Finished With February

Week in Review: A Reflection of February 25 – March 3

February is such a short month. When I looked at my calendar I first thought I was missing a few days. Nope. We’re finished with February and moving into, hopefully, the spring months.

Snow got in the way of plans again this past week. One of my classes was canceled. However, since so many things can be done using e-mail and eCollege, we were still able to move along with some of the material.

Our instructor sent us an e-mail notifying us that class was canceled. She gave us a list of activities we could find on eCollege to complete. Some of the things we were to talk about in class she had us post to the discussion boards on eCollege. A discussion board is kind of like a forum. The instructor posts a question or task and the students respond to the question. Students can respond to other students’ postings. I’ve used the discussion board in nearly most, if not all, of my classes, especially the online classes.

I hope that the weather conditions are better this month so I don’t have any more cancelations. What do you think the weather will be like this March?

How Technology is Changing Online Classes

Technology has provided us with some truly remarkable tools for education. It’s amazing how much can be accomplished through computers. Programs allow us not only to connect with others, but also really interact and even collaborate with one another.

Last week one of my instructors decided we were going to have class online using the Live tool in eCollege, our online portal for classes. Even though I am very familiar with eCollege, I had never used this feature before. I thought that it was just for chat. While it does have a section for chat, it also has a ClassLive tool.

When it came time for class, our instructor opened a session. I just needed to make sure I had the latest version of Java, and I was able to participate from my home computer. When we all leave the session, it is archived so students that missed class can still view the session in its entirety later. It’s also good for the students who need to look back at something that was discussed during class.

The program has a “whiteboard” where the instructor can pull up PowerPoint presentations, websites, documents, or anything else that can be displayed on the computer screen. The instructor has the option of letting the students post things on the whiteboard. We were able to write on it with the pen tool and highlight tool. In our session we proofread a document and highlighted areas that were incorrect.

My First Online Class

Monday was the official start of my first completely online class, Beginning Photoshop. Although I’m familiar with Photoshop CS2 version, which I learned more than five years ago, I will be taking this class as a requirement for my program. The latest version is Photoshop CS5, which is what I’ll be learning in this class. There have been a lot of updates and changes since I originally learned the program, one of them being the Content Aware Fill. We had talked about this feature in my Graphics for the Web class. It’s simply amazing. To see what I’m talking about, watch this video: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/photoshop-cs5-feature-tour/content-aware-fill-part-1/

Taking an online class is different than taking a class in-person. Luckily, I know how to use eCollege, because I’ve had blended classes that use this tool. Blended classes are ones that meet face-to-face but also have an online portion. The online portion uses eCollege, an online portal for classes.

The posting in the announcements section from my instructor explained how this class was going to work. Even though we don’t have a meeting time or place, homework still has specific due dates. I will be following along in the textbook to complete assignments. The instructor has additional comments and instructions to go along with the chapters. There are scoring guides so we can make sure we are meeting the criteria of the assignment and a schedule to follow. Other students have already posted their introduction to the discussion board. It’s pretty clear what I need to do for this class and when I need to do it.

Now, it’s time to get to work!

My First Self-Paced Class

I’ve never taken a self-paced class before so I had no idea what to expect when I walked into orientation this week. We don’t use eCollege for it, and I was wondering how the class worked without it.

It turns out there is something called “myitlab” I will be using to learn Microsoft Excel and Access. I haven’t really used it yet, I’ve only seen it demonstrated, but I think it uses the same concepts as eCollege with learning plans and drop boxes.

There were two points stressed in the orientation presentation: Be self-motivated and get help when you need it. All coursework needs to be finished in December, so it’s up to the student to set a reasonable pace. There are open labs that are staffed and tutors available.

At this point I’m more concerned about learning how to navigate and use “myitlab” than learning the programs. But, I figure if I learned how to use eCollege last fall and I’m very comfortable using it now, I should be able to learn this tool as well.