Thursday, May 3, 2007
Blog #15 Exams
Exams are coming up and this year is going to be over in just one week!! It is getting pretty stressful especially since i have my two hardest exams on the same day - Biology and History. I am glad in English we had to write a paper to be turned in the week before exams because that took a huge load off of my shoulders. My Calculus exam is on Monday at 8am, so that should be interesting considering my earliest class this semester is at 10am. I have not woken up in the 7am time frame since high school I think. Tuesday is my Sociology exam and I have a paper due in that class on the same day as well. Biology and History are my final 2 exams on Wednesday and I am afraid I am going to be slacking off since it would be my last day of exams, but hopefully that won't happen. Then after those two exams, I will be packing up my room to move home on Thursday--yayy I am so excited!!
Blog #14 My Summer Plans
This summer, I plan to relax and make money. I am going back home to New Orleans to live with my parents and brother and will be working for my aunt. I have to bring and pick up my cousins from their summer camps and bring them pretty much where ever they want. It is a pretty easy job and she does not pay me too bad either for doing it. I will also be exercising a lot to get in shape and laying out to get a tan. At the end of June, we are going on our annual vacation to either Gulf Shores or Disney World, but I am hoping we go to Disney even though it probably will be very hot and crowded.
I also will hang out with my family and friends and enjoy being a bum for a few months. I can't wait, just typing this is making me so excited to finish this semester and go home for summer.
I also will hang out with my family and friends and enjoy being a bum for a few months. I can't wait, just typing this is making me so excited to finish this semester and go home for summer.
Blog #13 Freshman Year
My first year of college has been an overall great success with many ups and downs. I did not know what to expect when I first got here. I actually thought I would hate being away from my mom, but it ended up being just the opposite. I made so many new amazing friends here and learned to be very independent. I have to admit that every now and then I did get a little homesick, and that was a great opportunity to go home, visit the family, eat a few home-cooked meals, and best of all, get my mom to do my laundry. My roommate Amelie and I became best friends over this year and I will miss her so much next year when she is in Baton Rouge.
I learned that having a boyfriend is not necessary for one to function because my boyfriend and I of three years broke up, and we are doing better without one another. I learned that friends and family are the ones who will always be there for you no matter what the problem or how late it is at night when you call or wake them up to talk to them. My friend Mary and I were great friends from our high school dance team, but I never ever predicted that we would be as great of friends as we are now since we have gone away to college together. I met Hailey through my high school friend Lindsay and we immediately became close friends and are even rooming with each other next year.
Overall, this year has been great and I will miss all the new friends I have made over the summer, but I know we will keep in touch with each other because we are already planning activities for the summer. I won't miss showering with shoes on, having absolutely no privacy, living in a filthy room, and the noisiness of the dorms. I have definitely grown over this past year for the better, and know I have become a better person because of it.
I learned that having a boyfriend is not necessary for one to function because my boyfriend and I of three years broke up, and we are doing better without one another. I learned that friends and family are the ones who will always be there for you no matter what the problem or how late it is at night when you call or wake them up to talk to them. My friend Mary and I were great friends from our high school dance team, but I never ever predicted that we would be as great of friends as we are now since we have gone away to college together. I met Hailey through my high school friend Lindsay and we immediately became close friends and are even rooming with each other next year.
Overall, this year has been great and I will miss all the new friends I have made over the summer, but I know we will keep in touch with each other because we are already planning activities for the summer. I won't miss showering with shoes on, having absolutely no privacy, living in a filthy room, and the noisiness of the dorms. I have definitely grown over this past year for the better, and know I have become a better person because of it.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Blog #12 Reading Response
Proper MLA Citation:
This source is classified as an Article. The proper citation is:
Mupinga, Davison M. “Distance Education in High School.” The Clearing House (2005): 105-8.
Summary:
This article discussed what distance education means and the different formats of high school distance education. These include cable television, correspondence courses, interactive television, online courses, and the hybrid model. The benefits from these types of distance education included the flexibility of time and space for the teachers and students, the availability of education for the disabled and those unable to go to a regular high school because of family obligations, and that in some cases students learn more from this type of high school education. The online Advanced Placement courses have recently been proven to test higher than those who take these courses elsewhere. It also said that a big challenge of this is that since there is no face to face interaction, teaching is difficult, but the process of selecting the teachers is very selective and they go through many conferences to help them with their teaching skills.
