Self evaluation

I enjoyed this course immensely. By far, the most interesting assignment to me was the book synthesis. I've always been a synthesizer and like to think that my strongest talent is my ability to make connections between seeming unrelated things. Consequently, the book synthesis was quite a bit of fun for me. As a lifelong science fiction fan, I spend a lot of time thinking about the near and distant future. Pink's ideas about the near future economic applications of the "right brain" were especially helpful in giving me direction. And of course, Diamond Age essentially embodied everything I always had in mind for educational technology and then some.

If I have any regrets, other than my own issues that arose during the semester, it would be that I didn't take TLT 470 before taking 471. Even though it might not have mattered in reality, I would have been more self assured in my approach to the class if I had some more information under my belt in terms of specific things that I could have included in a tech plan.

If I were to make a suggestion for the course, it would be that an example of the type of tech plan you were looking for would have been helpful. Unless I missed something, the examples on the site for the course were in the range of a hundred or so pages long. I found relating that to our 15 page assignment somewhat overwhelming. On the other hand, my own mental state might have had more to do with that than anything else.

In the end, despite the fact that I struggled with the major assignments, I feel a lot more capable of tackling this type of thing in the future. I generally learn best by jumping in and seeing if I sink or swim. Without the central puzzle of the tech plan, I don't think I would have gotten as much out of the course, and I will be able to think about the technology we're looking at in 470 from a more implementation centered view as a result of having the tech plan in the back of my mind. Linear thinking is an effort for me, but it's an essential skill that I'll need to succeed in the field, this course was invaluable for that reason.