Looking back, this semester (month) has been the hardest thing I have ever done. Normally I have no problem keeping up in classes, however, working almost 35 hours a week, doing an unpaid internship and helping Verbus with his new company (including making a website, designing course materials, marketing, etc) has taken away some of the attention I would have liked to give this class
However, that's not to say I didn't learn anything. In fact, teaching the course with Verbus while in this course gave me a real world project that I could have never gotten just by taking this class by itself. Easily I have learned more from this class than I have my entire time in TSTM. 444 really didn't mean much to me - I never really saw how it was relevant. However, this course, combined with the teaching I did, helped to bring it all together. A good example is after I first learned about the design cycle I thought "Who cares?"... I do all of this stuff anyways without thinking about it. It wasn't until I started with my class design that I realized that breaking this stuff down, while it may add more work, is essential if you want to provide a good course.
I've also enjoyed working with my classmates on this. There have been many classes I've taken where I felt like I was surrounded by idiots. Not this class - it was a pretty smart group. The discussions we had in class and online were very beneficial to everyone's learning I think
So, thank you Dr. Keane, and everyone else in the class. I graduate in 38 days (but who's counting?) and its been a fun ride. Thank you to everyone!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Blog 6: Developing a course
I had mentioned last week that I would start talking about my teaching experiences. We haven't had another class yet, however, I have been preparing for the next classes that will begin soon. I am currently scheduled to teach a Linux administration course in 2 weeks, a course in the Python programming language at the end of next month, and C++ in August.
The most important thing we picked up from doing the dry run on the Linux course was that we had to make all of the segments more modular. As it was, we had parts of our course running together and it made it very difficult for the students to distinguish these parts from each other. I've decided to break it down more, with each topic getting a short presentation followed by 45 minutes of hands on exercise. This will keep the students from losing attention during lectures and will also give the instructors time to prepare for their next presentation
The most important thing we picked up from doing the dry run on the Linux course was that we had to make all of the segments more modular. As it was, we had parts of our course running together and it made it very difficult for the students to distinguish these parts from each other. I've decided to break it down more, with each topic getting a short presentation followed by 45 minutes of hands on exercise. This will keep the students from losing attention during lectures and will also give the instructors time to prepare for their next presentation
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Blog 5: Evaluation
In part 4 we have started to learn about different forms of evaluation. In the course I taught last week, I used these techniques throughout the course
Technically the entire class was a form of formative evaluation - it was a pilot course. After the first day we knew the style in which we prepared to teach would not work for this course. We had prepared to lecture for the first half (first 3 hours) and do hands on the next 3. I knew this wouldn't be a good idea, but the other instructor insisted on it so I let him find it out for himself. We mixed it up a little bit for the remaining days, but I still feel we were a little too lecture heavy
For the summative evaluation, we had the group provide us with written feedback (we really should have done evaluation similar to how USC does it). We took this feedback and made changes to the course. One thing that was repeatedly stated was that we needed some form of lab sheets, as I had done on the last day. We will implement those on all days of the actual course.
Technically the entire class was a form of formative evaluation - it was a pilot course. After the first day we knew the style in which we prepared to teach would not work for this course. We had prepared to lecture for the first half (first 3 hours) and do hands on the next 3. I knew this wouldn't be a good idea, but the other instructor insisted on it so I let him find it out for himself. We mixed it up a little bit for the remaining days, but I still feel we were a little too lecture heavy
For the summative evaluation, we had the group provide us with written feedback (we really should have done evaluation similar to how USC does it). We took this feedback and made changes to the course. One thing that was repeatedly stated was that we needed some form of lab sheets, as I had done on the last day. We will implement those on all days of the actual course.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Blog 4: Teaching experiences
I haven't posted anything the last week because I was teaching a course at the Benedict Business Development Center. The course was on "Administering Ubuntu Server," and we taught on it for 1 week. The classes lasted from 9AM - 4PM, however I was leaving at 12 for this class. The class was a pilot class for a new series of classes being offered by Verbus Counts' new company - Pal-Med-Tech. Starting the middle of next month we will be offering courses on Ubuntu Server, C++, Ruby, and Python. I will be responsible for assisting on the Ubuntu Server class, and I will be the main instructor for the C++ course.
