Final Workshop Preparartions

As we come to the end of this Summer 1 2009 session of TSTM 544 class, we are making final adjustments and preparing for the workshops to be presented in the final week. We gathered all of the information and the final thing to do was to make sure we had everything in order. For our group we had all of our software and information. We just needed to add our information to the wiki. We also needed the input information for our participants to use when doing the activities we prepared for them. As far as the information we provided for them, we gave them basic info for the business letter and also test students with necessary inputs for the grade sheet activity. One thing I am concerned about is my video. It was actually harder than I thought it would be. If I wasn't messing the words up, it was some other audio discrepancy. But in the end it all came together. I believe these workshops will be a success. Now we just have to wait for the time to come.

E-Learning Discussion

This past week we had discussions on blackboard dealing with topics from our annotated bibliographies on e-learning. At first I was sort of nervous or concerned about how they would go. After the discussions got going, I realized that this was going to be good. There was a great deal of information discussed in these three different discussion groups. All types of information was presented, opinions and facts. In most of the discussions, most people agreed on everything and if someone didn't they presented valuable information as to why they didn't. So, overall I believe these E-learning discussions went very well.

Teachers in an E-learning Environment

Are teachers really needed in an E-learning environment? Well, as technology continues to get better and better, more information can be found on the Internet or something to that extent. As with that, e-learning gets better and better. But I do think teachers are still needed in an E-learning environment to a certain extent. Everybody knows if they have a problem, need to find a answer to a question, or how to do something, they just "google it." That's fine but sometimes google may not be the best option. A student may need help in which google wouldn't be the best option for them. But there are also times when the student may be having a hard time understanding a particular concept or idea and may just need it explained in a different way. Google may not have this way or it may take a great deal of searching but the teacher may understand the best way to explain it right away because they are there with them.

Workshop Preparation

This week we have been preparing for the workshop or seminars to be presented to the business education professors in our last week of class. Previously we had already gathered a great deal of web 2.0 and open source software and chose the best out of those. After being split into groups and receiving specific software for each group we begin preparing for specific seminars. My group had open source software. At first we thought we were just supposed to gather information about the software and outline a few things that could be pointed out in the seminar. We were somewhat right. Our software is basically a replica of Microsoft word, excel, and access. So, we kinda figured that most people know how to use these. But we didn't realize we had to make a specific outline, step by step. But all of this wasn't too hard because we had actually went through and had everything planned including the activities. So, we just had to go back and make it more detailed. But overall I think this project is going well.

Summer Class

This TSTM 544 is my first summer class ever. Coming into this class I didn't know what to expect. I figured the pace would be faster but I was concerned if getting the information would be successful. So, far everything has being going good. Even though we are just going into the third week of this class, I feel like everything is flowing smoothly. One of the main things I have learned that I have put to use already is the use of the FREE open source software that is readily available over the internet. Though my college career is coming to its end, I wish I had taken some summer classes earlier.

Conducting Research

For one of our assignments in this TSTM 544 class we are assigned to create an annotated bibliography about E-Learning. For this assignment we need at least 5 supporting articles to cite in the bibliography. Before class the other day, when looking for articles or anything, I would just "Google it." This is a common action for many people.

After class the other day, I now can say I will not google everything. Besides the library resources, which I somewhat previously learned about, there are other resources that can be used to perform successful searches. There are many journals but there are other sites that perform searches also such as Google Scholar, Spezify, Searchme, Search-cube, KoolTorch, and KartOO. Not only are they good sites to search but there are very appealing to the eye and somewhat different from your regular ordinary search engine.

Informal Learning

In class the other day, we were supposed to find various different open source software. Upon performing these searches, I found that there are lots of useful software available out there. One might say yes there has always been a great deal of software available. I just didn't realize how much "FREE" software there was. I work with a great deal of media so I found a great deal of software that related to other expensive software such as Photoshop. Upon looking into this software, I realized that they perform the same actions. So, essentially many people are just paying for the name. That class was very informative and helpful especially since we are in a recession. After that class, I will always check to see if there is a free open source software similar to what I need before going out and purchasing some very expensive software.

Training and Learning

In class, we viewed a video clip pertaining to training and learning. Before watching this video we were asked to personally define training and learning. I defined training as the process of educating and teaching others a new concept, idea, or method and how to use it or them. My definition for learning is the process of being educated on a concept, idea, or method new to the learner or student and how to use it if possible.

After watching the video it was evident that training and learning will continue to change or evolve to better accomodate the people of that current time. An example is the time for video podcast. The times are much shorter in our time. So training and learning will always be in effect seeing as technology will always continue to change and get better and better over time.