The Path to my Masters

My frustrations mount.

I have to admit; at this point I am very frustrated. My review by Alex was sharp. I am not saying the critiques was  unwarranted, but would have been much more beneficial given at an earlier point in my creation instead of the day before it was due. I am struggling to make the corrections as suggested.  I do not know if I will have the time to complete them before Monday but I am doing the best I can. I like my fellow classmates have worked diligently in this class everynight and I spent all day on Sunday and I do mean all day working on them. Here I was thinking I was doing Ok and wallop, I am no longer the” Michelangelo” of on-line design.  It was a hard fall from the scaffold.

Again I am going to repeat that I do not disagree with the comments and critiques in any way. I found them helpful and once I saw what she was talking about, I totally agreed. I have changed around many of the things I initially had in place. I am spelling out a lot more of my directions. That I find hard to do. The line between condescending and helpful is transparent when you do not know your students.  I have to remember to drive the navigation better.

I did run into a couple of snags that I still have to resolved. I am finding the grading to be very difficult. I have changed that around several times and I am having a problem with the technology of setting up the grade

book. I have had issues with the editing because the format changes when you are in teacher mode compared to the student mode.  I had to change some of my assignments to forums so that I can share the answers with the class. I personally like the threaded discussion of Blackboard better.  I do not understand the mechanics of the assignments, how to make the visible to all. I know I need to do better on rubrics, even though this course completion is pass/fail.

Personally, the checklist for me was not a great tool. What was great were the Jing videos because they showed me exactly what was wrong and really helped to hone in on the repairs and upgrades. This is a great tool and I am using it at work as well. I am looking forward to the actual review process because I firmly believe in the team approach to something. I wish we would have more time to make changes and then come back to the table at least one more time with the improvements.

Alex stated: “I also don’t really see much attention to social presence in the course.”  I am not sure what she means. Personally, I think I have spent a great deal on social presence because this course has to be set in a comfortable and trusting setting to work. I have an asynchronous forum discussion in each module, I have a synchronous chat that will be graded along with an opportunity to chat anytime. I have a paired group assignment. And I have a shared assignment where the students counsel each other with ideas for achievement. I have two ice breakers that I think are unusual and fun. Not sure what more I can do to have a social presence.

Again, as many of my classmates have written in their blogs, this is a lot of work. Work that one should be spent totally being devoted and dedicated to doing. Unfortunately, not the case for many of us this summer.

Peace, we are nearing the end.

Jane ( 4)