Teaching this pilot course was a great learning experience. Myself and the other instructor knew a great deal about the technology, but the teaching portion was something mostly new for us (I taught a lab for Dr.Norris' 343 course in Walterboro last year, but that was only 1 day per week). I was fortunate taking this class - I was able to apply many of the concepts from 444 and 544 to this class. As I'm preparing to teach the C++ course (starting on August 24th), I'm sure I will update on this blog what else I learn
Teaching this pilot course was a great learning experience. Myself and the other instructor knew a great deal about the technology, but the teaching portion was something mostly new for us (I taught a lab for Dr.Norris' 343 course in Walterboro last year, but that was only 1 day per week). I was fortunate taking this class - I was able to apply many of the concepts from 444 and 544 to this class. As I'm preparing to teach the C++ course (starting on August 24th), I'm sure I will update on this blog what else I learn
Friday, June 12, 2009
Blog 3: Open Source software
Yesterday in class someone posed the question "Why do people release this software for free?" Open source is something I feel very strongly about, but I couldn't quite put into words why it even existed.
Although the free software movement did not 'officially' start until 1983, open source software has been around for as long as computers have. The idea of sharing your code in order for other programmers to improve it has been an integral idea behind software development for decades. Many developers of open source hold down a full time job - they view open source as a hobby. Others work for universities and receive grants in order to create new systems and improve existing ones. Some companies sell support for open source software, like Red Hat Linux, in order to cover costs of developing it. In order to be allowed to redistribute Linux, they MUST release the software for free and the source code along with it under the GNU license(Linux nerds like recursive acronyms, GNU stands for 'GNU's Not Unix').
Open source is an idea - its the belief that software should be open, available, and free. The users of open source software are its developers as well. You may not know it, but if you use open source and find a bug and then email the developers or post on a message board, you are part of the development team. This idea keeps us moving forward, even when commercial software like Windows and Office dominate the market
Although the free software movement did not 'officially' start until 1983, open source software has been around for as long as computers have. The idea of sharing your code in order for other programmers to improve it has been an integral idea behind software development for decades. Many developers of open source hold down a full time job - they view open source as a hobby. Others work for universities and receive grants in order to create new systems and improve existing ones. Some companies sell support for open source software, like Red Hat Linux, in order to cover costs of developing it. In order to be allowed to redistribute Linux, they MUST release the software for free and the source code along with it under the GNU license(Linux nerds like recursive acronyms, GNU stands for 'GNU's Not Unix').
Open source is an idea - its the belief that software should be open, available, and free. The users of open source software are its developers as well. You may not know it, but if you use open source and find a bug and then email the developers or post on a message board, you are part of the development team. This idea keeps us moving forward, even when commercial software like Windows and Office dominate the market
Monday, June 8, 2009
Blog 2: Open Source Software
We have been discussing open source software that we would like to instruct users on. Luckily, I've had the benefit of working on an internship that has given me some hand's on experience with some of the software I recommended.
1. SugarCRM is a great piece of software. I haven't used it as much as I would like, but it is a software that keeps track of customer relations. I don't know how much it would apply to teachers, but it could be used in more creative ways to manage students.
2. Redmine is a project management and collaboration software. Its really nice and easy to use. Could help collaboration between teachers, or even between students for group projects
3. MediaWiki is a wiki software that enables the uploading of pictures and other rich content. This could DEFINITELY be used by teachers.
4. Drupal is a framework for quickly designing websites. This could be used to develop a page for the class or students could use it to make pages for their projects
These pieces of software are really well designed and fully take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies. Redmine runs on Ruby on Rails, and the other 3 use PHP. I would highly recommend these for anyone who needs to do any of those things
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Blog 1: Personal Knowledge Management
I have been reading an article (very long article) by William Sheridan called 'How to Think Like a Knowledge Worker.' This article discusses personal knowledge management and also learning methods. I will probably make several entries on this article, primarily because I'm interested in it, but also because I am writing a research paper on it, and some of the stuff in it relates to this class.
The book emphasizes not on what to think, but how to think. What this means is that the book attempts to teach the reader how to deal with issues. To do this, the author encourages the reader to gain an epistemological advantage. What this means is that you can blend the three forms of epistemology: empiricism (observe the facts), rationalism (think things through), and constructivism (formulating ideas). If these things are combined you can be an effective thinker.
There is also the concept of ontology - the concepts of materialism, idealism, and behaviourism. If you can combine all 3 of these, then you can have an ontological advantage. If you can bring everything together, you will be a reflective practitioner.
All of this seems to be similar to what this class encourages (and in general, what the entire TSTM program encourages). I'll be continuing to read from this article and will be posting more feedback on it.
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