Monday, April 20, 2009

My Experience and what I have learned in EDM 310

My experience in Mr. Wakeman's class was so rewarding. I was able to become more familiar with the computer and its functions. I learned how to create a spreadsheet and learned the various aspects that the program had to offer. When we first started creating the spreadsheets I did not know what I was doing but Mr. Wakeman walked the class through. He made it look so easy and uncomplicated. Other computer classes that I have taken always made things like a spreadsheet seem frightening and I guess I brought that apprenhension in with me. Also we learned to make an elaborate word document which incorporated hyperlinks and information for other websites. I found this to be extremely fun because I never new that a word document could be formatted in such a way. The creation of our final word document was easy because it was a step by step process that was easy to learn and perform.
Also I created a power point presentation at the beginning of the semester and I was able to talk about myself. I was so excited to present my presentation to the class and tell them about me and my life. This was also and exercise for the class to get to know me as a person and I was able to get to know my classmates from their presentations.

Also their was the blog entries that we had to complete throughout the semester. I can honestly say that I was exposed to alot of things that I had never heard of before or even questioned the meaning behind them. I found the wikipedia assignment to be very interesting because I did not know that information that was placed on the website could be edited by anyone. I was really taken aback because people or corporations could put anything on the website and people searching the web would take it as truth. So this investigation of wikipedia made me a little bit more caution and selective about the information I found on the website. Also another interesting blog entry was the one about Randy Pausch. His last lecture was extremely touching. He told about how he was as a child and how he fulfilled his childhood dreams. I really admired his courage and spirit to get up and talk about his death with such ease. He was a brillant man that should be admired and talked about for many generations to come. Blogging in this class was extremely fun and I will continue to keep my blog updated even after I leave this class. Because this is something that I can continue and show to my future students and encourage them to create thier own blog. I would highly recommend anyone to take up blogging it is very relaxing.

Another thing that we did in Mr. Wakeman's class was the podcast. I was in a group with Quinton Coston and Melanie Garron. We did our podcast on blogging in the classroom. Go figure!!!! I had alot of fun creating and working with my classmates. In our podcast we discussed the many areas that blogging can be used in the classroom as a future educator. Also we discussed our personal experience with blogging. This was a really cool assignment that allowed us to get the message out to people about the many education ways that blogging can be used in the classroom. I would have loved to do another podcast in Mr. Wakeman's class if we had more time in the semester.

One thing that I would have liked to do this semester was to create a website from start to finish. Even though the blog was like our own mini website I would have liked to create something that I could use in the future if I ever wanted to start up a business and create a way for people to get in contact with me and leave messages. But I'm sure if I needed to learn how to make a website Bob Wakeman would be the perfect man for the job.

From the beginning to the end of this semester we covered a great deal of material. I think the course structure was extremely accurate with the objectives that we had to complete. Once I become an educator all the tools that I learned throughout the semester will be very useful to me in my classroom. I have even thought about the idea of having a class blog for my elementary students to have and create thier own blogs about themselves and what they like and dislike about the class work. I know this idea would be very interesting. I'm sure I will recieve some blogs that are a little over the top!!!LOL! I enjoyed every moment of my time in EDM 310 with Mr. Wakeman because he brought a simple approach to learning all these new and exciting programs that I can't wait to use as an educator. Mr. Wakeman you are a great teacher and I want you to always stay cool and sweet!!!! LOL