Tuesday, March 25th
I contacted Dr. Value this week to ask her if she needed some help and to reschedule our meeting this week (I have a doctor's appointment so I need to meet her earlier than we planned)
She told me she did some work, but when I looked at the page, I was so impressed with all the work she has done over the break! It is wonderful. I am so happy that she managed to add some features and improve the whole design of the page. I can see it is getting there.
Dr. Value told me she has had some constraints regarding three aspects: a) the forum form, b) the gallery of pictures, and c) the login member feature. She explained in detail the difficulties she has had. I will check and investigate how to solve these difficulties in order to have a consistent design.
Dr. Value has sent the link to our first beta version of the website to the members of the SIG group, and we have had positive feedback. They are eager to see more resources and options, so I think we will work on that. (Their feedback is so great!)
We will meet on Friday and we will discuss other details and features to add. I have a feeling of accomplishment that is very rewarding. I was so worried at the beginning of this project but now I feel we are doing fine. I know that we still have a long way to have our final version done, but I am so happy that we can come up with something so professional and well done. I will be more than happy to continue with this project next semester...I would love to.
Showing posts with label CI 610 MENTORING. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CI 610 MENTORING. Show all posts
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
WEEK 10 (mentoring)
Monday, March 17th
This week Dr. Value will be working on her own and adding more features to the website. I suggested her to contact me in case she needed some support.
Our next meeting will be after Spring break, on March 28th. Although we have done a lot, I am a bit worried about time. We are interested in having a bet version of the page for the upcoming conference. I hope we can do as much as we can.
This week Dr. Value will be working on her own and adding more features to the website. I suggested her to contact me in case she needed some support.
Our next meeting will be after Spring break, on March 28th. Although we have done a lot, I am a bit worried about time. We are interested in having a bet version of the page for the upcoming conference. I hope we can do as much as we can.
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
WEEK 9 (mentoring)
March 11, 2014
I met Dr. Value today. We worked hard and we accomplished a great deal of work!. I feel really happy that things are working out well, a little slow but we have come to work as a team.
Dr. Value works on her own laptop and I work on my own. She does the design on her own and I help her with suggestions and guide her through the use of other elements for the website.
Today Dr. Value created a new page to post information about Kudos & Happenings. We created a slide show gallery with photos and short descriptions about the events. It was a little hard to come up with an appropriate design because the slideshow gallery feature in Wix combines the picture and text together and if we want to resize the text, the picture best resized as well, and viceversa.
I was trying to see how we can effectively create the slideshow gallery and Dr. Value moved forward and started working on something else. This approach was really good, because that way we could work more effectively. Once I found an alternative, I explained it to her and she was able to create the slideshow gallery very easily. Something that I may need to address next time we meet is that we need to have the pictures for the website consistent (dimensions and quality). Today we had some problems with this, we need to resize pictures and they became blurred. So if we do some picture editing beforehand will be better. It may imply the need to use a photo editor...I will see how we can solve this.
Dr. Value got some bio and other information from the officers of the SIG group so we are working on uploading that information and links to publications, books and other resources.
We agreed to meet after Spring Break, but she will do some work during the break. I told her to contact me is she has any problem with any of the features.
We also learnt about some tricks that we ourselves "discovered". It was so funny that we found some ways to solve the problems. We always check in the Wix forums about other options or "fix" trick to be able to do what we want.
A funny part of today's meeting was that we tried to get rid of three out of the four icons for social media. Every time that she tried to delete the three, the F for Facebook went away and we could not understand why neither where it went. We did not actually select it to be deleted, it just disappeared. So then we had to move the Facebook icon somewhere else in the page and then delete the others. We successfully accomplished this.
Something I have noticed Dr. Value does from time to time is to save the work. I suggested saving the work since the beginning of our work in Wix. I have learnt this the hard way and did not want that Dr. Value experienced frustration when losing work and time. She told me "this is what I learnt from my mentor, you"
We had connection difficulties today. Dr. Value could not save the work she was doing, so I accessed the website on my computer and saved the changes for her. She then logged out and logged in again to continue working. It was good to work as a team.
I met Dr. Value today. We worked hard and we accomplished a great deal of work!. I feel really happy that things are working out well, a little slow but we have come to work as a team.
Dr. Value works on her own laptop and I work on my own. She does the design on her own and I help her with suggestions and guide her through the use of other elements for the website.
