The Big Presentation (Thread 3)

Yay! My proposal presentation was last night and it went GREAT! :-) It was probably one of the best presentations I've ever given. I felt incredibly prepared and ready to answer any question that was brought up. I think I kept the "um's" to a minimum, I didn't lose my train of thought, and I felt confident up there. What a great feeling! All of the time I've put into this project has really paid off. I've spent so much time reading articles and writing my paper that I feel I really understand what I'm talking about...that made the presentation go easy.

After I presented, I got some excellent feedback from the class. There are some small additions to make to my paper...it will help make the paper even stronger. I'm hoping to get those done this weekend and have the Research Proposal ready to turn in on Monday! :-)

What could I do better next time? I could have spent a little more time discussing the specific questions that will be used in the interview...I didn't give the audience enough time to read and understand each question. I also could have went into more detail about how I will review the transcripts and what, exactly, I will do with them.

All in all, this presentation went better than I could have ever imagined. Yay! Yay! Yay!

Now...time to polish the paper!

Week 11 Thoughts - Thread 3

What is my attitude toward learning?
What assumptions do I have about learning?
Look at learning from an alternative perspective.
My perspective on learning
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Attitude: I am excited about learning. I feel that learning is important throughout our lives...it helps keep us young as we get older. I have a very positive attitude toward learning.

Assumptions: Learning requires a desire to learn. It takes time, energy, and commitment. It's fun, but can also be quite difficult. Not everyone enjoys learning.

Looking at learning from an alternative perspective...I'm not quite sure what this means. I would say that this class has been a challenge for me to try and view learning in a different light. I absolutely love our traditional classroom structure of listening to a lecture, reading a book, and discussing the material, and writing a paper or taking a test to show what I've learned. The lack of structure for this learning environment has been a huge obstacle for me. I can understand the thought behind why this type of class setup could work, but I'm not sure that in reality (not just a concept) it works well. There's a reason that our education system has been set up the way it has and continues to go in the direction it has.

My perspective on learning: Learning is necessary to successfully move through life. I am willing to try new ways to learn and new approaches to learning, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to like all of them! :-) Learning is exciting, scary, daunting, fun, enlightening, and at times quite tedious.