Class 2 Reflection

Lamar University Digital Learning and Leading 5303-D02

At surface level, EDLD 5303 Applying Educ Tech: Portfolio seemed to be an easy class, but it proved to be much more difficult than I expected because the class required people to be creative in continuing to build their ePortfolio. Creativity is something I need to continue to work on. It does not come easy for me when it comes to reading, writing, especially when it comes to putting my thoughts and feelings into a project that is available to the world.

I started to use videos in my blog and discussion board posts. Though, I never liked the final outcome. I posted about one third of the videos I recorded, which took at least 10 takes each. I kept trying to do one-take videos, but I'm not good enough for that yet. What I need to do is record myself in segments instead of trying to get it all in one take. Even when I get one take that I like, I still have to edit out all the weird clips where I talk too fast or get distracted by someone walking by and can't remember what I'm saying. I scrapped several videos because I couldn't stand them. I'll work on that process so I don't waste so much time on something I don't use.

I have written about not preferring the "Discussions Board" format in these classes and this class

increased my contempt for the process. They do not feel like real discussions. They feel like I am

answering one question from a group of questions, then other people agree to a couple of my statements. Then it happens over and over and over again with everyone else's posts. It seemed like even though there were a group of questions, most were the same topic, and many of the answers were basically the same through the discussion week. The process just got very mundane, almost annoyingly so.

One aspect of the class I really liked was that Dr. Reed tried to get everyone on the screen with their cameras for class. It was fairly disappointing that so few people turned their cameras on. Luis made a good point in one of the classes though that perhaps not everyone has a camera. It was nice getting to talk back and forth with everyone that was on screen. I enjoyed the personal aspect of the video conferencing, and the ability to go back and forth without having to read over repetitive and redundant posts.

Work Cited:

Canady, J. (2011). Office Space TPS Reports. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy3rjQGc6lA.