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.