I met with Dr. Gibbons to talk about some approaches to my question. He suggested some readings for me to peruse. I narrowed down my question a bit after some of my reading. I need to finalize a question, but I'm feeling more confident in the direction.
Dear Mom and Dad, My current assignment in my foundations of instructional technology class is to write a letter explaining to you in layman's terms a little about the field I am entering. I figure that, since you are often faced with questions about the status of my pursuits in life and because my current life pursuit is labeled with a long-winded title of uncertain meaning, it will be of benefit to actually send you the letter rather than just turning it in for credit. Both of my graduate degrees (first Youth and Family Recreation and now Instructional Psychology and Technology) are a bit unwieldy to the tongue and not immediately clear as to their actual practical value or educational objectives. Although the value and meaning of my YFR degree may be lost in the ether, I hope this letter will at least give you a better idea of what I study now and what will be the likely outcome for my career when I graduate. The field of my current endeavor started out as instructional techn
Our experience in class with the online forum revealed some interesting things. Our assignment was to read some articles on forums and then to use the forum created by Alberto to discuss the relative merits and problems with forums as a learning tool. It seemed to me that many people who decried the value of online forums actually neglected to participate in the forum in the manner in which it was meant to be used to promote learning. Rather they participated as if it were simply a place to complain about the place that was offered as a way for them to complain about what they were complaining about. In other words, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Successful use of a forum for instruction probably warrants a little extra motivational effort on the part of the instructor. It appeared they didn't like forums because it required them to interact with others and express their ideas coherently and be willing to engage in a discussion and, basically, it wasn't worth their time
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