Course Wrap

Module three opened up my eyes to a wide range of tools around the internet. I work with the internet on a daily basis and have utilized some of these tools already. It is still amazing to see how much there really is out in the world for us to use in terms of web tools, and how often these tools are relatively simple ideas. Since these tools have become so common, it makes teaching people that much easier. Even looking back 5-10 years ago, the internet was a tool that could be used for teaching but it was not simple to share those tools with others. Understanding these new technologies can be extremely beneficial to a person in any type of teaching environment.

In my career, I have to use the web to send out pretty much every bit of work that I do. It was extremely valuable to find web features that are new to me and learn how I can add them to my daily work. Additionally, new workers can benefit from these types of tools because it simplifies how they can learn, in a hands on way, about the daily operations in my office.

Learning more about how blogs operate and the tools that you can add to them was the most valuable thing I learned in this section. Blogging has become an extremely popular tool, especially in the sports world, and has created a brand new fan voice forum. By making things out of my office available for use, fans can extend their voice and utilize the work we do daily. Only by learning about this am I now able to translate that into the workplace.

Overall in this course, it was important to learn about how teachers plan on using these tools in their courses. I have a good idea of how I will make use of them in more of a business type setting, but did not understand fully on how to use them as a teaching tool. Hearing ideas from teachers helped me to understand what the best ways are to organize these tools in a useful manner.

RSS Feeds for Podcasts

The RSS feeds that I found for my podcasts involve a couple different aspects of my work. With one I found a unique teaching tool for photoshop. Photoshop is a great tool for photo editing that is used by professionals all around the world. This podcast helps to demonstrate how to do certain tasks and helps me to further round my professional experience.

The other podcast is one that I actually create already. I feel like having my work available through a RSS feed, I am able to reach more people and hopefully get some responses from the outside world on my work. The fact that I am trying to serve an audience that is not restricted to a certain area benefits with the use of this feed because it allows me to reach out to anyone.

This week I learned a lot about very useful tools on the web. Being in charge of a podcast already made what I learned even more valuable because I have found new ways to do things that I already do. Additionally, I have learned about new tools that I can already see benefiting me in my professional life.

Flickr Example: World Series

World Series
Originally uploaded by brockw

This is an example of a tile ad that I created for the Purple and Gold World Series in the fall of 2007.

Flickr Example: Alfred D. Boyer Stadium Wallpaper

Alfred D. Boyer Stadium Wallpaper
Originally uploaded by brockw

This is an example of a wallpaper that I created in photoshop for the baseball stadium.

How I spend my summer

I remember a time when summer meant being outside all day and night. That has now changed into sitting in an office all day, looking at a computer screen, and occasionally spending my nights away from my apartment, but that is mostly only to do more work. I guess I really shouldn't complain about my work at night because it is outdoors and pretty easy money.

Things were a little hectic for me for the past few weeks with wrapping up baseball season, having my brother graduate and all the family stuff that goes on with that, and then of course getting back to work and into the swing of class. Ironically this is the first year that I have ever taken a summer class in 20-some years of going to school.

When I'm not at work or studying like it's my job, I keep a close watch on the Cubs all summer long. From time to time I'll take a bike ride or try to get out and golf, but that really doesn't happen as often as I'd like it to. For the rest of the summer I see myself following that same schedule and getting home, to the Chicago suburbs, a couple times for some fun.