Class started
out great. There was a lot of cool stuff being introduced here. What really
resonated with me was when Kristin warned us about not calling something stupid,
and not to immediately dismiss the things that they are teaching us. I had to
stop and think whether I did that. I hope I didn’t, but I do recall in one my
blogs, or perhaps one of my comments to another blog mentioning that what we’re
learning here are tools that we put in our toolbox. It’s good to know what’s
out there and what our options are, and then we can decide for ourselves what
we want to use or what is helpful to our situations. That being said, I was
introduced to a lot of cool things today. I really wish had more time to play with
it and really get familiar with it that it can be more helpful, and quick. It’s
kind of like work, where you need help on a project, but it’ll take more time
to train someone and inform them of all the project details than it is for you
to just do it yourself. Catch22. Time is what’s killing me. The time we’ll have
in August is quickly dwindling. I digress.
My group was great. I really enjoyed working with people outside of my cohort. They were all so nice and so helpful. Chelsea was a sweetheart and held my hand through the fast paced lecture while my computer was trying to keep up. My computer is old, ancient in technology years. Anyway, although I’ve used Skype and some of the Google features, I learned quite a bit more about them. As well as Diigo, Evernote, Dropbox, Google Reader/Alert/News, JotFrom… so many! And there’s so much you can do with each of these programs. It’s a bit overwhelming when they’re all given to you in the same day, with a slow computer, but wow. What else is out there? With so many cool toys, we need more time to play.
My group was great. I really enjoyed working with people outside of my cohort. They were all so nice and so helpful. Chelsea was a sweetheart and held my hand through the fast paced lecture while my computer was trying to keep up. My computer is old, ancient in technology years. Anyway, although I’ve used Skype and some of the Google features, I learned quite a bit more about them. As well as Diigo, Evernote, Dropbox, Google Reader/Alert/News, JotFrom… so many! And there’s so much you can do with each of these programs. It’s a bit overwhelming when they’re all given to you in the same day, with a slow computer, but wow. What else is out there? With so many cool toys, we need more time to play.
We do try to shuffle up the groups from time to time to give you some fresh faces. Thanks for the compliments to Chelsea!
ReplyDeleteI agree. Thank you Shaza. I'll help you (and your slow computer) any day!
DeleteShaza
ReplyDeleteAs always, your comments are right on! Lots of cool new toys, no time to read the directions and little time right now to play with them.
I don't know about you, but I plan to spend my free time in August with family, on a beach reading fiction, riding my bike and catching up on things I have't been able to do for the past six weeks.
And, I will find some time to play with these new toys. I've already thought of lots of things I'd like to do with Dropbox and Diigo.
Aren't we lucky to have some really sharp classmates to help out when the going gets tough?
Strategic seating in these classes is really important.
I hope I can park my beach chair next to someone who knows this stuff.
Shaza,
ReplyDeleteI totally understand what you mean when you talk about the catch-22. I guess this is where teachers have to prioritize classroom time and professional time.
I think with students, they'll be much faster learners since they have grown up surrounded by technology. Just the other day my friend posted a picture of her one and a half year old playing with an iPad. What a substitute for an Etch a Sketch huh? But still, it amazes me how quickly the younger generations pick up this stuff... and with such ease.
Anyways... teachers have a different story. Time seems like it's never on our side! It is so tough to learn all of these tools and then incorporate them in everyday life. I wish someone had an easy remedy for this besides the obvious.
Thanks for making our group experience great! I too wish we saw more of people from the other cohorts! It always nice to hear/learn from a STEM/cohort A perspective!
What I've realized over the past 3 days is that every single thing we've been taught in class has value to someone in some way. I'm just now finding what works for me--I've known about Diigo and Dropbox for a while, but I'm realizing they're turning into my go-to tech things. And what works for me might not work for someone else, but that's okay. We're all coming into this program with different backgrounds and experiences that cause us to have different technology needs.
ReplyDeleteShaza,
ReplyDeleteI totally identify with many of your comments (specifically the dinosaur computer situation... waiting while the swirly circle of doom laughs at me while my classmates open applications with superspeed finesse). In any case, I look forward to having time to play with some of the new toolbox tools too after this week is over! I like the way you recognized our natural and impulsive nature to judge the quality of services and programs (I admit to doing this frequently- how else are we supposed to evaluate situations besides first impressions?). It is important to step back and look at the bigger picture, realizing that even if we won't use some of these tools, it is good to know they exist (to share with others, or for when our situations change)- and I think you see this clearly. Nice work!
I had a similar experience with overload and computer issues, but I like your enthusiasm! You also bring up a good point about wanting to learn more, and our August time shrinking; I'm on board with that thinking all the way!
ReplyDeleteFrom everyone's replies, we all seem to be in the same boat. Hopefully everyone has a paddle (which I'm sure we all do) and we can help each other get to the finish line. Hang in there everyone! Thanks for all the positive feedback.
ReplyDeleteI like the comment about immediately dismissing things as stupid or a waste of time I know that I've done this before about things and even in classes and then just tuned out and got nothing out of what could've been a worthwhile class. There are a ton of tools that we've been introduced to and still exponentially more that we haven't discovered yet so time to play around with them would be nice. With that being said I hope are not planning on spending your August messing with tech tools for class or that will be the most depressing vacation ever.
ReplyDeleteyea, that was a lot that day but cool to hang out and learn. It was a really relaxed class in a beautiful part of campus that I had never been to!
ReplyDelete