EDLD+5363+Course+Reflection+Responses

As I began this course I envisioned I would complete it equipped with additional skills in audio and video aditing and a deeper understanding of Web 2.0 collaboration tools. Now, as this course comes to a close, I can say that what I gained far exceeded what I envisioned. Every item listed in the course objectives was met and the impact and value of the collaboration component was immeasurable!

Everything about this course is relevant to my work as an Instructional Technologist. A couple of years ago, I started a "Broadcasting" class on our middle school campus. It is not what some would call "high-tech" because the only tools I could supply them were some of the same free ones used in this course. For the past few weeks I have been able to share my journey through this course with the students in the current Broadcasting class. They held their heads a little higher when they found out we (college students) were using some of the same software, but they were most impressed with how my group was able to put together a project when we lived all across the state.

I can't say I did not achieve any of the learning outcomes for this course. I feel I achieved all. However, I do want to continue to develop my video editing skills. I currently use Movie Maker to edit videos and Audacity for audio. As a result of this course, I plan to upgrade to a more powerful tool - Adobe Premiere. Our team member who was responsible for merging our video and audio clips used Premiere so successfully and with seemingly such ease. It is my goal to develop an in-depth knowledge of this software and share what I have learned with the teacher and students in our Broadcasting class.

I was able to complete all of the course assignments. Although sometimes it was confusing about what and where we needed to post information since the course syllabus was updated after the course began. I attended almost all of the web conferences which were very helpful in clarifying assignment details. Hearing it straight from the professor provided reassurance that I had completed and posted all aspects of the assignments correctly.

I believe the best part of this course was learning to work as a member of a team. Most of the time, I work as an individual completing all tasks by myself and not having to depend on others. As a member of our PSA team I realized there were technology tools and skills I knew very little about, but there were also skills I had that other members did not. Because we all played on each others strengths we all took turns practicing our leadership skills by guiding different aspects of our project. The Randy Nelson video, which was one of the "Readings" for this final week, made a hugh impact on how I plan to approach collaboration on my campus. I will start with the concepts/attitudes from his quotes: "accept every offer" and "make your partner look good" (Nelson, 2008). I don't think anyone could watch this video and not be inspired to adopt and implement his definition of collaboration.

This course was the most rewarding educational experience I have had in a long time!

Nelson, R. (2008). Learning and working in the collaborative age: A new model for the workplace. Edutopia. Retrieved September 22, 2010, from @http://www.edutopia.org/randy-nelson-school-to-career-video