Importance:
This work is important because it talks about all the benefits and challenges of distance education in high schools, but also gives solutions and ways to fix those problems. Some significant ideas that I gathered from this work were that test scores have shown to be higher for students who take online courses and that the teachers are highly trained beyond just receiving their degree from a university. The teachers are trained so they know exactly how to deal with the new technology and their “virtual” students. The online education world is always expanding and finding new ways of reaching out and teaching to their students.
Connections:
This article is similar to my actual life because I had to do math homework online my first semester of college. I had to learn the technology side of the program, and that by pressing the wrong button, even though your answer was correct, the computer may only recognize it in only one format. Other than this, there was no real connection to my life because I have not yet taken a complete course online in college, and that article discussed distance education specifically in secondary education.
Supporting Source:
This article could be used as support for my own argument because it evaluates distance learning in high schools in a variety of ways. It listed the benefits and the downfalls, which are what a good evaluation should list. It also lists many solutions for the challenges of online education, which are all very applicable and feasible answers to the problems. I can also discuss the different formats of virtual high schools and talk about what each one entails and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Argumentative Source:
If I had to take this author and their argument to task, I would only critique a few aspects of this article. They listed many benefits and solutions, but never listed a lot of high schools that have implemented these ideas. They also should have interviewed people who attended successful virtual high schools to see what their reaction was to their courses they took. I think if the author corrected these few things in their article, it would be a much better evaluation of distance education in high schools.
This source is classified as an Article. The proper citation is:
Mupinga, Davison M. “Distance Education in High School.” The Clearing House (2005): 105-8.
Summary:
This article discussed what distance education means and the different formats of high school distance education. These include cable television, correspondence courses, interactive television, online courses, and the hybrid model. The benefits from these types of distance education included the flexibility of time and space for the teachers and students, the availability of education for the disabled and those unable to go to a regular high school because of family obligations, and that in some cases students learn more from this type of high school education. The online Advanced Placement courses have recently been proven to test higher than those who take these courses elsewhere. It also said that a big challenge of this is that since there is no face to face interaction, teaching is difficult, but the process of selecting the teachers is very selective and they go through many conferences to help them with their teaching skills.
Importance:
This work is important because it talks about all the benefits and challenges of distance education in high schools, but also gives solutions and ways to fix those problems. Some significant ideas that I gathered from this work were that test scores have shown to be higher for students who take online courses and that the teachers are highly trained beyond just receiving their degree from a university. The teachers are trained so they know exactly how to deal with the new technology and their “virtual” students. The online education world is always expanding and finding new ways of reaching out and teaching to their students.
Connections:
This article is similar to my actual life because I had to do math homework online my first semester of college. I had to learn the technology side of the program, and that by pressing the wrong button, even though your answer was correct, the computer may only recognize it in only one format. Other than this, there was no real connection to my life because I have not yet taken a complete course online in college, and that article discussed distance education specifically in secondary education.
Supporting Source:
This article could be used as support for my own argument because it evaluates distance learning in high schools in a variety of ways. It listed the benefits and the downfalls, which are what a good evaluation should list. It also lists many solutions for the challenges of online education, which are all very applicable and feasible answers to the problems. I can also discuss the different formats of virtual high schools and talk about what each one entails and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Argumentative Source:
If I had to take this author and their argument to task, I would only critique a few aspects of this article. They listed many benefits and solutions, but never listed a lot of high schools that have implemented these ideas. They also should have interviewed people who attended successful virtual high schools to see what their reaction was to their courses they took. I think if the author corrected these few things in their article, it would be a much better evaluation of distance education in high schools.
Blog #11 Reading Response
Proper MLA Citation:
This source is classified as an Article. The proper citation is:
Pape, Liz. “High School on the Web.” American School Board Journal (2005): 12-16.
Summary:
This article discussed how online education in high schools is becoming more prevalent because students in small schools can take classes that would otherwise have never been offered in their school. Most people who were born between 1982 and 2000 spend the most time on the computer than any other age group, and this would be a good way for them to learn since they are so used to it. It gives a policy that schools could use to try and get online education allowed at their schools and seven criteria for online education. These criteria include curriculum, instructional design, teacher quality, student roles, assessment, management and support systems, and technological infrastructure. It also talks about two virtual high schools where the online education boosted the students’ ability to actually want to learn, and the students were able to take more challenging elective classes on subjects that caught their interest.
