EDTC 6332 Practicum

Reflections Four

On my last reflection page, I wrote as if this page were my own personal outlet for releasing my frustrations. Instead, I need to write about the status of my project so that I can stay on track. Thus, I will begin with what I have accomplished so far:
 

·         Subordinate skills analysis

o   First-level task analysis

o   Instructional diagram

·         Performance objectives

·         Assessment instruments

·         Instructional strategies

o   Pre-instructional activities

o   Information presentation and learner participation

In addition to the list above, I worked on my power-point presentation for the midterm debriefing. Speaking of Monday's presentations, after watching my classmates' presentations I thought they were great. And it seemed that many projects were well on the way to the project's formative evaluation more so then mine. I felt behind on my own project. Since I was the last one to present, and viewed my classmates' presentations, I thought that my seven-slides did not contain enough material or work completed compared to other projects. Indeed, I felt quite intimidated!

For my short-term work objectives, I plan to work on my electronic portfolio--matrix section. Under the leadership subsection, I am missing from EDTC 6320 a 3000-word formal paper describing past, present and future trends in instructional technologies. After searching my archives, I found my formal paper, "How Social Media Has Affected Marketing in Higher Education." However this paper has only 1,500 words. Whoops! Therefore I must add more content in order to meet the requirement. I plan to complete the paper by this weekend and upload the link to my e-portfolio by Monday, October 29th.

The advice I would give to classmates is that if they feel they are struggling, are stressed out or have a sense of being behind and overwhelmed, to set-up a consultation with their faculty advisor. Faculty advisors not only provide sound advice on how we are doing, they are great empathetic listeners. As with me, it turns out my advisor is also my professor. So when I met with him this past Thursday, I was able to ask questions on both my e-portfolio and project. Before I could start going through my long list of questions, he asked me how I was doing health wise. I was surprised by his question. Not only did he advice me on the two tasks due, the e-portfolio and project, but provided moral support, genuine encouragement, and an understanding ear. Tears flowed as I discussed my anxieties (I hate that I cry like that!).

Scheduling to meet with my faculty advisor was the best move I made as a graduate student. Sometimes we need to hear that we do not need to overdo and be too hard on ourselves. At the end of our meeting, listening as my advisor told me, "you are a strong woman" was encouraging. Good enough for me to press forward with new energy onto the project, e-portfolio and this course.