Week 10: The King Has Died. Long Live The King!

It's symbolic that the close of the course coincided with the end of the winter and the beginning of the new life cycle. My sadness, which filled the yawning gap left in place of Final Report writing, gave way to proactive thoughts regarding the implementation of what we've learned. I have already received three invitations to run seminars and one invitation to design a course on Web-Bases resources. I am going to write at least two papers. There are many smaller things on the list. So, no time to look back, we have to look forward. Such is life: the end of one thing is the beginning of another.

Still, while we are within our course, I will focus on your experiences and the course outcome. To say that it was successful is to say nothing. To enumerate the good things about the course will take pages and pages.
I will mention the most instrumental items, such as all the things which are intended to easy administering the studies, such as JupiterGrades, class wiki, rubric, delicious, learning styles tests, LoTi survey (the principle how the resource is built). I might have left out something, but even what I have mentioned can revolutionize the way our teachers work. In the past I wasn't even looking for them, as I didn't think about this application of technology at all ;-)

Another important block is tools to create learning materials. Even is there were nothing but WebQuest, the course would be successful. But there were a lot more superb resources!

And the third, no less important thing was the opportunity to communicate and learn from outstanding. committed colleagues. It's amazing how much some people knew even before the course. It's amazing to see how quickly they learn and how organized they are, fulfilling all the assignments well in advance before they are due. So, as a by-product of this course the improved time management skills can be mentioned.

Work of the Project deserves a special praise. On the one hand, it gently pushed us to the idea that our studies have to trigger a change. Writing the project was a highly useful experience. It was a challenge to bring the message across, and answering questions of my peers I learned, I think, to be more concise and precise.
On the other hand, doing the Project under the umbrella of this course will help me to scale it up. If  I came up with my own initiative to run a Reflective Learning Project,  the administration might turn their deaf ear, as it happened a number of times. But if  I say that it is a Project designed within a course from the University of Oregon and I am obliged to implement it - they will listen ;-)

The Project is evolving well, by the way. Here is the latest post ( I quote it as it is, without corrections):

"I've done exercises on articles that you advised me. And It really works!One test I wrote on 93% and the other with the grade 100. I've made some mistakes in other exercises, but I hope to get rid of them. Hope that the rules I've learnt will stay in my mind for a long time and I won't forget it. Thanks for these tips!"

That's  the most important thing - the students started making progress!


Last but not least, it was highly pleasant to interact with you, my dear friends and with our teachers Jodi and Sherie, who demonstrated their best professional and interpersonal skills. My special thanks go to you.

On Nicenet I mentioned that I am  going to carry on with my On-Line Project. Yuliya asked me what it is about, but I didn't think it was appropriate to override the course and talk about it there.

Next week, our course over, I will open the box and let you see the lamb. Those, who are interested, you are welcome.

Have a nice rest, enjoy spring and stay in touch.

With love,

Val