Importance:
This work is important because it evaluates what makes online educational classes in high school better than the education taught in a normal classroom setting. Some significant ideas that I gathered from this work are that test scores have gone up in the Advanced Placement courses and the rates for passing those exams are five percent higher than other high schools. The student can also learn in a variety of different ways because there is so much new technology and the teacher has the freedom to teach in new ways as well.
Connections:
This article is similar to work I have experienced in my academic career because last semester I had to do math homework online. All of the problems were online and if you needed help, there was an example on the side of each problem to show you how to solve it. I also am going to take an English class next semester online, so it is giving me an idea of what I have to look forward to in order to be able to succeed in that class. The article gave guidelines on how students who were successful completed their courses, so that is very helpful to support not only this evaluation essay, but in my real life as well.
Supporting Source:
This article could be used as support for my argument because it is a great example of what an evaluation should be. It tells you everything that is on the positive side of online education in high schools and all the advantages that follow. It also lists seven criteria, which were exactly what was said in class an evaluation should be based upon. It expands on each of those criteria, which would be great proof for my evaluation essay. It also lists some virtual high schools and how they have surpassed many expectations people have had about online education since it is so recent.
Argumentative Source:
If I had to take this author and their argument to task, I would critique the fact that they did not say any bad points in their evaluation of online education in high schools. They also said that other test scores have improved and are higher in some virtual classrooms than normal classrooms, but did not list any of the statistics. They did not prove that their point was correct, which would not be good proof for my argument in my paper. They also only talked about two virtual high schools and how they have succeeded, but failed to mention other ones that maybe did not do so well.
This source is classified as an Article. The proper citation is:
Pape, Liz. “High School on the Web.” American School Board Journal (2005): 12-16.
Summary:
This article discussed how online education in high schools is becoming more prevalent because students in small schools can take classes that would otherwise have never been offered in their school. Most people who were born between 1982 and 2000 spend the most time on the computer than any other age group, and this would be a good way for them to learn since they are so used to it. It gives a policy that schools could use to try and get online education allowed at their schools and seven criteria for online education. These criteria include curriculum, instructional design, teacher quality, student roles, assessment, management and support systems, and technological infrastructure. It also talks about two virtual high schools where the online education boosted the students’ ability to actually want to learn, and the students were able to take more challenging elective classes on subjects that caught their interest.
Importance:
This work is important because it evaluates what makes online educational classes in high school better than the education taught in a normal classroom setting. Some significant ideas that I gathered from this work are that test scores have gone up in the Advanced Placement courses and the rates for passing those exams are five percent higher than other high schools. The student can also learn in a variety of different ways because there is so much new technology and the teacher has the freedom to teach in new ways as well.
Connections:
This article is similar to work I have experienced in my academic career because last semester I had to do math homework online. All of the problems were online and if you needed help, there was an example on the side of each problem to show you how to solve it. I also am going to take an English class next semester online, so it is giving me an idea of what I have to look forward to in order to be able to succeed in that class. The article gave guidelines on how students who were successful completed their courses, so that is very helpful to support not only this evaluation essay, but in my real life as well.
Supporting Source:
This article could be used as support for my argument because it is a great example of what an evaluation should be. It tells you everything that is on the positive side of online education in high schools and all the advantages that follow. It also lists seven criteria, which were exactly what was said in class an evaluation should be based upon. It expands on each of those criteria, which would be great proof for my evaluation essay. It also lists some virtual high schools and how they have surpassed many expectations people have had about online education since it is so recent.
Argumentative Source:
If I had to take this author and their argument to task, I would critique the fact that they did not say any bad points in their evaluation of online education in high schools. They also said that other test scores have improved and are higher in some virtual classrooms than normal classrooms, but did not list any of the statistics. They did not prove that their point was correct, which would not be good proof for my argument in my paper. They also only talked about two virtual high schools and how they have succeeded, but failed to mention other ones that maybe did not do so well.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Blog #10 - Reality TV
Reality television is something that I can not get away from. There seems to always be a reality show on, whether it is Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, or Big Brother. Currently I am glued to Dancing with the Stars and American Idol. Joey Fatone from NSYNC is my absolute favorite on Dancing with the Stars and I hope that he wins. He is great at every style of dance and puts his everything into every one of his routines. Although Cheryl Burke is my favorite dancing professional, I think she might actually lose this year to Joey.
