Great Expectations...

Great Expectations...

Some of my expectations for this online ETEC course have already been exceeded. Having just completed a different online ETEC course last semester with the same excellent Professor, I expected that we would be using Wikipages and Trello again. Instead, we are using Google sites and Google docs. 

I am not sure whether it is the technology or not but, this semester's course material seems very well laid out. It seems much better organized than last semester's material. Most importantly, because of this better seeming organization, the material seems easier to follow. This even higher than last time level of organization was beyond my expectations.

There also seems to be more information available and with that additional information, more guidance too. I particularly appreciate the availability of the very informative page entitled "Writing a reflective blog." I expect with the guidance it provides I will be able to do a much better job this semester than I did last semester in the blog writing department. This edge over last semester was also beyond my expectations.

Having just spoken about the course material's presentation it seems only natural to address the course content and to speak about my expectations regarding it. I expect that the material will challenge and amaze me. The tools (both mobile applications and web 2.0) that we will work with and learn about are sure to impress, amaze, and depress me! 

You should be able to guess why these tools will impress and amaze me. What might be more challenging to figure out is why they might also depress me. Well, I am going to tell you. When Dr. Bert's assignments and readings direct and expose me to what I like to think of as "new age" tools, I immediately start to think of ways that I can apply them to both my personal and my professional lives. That is where the rub, or rather the depression, starts.

I teach at a community college. I love teaching there. It is a very challenging and also a very rewarding way to make a living. However, when it comes to teaching course content it really seems that technology is not my friend. The more I try to incorporate technology, no matter how logical and simple it seems to me, the more precious  face-to-face time I have to direct away from course content and redirect towards teaching that technology.

No matter how wonderful and powerful the educational tools of the emerging trends are, if I cannot get my students to understand them and utilize them to their benefit, they are useless. The difficulty I face when introducing my students to not just new and emerging technology but even old school technology is depressing. 

Be that as it may, I am a stubborn person. I do not give up. While I do get depressed by the overwhelmingly bad odds, I do not give up. 

I expect that Dr. Bert, like he did last semester, is going to introduce me to new educational tools and is going to guide me through application and practice to a level of understanding that will allow me to not only break the chains of depression but also allow me the opportunity to figure out how to bring the best and most suitable emerging educational technologies into my classrooms.

In conclusion, I expect to be challenged again by the readings and the assignments that Dr. Bert is going to give us in this course. I also expect that the material will guide me as a learner to a new level of enlightenment. I only hope that I will be able to partake of enough of the proffered information and wisdom to be able to figure out how to successfully get the appropriate tools into the hands of my own students.