Week 14

Alors, here we are at the next to last week of my final semester in the Master's program. Elation is a word that would come close to my feelings regarding this said completion. I have had quite a bout with the online program in the past two years, but I am glad to have stuck it out and made it through. With the exception of another wiki, blog, and discussion board posting, my final project and final exam stand in the way between me and what has been a goal of mine for the past six years. I have decided to pursue a Doctoral degree in the fall of 2011 but until then I am free of personal school work. It will be nice to just have a teaching position and not teacher by day, teacher by afternoon, student by evening, and student by night for once. Come to think of it I have been a student with a full time class load since my first semester of kindergarten way back in 1987. Can you say life change?

So, this week I have written my wiki on Learning 2.0, posted to the discussion board on collaboration and the listed websites, and put final touches (again) on my final project. I await the final exam and what I hope to be a decent grade on the final project. I found the Learning 2.0 video to be quite interesting this week. I have just under 5 weeks left in my year-long furlough de France. Texas here I come!

A Plus!

Mark

Week 13

Okay so my Italian escape is over and it's time to get back to work. Here we are in week 13 with a few to go and I couldn't be more happy with the progress we've made thus far. I have just put the final touches on my Final Project and I think it is solid enough to merit an 'A'; will see what the good doctor thinks. After all, I did do those extra assignments because I know I will goof up on something along the way.

I have written a wiki on concept mapping this week. I also did some in depth reading about evaluations through the links in the module. As far as the Gauls are concerned, they are still their usual sulking over paradise selves. It was such a relief to see the Italians so happy all the time (and granted when one sees their landscapes while eating authentic pizza and gelatto, who wouldn't be happy? the French). Spring has reached the shores of Nantes and I'm stuck inside with a body rash (yuck!). It's gradually going away though. I guess that's the price I pay for two weeks camping in Italy. Totally worth it! And now...the benadryl is kicking in which makes it nap time.

Ciao for now,

Mark

Week 12

Still typing away at week 12 during the calendar week 9. I checked the course schedule pretty meticulously for things I might have missed and it looks as though I should work through week 12 of the course work to actually be caught to where I need to be. The end of my Spring Break is on the 20 (or so) of April. This means that it will be two to three days before I am brain ready to dive back into course work. Also, I don't even know if I will have Internet access for the month of April (my apartment is real weird about things like this). It's almost like if you don't get on board with the swisscom connection on the first of the month when you pay your rent, they don't allow you to 'buy' a login during the middle of the month, Internet Nazi! Maybe I shouldn't say that out loud here in the German lit. section of the library?

Anywho, for this week's work I have written a wiki on deliberate practice and typed a lengthy discussion for the 'paradox of practice.' I have watched most of the week 11 video lectures about the next big thing and the 'how to concentrate' video in the week 12 module. I have neglected to do the extra credit flash assignments for week 11 and 12. This is mainly due to me not having flash on my computer...

Let's see...what else...oh yeah I have tried to post the compVideo.wmv file on my class project site and of course it didn't work the first time. I will look at that later this evening at the apt. Again, no WinSCP access behind the firewall of Univ. de Nantes! So there is a huge confick..something in the news today. Done the scan and update and it looks as though I have escaped this one (XX fingers crossed). Well it looks as though for 5110 I am caught up for Spring Break; that is, of course, if I can get the video to play and stop being what I like to call user error.

Have a good break blog see you soon,

Mark

Week 11

Okay so I think it is still week 9 in the course but the fight against time must continue. For an update on the French situation: my wife actually had class today. This is the first full day of class for her since Christmas break. Even then, it was like a half-week of not much to do at the university. There are four weeks left in her semester with a two-week Spring Break starting on Monday next week (ITALY!!!!). So, I'm trying to keep up with her no homework (or work period) over the past...entire semester. I really don't want to have to sit out on the Coliseum or something to make a blog or discussion posting, so I'm trying to get 'er done.

In terms of the course work for week 11, I think I have about done it all, save the file transfer to the class project server (again super-firewall here at the univ.). After I do a quick upload of the javascript, php, and video file I think I might be caught up to something like April 13, which is a great head start for my Spring Break. Yeah that's right I worked right through the calendar Spring Break for UNT so I can enjoy Spring Break de France. I have also done some more tweaking of the Final Project (still can't figure why my suggestion box/javascript page isn't forwarding submissions to my email). Now I should figure out how to order coffee or pizza in Italian because I have read that restaurants have three prices for everything on the menu: one if you order in Italian, one if you order in English politely, and one if you are the stereotypical Westerner who refuses to learn anything but your regional English/French/Spanish and demands that the service bend your way. Needless to say I'm going for some culture acquisition and cheap prices.

A Bientot,

Mark