The Future of Education

A few surprising statistics about technology and education!

by aleksandarsavic.

Certified

Please, Mr. Postman

My diploma finally came in the mail! It is the crowning achievement of 2.5 years of hard work, cash-flow monitoring and computer screen squinting. Needless to say, the household is happy.

Hoot - Book Review

** I am currently taking a Young Adult literature course and I will be reading and reviewing several materials using a new format. This review follows a template given to me by my professor.**

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Publication Information

Name: Christopher Jimenez	Media Format: Book (eBook)
Title: Hoot	Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Adventure, Protest, Ecology
Author: Carl Hiaasen	Selection Source: 2003 Newbery Honor
Publisher: Random House Children's Books	Recommended Audience Age: 9-14
	Reading Recommendation: 4 out of 5
	Curriculum Connections: Leisure, Florida, Ecology, Construction, Civics, Politics, Bullying

Review

Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House is trying to open a new restaurant in Coconut Cove, Fl. The only problem is that things keep going wrong on the construction site which leaves the police and site supervisors frustrated and puzzled. Someone has been sabotaging the entire operation.

Simultaneously, Roy Eberhardt is trying to fit in at school after yet another move due to his father's job at the Department of Justice. He prefers mountainous Montana over flat Florida, his attitude earned him the nickname "cowgirl" at school. He deals with bullies Beatrice Leep and Dana Matherson while on the bus. After noticing a boy his age running down the street, Roy decides to follow him and ends up in an ecological adventure to save the lives of the burrowing owls living on the site of the new Pancake House.

This novel has achieved the following awards:

• 2003 YALSA Selected Audiobooks
• 2003 YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
• 2003 ALSC Notable Children's Books

Evaluation

This is an excellent book for young adults. It features children who are brave enough to stand up for a cause and actually succeed in bringing about public awareness. It is full of humor and appeals to a child's sense of justice and love of animals.

Further, it brings up several aspects of bullying that are critical springboards for discussion. For instance: how are Beatrice and Dana different? How does each character evolve? Roy stands up for himself but does not report the bullying, why would he do that? Is it wise?

Another interesting theme in this book has to do with the law as it relates to minors. What is truancy? Trespassing? Why weren't the delinquent's names revealed in the press? The power of the law is also revealed in the ultimate demise of the Pancake House's building project. Even corporations must abide by the law or risk being shut down.

I recommend this book to all readers, young and old. Perhaps this has more to do with the fact that it was set in South Florida, my home town. It truly is a good story with a lot of humorous scenes.

Under My Belt

This is where I'm placing Research Methods & Preparing Instructional Media--under my belt.

This Semester

...was the hump semester. Sometime during September I celebrated the half-way point of my Graduate career. But all that celebration would be worth nothing if I didn't follow through & pass my classes. So it was imperative that I complete the mission.

To be honest

I did not feel stressed about anything this semester. The concepts were familiar to me & I completed my readings in a timely manner. As a result, I have no doubt that I am capable of conducting research &/or preparing instructional media for a class.

The Result?

The final grades haven't posted to OASIS yet, but I expect my GPA for the semester to boost my overall GPA some. I've never been a strong mathematics guy, though. So I may be in for a surprise. But I doubt it.

Another semester is neatly tucked away under my belt.

By the way, if you want to check out some of my work for LIS 6303: Preparing Instructional Media you can find it at my class blog.

Preparing Instructional Media

I know my avid readers are clamoring for my latest experiences in the world of Graduate Studies in Library and Information Science. So here's a bone.

Actually, it's a web-portfolio of my projects and reflections for LIS 6303: Preparing Instructional Media. It is my final project and should be completed by the end of this week. It has all the interesting things we learned to use in a pedagogical manner like blogging, podcasting, screencasting, presentation software, social bookmarking (which includes Pinterest) and Wikis.

So there, you can't tell me I don't show you something exciting every now and then.

It's Hard to Call it Quits

A slight exaggeration, but how I feel

When to hang it up

So. It turns out I was unable to write the next great American novel during the month of November in the year 2012. I got thrown off a week ago & have not been able to recover. I plan to continue plodding through it at my own pace & definitely learned a lot about the creative process--but it wasn't to be.

I was able to push myself to creative places that I had never been before. I explored dialog & music & tension between characters that I had only heard or read of, but never wrote before. I began chapters with an intention & ended with something totally different because my main character simply had a mind of his own & thought his own thoughts or did his own thing. I was telling a story that was formed in my mind about someone totally different. It was at once completely me, yet outside of me.

This may sound strange. That would be because it is strange. I don't know if this is the normal writing process. From what I hear, everyone has their own writing process. What I do know is that I will likely not finish 50,000 words by December 1. Not when I have to write 3,700+ words per day until the end of the month to finish on time.

Back to Grad School

I have been working on school projects in addition to this creative one. I've been putting together instructional media & a full-fledged research proposal. I am enjoying it a lot. I am also pleased to report that I have been doing well in these projects & expect to finish well academically this semester.

I am well past the middle of my Grad School career & have been casting a wandering eye at my spring/summer coarse load, Fall internship & potential job market in 2014. Ahh!! 2014?!? Can't we finish 2012 first?!? I wish we could. But that's not the world we live in.

Reflections

But I am glad to pause & reflect on how far we've come. (I include my lovely wife with the we because I drag her through some interesting times with this whole graduate school thing.) I suppose that's another thing I can add to my Thanksgiving gratitude list.

So here's to life! Because it goes on.

Never Underestimate MS Word

The Challenge

I finally passed a Word & Excel test for a "Librarian" position that I applied for at Baptist Hospital. I failed both tests on Monday & studied my booty off all week to pass it today. (I ended up only getting one question wrong on each test.)

I was not surprised that I failed Excel. I never use Excel. Excel intimidates me. Given that, I was encouraged that if I'd gotten one more question right, I would have passed the exam. What surprised me was Word.

I performed miserably on the Intermediate Word skills test. Given that I spent 4(+) years in a University & hold a degree in English (which = many research/argumentative papers), never received a grade lower than an A in High School English & spent 3 years working in the IT department of the same University, I was baffled that I did that poorly on the MS Word portion of the exam. I wasn't even close to passing.

I guess my takeaway from this experience is to never underestimate any undertaking. It's always good to review & continue learning because there is always somewhere you can improve.

A Side Note

On a side note, there was someone else in the room which made things a bit awkward. She was in the same position that I was on Monday, a failure. Hopefully she studies & passes soon!

Library Student, FTW!

In our discussion board, we were talking about continuing education after school. Most of my classmates sided against continuing education. Here are my comments followed by my professor's comments.

I am fairly certain that most, if not all professional-class careers continue their education. Teachers must be re-certified. Medical professionals must take classes. I believe lawyers must keep their credentials updated. It would only strengthen the argument that Librarians are professionals if some kind of continuing education was required. - ME

I think that this is a crucial point.  Would you want to be treated by a doctor who graduated from medical school 20 years ago and never tried to keep up with anything new since that time?  Any professional worth his or her salt MUST keep up with the changes in the workplace, whether it is by taking courses or by other means.  The profession of librarianship is completely different now compared to what it was when I was in library school.  If I had not been keeping up with the changes, I would now be utterly unqualified to do anything in this field.  Our profession, more than many others, is changing constantly and rapidly.  [By the way, this follows a period of I would say 100 years when it didn't change too much at all, i.e. from the 1860s to the early 1960s.]  When you graduate from this program, there is no way you will still be qualified to do your job 5 years later if you do not make serious efforts to keep up with the changes that will undoubtedly continue to occur. - HE

To that is say, Boo-jackashaw!