Great Class–Summaries Done (For Now)
It was a good day. I finished up my week two summary and got it posted–later than I had planned, but it’s done! After being the “summarizer” for the first two weeks of the class, I’ve only got week five left to summarize.
I’ve still got a lot to learn about OnCourse, the Indiana University course management system. I posted my week two summary, but it lost all its formatting, including bolding, italics, and hyperlinks when I pasted my MSWord document into the forum window. I went back into the forum and added a post with the MSWord document attached. All my original formatting is there.
I really am enjoying the class and the readings are very interesting. I was very glad that the class was allowed to go on. Thanks, Dr. Frick! Ever since I read Dr. Bonk’s book, The World is Open: How Web Technology Is Revolutionizing Education last spring and found out he taught a class on it, I had wanted to be involved. It’s great!
Now that report cards are out and MAP testing is over at school, and my first two weeks of summaries are done, I will be more faithful about posting here and replying to the posts, summaries, and emails of my classmates.
By the way, Ruth is my wife of over 37 years. She’s a veteran teacher who taught all over the world during my military career.
Please check back regularly. It’s late in Reno, almost 11PM, but even later (almost 2AM) in Bloomington! I must go to bed!
Mike
MajorKeesling 
I too am really thrilled that this class was a go. I am a bit overwhelmed by it, though. Not the workload really, but the amount of information that I really want to read but find that the reality of worklife prohibits. The irony for me is that I intend to focus on these types of international development initiatives but I am knee deep in them that many of my decisions are based largely on intituion and what I hope is good sense. It is refreshing then to read about a study that supports this intitution; however, I would feel so much more secure having that knowledge ahead of my actions.
Hi Mike. Here is a tip for posting in the forums in Oncourse. Type in a text editing program and copy/paste from there. If you copy/paste from MS Word, the formatting doesn’t always translate well. This is my second class with Dr. Bonk. Last spring I took R546, the course he teaches for 5 hours on Saturday right before ours. I really enjoyed it; the themes were critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and motivation. I noticed that you said MAP testing is over. Is this a state assessment? Congratulations to you and Ruth on over 37 years of marriage! That’s amazing!
Hi Again, Kim,
Thanks for the good advice on posting to Oncourse. It’s a bit different from WebCT, with which I am somewhat familiar.
MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing is the nationally normed formative assessment my school district uses three times per year to provide information for teachers and administrators as to how to better meet the needs of students and to predict how they will do on the state criterion referenced tests (CRT), Nevada’s annual “high stakes” test. MAP was developed by the Northwest Educational Association (NWEA). Here’s a link, in case you might want to know more: http://www.nwea.org/products-services/computer-based-adaptive-assessments/map
As the testing coordinator for my school, I’m in charge of this testing, the state CRT and writing tests, as well as any other testing we do that goes beyond our school walls.
Ruth and I are the proud parents of two grown children, and six grandchildren. Our daughter, Kristi, and her husband are the parents of four, and out son, Kristian, and his wife have two children.
Mike
Hi Mike,
Since I have not been attending all the online adobe meetings, I should introduce myself first to you 🙂
My name is Anjali and I am doing masters in IST. This is my second semester. I did this class last semester. It was a face-to-face class. It was one of a kind experience!! I don’t think I have ever gotten soooooooo much relevant and useful information in a 15 week course.
I know I am 3 weeks late but still… Welcome to the open world ! Looking forward to reading more of your blogs 🙂
Hi, Anjali,
I am really enjoying this course and am also getting a lot of good information from it and the book on which it is based (or maybe the book was based upon the course!).
BTW, where and how do you get the emoticons?
Mike
Glad you are enjoying it Michael. We can hit the accelerator anytime you suggest. Or the decelerator.
Smile.
Oh! I just type : and )
It becomes the emoticon when I submit the reply 🙂
I am delighted that Dr. Frick allowed this class to go on as well. This is a special class to me. In fact, if they had cancelled the course, I would have thought seriously about leaving IU.
Michael (Fire)…you are working ahead. So far ahead. Impressive. Even though you will not be the summarizer again after Week 5, I hope you can still push ahead and share your ideas, summaries, insights, etc. You have read my book; hence, the weekly readings that you do can be integrated and contextualized in ways that others my be unable to do.