I am getting extremely frustrated with American Idol. Sanjaya is dreadful to look at and listen to and I think it is sad that Howard Stern and his people are voting to keep him from week to week. I want Blake Lewis to win not only because he is cute, but he has the most contemporary sound and I can definitely picture hearing him on the radio or buying his cd.
I am getting extremely frustrated with American Idol. Sanjaya is dreadful to look at and listen to and I think it is sad that Howard Stern and his people are voting to keep him from week to week. I want Blake Lewis to win not only because he is cute, but he has the most contemporary sound and I can definitely picture hearing him on the radio or buying his cd.
Blog #9 - My Easter Holiday
My Easter break was definitely a much needed vacation. I mostly just went shopping and hung out with my friends and family, but those are the things I love most. I went home Thursday to New Orleans after English class and my family took me out to eat at Outback that night. My parents always make it a big event when I come home and take me out to eat, but I can not complain because I know I love to eat.
Friday I went shopping, or attempted to, but I think everyone else in New Orleans had that same bright idea too. We could not even find a parking spot at the mall, so we left and went to Target instead. Target is one of my favorite places, but it was a very rare occasion because I did not buy anything that day. Saturday my mom's side celebrated Easter because that was the better day for everyone to meet. I ate way too much food and had a stomach ache for a few days after that.
Easter Sunday was very low key and my mom and I attempted to go to mass only to find out we had the mass time wrong and were 45 minutes late. We went home, ate some candy and lunch, and then that afternoon I headed back to Hattiesburg. It does not seem like I had such an exciting break, but it was nice and relaxing for me.
Friday I went shopping, or attempted to, but I think everyone else in New Orleans had that same bright idea too. We could not even find a parking spot at the mall, so we left and went to Target instead. Target is one of my favorite places, but it was a very rare occasion because I did not buy anything that day. Saturday my mom's side celebrated Easter because that was the better day for everyone to meet. I ate way too much food and had a stomach ache for a few days after that.
Easter Sunday was very low key and my mom and I attempted to go to mass only to find out we had the mass time wrong and were 45 minutes late. We went home, ate some candy and lunch, and then that afternoon I headed back to Hattiesburg. It does not seem like I had such an exciting break, but it was nice and relaxing for me.
Blog #8 - School
School has really been stressing me out lately, especially biology class. My teacher is extremely hard and refuses to curve any of his tests, even though one person out of the 115 people class got an A on the last test. 43 people got below a 40, and this should definitely tell him something about that either people just are not studying as hard as they should, his tests are too hard, or he does not teach well enough.
He draws pictures on the overhead with no words on them and talks to us as though we already know these things. This class is for non-science majors, so the majority of class does not have science as one of their specialties. I am an Accounting major, which definitely has nothing to do with biology. His lessons do not come from the textbook, so the test becomes simply a guessing game. I am not learning anything from his class, which has definitely been shown through my grades. I think that I am an extremely hardworking student and I am doing well in my other classes and I have not slacked at all in this class.
He says that by him adding more questions on the quizzes, he is giving us more possible points, but when you do not get those questions correct, it is only hurting your grade. I am very frustrated with this class and can not wait until it is over!
He draws pictures on the overhead with no words on them and talks to us as though we already know these things. This class is for non-science majors, so the majority of class does not have science as one of their specialties. I am an Accounting major, which definitely has nothing to do with biology. His lessons do not come from the textbook, so the test becomes simply a guessing game. I am not learning anything from his class, which has definitely been shown through my grades. I think that I am an extremely hardworking student and I am doing well in my other classes and I have not slacked at all in this class.
He says that by him adding more questions on the quizzes, he is giving us more possible points, but when you do not get those questions correct, it is only hurting your grade. I am very frustrated with this class and can not wait until it is over!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Blog #7
Overall, my research has been going pretty good. My topic is Online Education Practices and the main problem I had while researching was trying to find articles on the disadvantages of online learning. Most articles that I could find were on how earning a degree online is a great opportunity for older people who want to go back to college. I have had a lot of success with using the Ebscohost Academic Search Premier feature on the Southern Miss Library website. I had to specifically type in "online education" because if I added the word practices, it would say that no results were found. I also have had success looking up scholarly articles on Google's website. At first, I was pretty apprehensive on whether these articles were good sources, but they were all studies done on people who have taken online courses with a credible bibliography page at the end.
