EDT 5410: Week Four Reflections (R/D6)

Related to Chapter 14 (R/D6), what are some ways the ideas/concepts/principles discussed in this chapter could be applied in your professional work? Do you see opportunities where these ideas could help you or your students?

I feel that HPI could be used in my current professional work environment by a simple performance management review concept. Currently, you are neither punished nor rewarded here as far as your review goes so where is the motivation for individuals to excel at their job and do better. If you could put a review system in place similar to the HPT model of the International Society for Performance Improvement on page 141 I think a lot of progress could be done. There needs to be consequences in place for those who are not meeting the job expectations. Those people need to be reviewed and told what they are doing wrong and then if they can not overcome the the aspect of not meeting the job then something needs to be done. On the other hand, those that are going above and beyond at their job need to be recognized and rewarded for their hard work.

Perhaps, there are different steps to complete and once you are through a certain amount of steps then you get a raise. Which is totally uncommon in the university setting currently due to the state budget but if not a raise maybe a different incentive on a smaller scale such as free lunch at the cafeteria or a designated parking spot, I don't know. But if the University could follow the HPT model, I think great things could come about.

These ideas could help both myself and the students here at WMU. If you have happy professors, staff, etc. then it is a better place to work and attend school. So, many of the professors that I have had here at WMU do not care. They are there to do their job and then some don't even want to do that! If there were some incentive programs to follow and the professors knew what steps needed to be taken to achieve that then I think they would care a great deal more about the students. I am not sure I am correct on this but teachers on the K-12 level have different steps...and with a certain amount of college classes they receive a raise??? Not sure on how exactly that works but I think something like that needs to be implemented at the college level also.

EDT 5410: Week Four Reflections - Podcasting

The podcast that I chose to listen to and profile was

Podcast: 123listen2me.com

PodCast Profile: This podcast is given by two young girls, Sara age 10 and Nina age 7. They podcast about twice a month. In the podcast they translate different languages, review books, movies, and music, tell stories and jokes. The podcast is focused on kids ages 4-15. They call it the podcast by kids for kids.

What added value might podcasting have in your professional setting (company, school, etc)?

In my current professional setting podcasting could be useful as far as computer training goes. I could set up podcasts that would help each of the individuals that I give technical support too. That would be very time consuming but I think that it would have its benefits for those individuals that would like to learn more on their own than in group settings.

EDT 5410: Week 4 Reflections (R/D5)

Indicate whether you think the Internet and Web will have a major impact in one or more of the following areas:

a. Educational programs at grades K-12

I feel that the Internet and the web will become more of a major impact on this age group but not right away. I do not feel that schools have the money to stay up to date with technology in both the hardware aspects and the teaching aspects. Teachers need to be willing to teach with the means of technology to accomplish this. I think that as the different generations come up through the education system and become teachers and key administrators, that is when technology as far as the Internet and the Web will have a major impact on K-12.

I realize that the text states that only 20% of teachers indicated that they frequently used technology to have students solve problems or analyze data and only 10% for research but I think that is where the generation gap comes into play. Those teachers did not grow up with technology the next generation of teachers did!

b. Higher Education (community colleges, colleges, and universities)

Yes, it will and does have a major impact of education. I feel that the Web and Internet already plays a major role in education at the higher level. Thinking back to my undergrad degree I had professors that did not allow us to use the web as sources. Now, just ten years later, all my professors push us to use the web for information...WOW its been ten years! I am getting old! Anyhow, back to the question at hand, I can not imagine what the Internet and Webs impact will be in say another 10 years.

c. Adult education (in businesses, government, and/or the military)

Tremendous impact, that is what the web and the Internet will have on businesses, government and the military. It already plays a huge roll in all three of these. For example, all of the online businesses, you can order just about anything but a gun online. I feel that eventually 90% of shopping will be online especially with gas prices, people won't be able to afford to drive to the store. Which brings me to my next point, I think the majority of the workforce will end up working from home. With all the new technology working from home is easy, thanks to the Internet. As far as the government goes, look at all the things you can do over the Internet now, drivers, licenses, unemployment, FAFSA, etc. The government is revolutionizing right along side the Internet and Web bandwagon.

I know the history of instructional media says otherwise about just how much of an impact the Internet and Web will have but, we are already using them both by leaps and bounds. Back in the day, technology did not take off as fast and then came to a screeching halt...the Internet and Web just continue to improve.