Journal Entry #5!!!!!!!

1. Group work: was it a positive or negative experience? Summarize your experiences working in your group.

Very positive experience! My group worked well together on our project, was great for clarifying other individual projects, and venting about the life of a working graduate student! I can't really say more. We had a wonderful semester working together. I don't know how I would've gotten through without them!

2. Your complaints (a.k.a. whining): looking back, did you have a real reason to complain? Was it about something you could solve? Was it finally solved?

Well, looking back I pretty much complained (whined) about all of the major assignments. I guess I feel as though I did and did not have reason to complain. It is always an issue of time, and although I feel like a graduate level class should be challenging and rigorous, I also feel like there is a lot of time-consuming parts of assignments that are unnecessary to get the importance out of them. I feel sometimes that these major projects are set-up to keep us "busy" and not to really help us necessarily learn more than we would have another way. For example, if we want to use the Intel tools for the PBL, great, but let's only use the tools and not also have to do the other parts as well. We created so many concept maps this semester that my brain was spinning.

3. Triumphs and challenges working in the online environment: after everything is said and done, what is your final evaluation of taking a course in an online environment? How did it affect (or not) your learning and your interactions with the instructor and other students?

Well, this was the first term that I took both an online and in-person graduate course. The experiences were VERY different. Both good and not-so-good. This was also the first semester that I've been teaching full time since starting the program. At this point, I think I might prefer the in-person class. It seems that although you spend a few hours in class, there is about ten times less work outside of class and you are learning just as much. Don't get me wrong, I really learn a ton in my online classes, but the amount of work is so overwhelming, and it often seems like they are set-up to just make you work constantly. I understand it is constructivist and that that means the learner works harder, it is just difficult for a full-time teacher to do so much. For example, I have to finish up my WQ this weekend, and grade 130 tests that take about 5 minutes each. I will probably have to take off work to finish it all. And this is because every other weekday and weekend is also taken up by the other major projects and things that took priority. I will be taking a semester off to regain some momentum and then pick back up in the summer when I have more time to focus on class work. The interactions in the online environment, are actually positive. I discuss more with students via Vista more in the online environment than I ever did in my in-person classes, so that is good! The course is set-up to learn a lot, and I discuss below a little about how I might change some things. I also would like to say that since this is a class to help SECONDARY teachers, I would have liked to see more specific connections to secondary teachers. That is about it! Read on...

4. Were there any factors that enabled or constrained the technology-enhanced PBL process? If so, identify the factors and explain how they constrained or enabled the process.

I guess just as mentioned before, to limit each part to one tool or technology. Choose the Intel tool or a concept map- not both. It just seemed like we were doing the same thing twice. Got the same out of each part, but were doing more work. Just seems unnecessary.


5. Are there any other issues concerning this course that you would like to discuss? If so, please take the time to discuss them here.

I guess I just feel like if we are going to have 2 major projects, and readings (AND moderations), and a 10-page research paper, then we need to take some things out of each part. Maybe take out the implementation of the WQ and just focus on the development of one in this course along with taking out EITHER the Intel tools or the other parts of the assignments that went along with the tools. Like mentioned earlier there is just too much and I feel like it takes away from enjoying what we're learning about. There are other graduate level classes that are a tenth of the work, and you still get a ton out of them. I would just like to see less "busy" work and more in depth learning.