Personal Learning Reflection

Over the course of the last six weeks I am amazed at all I have learned and how some of my own opinions and ideas about learning have changed. As the week progressed in this class I continued to get more and more excited each week on what we were learning. It was so great to hear how other instructors were using technology in the classroom, both from online clips and other classmates. Sharing is so valuable!

When I started the class my plan was to have a better understanding of technology and how I could use it in the classroom to help with instructions. I felt as if I needed to know EVERYTHING about technology before I could invite it into the classroom. What I learned was just the opposite. Most of the time you will NOT know everything. Technology is advancing very rapidly and sometimes we all learn as we go.  Teaching students HOW to learn gives them the tools in learning the technology on their own. Having students learn and then teach other students is a great resource.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned in this class is that you have to make sure you are using technology for a purpose. Although technology can be fun, if it is not a tool to reach the goal outlined in the lesson then it is just a waste of time. Use of the Internet can be very helpful, but also very distracting. Keep your eyes on the prize and set specific goals for the students.

The group assignment we did was very helpful in understanding technology and it's use in education. Not only from the subject we researched, but from how we worked together to complete the assignment. We used online tools such as Google Docs, Wiki spaces, Delicious and Skype to meet and collaborate.  It was so helpful to use them in a real setting instead of just reading how to use them.

Another goal on my plan was to use technology resources that were low cost or free. We learned so many FREE online tools that I have a great bag of tricks to take back to the classroom! I knew of these tools before, but did not understand HOW to use them in a classroom setting.

My new goals include using technology for collaborating. Students can learn SO much from each other and I would like to have more exercises where they work together to solve problems and research topics. I have already been having them do presentations, but working together to do those presentations is a great way to use technology.

Learning Styles

My learning style has always been learn by doing. While reading this weeks lecture I found the Kinesthetic style to be the closet to how I learn best. I was really surprised to learn that this style is only popular with 5% of the population. I really thought it would be more. The visual style would be the second best way for me to learn and that is popular with the majority of the population. 

I feel that you need a good blend of style in order to be most effective in teaching. Too much lecture would put me to sleep. On the other hand you can't always learn by doing. You need to be taught what it is you are doing before you do it, so there is some auditory or visual style teaching that is needed first. 

When I am in the classroom I am aware that students learn differently. From my experience many of them want to jump in and do it and I have to keep them focused on listening before they take off. I have tried to mix up lecture, visual and kinesthetic styles during my lessons.  I often lecture about the topic and break it up with a mini lab, or have students present on subjects to get a different visual way to learn. 

One topic I struggled with learning, as do my students, is the OSI Networking Model. This is something that can not be seen. To learn it best I used diagrams and acronyms to help me understand the process. I have also used those techniques in my classroom when teaching.

Creative Common

This week's assignment has us learning about copyright laws. This has been a very interesting topic. I have worked with many other instructors that either completely abide by the laws or completely ignore them. Then there is the millions of users that think downloading music for free is some god forsaken right. Yeah I am talking about those people that I have to clean the virus' from their computers because they welcomed infected files into their personal computer!

So back on subject....COPYRIGHT....and CREATIVE COMMON. Creative Common helps you share your work with the world, while protecting you from wrongful use. Although I am not currently working in the classroom, nor writing curriculum, I could see how Creative Common would be a great tool for teachers. You could create and share the work without getting ripped off from someone else using it as their own. Creative Common allows you to designate who uses it and how they can use it, therefore protecting your work. It also works the other way around. I could use someone else's work without having to recreate the wheel. A WIN-WIN situation for everyone!

Here is an image I found on Creative Common that I would share with my class to help teach about the OSI Model in Networking.


 
 
Photo Attribution:
Original image: "TCP/IP Stack"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/purpleslog/5598305463/


by: Purpleslog

Sharing my own photo:

Santorini, Greece - October 2010

Photo Attribution:
Original image: "Italy-Greece Adventure"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachrumz/6258286272/in/photostream/


by: Rachel Rumsey



Italy-Greece Adventure is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

PC Maintenance and Security Lab

So for this week's homework I need to complete the PC Maintenance and Security workshop. Typically I would be teaching something like this so for me to be the student it is exciting. I am able to take a look at how the subject is taught and possibly learn something new!

My assignment was not to complete all the labs (Thank goodness cause there was a lot!), but to instead choose a few that were least familiar with.  At first glance there was not a lot that I was not already familiar with, but after reading further I thought I could choose a subject that I typically teach to see if I could learn something new.

Many times when I fix a computer for someone they have questions like how did that happen? what did I do? how can I prevent that from happening again? This can be difficult to explain. I found the tutorial on "How does malware spread?" to be a great way to explain to a user how they open themselves up to such threats. Sometimes users want to know EXACTLY what they did, that is not always possible to explain, but by explaining the way malware is spread might be a good starting point for users to not get infected again.

Another topic that peaked my interest is "Using MSCONFIG to speed up your system".  Although I have used MSCONFIG to fix a problem program from starting up, I preach to my classes that this is not the tool you should be using. It surprised me greatly to see that this was being taught. The program that is starting up can be fixed directly through the program itself and MSCONFIG should not be used to control it.  MSCONFIG should always be used as a last resort! I would never direct a typical user to use that utility.  Doing this is right along my pet peeves of using a sweeper program to clean up unused files. If you don't know what you are doing then don't do it! (Sorry for the rant!)

