My Fall Semester Classes

EdTec 670 Exploratory Learning Through Educational Simulation & Games

This course deals with aspects of the design process that are sometimes neglected. To design an instructional game well, you must be both systematic and intuitive, analytic and artistic. In mastering the ISD process, you've learned to handle the cognitive side of instruction (which, almost by definition, is the most important). In EDTEC 670, you'll also learn to deal with the affective side of instruction. Throughout the course we'll be addressing the questions: What makes some activities interesting or fun? How can we maximize enjoyment without sacrificing instructional quality? It's a difficult and fascinating challenge for any instructional designer.

A second major theme of the course involves the design of simulations. The questions that will dominate the second half of the course are these: How do we represent reality in a simulation? How do we balance simplicity, efficiency, and playability against realism, richness and complexity? These, too, are challenging design tasks.

EdTec 795A Seminar

This graduate seminar/practicum is part of several culminating experiences for students earning a Master's degree in Educational Technology. In this class, students serve as instructional design consultants for real clients with pressing needs. Each student is asked to reflect on instructional design, development (and, occasionally evaluation) case studies; examine the art and science of design and development while while engaged in their field work (particularly in light of new technologies); and self-assess competence/readiness to enter the workforce as performance professionals.

Glorious Google Goods Galore

I have been a Google products fan for awhile. Now my task (for my graduate course) is to write about these tools. Where to begin?

First of all, of course, is the fact that this blog is made possible by Google Blogger. Then, there are the websites I have made using Google Pages (no longer available, but Google Sites works too). I really like Google Calendar, which I use both for my personal (rather busy) calendar, and for the calendar on our school website. I use Google Docs to collaborate with my colleagues and save important files. I plan to also start using it with my students. GMail seems to be the only e-mail I can use to send outgoing mail on my phone, and it is the key to using all these other Google products.

Google Reader helps me keep up with my daughter's Blog posts. Google Earth is downloaded onto my computer and is one of my students' favorite programs. I really do think Google Maps is the best of all the map/directions websites, and I used it for our school website. My personal homepage uses iGoogle, and I love the fact that when I travel and am on some other computer, I can go to a page that looks just like my good old laptop. Google Toolbar is a must for my browser; it is a big time saver.

Picasa is a great way to store and share photos. I use it all the time. Although I can't use YouTube at school, it is a great way to post a video I have made for friends and family to see. I have told lots of people about Goog-411 to save money on those annoying Directory Assistance charges. Finally, we all know that the word "Google" is a synonym for searching for something on the web. (My students tend to call out "Google it" when I confess ignorance of a certain factoid.) Google search gets better all the time. I really like the image search and the news search as well.

So there you have it. There are actually a few Google products which I have not yet used. I probably should check them out, because all the others are fantastic tools. What is YOUR favorite Google product?

Peeps: You'll be LTS, LOL, LMAO, ROTF, ROFL, ROTFLMAO

This is actually part of the syllabus for one of my courses. I love it!

Dear student in my course,

I am your instructor. I am not your BFF. I do not WTGP? with you. I'm sorry if that makes you :-( IRL, when you write emails using poor grammar, sentence structure, and include only minimal amounts of information, it makes me >:-||

IMHO (and this is JMO), I have NP using this type of slang in a chat room, like a virtual classroom. It's a quick and easy way to communicate in a fast paced environment, and sometimes typing a whole phrase is much slower than slang. LOL, I get it.

But OMG, if I receive another email from peeps that shows what a noob you are in the professional world, where you don't clearly tell me who you are, what class section you are in, that has a vague or non-existent subject line, and no background information -- that makes me write back to you just to find out WT? you are talking about, I'm going to scream.

Writing to your PPL on FB is different that writing a letter to your instructor. PLZ take the time to get used to constructing professional emails for folks in RL. It will help avoid a SNAFU in the future, I promise. TC, TTYL, and TIA.

TNT, L8r -- Your Instructor.

NOTE: Click here if you need an Internet slang glossary to understand this letter. (I did)

My Classes This Semester

Instructional Design Systematic design of products for education and training. Use of cognitive task analysis to determine instructional content. Development of instructional goals and product specifications. Rapid prototyping of instructional products.

