroom with the teachers, and with all the members of the class.
I hope this continues as planned, and that the students can come up with more questions for everybody to understan the process and to be on the same page.

Week 1 Assignment: Story Telling Video for EDLD5363

There were a lot of topics on which I wanted to base my personal digital story telling for this assignment, but being an international student, I figured it would be interesting to share a bit of my personal journey. From the moment I left my country until this very day, my ride has not been an easy one nor too complicated, I always refer to it as “my adventure”.

I decided to use the software I was familiar with (iMovie 09) to put together a short video (2 minutes) that could cover the last 10 years of my life. The process of recording the audio or the narration was the most challenging thing to do. The voice was recorded over the final product, making sure the timing was perfect to fit the picture slideshow that was previously putted together.

Finally, I decided to make it more fun to watch by adding some personal touches like references of my past, my present, and what I think can be my future. The final product is this 2-minute-video that has a self-narrated picture slide show, and tells the story of me, David Rivero.

ED5306 Course Reflection

When my wife and I decided to enroll on a distance-learning program we researched on the best alternatives that offered more professionalism, better opportunities, and a reliable name in education. Living in Lake Charles, Louisiana our closest choice was the program offered by McNeese State University, where my wife and I obtained our bachelor’s degrees.
At the beginning we thought that the program was going to require some sacrifices, some extra time off of work, and some energy to complete projects and assignments, and we weren’t mistaken. This online program requires time, effort, and knowledge every week to finish all the assignment required to complete the class after the five weeks.
It is interesting to see how by completing every part of the assignments every week, we increase the knowledge on every topic we work on. Watching the videos online, reading the articles, and collaborating with other students via e-mails and the class wiki is a great way to stay ahead of the assignments every week.
After doing some parts of the weekly assignments, we try to envision the ideas working to our own environments. I bring some of the ideas to school for administrators and teachers to use. I even share some of the reading with the faculty for them to know about some of the techniques that are being use for teachers to accomplish goals within the classes.
Some things we can’t accomplish or implement right away, but we can definitely get ideas, start planning, and move in the direction of getting them implemented for the students to start using them and gaining knowledge for goal accomplishments.
Then, there was the satisfaction of scoring high at the end of each week’s assignments, makes you feel like you are getting the information, and you are understanding the concepts that are being taught.
Overall, we thought it was a great educational experience, full of input for us to start using or to start planning about implementing in our schools in short time period.
This was also a great way to gain personal knowledge about technology and to learn about leadership within technology at school and leadership in general in education.
We are very pleased with the results of this first course, and we can’t wait to see what the next level is going to bring to the plate.

Our First Web Conference

I attended the web conference on Tuesday, August 30th at 8:00pm. The conference was a good experience for me because it let me have a better understanding of the dynamics of this first class. At the beginning I was somehow nervous because I didn’t know if I have to know some information in advance or if I was going to be asked questions. After the other members started asking for clarification, I felt much more comfortable with the session. Dr. Abernathy was very patient and tried to answer all questions for all participants at the end of the conference. Some information that was relevant to me was the TK20 system we will be using, the explanation of the classes, and the timing that the program is going to take us from beginning to end. I think students need to be more prepared now than before, and for future conferences they should read the entire syllabus before participating. That way we don’t ask redundant questions and are able to maximize the time of the conference. Overall, I think the experience was good for a first time conference and the only thing I thought needed to improve was the audio/sound when students participate.