Today Dr. Value created a new page to post information about Kudos & Happenings. We created a slide show gallery with photos and short descriptions about the events. It was a little hard to come up with an appropriate design because the slideshow gallery feature in Wix combines the picture and text together and if we want to resize the text, the picture best resized as well, and viceversa.
I was trying to see how we can effectively create the slideshow gallery and Dr. Value moved forward and started working on something else. This approach was really good, because that way we could work more effectively. Once I found an alternative, I explained it to her and she was able to create the slideshow gallery very easily. Something that I may need to address next time we meet is that we need to have the pictures for the website consistent (dimensions and quality). Today we had some problems with this, we need to resize pictures and they became blurred. So if we do some picture editing beforehand will be better. It may imply the need to use a photo editor...I will see how we can solve this.
Dr. Value got some bio and other information from the officers of the SIG group so we are working on uploading that information and links to publications, books and other resources.
We agreed to meet after Spring Break, but she will do some work during the break. I told her to contact me is she has any problem with any of the features.
We also learnt about some tricks that we ourselves "discovered". It was so funny that we found some ways to solve the problems. We always check in the Wix forums about other options or "fix" trick to be able to do what we want.
A funny part of today's meeting was that we tried to get rid of three out of the four icons for social media. Every time that she tried to delete the three, the F for Facebook went away and we could not understand why neither where it went. We did not actually select it to be deleted, it just disappeared. So then we had to move the Facebook icon somewhere else in the page and then delete the others. We successfully accomplished this.
Something I have noticed Dr. Value does from time to time is to save the work. I suggested saving the work since the beginning of our work in Wix. I have learnt this the hard way and did not want that Dr. Value experienced frustration when losing work and time. She told me "this is what I learnt from my mentor, you"
We had connection difficulties today. Dr. Value could not save the work she was doing, so I accessed the website on my computer and saved the changes for her. She then logged out and logged in again to continue working. It was good to work as a team.
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
WEEK 8 (mentoring)
March 4,
I met Dr. Value today to work on the SIG website. I think that today we made a lot of progress.
Prior to this meeting I had created a sample website to show Dr. Value what kind of links, lists, shapes we can build in the SIG website. She was so enthusiastic about it that immediately started to work on it. I explained to her that we needed to use HTML code to add tables in WIX but she felt a bit reluctant about it. So I suggested the option of using lists. She created a new page with the "list" option, and added pictures of the committee, their contact information and their title.
We also worked on the newsletter archive. Dr. Value added another page to the website and added another list to the page. On this page she included a picture of some of the members at different conferences and a link to the previous newsletter pdf files. It was very rewarding to seeing her so excited about it. She also used a customized button to set the link to the newsletter.
We encountered several limitations in WIX:
* we cannot add dynamic tables
* we cannot change the colors of the "link" option
* copying lists does not allow to make changes of individual sections of the list. It is better to add new lists.
* "contact form" does not include an option for "uploading file"
The way we worked today was very unusual. Dr. Value mentioned a couple of things she would like to have in the website, add several links, change the color of links, personalized the contact form. While she was working on the the design of the pages and lists, I was searching for that information. I found out that it is not possible to change the color of the links, or personalized the contact form. So i found other ways to get what she wanted. We learnt some "tricks" and get the link colour change, add a new contact form with personalized options, add links using buttons.
We did a lot today!!
We will meet again next Tuesday....:)
I met Dr. Value today to work on the SIG website. I think that today we made a lot of progress.
Prior to this meeting I had created a sample website to show Dr. Value what kind of links, lists, shapes we can build in the SIG website. She was so enthusiastic about it that immediately started to work on it. I explained to her that we needed to use HTML code to add tables in WIX but she felt a bit reluctant about it. So I suggested the option of using lists. She created a new page with the "list" option, and added pictures of the committee, their contact information and their title.
We also worked on the newsletter archive. Dr. Value added another page to the website and added another list to the page. On this page she included a picture of some of the members at different conferences and a link to the previous newsletter pdf files. It was very rewarding to seeing her so excited about it. She also used a customized button to set the link to the newsletter.
We encountered several limitations in WIX:
* we cannot add dynamic tables
* we cannot change the colors of the "link" option
* copying lists does not allow to make changes of individual sections of the list. It is better to add new lists.
