Blog #9

 Distance learning has been very difficult for me these past couple of years, but especially this semester as I begin to have more face-to-face classes. I prefer seeing classmates every week and having meaningful discussions rather than participating through discussion boards once a week. I also feel as though distance learning provides a way for busy work to be assigned rather than assignments that really teach me something. I did like the flexibility of when I could do an assignment, however, I am an extreme procrastinator so sometimes it was difficult for me to force myself to get things done. If I were to teach a course that involved distance learning, I would try my hardest to include assignments that allowed students to think more critically as well as stray away from busy work.

Open Educational Resources (OER) allows users to access several learning resources that are open for others to use and change for their own classes or educational purposes. The website I found comes from the University of Mary Washington where OER is defined as well as the differences between these resources and Open Access (OA), Library Licensed, and Affordable Course Content. OA and OER are very similar, but unlike OER, you may not change any of the content to fit one's own course. Library licenses are free to library patrons (as the library pays for the resources) and allow patrons to access any of the library's content. Affordable Course Content is described as an alternative to a more costly resource, but there are still restrictions on what can be changed in the content. 

Click here to access the website. 

I have not completed the second assignment (the due date was adjusted) but as far as the first Powerpoint project goes, I learned more than I expected. I feel as though I am very well-versed in the Microsoft Word programs, but the information I was able to gain as a result of this project was very helpful, such as how to space things out in my Powerpoint so that they're more aesthetically pleasing. I also used different slide templates, enabling me to move things around but have a more consistent slideshow. In addition, I had no idea that I was able to record sound over my slides, which was very informative and I am excited to utilize this tool more in the future. I would want to improve it next time by changing the color palette but I was pretending to teach this to an older age group so I think it's fine for that purpose. I personally like to use a bit more color than that.