525 Reflection

The greatest benefit that I am gaining out of this graduate experience is confidence. Not that I was intimidated by computers--I wasn't. It's just that I never had time to practice. I am not only gaining confidence in the stuff that we learn in our classes (webquests, internet as a learning resourse, wikis, etc.), but also "old-school" stuff like word, powerpoint, and spreadsheets. I value this experience very much and am thankful for it. I feel that it is making my teaching better. Just this week, to start the second semester in my engineering class, all I had was rather dry powerpoint on fluid systems. So what did I do? I broke my class up into seven groups and had them create their own presentation on hydraulics and pneumatics based on their internet research. Never before would I have thought that asking seven groups to make a powerpoint on the same subject would be successful. It was a huge success. For later in the year, I plan to use a webquest about bridges, and next year, I would like the students to start some kind of online portfolio. So, even though we are early in the program, I really feel like my teaching is undergoing a transformation and becoming more interesting.