* "contact form" does not include an option for "uploading file"
The way we worked today was very unusual. Dr. Value mentioned a couple of things she would like to have in the website, add several links, change the color of links, personalized the contact form. While she was working on the the design of the pages and lists, I was searching for that information. I found out that it is not possible to change the color of the links, or personalized the contact form. So i found other ways to get what she wanted. We learnt some "tricks" and get the link colour change, add a new contact form with personalized options, add links using buttons.
We did a lot today!!
We will meet again next Tuesday....:)
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
WEEK 7 (mentoring)
Feb 24,
Today I met my mentee at 3pm. We worked on some ideas for the design and the content of the website. I had created a layout of the website on paper. It had a main menu and each section had subsections or pages. Dr. Value was adding other ideas so we can include as many items, menu options and information as needed.
Then, we went on to work on WIX. We created a new page for the "membership" option and changed the font size and colour. Dr. Value thought that it would be a good idea to add the courses and syllabus that each member has taught. For this we need to create a table in which we will include a picture of the person, description of the courses and syllabus. However, WIX does not have the option "table" so we were trying to use other options such as lists or shapes. I was investigating about the use of tables in WIX and found out that it requires some HTML programming to create a table. It is necessary to add some HTML code to the WIX website so a table can be added. However this table will no be dynamic and we will have to add the information mentioned earlier in the code. I explained this to Dr. Value and it seemed that it would be complex for her to engage in HTML coding so I suggested to use lists instead of tables. She agreed on this as she was not sure whether she would like to engage in HTML coding. We selected a list layout for 3 columns and started the editing process. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and could not finish it.
We will meet next Tuesday at 2pm. In the meantime I will continue investigating the use of tables in webpages.
Today I met my mentee at 3pm. We worked on some ideas for the design and the content of the website. I had created a layout of the website on paper. It had a main menu and each section had subsections or pages. Dr. Value was adding other ideas so we can include as many items, menu options and information as needed.
Then, we went on to work on WIX. We created a new page for the "membership" option and changed the font size and colour. Dr. Value thought that it would be a good idea to add the courses and syllabus that each member has taught. For this we need to create a table in which we will include a picture of the person, description of the courses and syllabus. However, WIX does not have the option "table" so we were trying to use other options such as lists or shapes. I was investigating about the use of tables in WIX and found out that it requires some HTML programming to create a table. It is necessary to add some HTML code to the WIX website so a table can be added. However this table will no be dynamic and we will have to add the information mentioned earlier in the code. I explained this to Dr. Value and it seemed that it would be complex for her to engage in HTML coding so I suggested to use lists instead of tables. She agreed on this as she was not sure whether she would like to engage in HTML coding. We selected a list layout for 3 columns and started the editing process. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and could not finish it.
We will meet next Tuesday at 2pm. In the meantime I will continue investigating the use of tables in webpages.
Monday, 17 February 2014
WEEK 6 (mentoring)
Feb 17,
I have browsed several websites for professional organizations to have a better idea of the design. I will have a paper-and-pencil layout for Dr. Value to have a look at in our next meeting. Then we can decide what functionalities we can have in the SIG website.
I have browsed several websites for professional organizations to have a better idea of the design. I will have a paper-and-pencil layout for Dr. Value to have a look at in our next meeting. Then we can decide what functionalities we can have in the SIG website.
Friday, 14 February 2014
WEEK 5 (mentoring part 2)
Feb 14,
Yesterday I met Dr. Value. She had already stet up a gmail account for the SIG group, had chosen a template in WIX and had added a couple of pages.
It was a really goo job!. I helped to have the SIG logo resized so it could fit the dimensions for the gmail profile. We also worked on the title and description of the website. She was actually very into the design and suggested the newsletter will be for later. We were so focused on the webpage design and we lost tack of time. We worked for 1h20 minutes!
It was a good and productive day. We will meet again next week on Thursday to work on the design and set tip up the membership / login page.
Yesterday I met Dr. Value. She had already stet up a gmail account for the SIG group, had chosen a template in WIX and had added a couple of pages.
It was a really goo job!. I helped to have the SIG logo resized so it could fit the dimensions for the gmail profile. We also worked on the title and description of the website. She was actually very into the design and suggested the newsletter will be for later. We were so focused on the webpage design and we lost tack of time. We worked for 1h20 minutes!
It was a good and productive day. We will meet again next week on Thursday to work on the design and set tip up the membership / login page.
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
WEEK 5 (mentoring)
Feb 12
Today I sent a message to Dr. Value with information about some examples of online newsletters so she can have a look at them and have a better idea of what exactly is we want to make and what kind of information will be posted.
