Frustration

I am sitting at my table surrounded by books about HTML, blogging, web sites, etc. I have a pile of CD's sitting there waiting to be downloaded into iTunes to try yet again to make a podcast with music. I have Camtasia and Expression Web sitting on my hard drive waiting to be made into a movie. And I find myself experiencing an overwhelming sense of being sucked into a pit of quicksand.

I'm not used to "not getting it" in classes. Usually classwork comes fairly easily and in most of my classes so far, the 'product' has been a paper or a Power Point presentation, both of which I can whip out fairly quickly.

This class reminds me of my first chemistry class in high school. I kept struggling with trying to understand the concepts and feeling totally lost. My teacher told me one day that I needed to give up on trying to understand chemistry at this level - I just needed to memorize the formulas, do the work and at some point, if I kept taking chemistry classes, there would come a moment when it would start to make sense. Unfortunately, there aren't really formulas to memorize in this class and to make the computer do what I want it to do, I do need a certain understanding of what I need to do to make it do whatever I'm working on. I don't have years to take classes until I finally understand, I need to make a movie by next week and a website by the end of class and I'm about 4 podcasts behind.

I came to the conclusion today that I need a tutor. Someone who I can pay to show me - hands on- how to do all of these tasks and who can show me over and over until it starts to make sense. Tomorrow (Monday) I will start my quest for this person. I have no idea if PSU has a place where students look for jobs but if so, I will start there. My son suggested a website called meetup.com where people with common interests can hook up on line and if they feel comfortable doing so, they meet in the real world. So wish me luck in my quest. I may pass this class, I may not but I want to try everything I can before giving up.

My trip to Aaron's office

Trip to Aarons office

My trip to Aaron's office

My Trip to Aaron's Office

Aaron's help

I met with Aaron on Thursday and he walked me through podcasting slowly and patiently. I am very excited to believe that I now understand how to put together and post a podcast. We'll see since I'll be downloading some CD's and recording the audio and music in just a short while. I have the next three days off to work on this class: podcasting and HTML. Getting my website for my training project up and running seems overwhelming and may well end up with me asking Aaron for more of his time.

The funny thing about all of this is that I spent most of last quarter in two classes where I focused my attention on access for students. I work in a prison where access to most educational opportunities are non existent. In program I work, we are preparing a group of 50+ women to return to their communities in the hopes of their learning of skills to not return to prison. About 30 of these women will be early release or AIP (Alternative Incarceration Program -I'm not sure if that's what P stand for but it's something like that). We have to be as sure as possible that these women in AIP are ready to return to society in some cases 2 or 3 years before they would normally release. Few of these women will have the money to return to a college program (and that's assuming they were able to earn their GED while in prison) Without a college education, most of these women will be stuck with a job without a living wage, without insurance or other benefits and without a future. Indiscussing access, I kept coming back to on-line programs for college and even GED/Adult Basic Education.

With this in mind, I have decided that what I'd like to pursue is the ability to create and manage these types of classes and training opportunities as a profession. I have no idea if I'll be able to learn what I need to learn to make this happen. I'm certainly behind the curve computer wise. Luckily, during the course of my studies at PSU, I've met some phenomenal faculty who I truly believe will be able to guide me in the right direction. Including honestly telling me if at some point they realize that computer work is not ever going to be my forte. So, we'll see. Maybe someday you or someone you know will be taking an on-line course and see that it was developed by me. You can say you knew me when ; )

Podcast 3

Podcast 3

Podcast 2

Second Podcast

test podcast

My Podcast

Help

Michael and Tom

I am really struggling with this class - I can't figure out how to get the podcast onto the blog, I can't figure out how to get Auduacity to recognize mp3 files, etc. etc. I need help. I commented on one of Michael's blogs that I'd be willing to pay either of you tutor rates(whatever they are) to help me get this figured out. PSU doesn't have a computer help program that helps with this extensive of issues so I need someone who knows how to do these things. I'd prefer to meet at my house so we can do this on my PC but I'm willing to meet anywhere since I can bring my laptop and just use it for the rest of class. Please let me know if either of you would be willing to help out. I'd really like to figure this out because once I figure it out, it will start to make sense and it will be a tool that I'll use in my work.

thanks for thinking about it
Bev

Blogging and On-Line Training

I'm currently taking a course that is totally on line concurrent with this class. One thing that I am learning from this eperience is that it is much more difficult to explain things through e-mails, discussion boards and blogs. Without that immediate person to person response, there is more room for misunderstanding both of course content and of the feelings behind a postl I know that in this class we are learning the nuts and bolts of how to build an on line training. We are learning the tools of the trade. I also know that you guys have had experience using on line training in the "real world". How do you accomodate for the increased need for clarity? It's impossible to plan for every contingency but if all of your contact with your students is on line, how do you keep a grasp of the group pulse, how do you assess who has special needs or who isn't 'getting' it? I teach in a classroom where I see and talk to my students every day. One of them can walk into the room and I can see that they are depressed or agitated and adjust accordiingly. Last quarter I took Adult Learning and Motivation and we learned about the need for adult learners to be heard, to be an active part of their learning environment. I'd be interested to hear your experiences with building community using only on line tools. What challenges have you run into, what areas have been successful and why. I'd really appreciate looking beyond the technical tools and hearing your experiences of building community. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you have.

First Blog Homework Assignment

Hi Fellow Classmates. I took a look at some of the websites that Aaron had linked on his blog and got off on an interesting topic of the differences between copying someone's webpage layout or using it for an inspiration. This led me to an article at: http://creativecurio/2008/06/become-a-better-designer-by-copying-successful-design

The gist of the article is a combination of go ahead and copy great designs and add your own touches to make them even better. Since I've never built a website before, it's helpful to think of taking a look at how websites that I use are laid out. Getting ideas from the 'pros' seems like the way to go for now. Obviously, there's a clear distinction between layout and content. I would imagine that major websites (even small ones the more I think about it) have some type of copyright? Or is the web mostly a free for all?

Anyway, it will be very useful to browse through other websites before I try to design one of my own for this class.

I hope you'll all out enjoying the sunshine! See you on Monday.
Bev

Kill'n computers

My Podcast

First Day of Class

Starting something new is often an intimidating proposition. When I chose to participate in the Building On-Line Training class, my fears were mainly around getting in over my head. I use computers mainly for e-mail, browsing the web and word processing. What am I doing learning things like HTML.

My hopes for this class include building an on-line training for my co-workers across Oregon. I'd also like to know how to develop an on-line class for the inmates who have released from prison through our new LIFT program. Imagine if these inmates could complete an after care program from their local library. That would be sweet.