EDLD+5363+Course+Reflections

 1. What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned? I went into this course open-minded about what we were going to learn. I had not envisioned any outcomes in particular areas for this course. I did not know what exactly to expect. After getting started in the course, I came to realize that we would be learning about video creations and editing. This is a part of technology that I am not too familiar with, so I began learning! Once we began, I was super excited to get to learn how to do different types of video editing. I have learned about several different free softwares that I can now use to do video editing. I know that I will use this in the near future, not only for myself, but to help my students succeed in the classroom as well. I will be able to post small videos on how to work certain homework problems or give additional assistance that way.  2. To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not? There are areas in which I feel that I could use the video editing or story telling in my classroom. I could take videos of myself working out problems and post those on my website for my students to have a better understanding. There are several students that I have that would excel at a higher level if they were able to make a presentation via a digital storybook rather than a presentation in front of the class.  3. What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them? I feel that I could have gained more knowledge about more editing software and techniques if I would have spent more time working on my course work. Since I did not allow myself the appropriate time each week to fulfill these outcomes, I have failed myself by not gaining this knowledge. I will now have to gain this knowledge on my own time, outside of class. The lack of time spent working on the different assignments has hit me hard in many areas. I know that from noe on, I will need to devote a certain amount of time to get everything done. The unachieved outcomes are no one else’s fault but my own. There are ways to prevent this in the future courses, and I will be working on that!  4. Were you successful in completing the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you? I was not successful in completing all the course assignments. I had an extremely hard time with this course starting at the same exact time school started. With starting at a new school and in a new school district, I hit the ground running. The format within the classes and days were different from what I was teaching in the past. I was not able to devote the time that I needed to succeed in this class. I had a hard time with having only half the conference period time that I had in the past, and having almost double the amount of students. This is really stressing me out. I am completely overwhelmed with the two starting at the same time. I think if the timing were a little different, I might have succeeded to a higher point. Once I got behind in the beginning, it was hard for me to put forth 100 percent for the rest of the course.  5. What did you learn from this course: about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes? I learned a lot about several different software pieces that will enable me to edit and make videos easily. There are technology pieces out there that are free, so that the students would not have the excuse of having to pay for software to create a project. I thought I knew a lot about technology, but there are many areas in which I fall short in. The video editing is an area that I learned more about throughout this course. My attitude though, going into this course was not good because of the timing with school. When I was asked to joined a group by a friend, that made me try harder. I believe that the accountability played a huge role in keeping myself positive and active in this course. I would not have stayed in the course because I felt so far behind. When I was part of the group for our PSA group, I realized that I could do this and it would all come together just fine. With the help of several, I am able to be successful in this course!