The end is nigh!

The end of the IOCT is in sight now, I think that I have covered everything that I needed to although the more that I read the more that I doubt myself! I have a few more days before the deadline and I think that I am going to take the same advice as I gave to a co-researcher earlier when I said that it was probably a good idea to have a couple of days break and come back to it with a clear head and a fresher pair of eyes!

I know that I have said it before but I have enjoyed this module and I feel that I have had a useful part to play within the community, I have been helping others out when they have been stuck and I have been able to give advice quickly and effectively, without having to go and look myself before giving my answer.

Having a good knowledge of ICT, has helped me greatly and I have begun to identify ways that I can development them more in the future. I would particularly like to develop my multimedia and web developing skills. I intend to investigate software packages that will help me do this and who knows I may even add them to my Christmas list, but I think a new pair of boots would be better!

I am looking forward to the handing this module in, just because I want to start getting in to the festive spirit and spending some quality time with my husband and children. Although it will feel strange not checking into FirstClass at every spare moment! It will be nice to break up from work and know that my studies are also on holiday! It will also be nice to pick up and read a book without having a notepad, pen and highlighter at the side of me, making notes!

Knowing that the end is in sight makes me feel excited but then I get carried away and I start thinking about the marking and assessment of my modules and I being to panic again, wondering if I have done enough, thinking about what else I should have done, but for the IWS module this panicking is too late, I do hope that I don't spend the Christmas holidays panicking.

Well the first part of this journey is nearly over, and I a step closer to my final destination (well hopefully anyway!)

Kirstie

I Feel Good!

I am surprised that I feel so good with my studies at the moment, but I do, although I'm not too keen on all the late nights and abandonment of my children (with my husband that is!) I am enjoying the sense of achievement that I am experiencing throughout this module.

I have published my first video on YouTube, I never thought that I would do something like that and it's got nothing to do with me making a fool of myself! I have enjoyed the fact that I have felt that I have actually been able to help people and offer support, only earlier was I having an instant messaging conversation with someone, trying to help them work on their web page.

Initially I did have concerns about publishing myself on the Internet, I have since overcome these concerns by looking at it as way to building a stronger, more trusting community by giving my co-researcher information about me so that they can have an understanding of me, and what I am like.

I looked at it this way because of the research that I had done, and trust was mentioned a lot throughout this, and that it was vitally important to the development of a community. So I asked myself how could trust establish without anyone with never meeting them or knowing anything about each other, that is why I chose to share information about myself.

I know that my details on the personal web pages that I have created can be viewed by general public, however I have been very selective in the information that I have shared, giving enough of an insight so that co-researchers can get to know me, but not sharing anything that was too private that could be used for stealing my identity or other not so nice activities!

Personal Webspace

Getting back to studying and focusing now on completing the IOCT module, my next task was to create a personal web space, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to put in it. I have never had the urge to publish anything about myself. The people that I want to know things about me are my family and friends and if I have anything new about myself then I tell them, I don't publish it!

Then I thought about this a little more and I realise that maybe I do publish things about myself, only the other day I updated my thoughts within Facebook and a colleague asked me about it the next day! I had never really thought about updating moods, thoughts and even blogs as publishing yourself on the Internet!

I never thought that I would create a website about myself and although I now have I am glad that I have only given the address to my co-researchers, I don't like thinking that personal details are available for all to see. I know that I didn't have to include my personal details within this web space but I thought that it would give my co-researchers an insight in to me and that this would help us to build a stronger community and friendships, in a way getting to know each other better. I had to remember that I have never met any of my "Class mates" and they nothing about me other than I am on the same degree course as them.

I am now going to look at the rest of activity 4 which is comparing my web pages against others, which I'm not looking forward to, I know that I am not criticising anyone else's web pages but I think that it will be difficult to compare other's work that is personal to them against my own. But who knows maybe when I get into it I will enjoy it, at least I can look at other's web pages and get to know them better in the same way that I would like them to get to know me better.

Eureka!!

Well I can finally say that I have had enough of IWS, I have had to draw a line of this module as I think that I could have gone on forever tweaking and faffing around with it. I guess that I have to learn when enough is enough!

