Exam muddle

So, I'm sitting in the uni library studying and feeling my way into the exam. Again.

On the whole I've really enjoyed this unit. I've found it engaging, particularly with the hands on stuff.

However...

And but...

Now it's exam time and everything's about to get theoretical. It's one thing to design a web page and to write a blog (my strongest point) but it's quite another to go into an exam and write about the theory of authentic learning when applied to solar panels etc.

And I'm not the only one panicking. I've just come from the discussion boards and a lot of people are talking about the work that has gone into EDN113 and the overwhelmed feeling they're having going into exams. I have to be honest and say that I'd love to say "Waaah! Waaah! Somebody call a wambulance!" except, well, I feel rather overwhelmed myself. This is my second year of doing semester one of this course and I have to say that this unit is the most time-expensive one yet. I expect to put in at least 10 hours a week on each unit. I put in that and more which is why I get the good marks. Only, this unit expects way more than that if you want to just get a credit. I put in about 20-25 hours a week on 2A and got a credit. Now, realistically my time should have been shared with two other people and it really wasn't. I'm not going to whinge. I'm not, but...well... you know. Somebody had to do it.

But, anyway, exams are nearly here. There are hours of theory to research and prepare and I just don't feel anywhere near ready. I know I'm one of their good students and if I'm feeling like I'm drowning in information I can only imagine how others are feeling. I'm trying to re-listen to the lectures and am getting some stuff for my notes, but in general it's hard going. In the end what I'm trying to do is find the generic links between all the questions then try to extrapolate the rest. It's not fool-proof but it's the best I can come up with. I think researching information for 8 questions is a fool's errand so I have to find the best way to deal with it and that's it. It may work. It may not. My exam mark may pull my overall mark down further, but in the end I have to do what is right.

And at the end of the day I still feel that I've got some good stuff for the future in my teaching tool-box just from this unit alone, so it's a win either way.

Later edit: I've just read through this post and, my, there's a lot of 'ends' aren't there? :)Well, I guess I'll be glad when, at the 'end' of the day, I'm at the 'end' of this unit because I'm already at the 'end' of my tether :))

Nearly there

It's just a little tiny bit over a week until exams and now my focus has turned to the questions. I have quite a few to study for and I'm a bit nervous because there's a lot to catch up on.

This is my plan:

Monday (today) listen to one lecture, answer one EDN 113 question.

Tuesday listen to one lecture, answer one question from both units.

Wednesday and onwards repeat above.

That's the plan. I hope I can stick to it.

Edited later: I've now listened to the Week Two lecture and have been able to take notes during it for both Qs 1 and 7, plus I've added to the discussion board about my experience with Twitter as a Teaching Resource.

Done

Assignment 2B is submitted.

It hasn't been an easy semester. I missed this week's lecture and tutorial thanks to Aiden having to be rushed to hospital for an emergency appendisectomy and now Connor is vomiting. I've had a lot on my plate that I've had to deal with, but finally, it's all done. I only have to deliver my reading log for FDN102 and then it's all about exams. I'll start on that on Monday. After the awful time I've had with child-health, I'm taking the weekend off to relax, read and vege out.

I have loved this unit, though, and I'll probably keep this blog going as I continue my journey through my degree. I've leant a lot over the past 14 weeks, both from a unit POV and about myself.

In short, I rock!

And, what's more, I have a full command of correct apostrophe use.

I like to celebrate my little victories by focussing on other people's creations...

My song-of-the-week, Valley Girl by Moon Unit Zappa.

Barf me out gag me with a spoon. Love it!

Phew...

It has taken all day, but it is finished. My resource is up.

Am I happy with it? Well, yes, I am, thank you.

However, I am very unhappy with the hosting site itself. No matter how many times I've deleted the spaces between the paragraphs, they just won't stay deleted. I've gone back time and again, but next time I look at the site, there they are, great swathes of space between paragraphs. It's darn annoying.

But but but. I'm still happy with the assignment itself. My Twitter resource rocks the grannie's panties. I'm proud of it because it was totally my own idea and I hope to use it one day in a proper teaching situation. I'm happy enough with the Interactive Whiteboard resource that I put into a lesson plan, but that was someone else's idea. Twitter was mine. I went into Assignment 2A being told that an idea had been chosen, I just had to make it happen. 2B is my idea and I'm happy.

I'd squee, but that's a little beneath me.

Oh heck

I've just had a look at the 2B example and I've done it so wrong! So extremely wrong. Thank goodness I checked before putting it up.

Correcting my resource is what I'll be doing over the next two days.

Oops

My weekend was supposed to feature me looking up the questions for the upcoming exams and researching half of them. I was also supposed to edit and upload my 2B assignment. Instead I played a lot of Plants vs Zombies and spent time with my kids.

