The Final!

My ED Final Portfolio:

This portion of my website is basically a summary of my ED517 class. Okay, well, I confess, it's actually an assignment. It's designed to reflect on what we, as the students, have accomplished over the past several weeks. In short, it's a summary of previous assignments, aka a "Class Portfolio." The objective is to create a file which links to my four favorite ED 517 projects, and supply a personal reflection as to why the assignment was one of my favorites and what I learned during the creation of that assigment. So here goes...

Microsoft Word Resume Assigment
The purpose of this assigment was to create a word processing file that acts as a resume. It's not a normal resume, though, as we were to add all sorts of bells and whistles. Please keep in mind that I would never actually submit a resume like this to potential employers, but it was really neat to learn lots of graphics, links, and other fun features. I would imagine that it's purpose was to familiarize ourselves with these neat tricks in a basic word processing format, as we would use similar tools in other assigments later in the course. This assignment was one of my favorites because it allowed me to use a piece that I had already created and jazz it up a bit. I learned lots of cool ways to make a MS Word document above average.

Group Wiki
The purpose of this assigment was not only to get to know our classmates a little better, but to become familiar with and create our own, original Wiki, which is why it was chosen as one of my favorites. It's always fun to work in a group, and doing it all online with people you've never met certainly adds a whole new dynamic. A wiki is basically a collaborative website that can be edited by anyone who has access to it-a fact that truly amazed me, as this could happen without users registering or securing permission. In summary, I guess wikis have the potential for both good and bad. The integrity of the self published information depends on the users ability to judge the source.

Inspiration Concept Map
I love it when I can use technology to help me do something I'm already doing, only better. Such is the case with Inspiration-a program that was completely new to me, and thus this assigment quickly became another favorite. The Inspiration software makes it a lot easier for say, a student, to get their thoughts down. By using the RapidFire button, students can add topics and symbols quickly and easily without having to create each one individually. This allows them to concentrate more on ideas and concepts rather than on which symbol to use.

Personal Web Page
I've always wanted to create a web page, but I've always been too intimidated to actually do it. Thanks to John for making me take the leap :). I liked this project because it's something I was actually excited to learn. Therefore, I can't complain about the Nvu program because I've never experienced anything like it. What I can do, is compare it to creating our Blogs, in which case I liked Nvu more because I thought the program was more user-friendly and easier to figure out. Also, Nvu is compatible with all kinds of operating systems, and therefore is becoming increasingly popular. And, it's free, something that I love.

To summarize, thank you to John McCullough and my fellow members of ED517. I'm extremely grateful for this experience, and look forward to adding these new concepts to my teacher toolbag. It's truly been a pleasure.