Monthly Archives: July 2014

Reflection for 07/21/14 to 07/25/14

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It’s a new week, & I’m going to be here for 4 of the 5 days.

Monday was a bit hectic as we are in a bit of a stalemate. I feel like I’ve been waiting for awhile for things to change from drupal 6 to 7. I’m beginning to lose my patience with the process. I finished IST 402 for Fall ’14.

The rest of the week was a blur with me trying to finish self-imposed deadlines. Needless to say, I feel much better about the stagnation factor & look forward to being a solution to the dilemma with my teammates & colleagues. See you when I get back from a week of vaca.

Reflection for 07/14/14 to 07/18/14

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I’m back after a long weekend. It always takes a bit to catch up. But I’m finding that the ipad having work email makes it easier to catch up.

Monday, I came in at 10 AM but was able to get a ton done. I set up the remaining EA courses. I also went back & forth with Jim C from WC Production on a few items. I also checked in with Amy S about an idea about accessibility. Lastly, I finished up labman submission. Hopefully, I can finish up EA items tomorrow to check that off of my list.

Tuesday, I was able to get a few things accomplished but I had more meetings. I was able to get through all of EA except for EA 870. That one is going to take more time than I really want to spend. I was able to get through most of 260W & 210. I also finished up all of the 110 sections. I also attended a subcommittee on Instructional Use of Video. Tomorrow, I hope to get through a large portion of my to do list.

Wednesday, I finished up 210 and redid 260W since Jason wanted the course copied from a different section. Next, I attended a DMT meeting. There were no new items. I also finished up making a quiz for my fall section. I also contacted professors in advance of work that I will need to do next week. It’s been a busy week so far, but I’m hoping that all of the work that I do now will allow for me to have a relaxing vacation.

Thursday & Friday, I spent most of the day at the 2014 Learning Design Camp. It’s always good to catch up with people. I’m all set up to start my tasks for next week. I’m hoping to get a good start to next week in the hopes that I can finish up everything before leaving for NC.

Reflection for 07/07/14 to 07/11/14

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I’m still on track with Monday starts to the reflection :). This will be a short work week for me since I’m taking Thursday & Friday off.

Monday, I started the week by helping to stay with the kids & take them to swim team practice. The morning was made easier by getting up right away to put clothes up on the line. My running time was slower but still met my goals for a Monday run.

To get the courses together for Fall ’14 with the new arrangement of me Ronda backing me up for IST Undergrad, I added her to the sections. Hopefully, Amy G adds Chris G to the MPS. I met with him and told him about the move & that there would be a meeting on Tuesday. This happened on Friday right before the end of the day.

I had a meeting with Emily Wenk to get IST 331 revision set. We should be good to populate the Fall ’14 section when Emily has her part completed. I did an ANGEL upload for EA 870 & 871. 870 is in bad shape. The gradebook isn’t even set up. I’ll need to spend extended time on this course. I got 871 to a good spot & emailed Dave to see his thoughts before having it open automatically. I also contacted Jan Mahar since I’ll be taking back over Chris G’s undergrad courses until we have things settled with new ID’s.

I spend quite a bit of time Tuesday in meetings and events. Kent, Amy, & I went over things. It was a good discussion to help keep us on the same page. We took Peggy out for lunch for her birthday belatedly. I also had the chance to catch up with Ronda. I was able to merge sections for 110. I was able to get 402 bda up to date with items that Bill sent. I also heard back from Fred  about 240. I also merged sections 1 & 2 of 302 for Sadan.

Wednesday was another meeting day with LDI Team meeting & a meeting to talk about captioning workshop. I finished up sections 1-4 for Jan. I also set up a meeting with Sadan for 7/14.

I have the rest of the week off. So I’ll sign off for now.

Reflection for 06/30/14 to 07/04/14

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This will be a short week since the 4th of July is Friday. I again have the reflection for the week started on Monday. Hopefully, I’m getting into a better pattern.

On Monday, I started and ended with vacation time. My wife is doing some sign language work which requires me to hang out with the boys for their morning activities. The two older boys have been doing swim team for the first time from 9-10. It has been a great activity for both of them to improve their swimming skills and overall fitness. My parents came up on Sunday to go to a Spikes game. It was nice to have their help in getting the boys going in the morning.  When I got to work, it was time to think about a meeting with a gentleman who was interested in Learning by Design & Bloom’s Taxonomy. Stephanie Edel-Malizia & I had done a presentation in Fall ’11 at the Sloan-C conference. During the conversation, we were able to provide some insights about how to implement the approach of Learning by Design. To me, the worksheets included by the book are nice as a starting point. But it is most important to develop trust and adjust to the circumstances. I also heard back from Emily about getting together with Chris G about the 331 revision. It looks like we are on track to get things completed in plenty of time for Fall ’14. I also handled a few administrative items with students and staff. Finally, I did a bit more work for my possible IST 230 Fall ’14 course. I’m hoping to have at least 10 enrollments so that I can pilot the course in BB Learn. For Fall ’14, I decided to make the short videos created by the course author to have a less prominent place in the course. I also decided to move from 5 quizzes to 4.

On Tuesday, I found out about an open position being posted for our unit. I knew about the possibility, but I didn’t realize that it was up & open for candidates. I’m excited about the growth our unit is experiencing and hope for more of the same as we move forward in this venture. This was the last day for me to feed Kent’s fish. Everything went well, and I’m glad to report that the fish is still swimming around and well. Amy G opened the BB Pilot 110, so let the fun begin! I worked a bunch on 230 for Fall ’14. Right now, I have four students which is twice what I had yesterday 🙂

On Wednesday, we welcomed Kent back from South Korea. It’s good to have him back! I got an inquiry about the open position that we have for our unit. I’m excited to see interest from people who would be tremendous assets to our team. I found out about a change in instructor & a potential new 402 for next summer. It was good to follow up with the instructor for both of those slots. I was reminded of how there are folks who still don’t buy in to online teaching & learning being legitimate. It’s a bit disheartening to hear these things in our day & age. Honestly, I think it’s time to stop making designations about resident and online. There are best practices which should transcend this. Sometimes, we need to use face-to-face methods to satisfy learner needs. Sometimes, we need online methods to satisfy needs. I wish that we would stop making this so complicated. There is only one more day in the work week. I’m hoping that tomorrow is a productive day that makes for a nice transition into the extended holiday weekend.

Thursday came quickly this week. I had a baseball game last night & played well. Because of the yoga that I’m doing, I’m feeling much better physically. It’s always so hard for me to think about half an hour to complete the exercises, but I always feel better after doing them. We had a unit meeting. It was fine. I still had a feeling like there was a side conversation going on during the meeting between unnamed members. It bothers me that that element has been introduced. I had a conversation yesterday that reminded me of my time at WCLD. There was an element of that came about. It was one of the determining factors of leaving that unit. I don’t think that directors understand the impact of sarcasm & undercurrent conversations in eroding a good work environment. I had a meeting with David who will be teaching EA 871. It is always great to meet people that I work with virtually face-to-face. Looks like we will be able to address a few of his concerns this fall. The biggest piece is using Blackboard Collaborate, not Adobe Connect. I also had a meeting with Amy G & Kent to talk about course redistribution with Peggy moving to full-time faculty. I’m hoping that the choices that we make will work well.