Back after a week off

Just got back from a week in New York at my sister's wedding. Absolutely brilliant time was had by all. But now reality sets in and yet again it's panic stations as I admit how much I have to catch up on - kG pages, reading, assignment for Jan 21. The major project for assignment 2 has also fallen behind, and the SCORM thing isn't working as I had expected. I think I might have to scrap that aspect of the site. I don't think it will affect student usage too much ( she said optimistically!)
After all that moaning about being so far behind, I'm off to get some sleep. I've got a ;ot of catching up to do in that area too!

Successful Wimba session at last!

I suppose you could say third time lucky! The 3rd Wimba session seemed to go very smoothly compared to session 1 and session 2. I didn't get thrown out once! The sound quality was ok, apart from when people were displaying videos. I feel a bit guilty because the Ed Tech department has been asking me to feed back on these sessions as they are considering buying the Wimba software. They've already ruled out Elluminate due to cost. But I haven't been very positive about old Wimba at all. I'll have to make sure I pass the new info on. In fact, I might get the Ed Tech supervisor to listen in on the recording if he's got time.
Another more positive aspect of the session is that I'm getting more comfortable on the microphone, and I think I pulled my weight in this session more than in the previous. Still haven't got brave enough for the webcam though. That poor gadget has been clipped redundantly to the top of my screen for months now. Basically, I'm very camera shy. Bit of a nightmare being bridesmaid at my sister's wedding - no escape and I hated every minute of it.
I'm not sure when the next online tutorial is. Will I be brave enough by then!

Got some webspace (and NY news)

Last weekend Philip and I finally became the proud owners of some webspace (Godaddy). When I get a second, I can upload some of my Hot Potato exercises onto the Moodle site that Philip has set up, and then link my kG page to it so everyone can have a look at what I'm raving about.

I'm in a mad panic trying to get a lot of work done since I'm off to New York on 10th Jan to be bridesmaid at my sister's wedding. It's the old juggling issue again - keep up with the reading, keep up with the discussions in Moodle, the facilitated pages, the blog, and start thinking about the final writing up for assignment 1. Help!!!

Surprising Fact (and Murphy's Law)

I've just had a kG message from Peter saying that my Musings page is becoming popular so he had added a hit counter. I'm very surprised by this, as it's just full of my ramblings about the course readings. And even more surprised because I haven't been promoting the page at all. I'm promoting the Hot Potatoes page at every opportunity, but to very little avail - Murphy's Law or what! I suppose the Hot Potatoes software is really only relevant to those who spend time making their own interactive material (mostly TEFL teachers, I suspect!) but the readings are relevant to everyone on the course. Anyway, good news, I know, but it's only added to my dilemma about how much time I should spend on a page that isn't going to be assessed (or is it? I've emailed Peter about this.)

Assignment 2 concerns

I've been busy in the recording studio getting all the voices I need for the listening website for assignment 2. I've already got quite a few of the Hot Potatoes done already. As soon as you've got a good template to work from, you can really rattle through them. I must remember to get in touch with Peter about help I got with the template ie the style sheet was made by someone in the EdTech department as I have to use the college logo and general look, since the work will be placed on Vista.
I also need to find out about how I can get guest access for Peter when it comes time for him to assess the work. I hope it's just a simple matter of adding his name and giving him the password.
Anyway, must get a move on. I'm squeezing this blog entry in in 15 minutes I had between classes.

Panic begins to set in

I bet I wasn't the only one who promised they wouldn't let themselves fall too far behind over the Christmas break! But of course, it happened. thankfully, Peter seems to be keeping everyone on track with the checklist. I'm having to reassess my priorities now. Basically, I'll have to devote a lot more time to my Hot Potatoes page. I'm actually enjoying working on the musings page, but I don't think it's going to count (it's not an emerging technology, after all!) so it's going to have to go on the backburner for now.
I had a slight disaster when the keyboard on my laptop went beserk last week and I had to leave it at the technician's at work. They've had to send it away, but thankfully I can use my college laptop (tablet) in the meantime. But I hate not working on myb own laptop. I was reading over the Module 3 notes, and there's a section on becoming emotionally attached to your technology. I think I might be suffering from that!

Recording session 2 and editing

After a busy weekend spent writing and re-writing scripts to make sure they meet the exam specs, I got a few more recordings done today. Usually I like to get the scripts to the speakers a day beforehand so that have a bit of time to familiarise themselves, but today we had a couple of speakers reading 'blind', so to speak. But surprisingly few fluffs, which meant very little editing was required in Audacity. I haven't organised the PD sessions yet (I think I'm kind of hoping everyone will forget!)

Got a bit more of my kG pages done today. The Musings page is taking up a lot of time, but it seems to be the only way I absorb what I'm reading. As I type up comments (and I'm quite a slow typist!), I seem to have time to process the information and I'm trying to connect it to my own context as much as possible. I haven't really promoted the page, other than to put it in the shoutbox, because I'm not sure anyone would be interested in my incoherent ramblings.

Things are going slowly on the Hot Potatoes page. Unfortunately, the keyboard on my laptop got possessed by some demon at the weekend and started throwing random letters all over the page. I thought I'd found all the gremlins dotted over the page yesterday, but found a couple more this morning. Just sudden strings of sdfsdf 123123 fgdgd appearing out of the blue. Needless to say my laptop's with the technician right now, so I have to get all my usq stuff done at work.

Anyway, that's enough. I'm off to a hen night!