I began this week rested and optimistic. I went to class on Monday and my hybrid course continued crystallizing in my mind’s eye. On Wednesday when I met with Charlene, I handed her the first attempt to write the needed learning outcomes. She didn’t seem too impressed; but it was just a first attempt to comprehend what was needed. After I emailed them to Robin my mentor, she gave me a few lessons on writing them that I found absolutely helpful. It was very hard to look at fifty learning outcomes and condense them into 5-6. Also, I did not get the textbook soon enough to read it before classes started. This hindered my knowledge of what the textbook was offering to the learner and the instructors on campus. Most of the outcomes were based on the textbook’s chapter readings and tasks.
After I met with Charlene on Wednesday, I attended the training on how to use Bb Vista and found I had learned far more than I thought. This fact reinforced my confidence and I began tackling both the learning outcomes and my ePortfolio. I needed a tutorial to place in the website. So, I downloaded Camtasia and made my first two minute and fifty-four second recording. I began to edit my website with a renewed belief in myself and have ironed out a lot of problems. The road blocks that had bothered me last week didn’t even come close to slowing me down this week.
The next chore on my plate was creating an Elluminate/Collaborate session for my meeting with Robin on Tuesday of next week. It was relatively easy to do, since I used the application in my first course for my certification. When we meet to iron out the issues we have on Bb Vista, we will visit the Elluminate/Collaborate session to see if it works. I bought a new laptop and will have to take it over to the N building to have it hooked up for accessing the wireless system at Bellevue College. Other than that, I think it is good to go.
My next task is to begin loading chapter and module information in the Bb Vista shell. When it comes time to load content for the course some of the tasks will already be done. To insure that the pictures I use in Bb Vista are not under copyright law, I have contacted a friend of mine from North Carolina. She used to work with me at T-Mobile in Coal Creek. She is taking a series of Criminal Justice pictures and will release them to me with unlimited restrictions along with her permission to use those photos on Bb Vista and my website. My grand-daughter is a photographer too. I was going to ask her if she could do these pictures for me; but she starts school in November.
My next step will be putting a request in to the techs at Bellevue College, in order to get the sizing of the pictures for the applications and modules in Bb Vista. I want to create something that has not been used before and is easily recognizable in the Criminal Justice field. I am rather excited to have this project under way. Tasha is a great photographer and artist and has her own website. I highly recommend her work to anyone who wants to buy her creations. She is a painter and can draw a mean picture as well.
This week, I will be going on a job interview to possibly work weekends in a flower shop to support myself while in this internship. My unemployment benefits have been exhausted. I have until the end of the winter quarter before I finish this last phase of my learning experience, with the possibility of extending my internship into spring quarter. I do not know where all of this will lead me. I am just taking it step by step and savoring the moment.
I am including two videos I think tell the story of how I accomplished the task of writing outcomes and putting information into my website ePortfolio. It explains why people with ePortfolios are ahead of the game.
JOYSTECHTOOL 