Monthly Archives: May 2014

Reflection for 05/19/14-05/23/14

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This was a quick week as it started the new semester.

  • Revisions
    • 210 – nothing since last time
    • 220 – course set on Friday 5/16 for all 4 sections
    • 331- moving forward quickly
      • Checked in with Lauren about workflow (gmail address provided by Amy), & we should be back on track
  • Summer ‘14
    • Smooth start to course opening for Summer ‘14 – Thanks to Ronda & Chris for their work on prepping courses & faculty for Undergrad IST courses!
  • Meetings
    • Schreyer’s – Design Mentor on 5/22: went well
    • May LD Meeting 5/23: nice new direction
    • Meet with Dan Fockler on 5/23: interesting perspective

I’m looking forward to the weekend as I will be running a 5K, spending time with my parents, and spending time outdoors.

Reflection for 05/12/14 to 05/16/14

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Monday and Tuesday I was at the Statewide and EGC Game Day. Those days were great, but it put me behind on my week. By the time I got to Wednesday, I forgot what day it was. Even today, I’m finding it hard to believe it’s Friday. That is compounded by the idea that courses open for summer ’14 tomorrow.

I also spend alot of time on my kid’s baseball teams. We had practice M-W, and I was in charge for both the Tuesday practice and Wednesday game.

Looks like things are ready for Summer ’14. I’m looking forward to a great semester :).

Reflection 05/05/14 to 05/09/14

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Started the week watching Micah at home for Dee while she did some interpreting work. It’s good to spend time with him and for her to get a chance to get back into the working world.

Had our end-of-semester lunch at Chili’s. Nice job by Kent to print off lions for students. It is difficult to let this crew of students head off into the world, but they will make a positive impression wherever they go.

Spent time with Nick G on IST 220 revision Monday-Wednesday. It was great to meet with faculty for Summer ’14 to prep.

I met with Brian C (EA 872 & 875)& Shawn C (EA 871 & 873) about BB Collaborate and talked about how to sign up for room for the future.

Meeting day on Thursday.

I had a PSOCC – DMT on Friday 5/9 (12-1:30). It was good to hear more about the Blackboard Pilot. Jeff Swain talked about a misunderstanding about Blackboard Collaborate v. Blackboard Collaboration We’ll see how this rolls out and how well it is received by faculty & students. Sounds like I’ll be a part of the pilot for Fall ’14. There was an interesting discussion about students assuming that online courses were meant to have collaboration on individual assessments. I also found out about a MOC through Liberal Arts that will have both an ANGEL part (MOC) & Coursera part (MOOC). The cost is $999 v. $2400.

Met with Louise Sharrar from WCLD about the BB Collaborate Pilot. It is nice to be working with members from the old team on this venture.

The weather was quite variable this week; cool in the beginning and warm by Friday. I’ve been running to prep for the Black Moshannon 5K. Last year, I ran it in 7:31/mile or 23:17. I was pleasantly surprised by my time since I hadn’t run anything under an 8 min/mile pace in my training runs. I plan to run M, W, F for 3 miles per run until 5/16 which is next Friday. For the week leading up to the run, I plan to run intervals for 2 miles, M-Th. That really worked last year. I’m also hoping to drop a few pounds. It shouldn’t be too difficult to beat my time since I ran on a full stomach (eggs and bacon). I also wasn’t anticipating the last hill and final stretch downhill at the end. This time, I’ll be able to pace myself and make the final push with knowledge.

I have had correspondence about the baseball team that I’m playing on. We start 5/28 and end 8/27. It will be a great way to start and finish up the summer. I bought a hitting training aid to prep myself. I’ve also been working with all three of my sons on baseball.

Reflection on 4/28/14 to 5/2/14

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It’s the last week of the online course Spring ’14 semester, and things have been relatively quiet.

I’ve been spending alot of time working on srdp’s. It is always good to reflect. I’ve also spent time talking to Amy & Kent about the unit & its direction. I’m glad to work with such great professionals and people!

Spent time at BB training on Wednesday. Looks like BB will be a much better product than ANGEL because of its modern features. Intrigued by all of the integration that I’m seeing too.

Celebration for the semester on Thursday. Nice to have a chance to spend time with everyone.

Kent, Amy, and I are going to start meeting bi-weekly to talk. I’m glad that we are going to start doing this. We need to connect more in order to get a better grasp of how things are going and where we are heading.

Met with a few people on Friday about LA/TA preparation for assisting in teaching online. Good discussion. A few items that came up were:

  • competencies
  • badging
  • prior knowledge assessment

On a personal note, I have been trying to balance my role as mentor and facilitator for my kids. The balance is how to influence without taking over as the one who cares more. Parents see alot in their kids. Some is real, some perceived. I want to help my kids reach their potential without taking too much ownership over the process. I thought I’d put this down so that when I look at this in the future, I can remember that this was an issue. It is important that I address this now when they are young so that it doesn’t become a problem for the future.