Sophia!

A Virtual Classroom…

Selfishly I wanted to do a blog this class that featured my beautiful daughter.  My daughter was born December 3, 2011.  I thought Professor Ackerman was crazy for convincing me to take a class that start just a few weeks after she joined our family.  Or, maybe I was crazy for letting her talk me into it…

I thought I had definitely made a mistake the first week trying to manage a newborn and a class.  I wasn’t crazy, in fact, I was brilliant for letting Professor Ackerman talk me into taking it.  There I sat typing away and chatting with classmates while nursing Sophia, TMI, I know.  I want to share those details because I think it is important for new moms.

As a new mom you do not have to put your education on hold.  Just a few short years ago, before virtual classrooms, this would not have been the case.  The virtual classroom allows me to continue the pursuit of my educational dreams while being a good mom to my daughter.  Thank you!

Learning Theories and Unions

I was having a conversation with one of my mentors last week.  Dr. Stow is a Stockton Professor Emerita, she has over 35 years of higher education teaching experience, and is one of the most well integrated community member I know.  I respect her and her opinion.

We often discuss my class.  She finds 21^st century learning fascinating particularly the elements of technology such as Wimba.  She is convinced that she would be unable to teach in today’s classroom, I disagree.  Even in her late 80’s she is in tune with how education is evolving along with society’s impact.

In our recent discussion about my class, I was explaining how I was attempting to apply several different learning theories to developing a training program for my office.  She posed a very interesting question.  She said to me, “what impact do unions have on learning theories?”  It got me thinking…

Unions influence the hours that staff works, the environment they work in, when they are allowed to eat, when they take breaks and what they are allowed to have fallen within their job responsibilities.  Do they affect learning theories, absolutely.  When developing my training programs I have to take into consideration all of the following: when and where I am conducting the training program, how long the training session will last and what I am teaching them.  If I am asking them to learn something new that doesn’t fall within their job description I could get in trouble.

I want to be clear I am not discussing rather or not I support unions just merely the fact that certainly effect learning theories when you are developing a training program. 

A Connecting Tool....

I am not sure how many of you out there have had the heartbreaking challenge of living far away from the ones you loved?  I was raised in a military family and although my husband isn’t military I still managed to end up half way across the country from all of my family and friends.  Being away from you family and friends is hard but once you start a family of your own it brings an entirely new level hardship! 

My daughter’s Christening was last weekend.  This was a momentous occasion that just a few years ago could have only been shared with the people that were able to attend.  Not now!  Since my daughter’s birth we have been using Picasa to share pictures and memories of daughter with family and friends.  Picasa is a Google application that allows you to upload pictures from your camera and your camera phone and share them with endless amounts of people.

Tools like Picasa are easy to use and so comforting to family that is far away.  My seventy year old grandmother who is quite eager to meet her first great granddaughter has religiously stalked the Picasa link as means to help her get to know her grandchild.  I know how heartbreaking it is to miss the ones you love especially when you feel so left out of their lives.  I am so thankful that technology has evolved in a direction that allows us to share our lives long distance with the ones we love!

Media...That's Enough!

Recently the music world lost one of the greatest singers this world has ever seen.  Without a doubt the loss of Whitney Houston is absolutely devastating.  I want to be very clear this blog is not to minimize her death but to use it as an example of how technology can  over-saturate us with information.

When Ms. Houston’s body was discovered it was on every news station, every news website, twitter, facebook, radio stations and newspapers.  For four days straight there wasn’t a single media outlet that wasn’t completely saturated with the news of Whitney’s death.  By the end of the weekend I was disgusted and sadden with the constant reminder that the music world had lost one of the best singers in history.  At the end of the weekend I was sick of hearing about it.

Technology has provided endless outlets for news to be shared which is good and bad.  It is good because as a society we are kept well informed of news as it is happening.  It is bad in that, when there is disturbing news to be shared it is in our face whether we like it or not.  I feel for Houston’s family,  during their toughest time of mourning they couldn’t turn on the tv, computer, phone or even radio without reliving the details of their loved one’s death.

Virtual Collaboration

I have been working for the last three week on a group project with two individuals that I have never met.  We all come from different backgrounds, live in different places and have different work schedules.  Yet, through the use of wimba , skype and google docs we are able to share information, ideas and collaborate on work.  I have no doubt that at the end of this process we will have produced a great project.

Virtual collaboration has endless opportunities for scientists to share medical research, teachers to generate new 21^st century learning ideas, investors to develop new financial tactics and so much more.  The tools in which the world is able to connect are endless; one of my personal favorites is skype. 

I use skype for work, to show my mom how big her granddaughter’s is getting and now I am using it to collaborate with classmates on a group project.  Skype is a free tool that allows you to video chat or call one another.   Who knew such a simple connection tool could create so much opportunity.  Imagine what I will be using 10 years from now to connect with family, friends and co-workers around the world?!?

Resources Galore!!!

As I think back to my years in elementary school, high school and even college I am amazed at the difference of educational resources that were available then verses today.  Today we have an overwhelming abundance of resources available at our finger tips.  The internet, along with global communication, has created educational avenues that simply didn’t exist before.

Of course availability of information at your finger tips has it pros and cons.  One of the biggest cons is that there is a lot of false information out there.  How is one to decipher what is is garbage and what is fact? I have found that cross checking information with various sources is a good way of verifying that your resources are not a load of bologna! 

Another good tool is utilizing your local library.   Many of us, myself included, are guilty of only using google or some other search engine as our main outlet for research.  This is a lazy mistake.  Our guided tour through the Stockton College virtual library database reinforces my point.  Not only is there an abundance of very good information available through the library’s database, you don’t have to worry about sifting through the garbage.  Someone has done that for you.

F2F OR Wimba....

Many people prefer to experience education in a face to face format; in fact, prior to my adult learning class that I took over the summer I was one of them.  Once I took my first virtual class I was completely sold!  The first class is always a little hairy when using wimba for the first time.  It is inevitable that time is spent on working out the kinks and overcoming the quarks of technology.  In the end, I promise you will LOVE the virtual classroom and wimba.  There are so many benefits to a virtual classroom, I can't begin to name them all.  On a personal note, I have a 7 week old baby at home that I am nursing; this class allows me to take the class and take care of my new baby without delaying my education.

I am quite excited for this class.  I was happy to hear that I am not the only one taking the class that isn’t a teacher.  It is a little intimidating taking class with all educators.  Having said that, I really enjoy being able to observe so many different teaching ideologies that my classmates share.  I am sure this class will prove to be as equally interesting as my previous classes.