Reflection on IT 644

As I have said in other posts in this blog, this was my first course in the masters program. Although I teach a technology course, I myself have not taken classes (other than professional development) since 2004. I had no idea what to expect, but I admit that I was afraid this class would be far beyond what I was able to do.

I am very please to say that this was not at all the case. Dr. Yuen’s experience with this field really shows through in his teaching, and at the same time, he was very candid about the fact that technology is not always perfect and can sometimes be frustrating. This made me feel very comfortable and added to my confidence that I would be able to master all of the assignments in this class.

In addition to Dr. Yuen’s teaching, the class is set up through a social network. I teach through Blackboard and was happy to see a similar kind of connectivity. Because this class was taught partially online and partially in face-to-face meetings, being connected through the social network made the class available to me 24/7. Whenever I had free time I could log on and check on posts and assignments. I also found that it was very helpful to read what the other students were going through because it offered validation and solutions to the problems I was experiencing. Furthermore, all of the course’s instructional materials were available through the network, so I had answers to my questions right at my finger tips without having to waste time searching through Google or YouTube to find the information that I needed.

Each of the software applications covered in the class was free and I cannot stress how meaningful that is from the point of view of a teacher in this current economy. I think most teachers would agree with me that it is a worrying time to be teaching. We have to worry not only about our main duty of educating our students, but all we hear about is budget cuts and layoffs. If nothing else, there is definitely an attitude of doing more with less and that is why learning all of these different free software applications is so valuable. It will not only benefit me, but I can pass all of this information on to my students as well, without having to get budget approval.