EDRE 5530
Introduction To Research
Instructor Crossen, Rosanne
Course Description: The purpose of this course is to develop graduate students into intelligently critical consumers of research through their understanding of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies employed in educational research and analysis of existing research of both types.

To begin my exploration into this course, I must start by saying "wow." This was not only my first course EVER in what I would consider to be real research, but I must say that I actually considered dropping the course because of being so fearfull of the unknown. I did not believe that I could master something that I knew so little about in such a short time frame.

So..we started with the first few or so chapters on the different types of research. I would say the general ideas and definitions and "tools." At that point I was feeling pretty confident. Not only was I becoming more comfortable with experimental vs. non-experimental designs, quasi-experimental, Ex post facto or (after the fact), correlational and survey research styles, but I was grasping specific things such as the types of tests used, difference in scales often used in research and errors such as the halo effect, generosity error,observer bias and so on. I was taking plenty of notes and feeling very confident.

My favorite area of study within this course was the content on the concepts of validity and reliability. I can see how the extent to which an instrument measures what it aims to measure is important and definitely the importance of the degree of consistency with which it measures whatever it is measuring. As I get more familiar with research, this is definitely an area that I find very significant.

The area of difficulty that I experienced within this course is the actual processing of anything to do with "coefficient"- T-tests particularly. I found myself buried in numerical data and I found it very difficult to get through this during an online course. Without the book for help, I probably would not have made it through this section. Even now, I feel very foggy about these areas. I ended up hiring a tutor and I made it through this section eventually.

Even through the difficulty, I decided to create a research proposal (which was by choice) and I was pleasantly suprised by my experience with that. This document can be found under the "Evidence" tab. I feel that this was my first little experiment and I was able to put what I had learned into something I could see.

The information that I have learned in this course definitely provided the foundation for me to start to be able to read research a little more critically. Also, I now have the tools that I would need to design a study and write up the results in a professional way that can be used and shared within my profession.

ITEC 5320
Introduction to Visual Literacy
Instructor Aagard, Steven
Course Description: Visual literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a human being can develop by seeing and at the same time integrating with other sensory experiences. This course is concerned with techniques for developing these competencies and methods by which such development can be encouraged in others.

Such a neat neat experience...this course.

This was one of the two first courses I took within this program. I would say that it definitely had a role in keeping me around. I was unable to mentally process the idea of being visually literate before taking this course.

We read on how the optical/brain system is so complex and detailed when processing images. The concept of culture came up and I had another "eye opening" experience. It really hit home when learning that a persons focus on things, changes from culture to culture. This was the point when I thought to myself "oh, that is why my presentations appeal to some and not others." I have always been a perfectionist when it came to composing things. Now, I realize that my idea of perfection is only mine and perhaps some others but definitely not everyones.

I must say that I was not taken back by the idea that visual perceptions confer status on people. Not only do we send a certain message by style etc. but the person observing just may not get that message, depending on what they are focusing on. This idea is referred to as the signifier and signified. I would agree one hundred percent that signs,symbols and semiotics are critical in the interpretation of day to day living. It is so amazing that we learn these at such an early age. While it is explained that icons are usually culturally understood, the sign is something taught and the symbol is more taught on the premise of a belief system.

Just like "reading television" or "reading films", I believe that we can also "read people." Well of course...not until after taking this course. I was able to take all that I had learned and complete a visual billboard project. I annalyzed several billboards within the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming. I also wrote a paper that covers the influence of media on the public. This is called "evolving with the times." These documents can be found under the "Evidence" tab on the home page.

All in all, I was completely interested and motivated within this course. I feel that I could have definitely appreciated a course like this with a live instructor though. The visuals that the instructor could provide in person could only compliment the content. However, one of the best parts of the course was the diversity of projects provided by students from other places. I did end up incorporating what I learned into my professional position. We shot six youth commercials that aired on MTV, Nickelodeon and CW. The very most important thing that I learned was that I need to always take into account what my message is, who I am targeting and think through the steps of accomplishing that goal completely. This would include all areas of lighting, lettering, audio, spatiality and more. This was a delightful hands on experience and I would consider taking the course again for no degree purpose, just to get a deeper look.

ADED 5050
Learning Theories for Educators
Instructor Sun, Qi
Course Description: Learning and development theories are essential for educators who are designing and implementing educational applications and opportunities. Topics covered include orientations toward learning, motivation, life transitions, cognition, learning how to learn, self-directed learning, and strategies for improving learning in educational contexts.

This course was the course that took my goal of straight A's and landed me a B. Of course, I was not happy about that but I have since realized just how much more I needed to learn. As a beginning course under learning and instruction, this course was an amazing experience. I learned so much about some of the different learning and development theories that are so important for educators. We covered topics of orientations toward learning, motivation, life transitions, cognition, learning how to learn, self-directed learning and strategies for improving learning in educational contexts.

This was truly my "eye opening" experience within the adult education program. I started seeing the vast difference between the principles of childhood education and the principles of adult education. Some of the models presented were Spears' Model, Garrison's Model and Brockett and Heimstra.

I was interested to learn the different facets of ethinicity in relation to formal education and the connection to self directed learing there. We also studied the over 65 age group. Learner responsibility was a large part of the threaded discussions. There were some differences in opinion on the difference between self-management(control) and responsibility (self monitoring). One area of interest was Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence. This truly gave me a look into how difficult and complex learning could be. For the first time I realized how barriers of learning and environmental factors play such a role in adult learning.

One main point that stuck with me was that the role of educators is to help students plan, carry out, and evaluate their own learning. We also discussed the large difference between learners and that some may need more direction than others. This topic led us into the topic of motivation. I believe that adults in general, have so many other things to worry about (bills, children, health,life tragedy) that it makes it hard to get motivated about a course that is of little interest. We tossed around several ideas in this area on the threaded discussion and this was a great part of the course.

For the most part, the members of the course agreed that intelligence is multifaceted and nearly impossible to measure in any meaningful way. For people have strengths and weaknesses but any one test just can not apply to everyone. It was actually suggested during a threaded discussion that the IQ test could have done more harm than good. A general consensus seemed to be that it was unethical to have stigmatized lables that may convince people that their intelligence is not up to par.

It was during this course that I was able to take a look at myself and come up with a personal learning theory that is included under the "Personal Learning Theory" tab on the home page. I sincerely feel as though this course helped me to explore how one learns as a means for promoting more effective self-directed learning but,above all, to acquire a deeper understanding of myself as a developing and maturing individual.