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What a semester it has been! I am so thankful that we have reached the end of it for many reasons. I have enjoyed the students I have had this semester and will see a few of them again next (some for next level courses, others as repeats). As a student, it has been difficult to accomplish everything I wanted to accomplish in a timely manner. This has caused me more anguis that anything and more than likely helped me to decide that I am simply not ready for the Ed.D program. Instead, I will continue to take classes here and there and possibly add another Master’s and a few certificates along the way.
Why the sudden change? Well, I have decided that it would be best to put my efforts into helping move our IT Department forward in what we are offering as far as classes and certificates to give our students a better range of courses that are currently available. In the process, I must further educate myself and continue to search out grants to help pay for the new curriculum.
Beginning this fall, we will be offering an Introduction to Geographical Information Systems. This course, which has a pending grant, will introduce students to a variety of materials including GPS. I am using the GPS modules to introduce more Service Learning initiatives for the college and is partly behind the grant I am seeking. We will be using a Garmin eTrex Venture HC to map the various trails, facilities and several other places of interest around Grayson Lake. There will be more to following on this later.So for everyone that is still reading this, good luck for a wonderful end of semester and FABULOUS summer! I’ll be posting here from time to time and keeping everyone informed of what is going on in my neck of the woods. Who would have thought that this is something I would actually want to keep up with?
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What can I say? I have succumbed to the masses and over the last few weeks have been adding gadgets to my collection… For example, I have been looking for quite some time for some type of MP3 device so that I can listen to music, books or anything else that may cross my mind. A great debate has occurred over the past several months over what to get, a zune because of price and capacity, an iPod Nano for its price, an iPod Touch for its applications and WIFI capability or an iPhone itself which would combine everything together — but ultimately give me a monthly fee.
After 3 months of researching, reading reviews and asking opinions I finally made a decision and price points at which I would buy each of the above. I found knock-offs and cheaper models, but quickly ruled them out. Sometimes quality counts and with this gadget, it definitely does. After searching high and low, I finally found an iPod Touch (1st generation) below my price point and struck quickly.
A side effect of the iPod touch is that I am wanting to learn more about programming an iPhone. Needless to say, installing Snow Leopard on a PC is not the easiest task to accomplish. This too will be a separate post. A spoiler could be for those who care to look for “Hackintosh”.
Next I have been working on a grant application to implement Service Learning within the class room while also implementing Web 2.0. It was almost as if the grant has been written for me due to the classes and timing of this grant. It has also taken up so much of my time. Needless to say, this has proven to be a difficult project, but I feel it could also revitalize not just our Information Technology department, but others due to the cross curricular nature of the technology I want to use. A short synopsis of the project is that I will have students creating Blogs, WIKIs, Facebook groups and surveys in order to supplement the use of Handheld GPS Units in a Service Learning environment. This project has led me to purchase one of the handhelds so that I could get used to the product before the class this Fall. The handheld unit we will be using is a Garmin eTrex HC.
Finally, at the present moment, I am using an ASUS EEE PC Netbook. I did not actually purchase this myself, but instead borrowed it from the department. It may be used for the “Hackintosh” project and if the grant is not funded, my GIS class. All in all, it is not a bad contraption for those wanting the ultimate in mobility. I am able to complete posts that have neeeded to already have been done and check various internet sites. A quick opinion on this particular model is that the keys are small and somewhat causing my hands to cramp up. Yet another post on its way for this.
I’ll add more later on separate posts, as each of these topics deserve, but wanted to leave a post for those who are thinking about the same technologies as I am. Don’t think twice — they are all worth it!!
