A3.6: Week 3 Reflection

Deidra Darst
9/6/07

Aims and Objectives:  My personal goal with regard to CD 315 this week was to successfully complete each assignment on time.  I set out to complete at least two assignments each night in order to finish everything in a timely fashion.  I knew from the beginning of the week that I wanted to attended the Marshall/WVU football Saturday morning, so I needed to finish my assignments prior to September 8th.  Due to family illnesses and the untimely death of a young man from my hometown, my plans were thrown off kilter on Monday.   I feel as if I have struggled to keep on task this week, but I still plan to finish everything before Saturday morning.  To quote Mr. Newt Gingrich, “perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”  This has just been “one of those weeks,” but I am going to make it through!

Declarative Knowledge:  This week’s assignments taught me about wikis, collaborative editing and essential questions.  I learned that wikis, web pages that anyone can edit, are more reliable than I had previously thought.  Many people edit and monitor these sites which decreases the number of incorrect and inappropriate posts.  I was also introduced to collaborative editing tools, which allow multiple users to simultaneously edit a single document.  This tools is very effective at the workplace and educational settings.  Richardson’s text explained the wiki in even greater detail.  In chapter four of his text I learned that many K-12 teachers are utilizing wikis in their classrooms.  By completing my reflection assignments, I learned about developing a research question and how to implement essential questions into the research process.  Selecting a research question, analyzing it and modifying it will simplify the process of developing a research question.  Conducting research is made more interesting and productive when essential questions are posed prior to the research process. Real life situations are considered as a basis for research, which draws the interest of the researcher, ultimately leading to a more thorough investigation and analysis of the gathered information.

Procedural Knowledge:  I learned how to create a page for our class wiki.  I used my Web browser to navigate to the class wiki site.  I created a new page by clicking “create new page,” created an account and logged in to the system.  I named my page “Deidra Darst” as instructed, selected the proper template and clicked “create new page.”  This will allow me to work collaboratively with my classmates.  I also learned how to go about developing a research question.  I can use an eight-step series of questions to guide the developmental process.

Conditional Knowledge:
The knowledge and skills that I acquired this week will be most useful throughout the remainder of the semester.  I will call upon my knowledge and understanding of wikis and other collaborative editing programs during the completion of my CD 315 projects.  I can use these skills to efficaciously complete the objectives for this course.

I can connect this week’s materials and assignments with my life as a student at Marshall University.  Group work has been prevalent in most of my collegiate-level courses.  Collaborative work was difficult in classes in which I was unfamiliar with my group mates.  I realize how much easier our lives could have been if only we had used a wiki or collaborative editing program.  We could have simultaneously contributing to our projects from the comforts of our own homes rather than meeting at the library late at night because that was the only time everyone could meet.

As a pre-professional, I must adopt these forms of technology into my daily life.  The more I know about and understand wikis, collaborative editing tools and research techniques, the more capable I will be as a speech-language pathologist.  I need to use any and all resources available to me in order to abide by ASHA’s Code of Ethics.  The Code of Ethics states that clinicians must provide services to the best of their abilities, and this means using any and all available technologies.

As a citizen, this week’s material has connections to my life.  I realized that so many technologies exist that I am unfamiliar with at this time.  I need to have extensive knowledge and skills concerning technology in order to be a productive citizen.  By increasing my digital literacy skills, I can reach my full potential as a contributor to society.