Top 10 learning

Top 10 things I learned in the most recent Master's course

1. Absorb, Do, Connect Activities – I was not clear on the detailed aspects of each of these activities and the characteristics of each. Breaking them down each week allowed me to understand and apply the knowledge immediately to a project I am creating at work
2. Jing! It had used Jing in a previous class, but I did not fall in love with Jing as I did this course. Once I got the hang of it, I have been using Jing to post training videos direct to YouTube or Twitter.
3. E-learning self – study – For my absorb activity; I created my first complete e-learning self-study. It was complete with hyperlinks, navigation and the knowledge review. In the design phase I did not know how to create the Answer selection, provide feedback, while allowing the learner to move to the next question. Once I started thinking in layers versus linear I was able to create the slide arrangement, hiding certain slides and created the feedback segments. For the learner, it appears to go to the next slide, but it is a series of hidden hyperlinks. That was the most challenging project I did for this course.
4. The concept of professional “branding”. It occurred to me that by creating e-learning and various activities that I could post them to YouTube and being to create a training style or brand to my work. Each activity in this course has been an opportunity to practice and now I have three YouTube videos that I did not have before. The idea is to provide platforms for icebreakers, activity ideas based on specific topics. It has been a learning process, but I feel that each video I create I learn more than before.
5. Tests – Creating the assessment is vital to the learning, but it was in this class that I reviewed the common mistakes. Applying this information and suggesting rewrites to specific questions may help our learners, and give me a keener "eye" when evalutating course assessments.
6. PDF and Adobe - I was familiar with Adobe, but did not know the free resources for PDF files found via Google. That was great insight and I have been able to use those already.
7. Blending technologies for learning activities – Using the combination of a blog, Word, PowerPoint, video or podcast is an effective way to deliver training. In my experience I have been able to create animated PowerPoint, screencast them and post on YouTube for effective learning using multiple technologies.
8. WinZip - I found the timing of this technology appropriate as the same week we downloaded the free version, I needed it to submit my weekly assignment.
9. Professional Portfolio – Over time, the professional “work” we create in class can be viewed and can build a working online resume. It is important in today's environment to direct to your blog, website, YouTube videos and wiki for a review of my ability.
10. Last, but not least important, was the interaction, professionalism and valuable insight that I received from my classmates. It is wonderful to learn side-by-side so many teachers that are trying new formats and new technologies in the classroom.