Tomorrow we will meet and work on some design and content ideas. I have also looked for some applications and software that we can use to create the newsletter.
Today I sent a message to Dr. Value with information about some examples of online newsletters so she can have a look at them and have a better idea of what exactly is we want to make and what kind of information will be posted.
Tomorrow we will meet and work on some design and content ideas. I have also looked for some applications and software that we can use to create the newsletter.
Saturday, 8 February 2014
WEEK 4 (mentoring)
Feb 7, 2014
I had my second meeting with Dr. Value on Friday morning. Prior to this meeting I had prepared a summary of the features and pricing that 4 applications offer for website designing. I emailed this summary to Dr. Value so she can have a look at it and start thinking about which one she would like to use. I also prepared myself on how to create the websites using those tools. Because I have this very fixed belief that I need to know everything in order to guide my mentee in her process of learning and adopting a technology innovation, I had spent quite a lot of time last week learning about as much as possible about the website applications.
Minutes before my meeting with my mentee I received a lot of email messages in which Dr. Value and other members of the SIG were discussing about the project we are going to work on. At first, I was really happy that we had the support from some of the SIG members. However, I then felt shocked to start getting messages back and forth about the ideas for the website. And it was even more shocking to read in one of then that I was "the expert". I felt this huge responsibility on my shoulders that I need to be perfect so other people feel supported by "my expertise". I know that I do not know as much as I wish. But I thought that this was going to be ( and is!) my great chance to learn even more and I am so enthusiast about it. Besides, it will give me the chance to know other people in other areas of study as well.
At the meeting my mentee was so nice and friendly and she talked to me about the message she has been sending and receiving about our project. I saw her enthusiasm and relaxing attitude that I started to feel at ease as well. (probably my level of adrenaline lowered enormously, ha-ha). At the meeting we discussed the pros and cons of the applications. We navigated through the features of the first two applications and discussed how and what information will be posted. As it was predicted by the experience of the mentoring program, an issue arose and I did not know how to solve it!!
It was not a complicated situation: my mentee switched her idea of a website for information purposes to a website with option to log in and become a member!. I had prepared myself for everything, except that! However, I acknowledged that I did not know if that could be possible with the tools we were looking at in that moment.
My mentee was very supportive and understanding about the fact that I needed to check that information first. I actually felt fine to say "I don't". I believe that rather than pretending to know something, it is always better to say that I need time to check information or that simply I don't know. Dr. Value told me that it was fine and I could figure that out for our next meeting meanwhile we could have a look at the other features of the applications. Then, I cleared my mind, relaxed and started looking for information about the login part. Successfully, I found information about it, and guess what? It can actually be possible to do the login/membership option with one of the applications we were thinking to choose. So we both felt happy that we could find that information quick so made the decision about which tool to use for designing the SIG website. We decided to use WIX.
Then we started to have a look at other websites and have an idea for the design. As we advanced in our ideas about the features and design, we realized that there are certain features in WIX that can be done at an extra cost. In that moment Dr. Value emailed her colleagues in the SIG group asking for
opinions about how to go about the cost.
I have this pleasing feeling that even though we did not end up doing what I had planned, we had a great progress. We:
* chose the application
* have a rough idea of what features we want the website have
* consulted the SIG group about payment
* set up a meeting for next week to start work
* prepared an agenda of work next week:
- buy the Pro version of WIX
- start the design
* prepared an agenda of work for the whole project
- first, work on SIG website
- then, work on the design of the newsletter
- next, work on links for AERA and other professional sites.
It is even better than what I had planned!!
This is going to be a great experience and I am so looking forward to it, and to find more issues so I can learn more how to solve them. And the most important things:
* support my mentee and help her on her way to integrating technology in her work
* support my classmates with the things that I learn on my way to creating this project.
I had my second meeting with Dr. Value on Friday morning. Prior to this meeting I had prepared a summary of the features and pricing that 4 applications offer for website designing. I emailed this summary to Dr. Value so she can have a look at it and start thinking about which one she would like to use. I also prepared myself on how to create the websites using those tools. Because I have this very fixed belief that I need to know everything in order to guide my mentee in her process of learning and adopting a technology innovation, I had spent quite a lot of time last week learning about as much as possible about the website applications.
