I began the blog with a description of a bee swarm and I used it as an analogy for my experiences in the course. Now I have an opportunity to sit back and reflect a bit. The swarm will be part of the course I am building -- Beginner Beekeeping Course, and the swarm will be part of the course. My screencast has already been incorporated as well.
Where did I spend a lot of my time? Honestly, it was learning the technology. Sandy was a tremendous help to me. For example, I visited her three times today with various issues, and she helped me through them, but I also found that things did not work well for her at times either. The experience made me feel good to a degree, because I did not feel too bad when she had problems as well, and my frustration declined.
One part that took me a substantial amount of time was setting up a new course (beginning beekeeper course) and trying to install it on Canvas. I tried to copy Dave's page, in so doing, I discovered that tables were involved, tables did not move using the placement buttons, and even Sandy had difficulty. We eventually decided that part of the problem was the browser I was using. Then I vaguely remembered that Dave liked Chrome. I am starting to ponder the change from Explorer to Chrome.
I have concluded that I need to spend more time on Canvas in a consistent manner. I have not taught an on-line course, and my major experience with Canvas is the grading system. I have to move to a new level of familiarity with Canvas to move to the delivery of an on-line course.
The course also made me yearn for uninterrupted time. My phone would ring, someone would knock on my door, a family member interrupted, etc., and I was again reminded how I yearn for uninterrupted time where I can focus, follow a line of thought, and make progress.
Where to I go with the swarm analogy? My thoughts are that similar to a swarm, there all untold possibilities of what can be done with on-line technology much the same as a swarm -- there is tremendous potential for what can be done!