Technology for Course Delivery Use of technology to support planning, presenting and managing instructor-led courses.

DONE with My Final!

Words cannot express my relief at having this final behind me. Shades of the GRE... that clock ticking down in the corner of the screen, moments of panic as my mind goes completely blank. Somehow I pulled it off. I hope I did OK. I wore my Lucky shirt (thanks, Suzy). I get a whole month off now! Where's the party? Isn't that what you do when you finish your finals? I guess I could do an undie run down "K" street...

Anjelah Johnson is in my Graduate Class!

Actually, this video, which I had seen before, is part of my practice final. The assignment is to improve customer service at King Burger through systematic instructional design. I don't know if there is really any hope for Bon Qui Qui.

My New Friend ADDIE

These are the key course objectives I am studying in preparation for my final exam which is this Tuesday:

1. define educational, instructional, and performance technology
2. describe the implications of cognitive and behavioral psychology, adult learning theory, systems, and communications technologies for education and training
3. describe a systematic approach to the design of instruction presented in the ADDIE model
4. state reasons for using a systematic approach to the design of instruction
5. describe how a systematic approach might change the way you provide instruction
6. describe analyses and ways of approaching given needs and challenges
7. use performance analysis and goal analysis to approach given needs and challenges
8. define differences between performance analysis, needs assessment, goal, task, audience and subject matter analysis and ways you might use them to launch projects
9. from given missions and challenges, conduct lean analysis and design stages of ISD
10. identify the characteristics of a "well-formed" instructional objective
11. rewrite objectives that are ill-formed
12. generate well-formed objectives from given goals
13. compare and contrast criterion-referenced and norm-referenced testing
14. determine whether a given test item matches a given instructional objective
15. describe Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction and their implications for design of instruction
16. differentiate between instruction and information (job aids)
17. describe conditions that make job aids an effective way to improve performance
18. comment on information and instructional combinations with potential for improving performance
19. design and develop a job aid that focuses on the needs of an audience
20. write a brief report detailing the audience, need, format, and rationale
21. describe, and differentiate between, the basic attributes of different learning theories and instructional design theories
22. list the features of the ARCS model of motivational design and describe how you would use this model to enhance strategy

I actually think I am starting to understand it...

One Down, One to Go

I have completed all my course work for EdTec 541, or Web Based Multimedia Development. Click here for my e-portfolio assignment page. I really enjoyed the course. Now I really need to get cracking on EdTec 540, or Introduction to Educational Technology. This one makes my head spin. Still have a job aid to create and a final exam to take next month. Gotta get through parent conferences first, though...

The University of Panera UPDATE

My district tech department (thanks, Paul) finally punched through the firewall so that I could access my graduate class live webcast. But I actually got hooked on taking my wireless laptop to Panera Bread cafe. I really don't want to spend two hours in my classroom after teaching all day, and so I am still enjoying classes at the University of Panera. They have great iced tea, soup, salad, and sandwiches. I sit down at 4:00 with my iced tea and a cup of soup. I plug in my laptop and my headphones. At 6:00, I get up, pack up my laptop, and order a salad or sandwich to take home. Not a bad way to go, really.

Inspiring Software

I'm using Inspiration to design my site map. It's a fun one to play with! Here's an example of a template. There is a 30-day free trial version you can download.

Performance Analysis in a Nutshell

This is what I am doing in my graduate class. At least I think it's what I'm doing...

The University of Panera

Since I can't connect to the live webcast for my two graduate classes from a computer on my school server, I have solved the problem by taking my wireless laptop to Panera Bread cafe. While my district's tech department attempts to figure out why I can't get on, I am actually enjoying classes at the University of Panera. They have great iced tea, soup, salad, and sandwiches. I sit down at 4:00 with my iced tea and a cup of soup. I plug in my laptop and my headphones. At 6:00, I get up, pack up my laptop, and order a salad or sandwich to take home. Not a bad way to go, really.

Yet Another Website I Made

This one to begin my Master's Program: Click here.

So far so good. I spent two hours "in class" today sitting at Panera in order to use their free wi-fi, since I can't get past my school district's firewall for the live webcast. Not bad, really. They have good iced tea...