Minutes before my meeting with my mentee I received a lot of email messages in which Dr. Value and other members of the SIG were discussing about the project we are going to work on. At first, I was really happy that we had the support from some of the SIG members. However, I then felt shocked to start getting messages back and forth about the ideas for the website. And it was even more shocking to read in one of then that I was "the expert". I felt this huge responsibility on my shoulders that I need to be perfect so other people feel supported by "my expertise". I know that I do not know as much as I wish. But I thought that this was going to be ( and is!) my great chance to learn even more and I am so enthusiast about it. Besides, it will give me the chance to know other people in other areas of study as well.
At the meeting my mentee was so nice and friendly and she talked to me about the message she has been sending and receiving about our project. I saw her enthusiasm and relaxing attitude that I started to feel at ease as well. (probably my level of adrenaline lowered enormously, ha-ha). At the meeting we discussed the pros and cons of the applications. We navigated through the features of the first two applications and discussed how and what information will be posted. As it was predicted by the experience of the mentoring program, an issue arose and I did not know how to solve it!!
It was not a complicated situation: my mentee switched her idea of a website for information purposes to a website with option to log in and become a member!. I had prepared myself for everything, except that! However, I acknowledged that I did not know if that could be possible with the tools we were looking at in that moment.
My mentee was very supportive and understanding about the fact that I needed to check that information first. I actually felt fine to say "I don't". I believe that rather than pretending to know something, it is always better to say that I need time to check information or that simply I don't know. Dr. Value told me that it was fine and I could figure that out for our next meeting meanwhile we could have a look at the other features of the applications. Then, I cleared my mind, relaxed and started looking for information about the login part. Successfully, I found information about it, and guess what? It can actually be possible to do the login/membership option with one of the applications we were thinking to choose. So we both felt happy that we could find that information quick so made the decision about which tool to use for designing the SIG website. We decided to use WIX.
Then we started to have a look at other websites and have an idea for the design. As we advanced in our ideas about the features and design, we realized that there are certain features in WIX that can be done at an extra cost. In that moment Dr. Value emailed her colleagues in the SIG group asking for
opinions about how to go about the cost.
I have this pleasing feeling that even though we did not end up doing what I had planned, we had a great progress. We:
* chose the application
* have a rough idea of what features we want the website have
* consulted the SIG group about payment
* set up a meeting for next week to start work
* prepared an agenda of work next week:
- buy the Pro version of WIX
- start the design
* prepared an agenda of work for the whole project
- first, work on SIG website
- then, work on the design of the newsletter
- next, work on links for AERA and other professional sites.
It is even better than what I had planned!!
This is going to be a great experience and I am so looking forward to it, and to find more issues so I can learn more how to solve them. And the most important things:
* support my mentee and help her on her way to integrating technology in her work
* support my classmates with the things that I learn on my way to creating this project.
Monday, 3 February 2014
WEEK 4 (Mentoring) Part I
I have written a summary of three websites that Dr. Value can choose for the website. I also included a resource for sharing research documents that can also be used in the website.
I have emailed the document to Dr. Value so she can have a look at the resources and then decide which one she would like to use.
We will be meeting on Friday Feb 7th, to discuss about the options and start working on the design and elements of the website.
Tuesday, 28 January 2014
WEEK 3 (mentoring lunch)
Lunch
Today mentors and mentees got together for lunch. All mentors and Dr. Nadolny brought food for the lunch, everything was very yummy!
We had the chance to meet other mentees and learn about their tech needs and interests. Every mentor introduced their mentee to the whole class and explained the project they will work on.
Something peculiar that happened today was that Dr. Value was sitting at the table with other professors and when the time for introductions came, Dr. Value moved and sat next to me!. That meant a great deal to me because it made feel that " we are a team" and we should be together. I really felt that connection with Dr. Value. At one point Dr. Value told me that I should call her by her first name. She is a professor and addressing her by her first name may take me a while.
I presented the ideas and plan we have. Now, it is time to work on it.
Were agreed to get together next week on Friday. Meanwhile, I am going to write down a clear description of the possible applications we can use for creating the website. I will email the information to Dr. Value to have a look and then decide which one would be better.
At lunch I also mentioned to Dr. Value that at the same time that we work on the website, we should also think about recording the lectures for the classes that Dr. Value teaches. I am glad that Dr. Value is ready to start work.
This is going to be a great experience for both of us.
Today mentors and mentees got together for lunch. All mentors and Dr. Nadolny brought food for the lunch, everything was very yummy!
