Sunday, July 1, 2012

Blog Post #12

Creating My Own Assignment

Scavenger Hunt

After our midterm, I suggested an assignment for EDM310 as the subject. My inspiration came from our group work. My group lucked up - we all have personalities that mesh well together, we all have similar priorities, we all have a keen work ethic, and we all enjoy our time together. I am sure that hasn't happened in every group. I also thought about how web-enhanced classes really don't allow us to know one another, and a key concept in this class is connectivism. Are really connected? We all have to write about "About You" blogs, why not build off that assignment? I decided a Scavenger Hunt would be a fun way to do this - a Scavenger Hunt of each others' blogs. I had to tweak my original assignment, because we didn't really have any rules about what to include in that blog. My questions got a little too specific. I think we could learn a lot from this assignment.

The assignment would have to occur after the first blog has been written about ourselves. You or the lab assistants could create a document that lists a variety of questions. The questions would primarily be education based, but there could be a few questions related to personal life that might be relevant to being successful in EDM310 (maybe for forming groups). You could also incorporate Skype somehow.

Note to Dr. Strange – I had to manipulate the questions from the original email I sent. I think it might be beneficial to include a small questionnaire or format for our first blogs. Some people didn’t write enough, some people didn’t elaborate, and I think it would also be beneficial for people to write about computer skills they are bringing into the class or hope to learn from this class (it would help for this assignment).


The instructions are simple:

Objectives:

-To have EDM310 students master the use of Blogger and how to successfully navigate the class blog and other members' blogs
- To have EDM310 students begin building their PLN from the first day of class.
- To have EDM310 students become familiar with their classmates, create a more personal learning environment for a class that does not meet regularly, and have them be familiar with students that have similar interests or majors

Directions: Using the questions provided for you in your email, look through your classmates introductory blogs to find out more about them. Find one person to answer each question. You may not duplicate answers. You may not use any other semesters' blogs. If you find someone that may answer a question but you are unsure, you may use Skype or email to clarify your answer. Also, you may not use yourself to answer any question. Post your answers as Blog Post #2 and include a paragraph explaining how this activity is going to help you in EDM310 (use specific names and examples). You must also include clickable links to each blog.

Questions (examples of something I was thinking of):

1. A classmate that is majoring in Secondary Education/ English?
2. A classmate that is majoring in Elementary Education?
3. A classmate that is renewing certification?
4. A classmate that is a non-traditional student (maybe has children, drives from Biloxi, Ms for class, etc)?
5. A classmate that has used iMovie in the past?
6. A classmate that went to another state or out-of-state college prior to USA?
7. A classmate that enjoys running?
8. A classmate that enjoys reading?
9. A classmate that has just had a child?
10. A classmate that is on Facebook? And send a friend request.

My Answers:

1. A classmate that is majoring in Secondary Education/ English? Hannah Albano
2. A classmate that is majoring in Elementary Education? Jamie Cunningham
3. A classmate that is renewing certification? Courtney Blackmon
4. A classmate that is a non-traditional student (maybe has children, drives from Biloxi, Ms for class, etc)? Angelia Gafford
5. A classmate that has used iMovie in the past? Lacie Brothers
6. A classmate that went to another state or out-of-state college prior to USA? Keith Tardibuono
7. A classmate that enjoys running? Byronn Brye
8. A classmate that enjoys dancing? Courtney Hieronymus
9. A classmate that has just had a child? Brittany Collins
10. A classmate that is on Facebook? And send a friend request. Angl White

My Paragraph:

I was so excited to learn more about my classmates by doing this assignment, especially since we are in a web-enhanced class. I feel like I know a few people now! It really allowed me to see who I had things in common with, who could help teach me things I didn’t know how to use in this class, and who might be a possible group member for later in this class. The repetition of the html code for the clickable links will also help me in my future assignments for this class. I can now navigate around our class blogs so much easier!

 Happy Hunting

4 comments:

  1. Great job, Lindsay! Very original. I am glad that you happen to be in a group that works well together. That doesn't happen often.
    I also like the reference to connectivism, and that you question how well "connected" we really are. This really seems like a win-win-win because everyone learns about each other, and finds people to relate to and learn from, and also gets practice inserting HTML code.
    While your post was not as long as some of the others that I noticed, it is apparent that a lot of work went into it!
    Keep up the good work,
    Carly

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  2. I had twenty questions originally, but it was impossible to complete. There would have to be some sort of guidelines for writing the introductory blog. For example, maybe the instructions should include listing your favorite books, include what type of computer you are comfortable working on, what are your favorite books, list some of your activities you participate in outside of class, what kind of phone do you have, etc. Just things that would help make this class easier working in groups and "get to know know you type stuff". I was really trying to center the assignment more around establishing groups that could benefit from each member. We lucked up. It took me awhile to become comfortable using HTML code. I thought that if one of the first assignments used it repetitively, then it might be easier for all to use from the start of the course. I just didn't have a lot to go off of - people either wrote about the same general information or wrote a very short introductory blog.

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  3. Hi Lindsay! I love your idea of a scavenger hunt. it was a very unique idea and would really get students more familiar with each other. This would be a fun assignment and extremely beneficial. I can tell that you really thought hard about this and put a lot of work into coming up with this assignment. It seems to me that you are very passionate about what you do. I enjoyed reading your blog! Thanks for sharing this great idea!

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