Did I learn?

I have a confession to make. I took the 1997 version of this course at USA, and from what I can remember of that class (12 years ago) I did not learn near as much in that class as I have in this class. The topics covered in this class (EDM310) have been practical, interesting, and will easily be Incorporated into teaching. Before taking this class I did not know anything about blogs or pod casts. I am very capable of creating, editing, and maintaining a blog or two. I am excited about the possibilities of blogging in the classroom. I liked the fact that our blogs were a project that lasted the entire semester and it was an ongoing responsibility for the students. I enjoyed looking at everyone else's blogs. I was able to look at the others and confirm questions I had about assignments. The podcast was right up my alley. I enjoyed creating and recording the podcast. Working with other classmates on this project made the podcast enjoyable and interesting. Before completing this assignment I had no idea what a podcast was or why they were necessary. I now understand what a tremendous tool a podcast can be for teachers. I get excited just thinking of the possibilities of pod casts in the classroom.

The only thing I can think of that I would have liked to learn about in this class would be the actual process of recording, editing, and unloading a podcast. Mrs. Averrit explained to me briefly the process that is involved in pod casting and it sounds fairly simple. Recording the podcast was fun and novel, but would have been more beneficial for the "soon to be teacher" if the how to podcast was covered.

This class was a pleasant surprise for me. I did not know what to expect, and have been very pleased with what we have covered and how it was covered. This class may be the first useful education class I have taken (no offense to previous education classes) in a while.