Teach, Music, Travel

This semester has given great insight into how to use tools to create engaging and interactive learning!  

 It's interesting how I began the semester focused on a specific topic: teaching music and social media. Over time, this morphed into my future focus, instructional design. I became less interested in how I would have implemented tools and more interested in how I will use these tools in the future. I believe this has to do with the change of my mindset this first semester. Being new to the business world, most of my experience was in music education (7 years) and so it had been deeply instilled in me as to how I view the world from the lens of a teacher and musician. However, I have begun to look at the world through the eyes of an instructional designer. This shift occurred about half-way through this semester. I now look to the future and will take with me all that I have learned. I am excited to see how I will use these tools for collaboration and learning when working with training. Everyone loves creativity in the workplace as it makes work and learning much more engaging. It...

One of the most helpful sites that have been shared this semester is the list of all of the tools we have covered. I will be referring to this list in future projects as it is highly extensive and is 2.0 tools "greatest hits". I also transferred this information into a Google Sheets doc, and you can see the document here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GjKvQMPzY2jCb3LLhakuVGafDuRvvZezxkOhQihQREo/edit?usp=sharing I added two sections, one that includes a description of the intended use and one if a free version is available. I would have liked to include even more details, but feel this is a great reference tool to look up quickly a tool that will work as a solution to whatever problem I have.

So far I have completed two papers and have four more to go by Wednesday. Going to be in full speed mode in the next few days. Looking back on this semester, I can see how much I have grown and expanded my knowledge in instructional design and 2.0 tools.  I am very grateful for this class as it has introduced me to tools that I was not familiar with, and that can be woven into my instruction courses with adults. I also have a background in teaching K-12, and should I enter the classroom again, I will be well-versed in those tools available. Another thing that I have become aware of is the importance of virtual interaction through networks and communities. It is a great way today to reach and interact with people with similar interests. I see social media as becoming more and more present as time goes by, and there are surely more tools to be developed that have not yet been explored.  Thank you Dr. Dennen for this unique learning experience!

 Completed the presentation and weaving together my 2.0 tools. Decided to go with Trello and Padlet. Still need to create examples of this and pump out reflection paper. Wish me luck! Finished another 10 page paper today for another class, and hoping to get even more work done for my other classes.

 I can officially say this week has been keeping me crazy busy with assignments. Being enrolled full-time has definitely been an intense experience, but I am finding this last week is a bit overwhelming. I have had a lot of big projects due for each course, and not only one but in some instances, multiple. I am working everyday, all day this week and hoping to see an end in sight soon!  I am grateful for everything I have learned this semester, despite it's intensity. I believe each course I am involved in has brought significant insight into my future work as an instructional designer. This course in-particular has offered new tools that I didn't know exist and how they can be used to encourage the interaction between learners in an educational setting.  I will most definitely be carrying these forward into my future endeavors as creative ways to increase learning and training.

 Today I had my first interview for a training and development position with an inside sales company called N3 that is based in Atlanta, GA. They are searching for someone to join their training team in order to develop training materials for employees and hold live and interactive training sessions. While I am not sure if I have made it to the second round or not, it was explained to me as a demonstration combining technology with sales acumen. This could take the form as a sales training with supplemental technology involved or a technology taught with references to sales. An example that was shared with me would be presenting a cloud computing tool and what client objectives may occur and how to handle them. As I feel this is a good exercise to help build my portfolio, I want to design this for my produsage project and intertwine the use of social media tools. The plan is to use 2.0 tools to support learning and encourage collaboration with trainees. I would like to create somet...

 I have been thinking about what to do for my produsage project, and believe my original idea at the beginning of the semester has now shifted. I am thinking about my future work as an Instructional Designer for companies, and want to combine my experience with 2.0 learning with a topic that may be relevant to what I will have to do in the real world. I think this may also help me in creating a portfolio for potential employers.

 I thoroughly enjoyed listening to everyone's knowledge sharing and tracking assignments. It was so interesting to hear about the various platforms that everyone was using and the materials that they chose to share. I also learned a lot from their analytics and how everyone went through the process of collecting data. A tool that was used that I found interesting was Miro Board, by Rula Deiranieh. I thought this was a great tool to use to share content with others, and exposed me to something new! It was interesting to see how this online "white board" tool can be used to be shared via Twitter. I can see myself using something like this in a presentation and then sharing it later via social media through a link. Another presentation I enjoyed seeing was Nicole's regarding her service dog Apollo. Her insight on the types of posts that gain attention was very valuable. I also just loved seeing her adorable dog! There were so many diverse and interesting topics this roun...

  Things are going great with our new puppy Loki. He is full of love for fellow puppies and humans. His favorite spot right now is the dog park, where we are able to meet lots of new people from the neighborhood. I also love how he gives so much back to me in terms of socialization and keeping me on a schedule. He is my first dog, and I would say the hardest part for us has been the potty training. Loki can wait all night, but it is getting him used to going outside that is the hard part!  Also, unfortunately this week, my boyfriend and I came down with Covid. We are both vaccinated, but tested positive yesterday. This means that we are both in isolation for the next 14 days. I am okay with this as I have been working from home, but my boyfriend is used to going to work everyday and they have asked him to stay home. The plus side is he has been able to devote a lot of time to Loki. We are in a one-bedroom apartment and hope we don't feel too crowded the next 14 days!