Monday, January 17, 2011

INST 5330 Week 1


I originally set this blog up for personal use with the intention of blogging at least once a week, but fell short, so I am glad for the opportunity to get started again and I hope this class is the impetus to fall into better habits.

A little about myself: I work full time for UCM in the Biology and Earth Science Department as the office professional. The other day on Facebook someone asked me "What is an office professional?" It took me a while to answer, for people outside of academia, it is hard to describe how a department at a university operates, but it is very similar to an office manager with added responsibilities of helping students as well as the faculty and staff. I love the university environment, even with all its craziness and stress, there is no place I would rather work. My undergraduate degree is in photography, and I started my work on a Masters in Educational Technology in the Fall of 2009. I had to drop my class last semester because my youngest daughter was hospitalized and has required lots of follow up doctor's appointments. Fortunately she is going to be okay, but she does have a genetic clotting disorder that makes her more susceptible to blood clots, so as long as we keep her medication in balance and watch for signs of clotting, we will be okay. So since I work full time and have a family that includes my husband of over 15 years, my two older children who no longer live at home, Natasha is doing a Masters in Public Health at MU and Christian is engaged and lives and works in Warrensburg. Tara is in the 8th grade and Reeves is in the 5th grade and keep us very busy, so I only manage a class or two a semester.

I love technology, always have and probably always will. I love how it challenges me to learn and keep learning and have been amazed over the years how integrated it has become in our everyday life. I am also amazed at how quickly we accept technology and become accustomed to it being available. I really believe a place is out dated if it does not have free WiFi available and I can access the internet from my phone driving down the road. I also enjoying teaching others about technology which is why I chose this degree and hope that I can stay in academia in some capacity until I retire, which won't be any time soon. My great fascination at the moment is the iPad and what it has to offer. I am experimenting with using it with data projectors to present electronic presentations, it has wonderful features and is so light weight and portable, I see it replacing laptops very soon. It is not your primary computer, it is still a peripheral, but it packs a mighty punch.

For me to share a favorite book I have read is difficult, most of my free time is spent reading textbooks and articles for classes, so pleasure reading isn't always high on my priority list for free time. But I am a huge fan of audio books, and I believe listening to books can be as important as reading them. So when we drive to Florida for vacation once a year, during that time I listen to books, I can't read in a car it makes me nauseated. So I listen to books and the last one I enjoyed the most was written by an author I went to high school with. He has written a sequel and I hope to listen to it when it comes out on audio. It is called DandyFlowers and it is by Jordan T. Maxwell. Now, I knew him by a different name, so don't go searching my high school class for his name, you won't find it. But I do keep in touch with him on facebook under his pen name and his real name. It is very popular among young christian teenagers, due to its moral message and lack of profanity. It is a very sweet love story and his writing reminds me of our home town and high school. So enough for this week, I look forward to blogging and reading everyone's blogs.

2 comments:

  1. Welcome (back) to blogging and congrats on working toward your masters. I'm thankful your daughter will be ok! I have to agree with you about the no WiFi = outdated, but I sure hope you're not driving AND using the web, haha! I will have to check out that book. I have two pre-teens that may enjoy it!

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  2. I love to listen to books in the car. The only problem now is that my daughter wants to listen to her "pooh" books. Gotta start them young....

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