Reflection

The last year of my life has truly been an odessey. I can begin by saying that I have had the opportunity to equip myself with the skills and knowledge to become a Technology Applications Instructor. Initially I had no idea of what to expect as a participant. Many times, as teachers, we think that being involved in a special program just means producing a lesson or two and maybe even a formal research paper, but this was a totally different experience. Becoming an online learner was soemthing I will cherish and build upon for many years to come. It gave me a chance to communicate with other learners and obtain immediate feedback from not only my channel mates, but instructors also. Having access to well trained and accessible instructors made this odessey meaningful and memorable. We always tend to remember positive experiences and this is truly one of them. I will say that this was very tedious at times and it was difficult, but for the most part, having a communication system of several learners with varying levels of experience really provided a resource network in times of trouble.

I have learned and gained so much. I managed to meet several of my goals while maintaining my sanity. The resources I have gained are priceless. I know that I will go on to do great things for my students, my classroom, and my campus. Being able to visualize my accomplishments is even better than I thought it would be. It does help to reflect upon where you started from and where you finally end up. It provides an outlet for frustration and in most cases sighs of relief to know that you are never alone in a situation such as ours.

Standards I-V
When I first heard of these specific standards I basically thought they were just a few introductory references and indicators, but I was truly wrong on that. As I look back and reflect, these standards not only provided a foundation of knowledge, but they also gave me support when attempting to conquer new tasks and assignments. They could not be overlooked in any instance

Standard VII- Desktop Publishing
Desktop Publishing opened my eyes to things I never knew. The average person may see and read print everyday and not realize the process which goes into planning or creating a publication. There are so many options and rules to consider. I am glad that I chose to complete further study of this standard by selecting it as one of my electives. The skills I obtained have so many possible applications for future use. Needless to say, I thought I was an expert before this course only to find out that I was on another planet. This was truly an eye opener.

Standard VIII- Digital Graphics
Digital Graphics wa one of my first courses and I really started out being lost. There were so many principles and other information. I think I felt overwhelemed because I had never studied art before in my life. In this course, the principles and elements of design had to be applied to various projects. Of all the courses, I know that this one in particular was the course that I managed to successfully complete mainly due to the resource network of my online community. There was always help and examples to refer to along with web resources. I aslo came to the revelation in this course that being comfortable with your software program is of major importance.

Standard IX- Multimedia
This is the point at which I was finally getting into the swing of things. I was able to incorporate previous knowledge and apply it in new and innovative formats. I was very comfortable with creating presenations using Powerpoint, but in this course is where I learned to use sound editing techniques and principles. This makes multimedia even more interesting than I thought. I also managed to create one of my nest works in this course which was my Movie Integration Project. This was so much fun and to think I was learning at the same time.

Standard X- Video Technology
This course caused me much grief, not because I was a novice, but the software issues were tremendous. From crashing my computer to capturing issues...I was losing sleep and hair, but I was determined to overcome my obstacles. In all this madness, I still managed to learn so much amongst my chaos and even create an exceptional group and individual project. Now I edit all of my own videos instad of paying mucho denero to other companies.

Standard XI- Web Mastering
By far, Web Mastering was my overall favorite course. My instructor was a web guru and she really helped me to learn so much. I know that her accessiblity during this course was phenomenal. She was able to help me eventhough she lives miles away. I loved the pace of this course and all the trimmings. The techniques and skills I habe learned as a result of my web mastering course may even help me to build my school's first web page. This was a triumphant moment in my TATC odessey.