EDLD 5352 Web Conference 3 Reflection

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

This was a fairly short web conference, but full of useful information.  I was very impressed with Dr. Abernathy's insistence that students complete the work and, if mistakes are made, to redo and resubmit until it is correct.  This is the type of learning that we need to be doing in our schools and the attitude that should be instilled in teachers and students. If mastery is our goal, then the only way to get there is through repeated mistakes and corrections.  Unfortunately, this also takes time that often teachers feel they do not have. 

This week's focus is on Project Based Learning and several participants shared their experiences with this teaching method.  All agreed that PBL is an excellent way to engage students while covering key course content because it puts the onus of the learning back on the student as well as provides choices for information.  Another topic that was covered was the use of videos versus readings in the course.  I was the only one that had anything good to say regarding readings.  While I like the idea of videos, I would not do away with the readings.  I tend to learn from both and would rather see a combination of the two.  The videos are more visual and often bring about an emotional response, but the readings, at least to me, allow for more in-depth study and review.  They also show examples of professional writing styles and are more permanent.

Besides the discussion about this week's coursework on Project Based Learning, there were also several key point of information including what is expected for our final internship report.  This has changed somewhat since I started the program, so I was thankful for a clarification. 

Overall, the web conferences have been extremely helpful in bringing about understanding of the course requirements.  In addition, the course work itself has been eye-opening as I have been exposed to new tools and methods, some of which I was able to put to use immediately in both my professional and personal life. 

EDLD 5352 Web Conference 2 Reflection

Saturday, July 28, 2012

I am hardly awake at 9 am on a Saturday, but I am glad I was this time around.  This web conference gave me several pieces of important information, not of the least of which was being thankful I took ILD at Lamar with Dr. Jenkins versus online.  According to one participant, the amount of coursework was equal to about three of these courses. I also got clarification about who to contact regarding certification now that I have ILD and, as far as I can tell, LCE completed.  These two pieces of information alone were worth the cost of admission.  For this week's coursework, Dr. Abernathy explained exactly what was expected to be turned in for this week's assignment.  Fortunately, my team was already ahead of the curve as we had already had our first team meeting and were on the same page regarding what web 2.0 tools we were each going to review in Week 3.  As the instructions are not always clear, the web conference was helpful in ensuring that I am doing what is expected.  I and another teammate were also able to send an update based on the conference to the other team members to answer questions brought up during our team web meeting earlier in the week. 

EDLD 5352 Web Conference 1 Reflection

Saturday July 21, 2012

Prior to this web conference, I was the most confused that I have been in any course during this program.  First, Epic did not respond normally.  Second, the course instructions were somewhat confusing as the information in Epic did not align with the Week 1 overview.  Thankfully, this issue was resolved during the conference as Dr. Abernathy explained the problems with Epic and went over the general course requirements.  Also, the need to form a team for week 2 was emphasized.  Knowing this in advance helped me to get the ball rolling and to have a team together by the end of the weekend.  In addition, the livebinders link was posted by Dr. Abernathy.  This was helpful as the link in Epic did not work and I referred back to this conference several times during the week for the link as well as shared the correct information  with my teammates.  One of the great things about the web conferences is that I recognize others are often having the same concerns that I am, therefore my questions are usually answered before I ever have a chance to ask them.  In addition, other students are helpful to answer questions and make suggestions.  Overall, without the web conference, weeks one and two of this course would have been extremely stressful or, at the least, more stressful than usual.