On the positive side I LOVED the topic of "Consolidating files into folders for better organization". Most users have no idea where things are located on their computer and how to store them to be most productive. This is a topic that I have taught to many first time users. File management is the number one skill the average computer user need a refresher in! Everyone could learn from this!

Getting Things Done (GTD)

At first glance I thought GTD? Is that a Jersey Shore thing? Oh no wait, that is GTL. GTD is Getting Things Done!

The GTD system provides solutions on how to organize your life. Being able to have your life organized will reduce the level of stress and increase the productivity.  I have learned about this system before, but never really new it had a name. I have used these skills in my everyday life and have seen quite the benefit from doing so.

I think everyone could benefit from this exercise. No matter how organized you are, there are always ways to improve.

The five steps of mastering work flow to GTD is:

• Collect
• Process
• Organize
• Review
• Do

The first step of COLLECTING everything and anything can be a difficult task. With all the information coming in from all the different sources it can be hard to make sure you track everything. I started with using Microsoft Outlook to GTD. Most tasks and meetings come into my inbox. I also add items to the tasks list and calendar to keep track of everything. My memory is not the best so unless I add it, I will forget it!

When on the PROCESS step I read my email and decide what to do with it. If I need to something from the emails, I add it to my task list or calendar. Once I have decided what to do with it I move onto the next step, ORGANIZING.

I would say I am typically more organized than most of my friends. I keep folders in my Outlook to organize everything! Nothing stays in my inbox more than a few days. I use both automatic filters and manual filters. My folders are organized by topics. By organizing I am able to easily find an email sent to me.

After I have COLLECTED, PROCESSED and ORGANIZED, I move on to REVIEW. Reviewing typically happens at the start and end of my day. When I get to work I review the calendar, task list and inbox for items that need to be done for that day. Once the day is almost over and I am wrapping up for the day I then use the REVIEW step again to see what I got done and what will be waiting for me tomorrow.

The last step is (as NIKE would say), DO IT!  Pretty self explanatory. Once I am all organized I know what to do, so I just DO IT!

This works pretty well for my work life. I now need to include my personal life as well. Outlook may not be the tool to organize my entire life. I have a gmail account for my personal email so I violate the first rule of collecting by not having everything collected into the same source.  I do have my Outlook calendar synced with my Google calendar so that I have ONE calendar for all my events, but that doesn't include tasks.  I also have to admit that if I let my email inbox get out of control, I just archive everything over a month and start over organizing. That might not be the best thing to do, but I feel it gets me back on track for organization.

As I said before, anyone can use a refresher in how to keep organized and GTD. I will take what I have learned in this assignment and try to do a better job in incorporating everything in my life instead of just focusing on my work life.

Social Networking

Social Networking is almost hard to avoid these days. Things like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter keep you in touch with friends and co-workers. The list of sites is endless, when new sites develped daily. You can choose what to share and what not to share. Perhaps having one social media for home life and another for your work life.

I choose to use Facebook for my home life. I typically have friends, past co-workers and family on that site. I share photos, jokes, random thoughts as well as news. On the other hand I use LinkedIN for my work life.  I do not post much of anything to LinkedIN, unless it is some how career related. That is how I control what I share, but social networking can also be used to get information as well. When it comes to getting information, I use BOTH social networking sites. I am then able to keep updated on events, professional items and news.

I am learning about many other social networking sites during this class. I can see the need to have multiple, but I think too much could make your life transparent. I think you need to have a purpose for the sites you are using and make sure it is worth the time you put into it. For example the new Google+ seems to be a great social networking site that allows you to control access by using circles of friends. The problem is that many people are still not using it, making very little content or old content. A way to fix this problem would be to use an application that synced your social media websites into one so that you are not wasting your time updating sites that perhaps might never be seen. I have started to use Tweet Deck which does just that, but I still have a lot to learn about how to use it.

For the career of Education and Technology I can see how social networking can be a valuable tool for learning and keeping up on technologies. If I was a tool and die repairman, social networking might not be as valuable of a tool. But with any profession the ability to keep in touch with other people that do what you do is a valuable asset.

RSS Feed

This week's class assignment called for me to make a RSS feed with both a few required feeds and several of my own choosing. The required feeds are under the folder CEP-810, while the ones I choose are all the rest! Please note that although you can not see it, one of the most important BLOGS I am following is my friend Jeff's entitled: The High Cost of this Low Living.

 

I often make comments on Jeff's blog, but for this case I have also made comments on both Paul's Computer Repair and the Computer Repair Blog. I noted that the Computer Repair Blog did a great job in using a diagram to show how the average computer consultant wears many hats and has various skills. I thought this would be a good diagram to share with my IT students. Paul's Computer Repair Blog had a post basically telling people they had no choice but Windows 7 with a new computer purchase and I simply shared that many manufactures are installing Linux as an option.

This has been my first experience using the RSS feed and I to tell you the truth it doesn't WOW me. I find that some of my feeds are so buy I can not possibly catch up. I find myself reading the tops few stories of that day and then never see the older ones. I think it is important to find RSS feeds that are not overwhelmingly busy, but a moderate level of traffic. For instance CNN has over 681 unread feeds, while the IT Pro community only has 18. 

I do like how I can control what I subscribe to and what I don't, instead of having it all forced on me like most websites do. I just think I need to be more familiar with this and check it more often.

In my current position I think and RSS feeds could be used along with social media to keep students/staff updated on news and events.

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