Another problem I had with researching for the proposal argument were telling the difference between whether a source was credible or not. I learned to not use the sites where people would just state their opinion because they were not actual facts, just the way someone felt at that time. I found everything that I was looking for for this essay assignment, so I am not having any problems researching more information
Another problem I had with researching for the proposal argument were telling the difference between whether a source was credible or not. I learned to not use the sites where people would just state their opinion because they were not actual facts, just the way someone felt at that time. I found everything that I was looking for for this essay assignment, so I am not having any problems researching more information
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Blog #6 - Reading Responses
Reading Response #1
Proper MLA Citation:
This source is classified as an Article. The proper citation is (sorry I can't figure out how to indent the second line!!):
Haugen, Dr. Susan, Dr. James LaBarre, Dr. John Melrose. “Online Course Delivery: Issues and Challenges.” Issues in Information Systems (2001): 127-31.
The website is http://www.iis-online.org/iis/2001_iis/pdf%20files/Haugen127.PDF
Summary:
This article mainly talked about the advantages and disadvantages of taking online courses for the students and the teachers. It says that many universities have started to allow their students to take classes online so people could work at their own pace and be flexible on when and where they have to get their school work accomplished. Some problems that have arose from online education practices include technical problems, it does not provide the social environment of a traditional classroom setting, academic fraud is highly possible, and it puts more work on both the teacher and student. Instructors have to make sure their lessons can be taught efficiently online and if any of these problems arise, which is highly likely, the online education course will not serve its duty of being more practical than a normal class in a school environment.
Importance:
This work is extremely important because they put an issue of online education practices for their readers to see to warn them about what could go wrong when taking a course on the internet. Many people might go into online courses thinking they are easier and can work at their own pace, but could actually fall behind because they are not learning as much as they should or are having to find outside help to get their work finished. Some significant ideas I gathered from this work are that the faculty has to do a lot of strenuous work to make sure the course goes as planned and that there could be numerous technical problems that could go wrong with online courses that may not be able to be taken care of for quite some time.
Connections:
This article is similar to my College Algebra class that I took last semester because our homework was entirely online. Sometimes there were a lot of technical problems that often would happen the day of the due date for the homework and our teacher would have to push back our homework because no one could complete their assignment. It is also somewhat makes the student fall behind if they do not keep up with their work because if you do not understand something, it is much easier to just guess on the multiple choice rather than figuring the problem out by hand.
Supporting Source:
This article could be used as support for my own argument because it gives not online the negative aspects of online education practices, but the positive aspects as well. It gives a list of the reasons for each and elaborates on why those reasons are valid. This article will be great to present the facts to support my argument of the problems of online education courses. It will also be a good supporting source because it gives a background of when people could start taking classes and why there are so many issues and challenges that come along with it.
Argumentative Source:
If I had to take this author’s argument to task, I would say that they should add specific examples of when the advantages and disadvantages of online courses really happened. By doing this, they could prove that these facts are actually some positive and negative outcomes of taking online educational courses. I would also critique the beginning of the article where they say that online education courses are mainly used at this period of time for graduate students and adult undergraduate students. A lot of high schools now offer online courses for their ninth to twelfth grade students to prepare them for college or if a certain class they want to take at that high school is not offered in their curriculum.
Reading Response #2
Proper MLA Citation:
This source is classified as an Article. The proper citation is (sorry I can not figure out how to indent the lines following the first!!):
Stodel, Emma J., Terrie Lynn Thompson, and Colla J. MacDonald. “Learners’ Perspectives on What is Missing from Online Learning: Interpretations through the Community of Inquiry Framework.” International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (7.3) (2006): 1-24.
The website is http://irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/325/744
Summary:
This article was a research study done on ten students who, at the end of their online course took a survey, and said they missed face to face interaction in a normal classroom. Twenty-three students took this course, and eleven said they disliked the online educational environment, and ten agreed to the study. They were of a variety of ages and all agreed they thought some things were missing from their online learning experience, including robustness of online dialogue, spontaneity and improvisation, perceiving and being perceived by the other, getting to know others, and learning to be an online learner. They missed learning things from people asking questions in class and felt if you had a question, you got an immediate answer and did not have to wait for someone in your class to respond to your online post. They also felt they did not know if they were completing their course the right way and were always scared of missing deadlines.