Having said that I have posted my completed module and hopefully I will get some feedback and if anyone does point put anything that is really bad, I will change it, however I hope that I don't have to, I do hope that it is good enough, I do think that I have met the Learning Objective.

I think a well earned drink is in order for the weekend, then I will get cracking with the IOCT module, oh the joys of being a student, I guess that this is what it's going to be like for the next 3 years! Well that is if my work is up to the standard and they don't think that I am too "thick" to be a student!

I am going to have an early night tonight the first one that I have had in weeks! I'm going to try and upload my finished module tomorrow that is that is if I don't have to much changing to do!

I must say good luck to all my co-researchers and thank you for all your support and help over the past few weeks and keep it up please!

Almost done!

Having looked over all the activities that I have had to do for the IWS module I am busy stitching it all together, I'm finding this activity very exciting and interesting as I am reflecting on all the emotions and learning that I have done over the past few weeks and I am now understanding why I have spent so many hours sat in front of my laptop and realising what it has all been for!!

I'm hoping that I am ticking all the criteria that is needed but it's hard to keep it within the maximum word count, I feel that I could ramble on forever about this!

Having said all that it will be good to have closure on this activity and give my full attention to the IOCT module.

I have really enjoyed this module investing my work setting has been very productive and interesting for me, looking in to my organisation, where I am, what I do and the skills that I need and have to enable to have an effective role within my organisation.

I best end it here and get back to my stitching!!

Online Learning Community Charter

I'm working my way through the IOCT activities and I'm currently on Part B - creating a charter, I have enjoyed this activity although at times I have had to stop myself and think about what I'm writing as I have started to repeat myself from what I had written for Part A.

Thinking about the community in which I am learning has made me realise that it is a very special community, with a great wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise. I know that all of these things are going to come in handy over the next 3 years!!

I have written about peer reviews and I realised that although I do give feedback everyday in my job, it is something that I need to work on within the community, not just giving it but also by making sure that it is quality feedback that I give. I need to to follow the rules that I tell my students to.

That it needs to be clear, concise. that they they must acknowledge the effort that the owner has gone to in creating the piece of work, an indication of what they liked about the work and what improvements could be made. We call it "2 PP's and 1CC" although I know some people call it "2 kisses and a hug", I think that this is a sweet name but I'm not sure that my co-researchers would like it!! I think that this form of feedback is something that we should adopt as we would all know what to give and what to expect. Making the quality of feedback appropriate to everyone no matter what their professional and educational background was. The risk of offending anyone would be lifted and the process of giving feedback would be more enjoyable and productive.

Well it's only a few days before our first hand-in date is upon us and I'm sure that there is going to be a few late nights ahead of all of us, but on a positive note (for me anyway) I only have 21 more getup's before we break up for Christmas!!

Week from Hell!

I'm starting to recover from the most stressful week ever, anything that could go wrong did go wrong, believe me when I say I wouldn't wish the week that I have just had on my worst enermy. I have begun to see things clearer and started to get things sorted in my head! So it's back to the books and laptop for me!

I know that I am a little bit behind with my IOCT module, but I think that I am up to date if not ahead with IWS, so this is helping to keep the panicking to a minimum!

I'm about to start my report on participation in the online community. I think that I have got things in place to start it, just trying to work out where to start! I guess actually typing something would be a good place!!

I know that it's a difficult time for all of us and our time is precious especially with the deadline drawing closer, so I'm going to keep it short and sweet today. Good luck to you all with the hand in!

Learning in a Community

OK, I know that I haven't posted anything for awhile, and I did say that I would try and post regularly, (now you know what's going to come next!) but, I have been really busy, with our academic reviews day at work, school holiday, the calling from the recently purchased wii boards was too much to resist! I did of course work on my uni activities as well.

The activity that I have recently been working on is the Learning in a Community, I have enjoyed working on this, I noticed that a lot of people had chosen a magazine article layout, but having been working on video making and edited with my classes, I thought that I would have a go at using this as my media type.