We had the chance to meet other mentees and learn about their tech needs and interests. Every mentor introduced their mentee to the whole class and explained the project they will work on.
Something peculiar that happened today was that Dr. Value was sitting at the table with other professors and when the time for introductions came, Dr. Value moved and sat next to me!. That meant a great deal to me because it made feel that " we are a team" and we should be together. I really felt that connection with Dr. Value. At one point Dr. Value told me that I should call her by her first name. She is a professor and addressing her by her first name may take me a while.
I presented the ideas and plan we have. Now, it is time to work on it.
Were agreed to get together next week on Friday. Meanwhile, I am going to write down a clear description of the possible applications we can use for creating the website. I will email the information to Dr. Value to have a look and then decide which one would be better.
At lunch I also mentioned to Dr. Value that at the same time that we work on the website, we should also think about recording the lectures for the classes that Dr. Value teaches. I am glad that Dr. Value is ready to start work.
This is going to be a great experience for both of us.
WEEK 3 (mentoring primary ideas)
Plan
I know that Dr. Value and I need to start working on the SIG
website plan. I believe it is necessary to:
- · define the purpose
- · identify audience
- · select features/elements
- · create a storyboard
Well, from that on we need to start working on the range of
activities that will lead us to create the website.
- select the tool
- · create layout
- · work on details (text, fonts, size, etc)
- · create first page
- · add resources
- · evaluate what has been done
- · construct other pages
- · evaluation
- · redesign
- · etc.
Saturday, 25 January 2014
WEEK 2 (mentoring) Part II
I have sent an email to Dr. Value with a summary of the three priorities we discussed to check if everything is fine or if I had missed something.
Fortunately, Dr Value replied that everything is fine. Dr. Value also said that it will be good to work together and is looking forward to it.
I have asked Dr, Nadonly about the first priority Dr. Value has, which is building up the SIG online community website. I thought it may be a problem because it is not a class project. However, Dr. Nadolny said that since it is a tech project, she will be ok with it. Yeah!!
I am partially relieved form my preoccupation that if it didm´t work out, I will need to find someone else to work with and two weeks have already passed.
Now I am preoccupied because the website should be up by april 3rd, for the AERA Conference. Will we accomplished it? I don´t know. Time is what worries me specially if we plan to meet each other every two weeks. I think I will need to contact Dr. Value to let her know that the website is a good project and we need to start work right away.
I will start looking for and studying applications or tools that we can use to build the website up. I will guide Dr. Value very well through all the construction process.
--
Nadia Jaramillo
WEEK 2 (mentoring)
I had my first meeting with Dr. Value. Beforehand, I prepared some probing questions. I started with ice-breaker questions (so to speak) and then moved to more technical ones.
For example:
1) what class do you teach? How long have taught that class?
2) how may students do you have in your class?
3) how old are your students?
4) do you use blackboard? what do you use it for?
5) what kind of tools do you use inside blackboard?
6) what other tools are you interested in using? why?
7) where did you learn about those tools?
8) what do you think your students' reactions will be towards that specific tool?
9) and many other questions that develop from the questions above.
The meeting went really well. I feel it was a relaxing and fun meeting talking even about personal aspects (family, interests) and discussing issues with the use of technology.
Dr.Value explained and showed to me the personal and professional website that Dr. Value has. I could see that Dr. Value has a good knowledge of technology and is willing to try tools available out there to accomplish the objectives. However, Dr. Value made the comment about blackboard: "it's just awful".
I tried to approach Dr. Value in a more "collaborative way" to give confidence that the work can be done and that "we" will achieve something really interesting and useful, that "we" will work together to figure out how to do things. From time to time, I switched to "I" will be on your side helping "you" work on it, "I" will provide the tech support "you" need to do it.
From time to time Dr. Value also told me: "well, you are the expert, I will always come to you, I trust you". It makes feel fine because I know we can work in a good and friendly manner. However, it also scares me because... I am the expert....(?). I need to learn a lot, and I am sure I will do in this class, and much more with the project for Dr. Value.
As our conversation was coming to an end (I sensed it) I tried to wrap up by retelling Dr. Value what ideas were discussed, the priority Dr. Value gave to each of them, the plan for next week (lunch on Tuesday), my to-do list.
Here I summarize the ideas discussed.
For example:
1) what class do you teach? How long have taught that class?
2) how may students do you have in your class?
3) how old are your students?
4) do you use blackboard? what do you use it for?