Importance:
This work is important because it is direct feedback of people who have taken online education courses. It was done by professors of different universities, so it was definitely a valid study with real responses. Some significant ideas I gathered from this work were that about half of that single class missed face to face interaction and that when you take an online class, you often miss out on the conversations and lessons from the professor that are off subject, but are important lessons you should know.
Connections:
This article is not really similar to work I have done in my academic career because I have never taken an online course. I did, however, do math homework online for my math class last semester and it was very frustrating when you had a question about the homework. You would have to email the professor and wait sometimes a day or two for her to respond. This would force you to put off doing your homework and make you sometimes lose points if you had to complete the assignment anyway because it was due before the professor even responded to your email.
Supporting Source:
This article could be used as a great supporting source for my argument because it will be good evidence to back up the points in my essay. There were ten people who participated in the survey who all had their own opinion. There are great quotations from the students in this article and are explained very thoroughly. It is not centered on just one problem, but a few that are very different from one another. This will surely give me enough evidence to expand into a multiple page essay without any difficulties.
Argumentative Source:
If I had to take these authors and their arguments to task, I would have to critique the fact that they only interviewed the people who said they missed face to face interaction in the class. I wish they would have interviewed the people who responded the other way because they might have not missed face to face interaction, but could have had other things they did not like about online classes. If they would have interviewed everyone, they could have compared the answers of each and see how they differed as well.
Proper MLA Citation:
This source is classified as an Article. The proper citation is (sorry I can't figure out how to indent the second line!!):
Haugen, Dr. Susan, Dr. James LaBarre, Dr. John Melrose. “Online Course Delivery: Issues and Challenges.” Issues in Information Systems (2001): 127-31.
The website is http://www.iis-online.org/iis/2001_iis/pdf%20files/Haugen127.PDF
Summary:
This article mainly talked about the advantages and disadvantages of taking online courses for the students and the teachers. It says that many universities have started to allow their students to take classes online so people could work at their own pace and be flexible on when and where they have to get their school work accomplished. Some problems that have arose from online education practices include technical problems, it does not provide the social environment of a traditional classroom setting, academic fraud is highly possible, and it puts more work on both the teacher and student. Instructors have to make sure their lessons can be taught efficiently online and if any of these problems arise, which is highly likely, the online education course will not serve its duty of being more practical than a normal class in a school environment.
Importance:
This work is extremely important because they put an issue of online education practices for their readers to see to warn them about what could go wrong when taking a course on the internet. Many people might go into online courses thinking they are easier and can work at their own pace, but could actually fall behind because they are not learning as much as they should or are having to find outside help to get their work finished. Some significant ideas I gathered from this work are that the faculty has to do a lot of strenuous work to make sure the course goes as planned and that there could be numerous technical problems that could go wrong with online courses that may not be able to be taken care of for quite some time.
Connections:
This article is similar to my College Algebra class that I took last semester because our homework was entirely online. Sometimes there were a lot of technical problems that often would happen the day of the due date for the homework and our teacher would have to push back our homework because no one could complete their assignment. It is also somewhat makes the student fall behind if they do not keep up with their work because if you do not understand something, it is much easier to just guess on the multiple choice rather than figuring the problem out by hand.
Supporting Source:
This article could be used as support for my own argument because it gives not online the negative aspects of online education practices, but the positive aspects as well. It gives a list of the reasons for each and elaborates on why those reasons are valid. This article will be great to present the facts to support my argument of the problems of online education courses. It will also be a good supporting source because it gives a background of when people could start taking classes and why there are so many issues and challenges that come along with it.
Argumentative Source:
If I had to take this author’s argument to task, I would say that they should add specific examples of when the advantages and disadvantages of online courses really happened. By doing this, they could prove that these facts are actually some positive and negative outcomes of taking online educational courses. I would also critique the beginning of the article where they say that online education courses are mainly used at this period of time for graduate students and adult undergraduate students. A lot of high schools now offer online courses for their ninth to twelfth grade students to prepare them for college or if a certain class they want to take at that high school is not offered in their curriculum.
