Reflection for week 3

I found the website presentations very insightful, in particular the http://docs.google.com/ site. What a useful tool students can use when collaborating on a group project. Not only would it be useful for K-12 and college students, but I could see utilizing it’s capabilities to team on a group project for work. I already told some of my colleagues and my student worker about it. Overall, I’m pleased that each week a couple people in our class will present on various websites they use. What a great way to see “what else” is out there and what people are using via the internet.

Inspiration is a wonderful visual learning resource; one that I never knew existed before this course. I am a person that learns better using visuals and audio versus just reading material in a textbook. I strongly desire graphics, text, charts, etc., when trying to learn new information, and see Inspiration as a tool that can deliver just that. However, after I read Tufte’s article regarding Powerpoint, I can see some individuals who may “over” use Inspiration to a point where students become distracted by an over abundance of visual/audio material. The individual creating a diagram in Inspiration definitely needs to achieve a balance between essential information and visuals/audio. Inspiration also reminded me of Microsoft Office Visio, a program I have used in my job at the U. However, I see Visio as more of a tool used in the corporate versus educational world.

I have enjoyed the threaded discussions in WebCT regarding the weekly class readings. Although it can be intimidating sometimes to let others know what you think, especially through writing, it seems like everyone has been engaged in them. They say “practice makes perfect.” I say “practice allows for improvement.”