4th Summer Journal

Now that I have finished up the last of last week's
assignments I just started on this week's assignments.
Before I get started I want to say that the coolest
thing happened this 4th of July, my 72-years-old great
grandmother attended her 1st fireworks show this year
with my husband, my daughter, my mom and myself. All she kept saying was how much she enjoyed the show, she couldn't believe the number of people that came out to watch and that she wants to attend every year as long as the Lord allows her to live... nice huh?

Down to business, this week's assignments included:
revising my essential and foundation questions, reading
the search strategy articles, collaborating with our
classmates, 3 assignments evaluating WWW resources,
becoming involved in discuss on the mailing list(if we
want), working on our webliography, develop our project
outline and write our journal.

I don't have very many things to cover in this journal, since I haven't really started on the assignments that require my input yet. As I read this week's assignments list it seems that these assignments are helping the class focus more towards preparing for/working on our MRP. I made a statement during this week's MOO session about forming collaboration groups. I did not know that this was a assignment; I have found that sometimes I can get a better understanding about something when I see people face to face. Also, there was a question I asked about the MRP that may have been unclear, if you remember the question this is what I was trying to say, each view (person or group) we represent in our MRP will be expressing how our chosen topic effects that view and we also should demonstrate how that view would react to towards our chosen topic? Is this clear? Please be patient with me I have not worked on a project like this before. The next thing I want to say is that I have not been getting any mail from my "Pro" mailing list. I was really looking forward to conversing with people that have the same interests that I do. Would there be a list of mailing list concerning international communication on ASHA's website? Something else our assignments dealt with this week was determining if the resources we come across are valid. Last semester I had a discussion with Mrs. McNealy about this issue, she was said that I have to be careful about the information I get off of the Web, because I didn't know who put the information on the Web. She said that it was better to stick with scholastic sources, that way I would know that the information was valid. I have received both types of information off the web, and I haven't had a problem yet. I hope these three assignments will give me some simple tips on how to make sure the information I get is not junk.

This week I haven't learn a lot of new information,
because the assignments I have completed haven't required it yet. I can say that it was refreshing to find out that I was entering my topic correctly when using the search engines. Until next time....

P.S. How do I change my weblog's color and all that other neat stuff?

3rd Summer Journal

This week I have been tired, I think my iron is low(I
have had low blood for forever). This has caused me to
really struggle this week with initating assignments.
This week assignments included: subsrcirbing to a
professonial mailing list, searching for our last name
and our topic using 3 different search engines, looking
over some extra research info, developing a prompt and
answering it, a learning highlights assignment, reading
instructions for our MRP, make our webliography, compose
foundation questions and a journal.

Well I have completed a lot of the assignments this week
(to my suprize). First I want to discuss the mailing
list assignment, I really felt good subscribing to a
list where I can exchange information about
international communication with professional-- I think I will learn a lot. I had a little diffculty
subscribing, because the address listed did not working so,
it routed me to the new one. I learned that the command
you have to enter differs from mailing list to mailing
list. For the one I joined I had to type in join
international communication instead of subscribe, but I learn quickly so
there wasn't to big of a problem. I think I am getting
better at troubleshooting mistakes or problems I
have...my confidence is building(smiling). I tell you what, no amount of confidence could have prepared me for the
search on my topic, it took me literally hours to do that
thing and we haven't really even started the project yet! And to top the time a put into it I didn't get that much info. My bubble was cruelly burst, I think I may have to rethink my EQ. I didn't know that there were so many search engines
available. Question:a search engine like google or
profusion is different from a browser like att or aol
right? Why is that, when you can look -up stuff on both? What is lycos considered to be?

The last thing I want to comment on is the MOO
everyone's help was greatly appreciated. I hated
disconnecting so many times, I really am thing of
getting a cable modem , but I am concerned about having to switcheverthing over during the middle of class--
suggestions? I have been reminded that I have to be a quick
thinker this week and be ready for the unexpected ( truly this week has been full of suprizes). I
also underestimated the difficulty I might experience while completing my research project ( i need to have a back-up plan).

