Last week, i was in Galveston attending TxDLA (Texas Distance Learning Association Conference). It was a great conference. You can meet the people from different areas, such as Higher Ed., K-12, Military, Government. We shared the information using technology for teaching, learning and training. No matter what method has been used we need to focus on the learning outcomes and it is the ultimate goal for educators to keep in mind. And I also found social networking seems as a very popular topic in the conference. And to do that, Blog, Second Life, Face Book, and Wiki have been discussed in different sessions.

Create a banner using PowerPoint

When I took a graphic design course for my master degree I learned using Firework or PhotoShop Image Ready to make a web banner or graphic. But when I was making this banner through PowerPoint I think it is easier to start with creating a simple banner without going through some learning curves. I think our instructors would like to use this tool to make some banners for their courses that have been set up in Vista. Most courses in Vista have no banner or even text to display a course title. When the students access a course they have no idea if they are in the right course. Now there is a simply way to make a course banner. I think it can encourage our instructors to learn it and use it.

my job as a Lead IT Consultant

As a Lead IT Consultant who works with instructors everyday I think it is very crucial for this job to keep the knowledge up to date. I have been doing my job through the process "learning by doing" and "doing by learning". Technology changes dramatically everyday and as a IT professional I love to learn something new everyday.

I look forward to learning the new information through the contents and activities in this course. It would be beneficial for me to using the knowledge I obtain from this course to help our instructors have a better understanding on using different types of technology. Technology is only a tool. It could enhance or harm online learning experience depending on the way how an instructor uses it. Teaching online needs a lot of preparation and research. It is not about stacking the tools in your course for your students to use. Once I was in a conference and I heard from a presenter and she said "Technology can create bad teachers". It is absolutely true! As a IT consultant I think we should make the best recommendations to our instructors how to effectively integrate the technology and always put the online pedagogy as the first consideration no matter what tool is used in their courses.