Reading Response #2
Proper MLA Citation:
This source is classified as an Article. The proper citation is (sorry I can not figure out how to indent the lines following the first!!):
Stodel, Emma J., Terrie Lynn Thompson, and Colla J. MacDonald. “Learners’ Perspectives on What is Missing from Online Learning: Interpretations through the Community of Inquiry Framework.” International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (7.3) (2006): 1-24.
The website is http://irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/325/744
Summary:
This article was a research study done on ten students who, at the end of their online course took a survey, and said they missed face to face interaction in a normal classroom. Twenty-three students took this course, and eleven said they disliked the online educational environment, and ten agreed to the study. They were of a variety of ages and all agreed they thought some things were missing from their online learning experience, including robustness of online dialogue, spontaneity and improvisation, perceiving and being perceived by the other, getting to know others, and learning to be an online learner. They missed learning things from people asking questions in class and felt if you had a question, you got an immediate answer and did not have to wait for someone in your class to respond to your online post. They also felt they did not know if they were completing their course the right way and were always scared of missing deadlines.
Importance:
This work is important because it is direct feedback of people who have taken online education courses. It was done by professors of different universities, so it was definitely a valid study with real responses. Some significant ideas I gathered from this work were that about half of that single class missed face to face interaction and that when you take an online class, you often miss out on the conversations and lessons from the professor that are off subject, but are important lessons you should know.
Connections:
This article is not really similar to work I have done in my academic career because I have never taken an online course. I did, however, do math homework online for my math class last semester and it was very frustrating when you had a question about the homework. You would have to email the professor and wait sometimes a day or two for her to respond. This would force you to put off doing your homework and make you sometimes lose points if you had to complete the assignment anyway because it was due before the professor even responded to your email.
Supporting Source:
This article could be used as a great supporting source for my argument because it will be good evidence to back up the points in my essay. There were ten people who participated in the survey who all had their own opinion. There are great quotations from the students in this article and are explained very thoroughly. It is not centered on just one problem, but a few that are very different from one another. This will surely give me enough evidence to expand into a multiple page essay without any difficulties.
Argumentative Source:
If I had to take these authors and their arguments to task, I would have to critique the fact that they only interviewed the people who said they missed face to face interaction in the class. I wish they would have interviewed the people who responded the other way because they might have not missed face to face interaction, but could have had other things they did not like about online classes. If they would have interviewed everyone, they could have compared the answers of each and see how they differed as well.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Blog #5
Since I am a Leadership scholar, I am forced to live on campus another year, but I do not think it is going to be all that bad. Hopefully I will get into McCarty, even though I am number 346 on the waiting list. If I get in there, I get my own bathroom and this place is so much newer than Roberts Hall. Since it was just recently built a few years ago, it is way more modern than any other dorm on campus, which makes it feel a lot more like home. There are no blocked walls that make you feel like you are in prison, but rather tan walls you would find in a normal house.
My friend Hailey and I will also be rooming together, which I think will be a lot of fun. We were planning on living in the new dorm for scholarship girls in the Village, but we just found out Wednesday that only the sorority houses will be up and running for Fall. Those rooms would have been even nicer than McCarty with full size beds and a walk in closet, but I guess you can't get everything you want.
My friend Hailey and I will also be rooming together, which I think will be a lot of fun. We were planning on living in the new dorm for scholarship girls in the Village, but we just found out Wednesday that only the sorority houses will be up and running for Fall. Those rooms would have been even nicer than McCarty with full size beds and a walk in closet, but I guess you can't get everything you want.
Blog #4
I really hate eating at the cafeteria on USM's campus. I always end up eating a turkey or peanut butter sandwich with chips, and that definitely gets old after a while. If I did not eat in the Commons at least once a day though, I would definitely be broke, so that is why I am forced to eat the gross food served there. Not only is the food disgusting to me, but everyone you see after you eat at the Commons knows where you were last because the smell stays with you. This smell is not very pleasant either. Last semester, I ate so much pizza from school that I can not even look at it or stand the smell anymore because it makes me sick to my stomach.
One thing that really annoys me about the school menu is that when they serve something good, like chicken tenders, they never last long or are at a time when I always decide not to go to the Commons for lunch. They are an extremely popular item on the menu and they only serve them about once every other month. What are they thinking?!?! If you know me, you know that I am definitely a chicken tender fanatic and could eat them every day and not complain. Well, I think that is enough complaints about the Commons for today, and thanks for reading if you read through the entire blog!
