Week 7 (July 10, 2006)
Well, it’s my last week and it is also amazing how fast time has passed! This week, Suzanne and I finished designing the newsletter and developing and editing the content to fit the newsletter design. Though it sounds easy, I was amazed at how much effort goes into designing and populating newsletters, especially when you are working with a template and are trying to limit the number of pages of your newsletter. In this case, the limit was 4 pages and initially, it seemed as though we had too much content for the space allowed. While I contributed a little to the writing, Suzanne focused on that as I worked on the layout and design as each article was completed. The newsletter is intended to be another source of information for the pICT Fellows in hopes that they will participate in more workshops, webinars, and other pICT facilitated programs.
One bit of information included in the newsletter was a short synopsis of the grant program I helped Suzanne develop. The pICT Fellows were emailed a link to the pICT website containing the details of the grant program. http://pict.sdsu.edu/conferencegrant.doc
We also met with Marc Pastore of ITS to discuss the current status of the PowerPoint Pedagogy modules. Suzanne plans on presenting a specific area (yet to be determined) of this project at a conference in the near future. Though we didn’t get through as much of the project I initially anticipated, mostly due to normal working processes (meetings, drafts, and more meetings), Marc and I did get through two of the three modules we agreed to do, with the exception of narration, which he was going to do after my departure. The rest of the scaled back project is on schedule to be complete by mid to late August.
One last thing Marc, Suzanne and I discussed at this last meeting was how we all felt the internship went for all of us. I think we all unanimously agreed that it was a positive experience for all of us in our respective roles as this was my first experience as an intern and a first experience for both Marc and Suzanne as an intern supervisor. I think my initial expectation of what I could accomplish was a little high and Suzanne and Marc quickly brought me down to reality. It truly is great to see that this field has a tendency more than not to provide for ample “thinking” time, which will ultimately result in a better product and less frustration by the end user. Though I did not have the large product output initially expected, the enriching part of this experience was sitting beside Suzanne and Marc and having them at my disposal to ask questions when I had them and to see how they process the work required of their job. Attending workshops and webinars was also a great part of this internship as it provided another excellent opportunity for learning new things. I gained a tremendous amount of insight into higher education and the challenges SDSU faces in bringing the faculty and lecturers up to modern teaching standards in an effort to enhance their teaching to improve learning. Every time a pICT Fellow came to Suzanne’s office to meet, I couldn’t help but be interested in the subject matter taught by her Fellows. Do you know how many times I wanted to become something else during those two months? There is always something fascinating about occupations held by others, but I only have one life and can’t do it all. For now, I will stick with Educational Technology and see where it takes me!
One bit of information included in the newsletter was a short synopsis of the grant program I helped Suzanne develop. The pICT Fellows were emailed a link to the pICT website containing the details of the grant program. http://pict.sdsu.edu/conferencegrant.doc
We also met with Marc Pastore of ITS to discuss the current status of the PowerPoint Pedagogy modules. Suzanne plans on presenting a specific area (yet to be determined) of this project at a conference in the near future. Though we didn’t get through as much of the project I initially anticipated, mostly due to normal working processes (meetings, drafts, and more meetings), Marc and I did get through two of the three modules we agreed to do, with the exception of narration, which he was going to do after my departure. The rest of the scaled back project is on schedule to be complete by mid to late August.
One last thing Marc, Suzanne and I discussed at this last meeting was how we all felt the internship went for all of us. I think we all unanimously agreed that it was a positive experience for all of us in our respective roles as this was my first experience as an intern and a first experience for both Marc and Suzanne as an intern supervisor. I think my initial expectation of what I could accomplish was a little high and Suzanne and Marc quickly brought me down to reality. It truly is great to see that this field has a tendency more than not to provide for ample “thinking” time, which will ultimately result in a better product and less frustration by the end user. Though I did not have the large product output initially expected, the enriching part of this experience was sitting beside Suzanne and Marc and having them at my disposal to ask questions when I had them and to see how they process the work required of their job. Attending workshops and webinars was also a great part of this internship as it provided another excellent opportunity for learning new things. I gained a tremendous amount of insight into higher education and the challenges SDSU faces in bringing the faculty and lecturers up to modern teaching standards in an effort to enhance their teaching to improve learning. Every time a pICT Fellow came to Suzanne’s office to meet, I couldn’t help but be interested in the subject matter taught by her Fellows. Do you know how many times I wanted to become something else during those two months? There is always something fascinating about occupations held by others, but I only have one life and can’t do it all. For now, I will stick with Educational Technology and see where it takes me!
posted by Deb and Kurt at 7:59 PM
1 Comments:
What a GREAT final entry! You really tied all the pieces together.
I'm please you and the team were able to conduct a final 'debref' ... that doesn't always happen. I'm glad to see that everyone learned from the experience (yes, it's true ... all the learning wasn't on your shoulders!) ... and that "lessons learned" weren't just about "edtec" ... but about process, communication, collaboration, etc.
What a positive note on which to end!
I think you've already seen how "transferable" your edtec skills really are ... to different contexts and situations. That's the "bonus" part of our field, I think -- it's flexibility or adaptability.
And your comment about careers is so astute. That happens to me, too; I listen to others talk about what they do ... and I imagine myself (sometimes quite enviously) in their shoes. Funny how that happens ... even when we truly love what we're already doing!
M.
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