Initial Thoughts on the Teaching with Technology graduate course at Mount Saint Mary College

This is just a quick post to give my initial impression of Ed 5700. This is an online course and is the first of this nature that I have participated in. I must say that I am very impressed with the help that the professor, Dr. Smirnova, has given me in catching up in the course. I signed up for the course and emailed the professor about when the first meeting was going to take place and never received a response. Dr. Smirnova just spent quite some time online helping guide me through the moodle site and get me caught up on what is going to be expected of me during this semester.

Let me first introduce myself. My name is Bill and I am a graduate student at Mount Saint Mary College. I have almost completed my M.S.E.D. degree and should be graduating in December of this year if all goes well. I am currently a full-time teacher at Valley Central High School in Montgomery, NY. I teach four sections of Regents Chemistry. This is a leave-replacement position for a teacher that left on maternity leave. I am currently looking for a job for the upcoming school year and have a couple of prospects in the works (I don't want to say too much for fear of jynxing it). My number one hobby is my car. I am a senior member of several car forums and love to spend any free time that I have playing under the hood of my car. A new hobby that I have recently picked up is photography. I have not taken any formal classes but am teaching myself. I prefer to learn things this way because I seem to have more success teaching myself (The internet is a wonderful thing). I will make a page for some of my photos that I have taken so far. I have been asked to attend several car meets and shows around the Northeast to photograph the events. I have a love for photographing cars (as you will see in many of my photographs). I am also an avid music listener and attend concerts on a regular basis.

Enough about me, onto the course. This seems to be an exciting course with alot of potential for growth. I know some of the people that are in the class already and am looking forward to meeting those who I do not know yet. This seems to be a class that has alot of work required for it, however I feel that I am very computer savy and should have no problems with it.

Until my next entry....