1st Summer Journal

Well, I am finally wrapping up just about all of the 1st week assignments. This has been an interesting, yet at times frustrating journey. Gosh, I am glad I have been in the privacy of my own home, because if I were in the computer lab on campus people may begin to talk about my turbulent relationship (yelling at the computer and calling it stupid) with computers/Internet this week. Yes, it is true the Internet Checkers Queen does not reign over every aspect of the World Wide Web (ha ha)!

My objective was to complete the assignments given to the class at the beginning of the week. The assignments included: reading the syllabus/ITE:UsagePolicy/ASHA Code of Ethic, opening a Marshall computer account to receive a password and user-name ( only if I did not have one already), Email my instructor concerning my computer setup at home,join the Yahoo group class web-site, send a introduction about myself to the class via the Yahoo group address, browse the class homepage at bay area, create a Weblog at antville, complete my 1st journal entry, read information about the MOO, and read 3 ERIC documents defining Information Literacy. The reason I wanted to complete these assignments by the end of the week is, because I don't know what to expect out of next week's list of assignments. I want to make sure I have plenty of time and attention available to focus on them.

As I reviewed the 1st list of assignments the first thought that came to my mind that would describe the list would be active/movement. Yes, it is true we are using the Internet as a medium in which we are working and learning, but instead of someone telling us how something would or should be, we are experiencing it step by step for ourselves--applying the techniques ourselves(learning within the context). For example, I had NEVER heard of of a Weblog...shoot I never wanted one, but because of this class I have been exposed to something that might become quite handy in the future. I think of the blog as my own little nook in the wide world of cyberspace--I like it! My idea of my Weblog and its potential are still under development. Maybe one way to think of it is as a blank canvas that needs some bursts of color added-- we'll see! When I began creating my blog I had trouble-- even though I followed the directions. Boy, how we lack confidence in unfamiliar territory ( Mrs. Mccomas you were almost nominated for a position on my speed dial list--I'm kidding). Upon arrival at the Antville sight I noticed the my screen looked different from the example given in the assignments packet, there were several extra boxes that I had no concept of what would be the correct information to put in them. After fiddling around with some entries, I decided to leave the X-boxes blank (I thought maybe they would somehow do what they where supposed to do). The URL box was one that I left blank, because I thought that as soon as I filled out my alias box it would then give me what my URL would be ... anyway everything turned out perfectly. One complaint I have is that the date the I created my blog was wrong. I made it on Thursday, but the site log it in as being made on Friday(What's up with that?).

The next assignment I want to discuss is joining the Yahoo group and Emailing my intro. I had no trouble joining the group at Yahoo, but Emailing the group is where my trouble began. First, let me say that having an archives area is a good idea, this is where a collection of our finished class assignments are located and can be viewed. Also the Yahoo group site is useful when any of us students have questions we can seek help from the instructor or our peers. Well back to my emailing trouble, for some reason I did not complete 1 or 2 steps that would have allowed me access to Emailing the class list (I had to verify my Email address, even though it was listed), while I did not know this at the time I composed and sent my intro. My intro was returned to me by the WEB POSTMASTER, several times I could not figure out what the problem was. So I continued attempting to verify my Email and finally it worked. That is when I sent the S.O.S. email for some one to tell if they had received my intro email. Before anyone answered I went to the Yahoo group web-site and noticed that if my assignment was sent correctly it would appear on this site, the intro wasn't there, but my email for help was. I just resent my intro and everything worked out O.K. I appreciate Summer-Dawn responding to the Email to help me, even though I had already figured things out.

The last thing I would like to talk about as far as content is the MOO session it was fun, yet weird to think that there are other people somewhere in the world looking at, reasoning about, and trying to figure out the same things I was-- without being in the same physical environment. It reminded me of times when I drive passed people's homes or office buildings in the evening and wonder what the people in those places are doing right at that moment or what they are thinking at that time. This truly is a special way to conduct class. Similar to a regular classroom there is a certain way a student is expected to behave in the cyber-classroom (how one is supposed to speak). Once I was instructed on how to speak I jumped right in the mix (I'm a talker at heart--smiles), and as I learned new skills I tried to use they so that I could remember how to use them later. Some malfunctions with my ISP caused me to disconnect from the MOO session about four times, my heart almost stopped when the stupid thing disconnected just as our assigned groups were being announced, I scrambled desperately to reconnect. Just in the nick -of- time my group was listed as I logged back on. I was astonished to find out that no one had noticed that I had been kicked off so many times. Well, I soon put my new paging skills to the test by paging my instructor about my serious situation...I'm still having trouble. Chatting on the MOO gave me confidence to do something I would have never tried to do before, now I don't mind (too much) talking with to people online. The next day I called AT&T to get some help about service being interrupted, but it cost $17.95 to talk to some tech person over the phone (I was not shelling out that much money), so I went to their helpchat service(live help online)and it was a piece of cake all because of the Moo session...but now I can't retrieve the file from my favorites folder--I won't go there.

I think these assignments have allowed me to begin to get comfortable with myself when dealing with the Internet. Sometimes the Internet can seem like a blackhole from which no light escapes, but the way I am conquering my fear of the Internet's magnitude is by jumping right in and doing what needs to be done. Knowing that I am not alone in my efforts in exploring the plethora of information accumulated in this medium it is comforting and to know that help is not far when needed.I think it is O.K. not to know everything, but it is important to have the tools and the know how, to find information when needed. Even though I am becoming more familiar with the Internet and I am willing to experiment/explore cyberspace for a better understanding ,however I am not clicking on anything that says BUY NOW!!! If I do I might end up with a wooden nickle that costs $200.00 a pop (ha ha!).

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