Tonight was the MAIT Showcase, and I am very happy for being able to attend. It was great to see the MAIT graduate students presenting their Capstone, as well as to see former classmates from my first semester in Graduate School. In addition, it was good to see members of the faculty and staff, as well as family members, who also took the time to be there to support those who were presenting.
There was a great variety of projects and each of them was unique in their subject. I personally liked Tim Garufi's Database for Mathematics, which can identify the specific areas in which students need help with their NJ testing. I had the opportunity to cross a few words with Mr. Garufi after the presentation. Stacia, a graduate student who will be presenting her Capstone in the next couple of semesters, also liked her presentation. So, we had to let him know. As a matter of fact, I believe plenty liked his idea. I was talking with Audrea, and she actually was very interested on his idea as well. Unfortunately, she didn't have the opportunity to talk to him, but I am sure she will let him know via e-mail. Another project that I liked was ArtiTech, which was presented by Teri Gragg. The presentation of her project was very interesting and fun to watch. The music and the participation of the kids gave to her project great life. In addition, James Wilkinson's Online Science Resource was very good too. I believe it is a great tool to help those students who are absent to catch up, as well as to all of them in general to go back for future reference and to study. Finally, I liked the Digital Writing Portfolios with Google Docs, presented by Melissa Knoff. I consider it a very "Go Green" project and that is a plus. Just the fact that an immense amount of paper can be eliminated saving many, many trees is certainly very eco-friendly. So, her idea, besides accomplishing the goal of helping students and teachers with the writing of documents and grading, it also helps to have less paper around them.
Good job for ALL of the presenters and good luck with their future endeavors.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
The End of The Road: A Road Full of Laugh, Tears, Adventure, New Babies, and Matches....
I cannot believe it is over! It seems it was the other day when we were in the classroom getting to know eachother and finding out what to expect from our Introduction to Instructional Technology class. Well, I have to say that it has been a pleasure to meet all of you and that the class indeed meet my expectations. I learned a lot from all of your presentations and it has been very helpful to me.
I remember that at the beginning of the semester I said that I didn't know the majority of the terms that were listed on the syllabus. I am glad to say that is not the case today. I am so happy with all the things that I was able to learn during the semester. The tool times and comments of my classmates were very educative. There were things that I truly enjoyed and wanted to learn right away, for example, Prezi, Socrative, Windows Movie Maker, Google Reader, Blogs, and Wikis. As a matter of fact, I even used some of them for a couple of the activities for this class, and I am sure I would be using more for other classes and even for my personal life.
Yes, it had been a great learning experiece. It has also been a semester of laughs, I am sure we all remember the jokes and how histerical were some of our students...did I say Melissa? It has also been a semester of blessings and new life. We cannot forget Angela's new baby. The semester was also filled with adventures. Who is going to forget Melissa's dates? Oh, and the Hot Stuff, it had been a semester of Matches. YES! I said Matches, which some people who know me very well would find kind of odd that I am even talking about it because I have never believe on it. However, based on the experience of one of my classmates, and of course, I will mention her name, but please keep it as a secret, Audrea. I am very happy for her and I wish both of them the best. Of course these were things that made us laugh and had a good time, but there were also things that happened that made us even cry. We cannot forget Steven Job's dead. Also, when Kathy was hospitalized. And, the situation with my dad.
It had been a very thought semester for me. I started off so happy and energetic, but then when I thought I have everything under control, the inevitable happened. The situation with my dad was something that truly affected me a great deal. It did at home, at work, and of course, at school. I felt frustruated, and that is a feeling that I don't like to feel. Today, I look back, and I think that we can do the best we can to have a comfortable and happy life, but also that there are situations that are out of our control that can influence negatively all the good things that we have in our hand. However, it is on "us" to make a stop, take a big breath, and think about what it really matters. My phylosofy is that there are always people that are in a worse situation than me. I have two healthy, beautiful, and amazing daughters; I have a great job, very good benefits, a house, a car, and some people around me who truly care for me. All of these things is what I use as fuel to keep up moving forward. If I could done it better? Absolutely! Life is a learning experience and there is nothing better than learning from our mistakes and the experiences of others.
This is It! But I am sure we will be around. Some of us might be taking classes together again. Some of us might bomp into eachother in the hallways, or at a store, or at a wedding...did I say wedding? Anyhow, the most important thing is that we will always remember what a great class we were and we will be there for any of us if needed.
Happy Holidays!
Johana
I remember that at the beginning of the semester I said that I didn't know the majority of the terms that were listed on the syllabus. I am glad to say that is not the case today. I am so happy with all the things that I was able to learn during the semester. The tool times and comments of my classmates were very educative. There were things that I truly enjoyed and wanted to learn right away, for example, Prezi, Socrative, Windows Movie Maker, Google Reader, Blogs, and Wikis. As a matter of fact, I even used some of them for a couple of the activities for this class, and I am sure I would be using more for other classes and even for my personal life.
Yes, it had been a great learning experiece. It has also been a semester of laughs, I am sure we all remember the jokes and how histerical were some of our students...did I say Melissa? It has also been a semester of blessings and new life. We cannot forget Angela's new baby. The semester was also filled with adventures. Who is going to forget Melissa's dates? Oh, and the Hot Stuff, it had been a semester of Matches. YES! I said Matches, which some people who know me very well would find kind of odd that I am even talking about it because I have never believe on it. However, based on the experience of one of my classmates, and of course, I will mention her name, but please keep it as a secret, Audrea. I am very happy for her and I wish both of them the best. Of course these were things that made us laugh and had a good time, but there were also things that happened that made us even cry. We cannot forget Steven Job's dead. Also, when Kathy was hospitalized. And, the situation with my dad.
It had been a very thought semester for me. I started off so happy and energetic, but then when I thought I have everything under control, the inevitable happened. The situation with my dad was something that truly affected me a great deal. It did at home, at work, and of course, at school. I felt frustruated, and that is a feeling that I don't like to feel. Today, I look back, and I think that we can do the best we can to have a comfortable and happy life, but also that there are situations that are out of our control that can influence negatively all the good things that we have in our hand. However, it is on "us" to make a stop, take a big breath, and think about what it really matters. My phylosofy is that there are always people that are in a worse situation than me. I have two healthy, beautiful, and amazing daughters; I have a great job, very good benefits, a house, a car, and some people around me who truly care for me. All of these things is what I use as fuel to keep up moving forward. If I could done it better? Absolutely! Life is a learning experience and there is nothing better than learning from our mistakes and the experiences of others.
This is It! But I am sure we will be around. Some of us might be taking classes together again. Some of us might bomp into eachother in the hallways, or at a store, or at a wedding...did I say wedding? Anyhow, the most important thing is that we will always remember what a great class we were and we will be there for any of us if needed.
Happy Holidays!
Johana
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