Reflections on Posted Assignments-Can't believe i am really doing this!

There were a few video tutorials that i looked at during my first week. The first one was from Will Richardson's Understanding Instructional Technologies. I thought it was a great way to introduce the different things we will all be experiencing throughout this course and was a little excited to get started. I liked how he gave insight about how far technology has come in the 21 century and presented different instructional strategies that technology can be used for. It was a great introduction for this TWT course.
The next video was titled "Learning to change, changing to learn." It shocked me to hear that education was ranked so low, at #55 to be exact. I was floored, but after listening to the video i came to realize why that was. Children are learning so many more things outside of the school environment and are constantly surrounded by technology everyday. Technology should not be a choice, it should be a requirement in school. I think back to when i was in grade-school and realize that if i were presented with all these different forms of technology, i would probably be more comfortable using it. Technology has become second nature and part of a community and relationships. It is a great world for learning, not to mention a huge one. Technology is everywhere like schools and communities and many speakers on this video believe that children should be learning as a community rather than just in a classroom atmosphere. I also loved the part when one speaker talked about how unrealistic standardized tests are. Now a day students have to take so many tests in order to get accepted into college or to become certified in a profession. He them talks about how unnecessary they are because not all jobs require the passing of tests in order to get hired. Being successful in the working world call on different abilities like multi-disciplinaries, how well one works in teams, collaborate and problem solve. Overall this video was very informative and gave me much insight into the world of technology.
I believed that all the tutorials were very helpful. I used just about all of them and found my job to be much easier than i anticipated. The links to how to set up a website, wiki, and blog were very helpful. I came to realize that i knew a little bit more about how to use a computer and how to navigate it than i had originally thought. I also found the group and class meetings to be a help as well. I found that some of my questions were answered without me even having to ask them because some of my peers had the same ones.
After reading the syllabus, i believe all the expectations are fair. I think there is a lot of work, but that comes with any class in grad school. We are now at a different level and are adults. It just takes good time management skills and not putting assignments off in order to get things done on time. I also like how we will all be working collaboratively as a group. I believe that different levels of abilities are great ways to see the different levels of learning and to see how far some students have come. Learning with different students and abilities has the chance to enhance learning for other students who may not be as technologically savvy like myself!

Here is a great YouTube clip about teaching with technology and great websites to enhance teaching strategies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZbkz3stWMg