5) what kind of tools do you use inside blackboard?
6) what other tools are you interested in using? why?
7) where did you learn about those tools?
8) what do you think your students' reactions will be towards that specific tool?
9) and many other questions that develop from the questions above.
The meeting went really well. I feel it was a relaxing and fun meeting talking even about personal aspects (family, interests) and discussing issues with the use of technology.
Dr.Value explained and showed to me the personal and professional website that Dr. Value has. I could see that Dr. Value has a good knowledge of technology and is willing to try tools available out there to accomplish the objectives. However, Dr. Value made the comment about blackboard: "it's just awful".
I tried to approach Dr. Value in a more "collaborative way" to give confidence that the work can be done and that "we" will achieve something really interesting and useful, that "we" will work together to figure out how to do things. From time to time, I switched to "I" will be on your side helping "you" work on it, "I" will provide the tech support "you" need to do it.
From time to time Dr. Value also told me: "well, you are the expert, I will always come to you, I trust you". It makes feel fine because I know we can work in a good and friendly manner. However, it also scares me because... I am the expert....(?). I need to learn a lot, and I am sure I will do in this class, and much more with the project for Dr. Value.
As our conversation was coming to an end (I sensed it) I tried to wrap up by retelling Dr. Value what ideas were discussed, the priority Dr. Value gave to each of them, the plan for next week (lunch on Tuesday), my to-do list.
Here I summarize the ideas discussed.
Dr. Value's priorities are:
1) build up a professional online community website for the SIG Leadership for Social Justice Group. Dr. Value would like to have it up by April 3rd (to be presented at the AERA conference)
Some ideas about the online community website:
* a repository of works/articles
* newsletter
* post
* webinar space
* collaborative space for scholars
2) Record lectures for classes
Some ideas about the recording:
* students miss classes. Recorded lectures will keep them updated.
* future possibility of offering class in a blended/hybrid or online format.
3) Incorporate an online application to engage students in interactive discussions:
* have students share ideas
* discussions online.
4) Improve blackboard
* links and organization of materials
* include audio (maybe video) lectures
I am not sure if the first option will be ok under our class goals. If it is, I am worried about time. (A possible mentor-mentee work schedule will be every two weeks)
Also, Dr. Value mentioned that the 2nd and 3rd options are something she might need to think about for a future plan. If the first option is not feasible, Dr. Value might participate again in the next CI 610 class when she might have decided to teach a blended or online course. This makes feel worried because it seems that if we do not focus on priority 1, I may end up without someone to work with.
I need to check with Dr. Nadolny whether building the online community website is fine.
Sunday, 19 January 2014
WEEK 1 (mentoring)
Sunday, January 19h
I have contacted Dr. Value to set up a meeting next week to talk about her technological needs. I wait for her reply.
Also, I have read chapters 1-3 in our book and I feel I have some concerns prior starting this mentoring experience. I hope we can clarify some of these concerns next class.
1. How to approach the professor in terms of their technological abilities now. Should it be ok to ask about it, or to devise a needs analysis survey, or to do things as they come?
2. The choice about incorporating certain tool or application is on the mentee, what if they ask for our suggestion. Can we provide our own personal perspective about it. What if that is not ok with the professor?
3. I know quality is more important than quality, if the professor wants to do many things in such a short time, can we suggest to focus on what really is feasible?
Friday, January 17th
Today I have been assigned a professor to work with. To keep the identity of the professor confidential I will call the professor Dr. Value.
I will contact Dr. Value today to set up a meeting to talk about the technological support the professor needs.
I have contacted Dr. Value to set up a meeting next week to talk about her technological needs. I wait for her reply.
Also, I have read chapters 1-3 in our book and I feel I have some concerns prior starting this mentoring experience. I hope we can clarify some of these concerns next class.
1. How to approach the professor in terms of their technological abilities now. Should it be ok to ask about it, or to devise a needs analysis survey, or to do things as they come?
2. The choice about incorporating certain tool or application is on the mentee, what if they ask for our suggestion. Can we provide our own personal perspective about it. What if that is not ok with the professor?
3. I know quality is more important than quality, if the professor wants to do many things in such a short time, can we suggest to focus on what really is feasible?
Friday, January 17th
Today I have been assigned a professor to work with. To keep the identity of the professor confidential I will call the professor Dr. Value.
I will contact Dr. Value today to set up a meeting to talk about the technological support the professor needs.
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