I did, however, get up early this morning and edited the assignment. Now I just have to upload it to the site which I should be able to do within the next few minutes.

EDN113 lecture today. I have been very, very bad about my lectures and it's the one area in which I need to play catch up. That is what I'll be doing today and tomorrow.

Writers of the Future

I have, once again, entered The Writers of the Future Contest. My beloved Lee was the first Western Australian to win. I was determined to be the second. Sonia Helbig beat me to it, but I'm going to get there one day.

Other than being the best writing competition in the world, I found an added bonus today - a lesson plan! Oh happy day, a way to use WotF in the classroom!

Finally

I've been having problems with blogger the past few days, but here I am, again. Yay.

Not long to go now until the end of the semester. I've pretty much finished Assignment 2B and just have to proof-read it and put it up.

One more week and the whole lecture/tute thing will be over. Then it will be study study study for the exams.

No, I can't wait. I've enjoyed these units and I've done well, but I will be glad to take a break from it all once exams are over. I've got some writing I want to do and I just want to push everything else aside to do it. I did find the group presentation stressful and I just want to be alone in my own head for a couple of weeks.

Anyway, onwards and upwards.

Love it

I can't find the proper way to attribute this, which is a shame because it's brilliant, so I'll put it here, rather than on my website. This slide show (which is all about using Twitter for teaching) is held under creative commons and there are various page authors given. They deserve a round of applause for their great work. Just in case it needs saying, I am not responsible for any of this. The page authors are listed by their Tweet names on their relevant page.

Go to: https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_118cfb8msf8

Moving on

I made a decision this afternoon. I could either lose sleep worrying about everything that went wrong with 2A, or I could just move on and concentrate on making up for it with 2B. So moving on it is.

I'm researching using Twitter in education and I'm surprised by the apparent lack amongst my friends. I put this tweet out a few days ago:

lynbattersby lynbattersby

I can use Twitter in education by...

2 May Favorite Reply Delete

and received replies from my teacher friends that basically said "remind students to do their homework."

Ahem. I intend to be a teacher, not a nanny.

I had to explain that I actually wanted to use it as a hands on tool for students but was met with radio silence by the teachers and horror from my parent friends. They hated the idea of their children using Twitter at school. Anyway, I found some good ideas out there, but generally it centred around writing. In my research I also came across this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/25/primary-schools-twitter-curriculum

which states that students are going to be taught Twitter and Blogging as part of the curriculum.

Interesting.

I admit, when I started this assignment I really didn't want to consider Twitter. I'm not a fan of it (I prefer Facebook) but after reading around and thinking about different approaches, I can see how it could really help children make important education connections.

The biggest theme I'm coming across with technology and education is the presumption that tech is for the teachers and they only use it to record what the students are doing.

This could be a very exciting time to be an education student.

Over

We had our Assignment 2A presentation today. On the whole I think it went well, losing points mainly on the fact that all three of us read directly from the text. It was hard not to. There was a lot to cover and in such a short time frame that it was hard to ad-lib. Also, I was severely tired from looking after Connor and from my own migraine I couldn't think straight, so reading it was.

Our presentation was quite different to the other groups, mainly because I interpreted the question differently. The other groups focussed on what their resource looked like, while we focussed on how we made our resource. Maybe I was wrong, but that was what I thought we were meant to do.

Anyway, there's nothing that can be done about it now. Done is done. I had other gripes about it, but now I can let it go and concentrate on 2B.

I left the tutorial early today and missed all of FDN102. I hated doing that, but I just had to get home.

Not much of this semester left, which is sad. Out of all the units, EDN113 has proven to be my favourite mainly because I surprised myself with what I could achieve. I always think of myself as being of average intelligence, but I've proven that by applying myself to the full extent of my abilities I can do amazing things.

Turns out, all my teachers were right :)

Today's the day

We're giving our presentation of Assignment 2A today. Connor has an extremely bad cough. I don't want to go to uni, but we have to give it. What to do, what to do. All I can do, I guess, is ask to go first and then leave once its over. This time last year he was in hospital with bronchitis. I really don't want to go through that again.

Anyway, the teaching resource can be found at Team Awesome's Assignment 2A. Feel free to have a mosey around and let me know what you think.

In other news, I received an email from Murdoch University the other day congratulating me on my High Grade Points and inviting me to come to a Masterclass information night on May 16. If I maintain my grades across 24 credit points of study, I'll be able to join the Masterclass programme which, according to the email:

"This program is unique to Murdoch and gives you the opportunity to graduate with your undergraduate degree, as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration at the same time."

After this semester I'll be 12 down with 12 to go. It's achievable.

I don't know if it's advertising or a real 'well done' but this pleases me no end. I work hard and it's nice to see my efforts paying off.

I'm very interested because it broadens my skill base somewhat should I decide not to teach at the end.