Journal Week 2.

Anxious, stressed and overwhelmed. These words best describe how I am feeling at the moment. There is so much information which I need to absorb in the year ahead, and the pressure is beginning to mount. However, my classmates have to be the most interesting, friendly and vibrant people. We are all sharing the same journey and have a common goal. We are all willing to work together as a team to help each other get through the hurdles we will be facing.

In today's class Greg continued on with the discussion of eportfolio's. I am amazed and will continue to be amazed as weeks go by as to how technology keeps evolving. Every aspect of school has changed and will continue to change and I feel I have so much to learn to in order to be at the expected standard. How will I remember everything? I know I will have to dedicate many hours to practice and become familiar with the software we are being introduced to. Eportfolio's can be defined as simply a story or a presentation. It's main use is a "personalised learning space allowing the user to shape the way they present themselves to the world." From what I understood in the example given to us in the lecture and how it relates to teachers is, it shows the process and progression of the student. It acts as a report online and shows assessment and examples of the students work throughout the year. I was impressed with the program but doubted how I will be able to mirror such astonishing work. Well, only time will tell when assessment comes around and what my finished product will look like.

Alarm bells began ringing when Greg mentioned "Interview". Oh no, dreaded interviews and double oh no, putting together an eye catching and impressive CV. Interviews are extremely nerve wrecking experiences, and difficult to muster the strength to ooze confidence and be able to sell yourself. During this part of the lesson we began learning how to design and develop a CV on publisher. Due to time constraints, Greg whizzed through the lesson on learning to use Publisher and it becomes stressful keeping up at times. After adding the important components to my CV I spend the next 15 minutes experimenting with Publisher and adding logos to my home page. I hadn't used Publisher since high school in 98 and a lot has changed with the program since then. It is a satisfying feeling when you begin to feel confident using a program you have just learnt half an hour ago.

The final part of the lesson was enjoyable for me as we were asked to design a brochure on Publisher. The brochure designed was on a destination we had been to, or desired to visit. Ohhh Positano, actually Europe in general. We will meet again one day soon. Designing the brochure was a calming and engaging task, I felt solace in choosing the colour schemes and layout for the brochure. Which was a little strange for me, I actually enjoyed completing the task which involved using computer software. I used Google to discover wonderful and scenic photos of Positano and added them to my brochure to entice my imaginary customers. If I had a little more time I could have experimented with the program a little more and made a few changes to my Positano brochure. However, I am pleased with the overall result.

I am realising how programs such as Publisher can assist in enabling students to make interesting, vibrant and visually impressive projects. I'm sure when I am teaching they will be showing me some interesting things they can do with the program that I have no knowledge about, which is fantastic as it is all about sharing knowledge.


Mel.