I had to create it in Windows Movie Maker, I think that the finished video is fairly good, but I have to say that I prefer video editing in iMovie, but it's not on my laptop! I do think that finished videos that have been created in iMovie do have more of a professional look, the transitions and effects that you can use are much better. However, I do like what I have done and I do think that it does the job that I intended it to do and for that reason, Windows Movie Maker is fine!

I enjoyed this activity and after it is fully edited I intend to upload it to youtube, at least it will be something different to look at instead of a 5 year old being better than me on the DDR (Dance mat)!

I have felt a little deflated lately, I have been posting work for my peers to review and for one of my pieces of work, I only received one feedback and that was from a LF. It got me thinking about how people work in an online environment or community. I started researching into this and I came across the term "Lurkers" "one who posts occasionally or not a all but is known to read the group's postings regularly" (Nonnecke, B. and Preece, J. 2001), I'm sure that this isn't the case for my fellow researchers, but I have to say that at the time I did think that it slightly hindered me.

With the deadline for the first module drawing ever closer, I'm sure that we are all bogged down with work and adding those finishing touches that our work needs, I'm thinking that my work just slipped through the net and that's why I didn't get a lot of feedback, well this is what I'm hoping anyway!

I do think that the relationships between fellow researchers are defiantly growing well, and that these will continue to establish over the coming months/years. There are a lot of people offering support and have motivating words for others and this is good, I haven't had a complete melt down yet, but I hope that if I ever do then my fellow researchers will be there for me.

So on the note of my journey so far, I am enjoying everything that I have undertaken at the moment, to me the learning that I have done already is immense. Although I knew that the Internet was a massive tool for learning and researching, I never knew that I could find so much information and things to read about the topics that we are covering. I always use the Internet when I am researching things (like new shoes etc!!) but the vast amount of information that is out there has absolutely blown me away. All you have to do is know what to start looking for!!!!

Well I have updated all that I can at this moment in time, although I do know that I haven't spoke about everything that we have covered since my last posting, but I would be here for ever, and I think that there is only so much of me rambling that you will want to read! I'm now going to start reading my notes that I am going to be using to complete that report that I am currently working on.

I will try to post something else over the weekend, but I'm not promising!!

Have a good weekend!

Online Communication Tools

I have recently been looking at the different types of online communication tools that are available on the Internet and peoples intranets.

Although I am not a novice of using the Internet and communicating with family and friends, I have to admit that I was never aware the complexities of them all.

Where do I begin?

Social Network Sites

I have been using Facebook for about a year now and I love it, I am able to use it to communicate with my family and friends, meet up with long lost friends and start up forgotten friendships. I really like using Facebook, but I am aware of the cons against it as well. I think that one of the biggest issues there is against Facebook is personal details being on full show to people who are generally looking around the site, however I have found that if you limit your personal security then this shouldn't really be a problem. The other issue is the amount of emails that get sent to you for people sending you hugs, drinks, fish the list could on. This was a problem for me some time again, I would check my read all my emails in the morning and by the evening I would have 50 more. I looked into this as it was really getting on my nerves and I found that you could unsubscribe to these emails (which I have done now!)

Blogs

Blogs are a way of keeping an online diary, I knew that they existed but I never had the need to create one before, that was before I enrolled on the BALTR degree. I think that it is a really good way of jotting down your thoughts and feeling at the time of entry. It's also good for reflecting on them as well. I have already started re-reading my entries and thinking about for much my skills are already developing. I think that the biggest downside of this for me is that I have to think about the things that I am going to write before I write them, I know that people are reading it and following it and it is not just a private diary that I am used to carrying around in my handbag! However blogging is certainly easy to use and it is becoming very addictive and I'm sure that given time I will just log on and type and not have to plan how I'm going to type, I am looking forward to this day!

