Course Reflection

The journey that I’ve taken throughout this semester in Computers in Education, IT 645 has been amazing. I’ve taken a number of online courses but never have I taken one that was as organized and effectively planned as this course. The format of the course made taking this class online very easy. Everything needed to be successful in this course was readily available on the course site. IT 645 offered the opportunity to explore the proper usage of technology within education. As a result I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge as it pertains to the use of technology in education.

Blog

I really enjoyed this portion of this course. The various functions offered to create the blog, such as layout, font and inserting links were very useful in making it look professional. Due to my past experiences using www.blogger.com creating the blog for this course was very easy. Even though I’d previously used blogger there were many functions that I had not had the opportunity to fully utilize. This course offered several opportunities to use each and every component available in blogger. For example in my past creations of blogs I was never required to link anything to the blog. As a result of taking this course now I have a lot of experience with linking documents within the blog.

The chapter reflections provided insight into specific topics and issues that were presented in the textbook. Reading and commenting on the blogs of our peers provided another point of view on the material in the textbook. I would use blogging in my classroom in as a bell ringer, in which students would be required to comment daily on a current event.

Threaded Discussion & Listserv

The threaded discussions offered a great form of unified communication. I loved the way we were able to view the thoughts of other students. There were times when I may have had a question about a topic that another student had already asked. I found this to be very useful form of clarification. The listserv was fairly easy to create. But I didn’t find it as useful as some of the other online tools.

Podcast & Video Clip

The podcast and video clips to me were a form a lecture that is often not offered in online courses. It provided visual and auditory learners with the visual and audio portion of a traditional class setting. Each of these tools provided the additional information and instruction needed in an online course. I feel that these items were essential to the completion of many of the assignments.

Hands on Projects

We were required to complete a number of hands on projects in this course. All of the projects challenged my creative abilities and introduced new tools. I learned how to create a variety of items that will be helpful in my classroom. By using these tools in my classroom I will be able to complete all required administrative tasks with ease. The prompt manner in which Dr. Wang responded to our projects with constructive criticism also aided in the successful completion of this course.