It's Done

I have just submitted my last assignment in my instructional tech class and boy am I tired! Whew! I made it! I ended the class just as I began it; with challenges. As I grappled with the makings of my first web page, I realized that I was running out of time. This thing I truly wanted to accomplish. I wanted to create a viewable web page. Amy provided good instructions on correcting some of the glitches that I was continually running into in making my web page a reality. She suggested and I complied, that I cut back on the number of pages for the web page. I really think this made a big difference. I only hope that we can all see my web page as a true web page in the very near future. There's a lot more involved in web design than I ever imagined, that's for sure. I like it. I love that sense of accomplishment I receive after I complete a project. Even if it's not perfect it still shows that I put out a very good effort. Just like this class, overall. I think we all displayed a very good effort. The proof is in the products we produced and I am very proud of what I learned and displayed in my work. Have a great holiday. Baruch Bashan - The Blessings Already Are.

One More Thing to Do...

This may be my last entry on this blog. I've reached the end of my first class in Instructional Technology. And I'm proud of myself. I really am. I paid the bill, I learned a lot and I think I made a pretty decent showing. There's just one thing left to do. My web page. I'm almost finished and will add links to all of my semester projects in it. Still a bit of a challenge there to get it to look the way I want it to. But I'm determined. At our last class session for the semester, I learned about more technologies that are available to challenge and enhance the learning experience. Classmate Kate gave a great presentation on flickr. I was impressed with the tool and went home that night and signed up. I even uploaded a picture. I will definitely look into utilizing this tool for future projects. I asked her questions about animations and she was every helpful with that. So much so that I enhanced some of my previous projects, lesson conversion and web quest, with animations. It was great to attend a class with so knowledgeable and helpful an individual as Kate. I wish her and all of my fellow classmates much success and happiness in their educational pursuits and lives in general. Oh, I can't forget about Ed's presentation. Ed showed us his web page and it was very impressive. He's very intelligent and did a lot of cool things like a pod cast and a You Tube video. I was really impressed and with his skill and I would love to add some audio to my web page. I'll try but I don't have a lot of time left as Tuesday is our final day to submit all of our work. Maybe next time. I may write another blog entry--it's neat--again but I've got to complete my web page. Take a look at what I've done thus far.

Time to Cash in My IT Chips...

Today will be our last day of class and I am somewhat relieved and at the same time, wishing I had just another week or two to hone my technological, albeit, brand new, technological skills. But life goes on and semesters end. I was hoping to submit my final projects, a web quest and web page today, but I still have to do some work on both of them. I'll need a few more days. It's almost three o'clock in the morning and I am working on these projects in between sleeping and surfing the net. I guess I'm a little distracted and have been for quite sometime. . .Still in all, I've learned a lot this semester and am still intrigued with all of the different technologies and medias available. Tonight, Amy will incorporate all that we've learned to the corporate learning structure and I am looking forward to that. The more I can connect Instructional Technology to business/corporate/governmental (me) settings, the better. Everybody has to learn. Oh well, time to get back to the drawing board. Here's some interesting reading on webquests. Hey, it's a whole new world to me!

Smart Boards-I'm Lovin' What I'm Seein'

Wow! The Smart Board and all the technology that goes behind it is fascinating, wonderful. Sadly, there's no real need for it in my working world. Even though I work at the Technical Center, I don't get to use a whole lot of technology. I mostly go to meetings; lots and lots and lots of meetings. Anyway, I can still see the value that a tool like Smart Board could have in the workforce. Especially for presentations. All of the other presentations, Enrique, Corrine, Courtney, were extremely informative and interesting. I guess I study with a very smart group. I was a little frustrated in the class, however, because we ran out of time and I was not able to give my presentation. Oh well, these things happen. What with all of the uploading, downloading and archieving, just to name a few, that we have to do in this class, it's easy to lose track of time. It seems to be marching on without me and I'm just trying to catch up. It's been a fast and furious semester. Baruch Bashan - The Blessings Already Are

Happy Turkey Day Instructional Designers!

Class has been extremely interesting lately and I am excited about all the things I've learned and seen thus far. My head is almost above water and I can see the shore. I am discovering that Instructional Technology can really make learning, training, studying, devoloping much more rewarding for both the practitioner and student. I was kinda' on the fence about this field of endeavor but now I think I am going to give it a second thought. Maybe I can study it in SecondLife :-) Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

We're In the Home Stretch!

We're entering in the last weeks of class and a feeling of excitement is building inside of me. Introduction to Instructional Technology has been one of the most challenging--and--frustrating courses I've ever taken. Still in all, I have been exposed to many technologies that should make learning easier for various audiences. Web page development, hyperlinks, embedded hyperlinks, webquests, virtual classrooms, I could go on and on...have enhanced my view of learning and placed a new value on technology in my personal life. While I have not completely mastered these technologies, I am confident that with time, determination, and persistence, I will be able to utilize them for my purpose. I am a work in progress. From time to time, I visit this website for inspiration. Enjoy.

Testing A Hyperlink

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. The weather on Saturday, the first day of November, was gorgeous; lots of warm sunshine and no breeze. Because it was such a wonderful day, I am going to try to place my first ever hyperlink in this blog entry. I've installed Mozilla and Firefox and got lots of advise from friends on how to make links work. So here goes---http://www.real-wishes.com/ Let's give this a try. Let me know if it works or not. I have a very slow computer; DSL with Verizon so I've written this entry a few times before it finally went through. I'm still a work in progress, plodding along on the information superhighway. Continue to enjoy the weekend.