My Experience in the University of Alabamas College of Human Environmental Science - Admission/Application Essay Example

CSM583 Capstone Project Summary Holly R. Taylor The of Alabama The purpose of this paper is to summarize my experience in CSM 583offered at the University of Alabama’s College of Human Environmental Science. My graduate degree emphasis has been on Interactive Technology, focusing on digital tools and the environments in which these tools are applied. For my final project I applied and was accepted to be a teaching assistant for CSM 447 – Digital Tools. Additionally, I developed a module which required five how-to videos concentrating on the different features of Snagit v10. CSM 583 Capstone Project Summary: In order to meet the final requirements for the Master of Science degree in Human Environmental Sciences, with an emphasis on Interactive Technology, I enrolled in CSM 583 – Special Problems. In this course students are offered the option of applying to be a teacher’s assistant vice the standard research product. Therefore, I applied to be a teacher’s assistant and was accepted. In addition to being a teacher’s assistant, I updated the module on using the various features within Snagit. This paper will summarize my experience during my final semester of this degree program. Introduction: I am currently active duty Navy and have been in for over 17 years. Once I retire, I plan to start my second career as a teacher. My selection as a teaching assistant has given me insight into teaching and has enabled me to enhance my own teaching skills. Once selected, I was assigned as the teaching assistant for CSM 447, Section 909, Digital Tools. In addition, I was assigned to CSM 447, Section 901 as a grader. Given the fact that I had completed CSM 447 as a student, I was confident that I would be able to properly assist in the teaching of this course. In addition to being a teaching assistant, I developed a training module on the various features within Snagit v10. TA Responsibilities: The academic balancing act was not an easy task, as there is a need to distinguish between the different roles as a graduate student and instructor on a daily basis. Though having the flexibility of working whatever hours I wanted, it sometimes resulted in working longer hours since there could always be new comments to post or email queries to reply. Since there were no clear cut times for communication, responsibilities were increased and emails and other updates had to be checked constantly for providing prompt response or feedback. As a student I wanted instant feedback, therefore it was my goal to answer all emails from students as quickly as possible, and to promptly grade all assignments. I believe every potential teacher is doubtful of his teaching skills and is not sure whether he would be able to satisfy the queries of his students. Teaching is a one man show. One has to keep going on and on without any pause because every move and glance of a teacher is recorded in the brains of his students and their learning is much influenced by the same. Not only this, the job is never the same and everyday brings along with it new adventures both for the students and the teacher. A lecture hardly ever goes as initially planned by the teacher as there are various other factors involved in the process which are usually beyond the control of the teacher. Such factors include but are not limited to strange questions by the students, students’ attitude, their response to the teacher and their conduct and discipline in general. It is like a live show in which the teacher necessarily makes explanation for every question that is raised by the students. There might be questions that the teacher might not be expecting at all. This is generally the biggest fear of a teacher and the worst situation he can ever be caught in specially if he does not know the answer. I fully expected that the students would have a lot of questions and that I would not be able to keep up with them. To my surprise, the students did not ask for assistance. May be they were trying to be very considerate and wanted to help me adjust mentally into the frame of a teacher or else, perhaps I was too boring to have their attention. Whatever the reason was, it turned out to be not helpful as it resulted in many receiving low grades. It was so majorly because the students did not take their assignments serious. I feel that the students failed to take the time to read each assignment thoroughly and pay attention to each detail outlined in the course syllabus. For me, this was the most challenging thing to deal with as I found myself having to resist the urge to reach out to the students and prompt them to turn in assignments or give them help even though they would not ask. Towards the beginning of the semester, I found the students particularly reluctant about submitting their assignments in time. Majority of the students would wait until right up to the last minute of the due date to submit their assignments. However, around the half way point, once the research papers were complete and graded, they began submitting their assignments well ahead of the deadline. Multimedia Training Module: The objective of my capstone project was to develop an online training module for Snagit’s latest version, version 10, for inclusion in the IIT warehouse. My goal was to make the demonstration/instruction material detailed and elaborative so that students could understand it with little or no difficulty. This module required five how-to videos to be produced which concentrated on different features within Snagit v10, which were: 1. Where and How to get Snagit v10 2. Capturing a Region 3. Naming a Capture 4. Using the Delay Capture Feature 5. Using the Enhancement Menu items To produce this module, a complete research of Snagit’s new features had to be done. First, I downloaded and installed Snagit v10 for actual use and learning so that accurate, easy and to-the-point demonstration videos could be made. Further, I followed the online tutorials and help within the Snagit Learning Center for formal learning. Once the research material and instructions were gathered, the actual videos had to be made. For this I used Camtasia Studio, a video capture program, to record the screen while I demonstrated using Snagit’s features. This was not an easy task since everything in the video had to be in flow, well-organized and in coordination so that it could make sense to the learners. To ensure this, I drafted scripts for the voice over in my videos. This was done to make sure that I knew what had to be said and when, while the video was being made. The editing and finalization of these videos was also carried out using Camtasia Studio. Once the videos were complete, I uploaded them to the CSM 583 Wiki for review. External reviewers used rubrics designed specifically for my project to guide their formative and summative reviews. Reviewer recommendations were implemented as appropriate, and the material was uploaded to the bama server using the template provided. Conclusion: I am grateful for the opportunity I had to serve as a teaching assistant which really let me have a chance to gain a teaching experience that will benefit me once I formally adopt this profession after my retirement from the Navy. In my experience, I realized that students think of teachers as people with divine knowledge. There is no room for imperfection. It was not until I personally went through a teaching experience that I realized, that a teacher has to play with the psychology of students very often in order to get things going in the right direction. At times it may seem that things are getting out of hand. A wise teacher deals with such situations with patience and controls his anger because that saves him the energy required to cope with such situations. Besides, a teacher should encourage the students to take active participation in the class and motivate them to take interest in their studies right from the first day. Had I done so, the students would have received better grades in the first place. However, I am quite satisfied because I did my best to help the students out of the trouble specially by making online tutorial videos for them. I incorporated all revisions as suggested in the comments of the visitors. I did all to make the videos as informative, rich and self explanatory as possible. As a result of my project, I believe that students using these tutorials will have an effective tool to help them when using Snagit v10. Read More