Blog Journal #9

At first, the transition to distance learning was really weird to me. All of a sudden, school closed and I had to stay home instead of my daily walks to class. At first, I thought this was great that I didn't have to go to class anymore but it came with challenges that I didn't realize would come. I found it super difficult to concentrate at home rather than in a classroom environment. I remember feeling super bored since my daily routine of walking to school and classes was disrupted. It doesn't seem like a lot but I typically had a 30-40 minute walk to campus and then walking in between classes took up a couple of hours of my day. Moreover, I got a surge of new assignments from my teachers adding more since we were not going to class and it was very overwhelming. As a teacher, I would improve the experience of learning with clear communication, accessibility considerations to give people time to go through their assignments, and virtual office hours for any one that is confused or needs to talk.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely accesible learning materials that are available online in which people can use, modify, or share. These resources are open so that users have the rights to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistriubute the content. OER can include a wide range of materials such as rexkboos, videos, lesson plans, and interactive simulations. Educators can access a vast amount of resources at no cost, adaby them to suit their teaching needs, and contributre ther own materials to the educational community, which in turn creates a more collaborative community. The online resource I chose was Khan Academy. Khan Academy is an online platform offering various educational resources from mathematics and science to humanities and test preparation. Khan Academy aligns with the principles of Open Educational Resources (OER), emphasizing its free access to high-quality educational materials and its mission to democratize education worldwide.

Click for link to Khan Academy 

Im not quite done with the 2nd powerpoint assignment so I will be talking about the 1st one. When working on the PowerPoint assignment, I acquired several new skills that have enhanced my proficiency in creating engaging presentations. I learned how to effectively use SmartArt to visually represent complex concepts and ideas, adding depth and clarity to my slides. Additionally, I discovered how to customize slide layouts in the Slide Master, allowing for consistent formatting and branding throughout the presentation. Another skill I gained was setting up footers for handouts. Furthermore, I learned how to record narration directly within PowerPoint, which adds a dynamic element to presentations. While I enjoyed experimenting with these new features, I found the process of recording narration somewhat challenging due to ensuring proper timing and delivery. To improve next time, I plan to practice narrating more fluently and confidently. It took me multiple attempts to record the presentation so that it flowed well with no long pauses.