One thing that really annoys me about the school menu is that when they serve something good, like chicken tenders, they never last long or are at a time when I always decide not to go to the Commons for lunch. They are an extremely popular item on the menu and they only serve them about once every other month. What are they thinking?!?! If you know me, you know that I am definitely a chicken tender fanatic and could eat them every day and not complain. Well, I think that is enough complaints about the Commons for today, and thanks for reading if you read through the entire blog!
Blog #3 - MARDI GRAS!
The Mardi Gras holiday was definitely a much needed break from school. I went home to New Orleans and enjoyed a lot of the uptown parades. Saturday, I went to a balcony on Bourbon Street and later watched Endymion, and that was just an experience by itself. Sunday, my friends and I sat on St. Charles Avenue all day long watching the Krewes of Okeansos, Thoth, Mid-City, and Bacchus roll by. In Thoth, I got to see the people from my high school dance team march, who most I had not seen since I graduated. Drew Brees, the quarterback for the Saints was in the Bacchus parade, and he pretty much made my night when he threw me a bead.
Monday, I went with my family uptown to see the Proteus and Orpheus parades, which were a lot of fun as well. Sean Payton, the head coach of the Saints who I think is adorable, was in Orpheus, but he was turned the other way when he passed us. Today, I did not go to any parades because I was too tired from the entire weekend, but it was a great Mardi Gras and definitely shows that the city is coming back to the way it was before the storm.
Monday, I went with my family uptown to see the Proteus and Orpheus parades, which were a lot of fun as well. Sean Payton, the head coach of the Saints who I think is adorable, was in Orpheus, but he was turned the other way when he passed us. Today, I did not go to any parades because I was too tired from the entire weekend, but it was a great Mardi Gras and definitely shows that the city is coming back to the way it was before the storm.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Blog #2
A problem that I am continuing to have in my paper has to do with the length of quotations. I forgot how to do a block quotation if you have a bunch of sentences, and I need to know how many sentences make up a block quotation. A quote I used in my paper is as follows:
"And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to" (Carver 387).
Is this quote long enough to be considered a "block quotation"? If it is, how do you do a block quotation in your paper?
"And his being blind bothered me. My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to" (Carver 387).
Is this quote long enough to be considered a "block quotation"? If it is, how do you do a block quotation in your paper?
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Blog #1
My name is Alison Lombardo and I am an eighteen year old Accounting major at Southern Miss. I am from New Orleans, Louisiana, and graduated in 2006 from Mount Carmel Academy, an all girls high school. I like to dance, shop, and hang out with my friends and family. I am obsessed with most reality television shows, including So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars, Big Brother, American Idol, The OC, and The Hills. I have had a boyfriend for over two and a half years now who is from New Orleans and attends USM as well. I listen to all types of music and love to watch movies, whether they are comedies, scary movies, or what some call "chick flicks."
A lot of my friends at Southern Miss think I am a pretty strange person because of my weird eating habits. At least three times a week, I eat Froot Loops in a bowl with no milk because there is nothing better to eat in the commons. I also eat turkey sandwiches, but eat everything on it separately and in order, so I save the best parts for last. I eat ketchup with almost everything, even on Thanksgiving with my turkey. Unlike some people, my favorite food is chicken tenders, and Cane's is by far my favorite fast food restaurant.
One embarrassing thing I did in the past and still do today is fall down huge flights of stairs. My family is pretty used to it now and does not even ask if I am all right when it happens.
I am an extremely nice person and I think I am pretty easy to get along with so I hope you enjoy my blog site!
A lot of my friends at Southern Miss think I am a pretty strange person because of my weird eating habits. At least three times a week, I eat Froot Loops in a bowl with no milk because there is nothing better to eat in the commons. I also eat turkey sandwiches, but eat everything on it separately and in order, so I save the best parts for last. I eat ketchup with almost everything, even on Thanksgiving with my turkey. Unlike some people, my favorite food is chicken tenders, and Cane's is by far my favorite fast food restaurant.
One embarrassing thing I did in the past and still do today is fall down huge flights of stairs. My family is pretty used to it now and does not even ask if I am all right when it happens.
I am an extremely nice person and I think I am pretty easy to get along with so I hope you enjoy my blog site!
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