Online Community

I have never used an online community site before and now I have to contend with FirstClass! I think that is certainly has it's good and bad points. I like the feeling that we are all a big community, supporting each other, offering advice and guidance. It's good for getting clarification for your ideas and your understanding of topics etc. It is very easy to use and to just drop in and out of, however because we are all new to it and the course, we all have so many questions to ask and we're all offering advice that now matter how often you drop by, there always seem to be a lot of posts to read and answer. I sometimes think that I have an understanding of what I'm doing and how I'm going to do it or present my work, then I read all the posts and I start questioning myself and doubting my thoughts. I'm sure that I'm not the only one feeling like this and I would never stop posting replies and questions on FirstClass as I think that it is definitely a learning tool that I will become to love and the more confidence I have in the work that I am producing the more that I will see FirstcClass as the vital learning tool that it is.

So for now it's goodbye from me and goodbye from my blog!

Hectic Week!!

I thought that last week was going to be heaven and that I was going to be able to really get stuck into my uni work, you see my husband and children were all away for the week. But my school had other ideas! We had an open evening, meetings and my timetable got changed. I now have 5 new classes and I have had to establish where they all are with their coursework and what tasks they have all done.

I have created excel spreadsheets for each of the classes but all this took so much time!! By the time that I got it all finished, my husband and children where home and we were celebrating my daughters 4th birthday!

I have (hopefully) finished my typical working day and my organisation chart. I have looked at my role, using the Internet and job description to help me. I am looking at the relationships and I have started looking at different online communication tools! I have managed to get some sleep as well!!

I also read the George Osborne speech, which I found fascinating, I am also planning of posting my comments about that on FirstClass very soon.

I am wanted to post my thought about different online communication tools in the next few days, so fingers crossed I'll get that done.

Check back soon!!

Online and Beyond

Over the last fewe days I have been thinking about the ways that we all communicate and how the internet has had a big impact on most peoples lives. I got to think that it would be a great help to some people, getting them in touch with relatives, friends etc. Some house bound people could also use the internet to help them establish a little bit of independance, just by doing their oen shopping online.

I realised that I was maybe looking at this through rose tinted glasses and that I needed to take a much more critical look at it! I started thinking about the ways that the internet can hinder people, I immediately started to think about chat rooms and children using them. Knowing the dangers that can be there, I asked myself "what would I do if my son/daughter wanted to join a chat site", very easily I answered my own question, as I helped my nephew join a site after I had explained the dangers, the rules and the expectations that we had of him using the site.

I think that we need to keep a careful eye on children using the internet, but I also think that they need to feel trusted in using the internet, chat sites etc to allow them to feel independent. If children are always told not to do something, they will go out and do it anyway and twice as bad!!

Using these sites should be done with caution and an understanding of what is out there but also with the knowledge that it can be helpful in many ways and is a part of todays society!

Finding my feet

I've been following my degree course 2 weeks, now I'm still not sure that I've got my head around everything, and at times it feels like I never will!!

Reading the posts from other peers has been really helpful though as I know that I'm not the only one feeling like that!

I've finally handed my first part of my module in and it has been signed off, so I do feel a little bit better, I guess I must be doind something right!

I'm working on the second part now, describing what a typical working day is like for me. I think that I went into a little too much detail at first, but with a re-draft and a few photos added I'm hoping that it will be fine.

Husband and the kids have gone on holiday this week, soI've got a week were I can get my teeth into the module in peace, who knows maybe this time next week I'll have my head around everything we have to do and and read, but I doubt it!

Settling In

I have spent a few days, wondering why I thought studying for a degree would be a good idea, and even thinking that I am out of my depth.

Then I started reading the post that other peers from my Cohort have posted on FirstClass and I soon started to realise that the majority of people were feeling exactly the same as me. The more I read, I say people offering support and advice, which I thought was nice. It quickly dawned on me that we are all in the same boat and with a little help from each other I'm sure that we will all grow into confident students.

I'm looking forward to growing into that confident student and I wish all the people in my cohort the very best of luck!

Finally enrolled!

Ok, so I've finally started my degree, something that I have been putting off for years. I always knew it would be something that I did one day but I had other priorities in my life, house, husband, children. You know that sort of things we all do!

Then it I got to a stage in my life that I started to see people progressing further than me at my work place, and I started thinking again about getting a degree. This time there was nothing stopping me, my husband and school both supported me in my decision and are encouraging me all the way.

So here I am telling the world (well anyone who's interested in reading it!)

Enjoy