School Starts

School where I'm a teacher: The new classroom looks great, the new Science program looks awesome, and the new Gradebook program has been explained and demonstrated to the teachers. I'll meet the kids on Thursday.

School where I'm a student: It feels like my laptop is my classroom. My e-mail inbox is very busy, and I'll have to get comfortable with listservs and webcasts. Don't know if I'll ever meet these people in my class, but I'm sure glad I don't have to drive anywhere, find a parking place, etc.

Registering for Classes

Wow. What a difference 30 years makes! I am registered for my classes and it took about one minute. How well I remember standing in lines holding punched data processing cards... No more standing "in line", I went "online" and took care of the whole thing from home. These are the classes I will be taking this semester:

Educational Technology: Rationale, foundations, theories, careers, trends, and issues in educational technology. Implications of educational technology for instruction and information in schools, government, and corporations.

Web Multimedia Development: Systems, aesthetic, and learning theories applied to design of web-based educational multimedia. Planning and prototyping digital media.

I'm In!

OK, I'm headed for grad school! I will be pursuing my Masters in Educational Technology at San Diego State University starting in August.

Random Numbers

1) The odds of David Cook winning American Idol: -170. The odds of David Archuleta winning: +130. I don't understand those numbers, but apparently it makes David Archuleta the underdog. Regardless, in my opinion, he's going to win! He was great!

2) It is bizarre to have the weather go from hot to cold. I never seem to be dressed properly for the day. In the span of four days the high temperature went from 62º to 91º and today it's back down to 70º.

3) Online tracking shows that my graduate departmental application was delivered at 2:43 a.m. Who is delivering mail at 2:43 a.m., and who is receiving mail at 2:43 a.m.?

4) 20 days of school remain. But who's counting?

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting...

All the transcripts have been received, my applications to both the University and the Department are in, and now I just await the GRE on June 7.

Schwarzenegger revised his budget and the legislature will squabble over it for months. Staffing for the next school year has yet to be set, as the school board hasn't decided officially about the budget cuts, but the final layoff notices went out. I may or may not be in the same grade, same classroom (I hope not) and most likely still will lose many of my friends and colleagues at school. California public education is going down the tubes, let me tell you...

On a happier note, I am going to Texas at the end of the week! I will be studying for the GRE on the airplane. Besides spending time with my granddaughters, daughter and son-in-law, I get to get my hair done, eat grits, and go to CVS.

Daughter #2 Gets Into UCI Again!

Wow, Diana's going to grad school!

CONGRATULATIONS!

An anteater once again...

Six Transcripts?

OK, it's official, I have applied to grad school, and I am on my way to obtaining my Master's Degree! Filling out the application online was kind of surreal as I thought back to age sixteen, applying for college by filling out a paper application. Did I use a typewriter or a pen? I really don't remember. But I had to dig through files and rack my brain to remember where and when I went to school. Finally I had a stack of six transcripts! Six! I actually went to six different colleges and I don't even have a Master's Degree!

I think of myself as a graduate of the great University of California, Berkeley but somehow along the way to getting a teaching credential I went to five other schools. Let's see, I started at the University of Oregon. That didn't last long. I took a quarter off to be a ski bum, and soon I was settled in to Be-zerkley where I actually graduated on time despite that quarter off. In order to accomplish that, I took 8 units of German at UCI one summer when I lived back with my parents. So that's three transcripts up to the good old B.A.

Then there was the teaching credential. Crazy me, single mother of four kids, living in Hana, Maui. Chaminade University in Honolulu had just begun a satellite program on Maui for a teaching credential. Sign me up! Well, there were these lower division requirements that I needed to take. So another summer at Maui Community College to get those out of the way. OK, teaching credential accomplished, gainful employment found, but three years later it is TIME to get off the rock! Off we go to California where a year later I have a job. Hooray! Lucky for me the Hawaii credential is accepted by California. Have to "clear" that credential within five years to stay gainfully employed, but that means nine more units. University of San Diego offers a satellite program in Orange County. Transcript number six.

A lot of blood, sweat and tears is contained in those six pieces of paper. To think that I was all of sixteen years old when I started that journey. And now I can actually get my Masters' Degree without ever setting foot on a college campus. The whole thing will be online. Amazing. Summer of 2010 and I'll be done! Wish me luck...