2nd Summer Journal

I must say that last night I was in tears, because all
of my hard word vanished. I had already completed this assignment, then I went to paste it to my blog--and whoop there it went. I tried deseparetly to find it, but my search was truly in vain. Well, may objectives this week were to complete all of the assignment and not panic if something technically tragic happened. I must say I was defeated, because I didn't meet either of my goals--but I am a trooper that's going to keep moving forward! Let's see, the assignments this week included: reading several Internet focused articles, subsribing and unsubscribing to a mailing list, getting familiar with the WWW and using bookmarks, finding someone we know on the web, responding to given prompts about our history, our values, our learning future and
we were to compose an essential question.

First I want to comment on the MOO class-- it was fab! I liked the discussion about society's perception of Speech Pathologist/Speech Therapist and how that SLPs are sometimes miss portrayed, are limited in what type of work performed and are limited to a few locations of employment. All of this caused me think about a project that I might do, if I have to do something for statistics class. I was thinking of doing a survey at local grocery store(s) or a busy shop--ya know, just to get an idea of what everyday people think SLPs are and what SLPs do. I
would like to get some ideas on how to improve public awareness. The next thing I wanted to say is that the virtual lab was really neat, I know it had to take a lot of time to create something so involved-- shoot it takes me hours just to write a paper(giggling). Job well done Mrs. Mccomas...and the pace of the tour really kept me on my toes! Is the lab open to the public? Something similar to the lab could be used to recruit people in to the fields of Speech Path. or Audiology--ya think so? I want to end this section by saying it is important to inform people about what SLPs do and are. I find myself in stores talking to people (because I rarely meet strangers) about this field, and what I have found is that people make a better connection if I use the term Speech Therapist, I try to expand their knowledge of the field in a couple of minutes. I think some dialogue is better than none. Next on the agenda assignment 1.2.1. reading these articles really cleared up some things for me. I needed to read one of them about emailing addresses last week, when I forgot which address I was supposed to use for emailing. I hadn't emailed in awhile so it slipped my mind. O.K.....I 'll tell you what happened, well I finished doing an assignment and for some reason I had to email Mrs. Mccomas but I couldn't remember whether the (what I now know) URL was the email address or if the email address was. So I decided to use the URL...heck it was longer, needless to say I was informed that the address did not exist, so I tried the other address and it worked. That was one of those moments--ya'll know what I'm talking about--the kind similar when you forget for no apparent reason (other than a brain lapse) how to spell "who" --I know somebody other than myself has been there (laughing). Well after this class it will be in my brain for eternity. Now moving forward this is the last assignment I want to make comment(s) about it's the finding people assignment, I really am excited about doing this one. Because I plan to look-up and write my fifth grade teacher (Mrs. Gill in Roanoke , Va.). She is a great lady, one that has contributed in a special way to my educational success. I believe a good teacher
makes a lasting impression on the development of his/her students. Mrs. Gills encouraged me to do better, and being in her class created a turning point in my life. I'mgoing to tell her thanks for her sincere concern for my improvement. Her actions were not forced, but they were from the heart and that is why I appreciate her today.

Wow this class is really turning out to be pretty good. There is a lot of work, but there is a lot to learn. I used the web to search for things many times before this class, but I didn't know that there was netiquette, a logic to the way an email address is written or I did not understand how computers communicated with each other. Now I have a
mental picture of what is going on when I am surfing the net or emailing. As I use the resources available on the web, the web is becoming less mysterious to me. I think someone that is a true learner is not selfish with the knowledge that he/she has obtained. I spoke to someone from my church today and he made the statement that he did not know anything about computers. I think I will offer to teach him some of the things we are learning in
this class. If he wants to learn we can become
information literate together!