A Moment of Clarity
(Does anyone know how to indent a paragraph on Blogger? Tab doesn't seem to be doing the trick)
For the past couple days I've been scouring the Middlesex University Website trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be "doing". Module One has started, and I genuinely could not figure out specifically where I should be looking to get going on the programme as my colleagues have (as evident in Monday's Skype session). I was told to read the handbook, and I did...I'll get back to this part of the story momentarily...
I finally had a few days off from acting at Knott's, and I was determined to dedicate the off days to commencing my studies. After all, I had confidently convinced myself I was ready to "kick some educational butt" as I vaguely recall writing in my letter to the Admissions Department. Well, it started, but with some road bumps. This felt like a lesson in patience, and navigating a GUI (Graphical User Interface) I wasn't familiar with right off the bat. [I also momentarily felt the urge to study UI design to help educational institutions with the forward progression and simplifying of their websites]. I digress. I printed out the handbook, and read all 36 pages of it thinking SOMEHOW by the end, all would be made clear. No, nothing was made clear. I stormed to the kitchen, poured myself a cup of fairly stale coffee, and stared at my dog. A good 10 minutes went by. I sat there leaned against the counter, paging over the information I had just read. Surely I missed something. There's no way I was supposed to know where to begin after reading the grading scales, and introduction to the programme's staff. I took a break to collect myself. I could swear I had looked through every nook of that site.
Pause. Also, I had just purchased a new 5th Generation iPad for my studies. (Let's be honest, by the time I post this blog in the next 30 minutes, they'll probably have the 6th Generation out.) I spent a good hour and a half prior to reading the handbook PDF simply trying to figure out how to save a highlighted portion of text in iBooks. I even Technical Support-ed my way through family dinner. I was THAT determined. After two web-client chats with their Tech Support team, and a phone call to a "senior technical advisor" at Apple, the whole experience resulted in them telling me: "Sorry, I guess that's not a feature yet in iBooks with PDFs". At least they gave me a link in which I can suggest a feature in future updates.
This morning, after getting all Sherlock Holmes-y on the MDX site, I run across a page with a handbook that looks slightly different in the title than the first one. On a whim, I open it up....
THERE it is. The handbook with Web 2.0, and articles, and exercises. I feel like I've arrived.
I may have come late to the game, but I'm ready to score a touchdown (or a sport reference of your choice reader).
I feel like this entire process has been an example of how incredibly useful Web 1 and 2.0 is, and how horribly wrong it can go for a select few. I'm normally not the select few, but in this case, it got the best of me. I'm just glad I didn't give up clicking around! I would have been stuck severely confused. I've spent quite a few hours today catching up in my readings of Web 2.0/Section 1, taking notes, formulating blog ideas, and drinking Chocolate Peanutbutter Milkshakes at McClains at 2am. I look forward to being a part of the ongoing knowledge, conversation, and community this programme and you individual professionals have to offer! For now, I rest. I'll be posting an accumulation blog of my thoughts on Web 2.0 tomorrow (err....today technically). For now...signing off on this entry with a moment of clarity...from a plastic chair, at a loud coffee house, on my new iPad, missing an "option" key on my keyboard.
- M
For the past couple days I've been scouring the Middlesex University Website trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be "doing". Module One has started, and I genuinely could not figure out specifically where I should be looking to get going on the programme as my colleagues have (as evident in Monday's Skype session). I was told to read the handbook, and I did...I'll get back to this part of the story momentarily...
I finally had a few days off from acting at Knott's, and I was determined to dedicate the off days to commencing my studies. After all, I had confidently convinced myself I was ready to "kick some educational butt" as I vaguely recall writing in my letter to the Admissions Department. Well, it started, but with some road bumps. This felt like a lesson in patience, and navigating a GUI (Graphical User Interface) I wasn't familiar with right off the bat. [I also momentarily felt the urge to study UI design to help educational institutions with the forward progression and simplifying of their websites]. I digress. I printed out the handbook, and read all 36 pages of it thinking SOMEHOW by the end, all would be made clear. No, nothing was made clear. I stormed to the kitchen, poured myself a cup of fairly stale coffee, and stared at my dog. A good 10 minutes went by. I sat there leaned against the counter, paging over the information I had just read. Surely I missed something. There's no way I was supposed to know where to begin after reading the grading scales, and introduction to the programme's staff. I took a break to collect myself. I could swear I had looked through every nook of that site.
Pause. Also, I had just purchased a new 5th Generation iPad for my studies. (Let's be honest, by the time I post this blog in the next 30 minutes, they'll probably have the 6th Generation out.) I spent a good hour and a half prior to reading the handbook PDF simply trying to figure out how to save a highlighted portion of text in iBooks. I even Technical Support-ed my way through family dinner. I was THAT determined. After two web-client chats with their Tech Support team, and a phone call to a "senior technical advisor" at Apple, the whole experience resulted in them telling me: "Sorry, I guess that's not a feature yet in iBooks with PDFs". At least they gave me a link in which I can suggest a feature in future updates.
This morning, after getting all Sherlock Holmes-y on the MDX site, I run across a page with a handbook that looks slightly different in the title than the first one. On a whim, I open it up....
THERE it is. The handbook with Web 2.0, and articles, and exercises. I feel like I've arrived.
I may have come late to the game, but I'm ready to score a touchdown (or a sport reference of your choice reader).
I feel like this entire process has been an example of how incredibly useful Web 1 and 2.0 is, and how horribly wrong it can go for a select few. I'm normally not the select few, but in this case, it got the best of me. I'm just glad I didn't give up clicking around! I would have been stuck severely confused. I've spent quite a few hours today catching up in my readings of Web 2.0/Section 1, taking notes, formulating blog ideas, and drinking Chocolate Peanutbutter Milkshakes at McClains at 2am. I look forward to being a part of the ongoing knowledge, conversation, and community this programme and you individual professionals have to offer! For now, I rest. I'll be posting an accumulation blog of my thoughts on Web 2.0 tomorrow (err....today technically). For now...signing off on this entry with a moment of clarity...from a plastic chair, at a loud coffee house, on my new iPad, missing an "option" key on my keyboard.
- M
Great post Matthew and strangely comforting (for me at least) to know that I'm not the only one struggling! I keep reading over the handbook, other peoples blogs, going through UniHub, and slowly things seem to be falling into place!
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