Podcasts and Handouts

I wanted to wait until today to post my blog entry because I knew we were going to work on podcasts last night in class. It is a new technology experience for me and I wanted to reflect in my blog. To begin I was happy that we were given the tools and told to make a podcast. I am the type of person who has to be pushed to try something new with technology. If we had just been shown how to do it, I would never have been able to do it again on my own. The class environment is such that I felt comfortable asking questions. As usual if seemed as though I was just a few clicks away, but I still needed guidance. My classmate sitting next to me was very helpful. She chimed in at just the right time to keep me going. After downloading all the necessary software I actually created two 45 second podcasts. Once the software and the tools are in place it requires no more than talking into a microphone. After finding the files on my computer we inserted the podcasts into our wiki. I was happy with my overall experience. I am still pondering the value of a podcast as a training tool? For me personally, I need to SEE how to do it on a computer. Just listening to a voice tell me how to do it could be frustrating. What if I don't click the right button? What if I get behind and the voice goes on? Perhaps I need some exposure to a few well done training podcasts.
Just a quick note about handouts. Last night we were given two handouts explaining the steps to create a podcast. Creating a handout really is a tough thing to do. You have to make it clear and you have to put in all the steps. Many questions come up like, to include pictures or not, how much space between steps, how long should it be? Last night I caught myself skipping steps on the handout. Once I was lost I referred to the handout only to find out I had to go back and complete a step I had missed. When I am at work I often ponder if it would be helpful to create a handout for completing a task, but it ends up at the bottom of the priority list. I did take one SLIS class that required a handout and I remember it took more time than I had hoped. Handouts are wonderful to have as a reference guide, but a nightmare to put together!

Unable to concentrate

I feel that our project is coming along. It is amazing to see product online that I created. I feel like our group has gotten along well. At this point it feels like we are ready to meet with the client again. Some feedback would be helpful.

I must diverge. On a personal level I am 8 weeks into the semester and I am starting to feel the pressure. I have a project due Friday in another class. I underestimated how long it would take me. But my issue is this – I am having a hard time concentrating on school. Several events over the last week have sent me on a quest to learn about reincarnation.

I can barely concentrate on anything else. I had a dream where I saw my uncle. I was happy about this. I have been recording and interrupting my dreams for over the last 5 years. Basically I interrupted it to mean I am searching to find out what I believe happens when we die. I have an opportunity to move from one consciousness to another – my unconscious mind is trying to activate the answer from inside me.

So, what does this mean in the real world? I cannot concentrate. I have a project due Friday and lots to do for class Wednesday night, but I only want to explore everything about reincarnation. I am sitting in the IUPUI library after work even! I am here to work on my project, but I have only looked at books to checkout. (For the record I did shift gears and work on my project. I checked out the books so I could look at them another time.)

I am fascinated by all the literature available about world religions. What happens when we die is not a new question. People have been asking for thousands of years. And some religions have been built on those beliefs. Experiencing three deaths in my family in recent months has caused me to ponder this very big question. I am interested in reading all points of view, because I believe my intuition will guide me to what is right for me.

Organizing Content

This week I faced the challenge of how to organize a whole bunch of information. It is no easy task. It was my responsibility to develop the wiki for the college of education. It took me awhile to figure out how I wanted it to look on the computer. It took me even longer to edit and add content to the wiki. I really like how easy it is to use Wikispaces. I don’t know much about web design or html, but it is not necessary. I can easily make the wiki page look the way I want. It does take time to set up links and new pages. I tried to make it simple and clear – easy to navigate.

I think I have gained this skill in library school. I have learned how to think about organizing information. We even had to do a flowchart in this class. Do other people think like this? This is why I ask. I work in a law library at a law firm. I am guessing that our little library has over ½ million dollars worth of material, but there is very little organization of the material. It is difficult to find what you need, basically you have to ask the librarian for help. It drives me crazy! I think the materials in a library should be organized and easy to find. Do others in the firm think like me? Do other people ponder how to organize materials?

Delightfully Surprised.

I am delightfully surprised at how easy it is to develop the wiki in Wikispaces. I am thrilled that we decided as a class to go with the most user friendly platform. I have figured out how to add content to the page. What you see is what you get. Simple and straightforward is my motto. Make it clear and easy to navigate. The edit box in Wikispaces gives me the feeling that I am editing in MS Word, which is very easy for me to understand because I have been using MS Word for a long time. As I said earlier simple is my motto, but the edit box seems friendly enough to me to allow for creativity. I am curious to see the creative ideas of my group members. I am beginning to understand the many ways we can use the wiki platform. But the design is different to fulfill different needs. For example, the college of education wiki page will look different than the college of fine arts.

There is one glitch. I have run into a problem when importing information from the other class. The internal links have to be set in our wiki. I hope to get to the bottom of this by talking with others in the class.

We are entering into the middle of the semester and it still feels like we have so much to do! I think group dynamics take some time to develop, but we have limited time because our deadline for this project is in December. I think we should focus on making decisions within our group and work to develop the content of our project.