Friday, November 9, 2012

CEDO 599: Final Program Reflection

End of the Begining

I'd like to thank Louis Loeffler as well as all our other excellent instructors for making this program both enjoyable and enlightening.

When I came into this program I was pretty adept at using technology and that's part of the reason I thought this would be a good program for me. What I didn't know was how to put it all together. I had some ideas but had no conception of how much further you could go. I think the turning point was the course where we studied using Marzano's effective learning strategies with technology. From there, I really understood how this all worked.

Personally, I benefitted from getting the chance to work with a lot of new technology and web apps. in the past I had found a lot of them but rarely did anything more than tinker for a while, never really using it. Now I've had the chance to really test many of them out. I probably have over 150 new accounts at various websites and I've chosen a few favorites.

Professionally, I've learned how to learn in this field. Dubious before about social web apps, I now know how they can be used both academically as well as for professional growth. It's a lot easier for me to be introduced to or find new information to keep up with the times. Also, the introduction and reference to a lot of resources I didn't know existed has given me a much larger hat to pull tricks out of.

I think the course I enjoyed most was Digital Storytelling. Besides being such an enjoyable topic, I improved both my graphic skills and my project organizational skills. The most frustrating course was  Leadership. Frustrating because of my present employ and my powerlessness to implement most of the ideas and concepts. I am glad however to have learned how to be an effective leader (when I get the chance).

I didn't really view the Portfolio as a course but rather used it as an opportunity to create something unique that I'll really be able to use in my job search. I'd like to keep it but don't relish the idea of transferring it to my private account, along with all the supporting documents, graphics and relinking everything so it works again. It would have been nice to have been able to create it in our media and account of choice. I do hope it may help me to get a new job because I'm more than ready to begin doing what we've been trained to do (it's not going to happen where I work now).

FOR HIRE:
1 Educational Technology Integration Specialist

(Maybe I should tattoo that on my forehead.)

It's time to take a break now and spend more time with the kids and wife. Maybe I'll be back in a bit to work on a WI DPI Technology Coordinator Certificate (92).


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