The Real Journal #3

The biggest accomplishments so far have been the group work my group and I have completed thus far in preparation for the group presentations. It has been a great experience so far and everyone is being cooperative and "pulling their weight".

My only frustrations has been my lack of initiative on starting assignments early. For instance, the recent assignment "Needs Assessment", was not started until very last minute. I had the materials to start it at least a week earlier but did not. I am not sure what the cause is of this (I don't want to say it's my pregnancy, but it very well could be).

My life has been spent online more in the past month than in awhile. I am hoping that it will pay off in the end! But we can only let time tell. I really don't have much else to say because other than the frustration I have about initiative I am quite happy and content with the class and the online environment.

Journal #3

So far, the course has been very even-paced. I do find myself falling a bit behind on deadlines but I feel that this can be easily fixed with more vigilant deadline watching or setting up a more effective calendar system. However, I do feel that the content is beginning to soak into my thought process and I am really beginning to see the application of the content to life outside the "virtual classroom".

Social Cognitive Theory can almost be seen as the method by which individuals thrive and learn best with interaction and reinforcement from others. (Hence the social part) Modeling is a part of Social Cognitive Theory which relies on the presence of others for an individual to observe and adapt to behaving like.

Cognitive Learning Theory deals with internal workings of the brain and how people use what they know and what they can do to solve problems or learn.

For both, the main difference is the interaction between individuals or one's self. It's two distinct schools of thought, but I do believe that both are necessary and can be integrated into curriculum and pedagogy both in the classroom and outside of the classroom.

Journal #2

So far in this course, I have accomplished finishing the scholarly paper. While I am not a stranger to research and the methods used to write a research paper, this was the first time that I felt like I really needed focus on the topic and be able to interpret the information I was gathering on a broader but somehow deeper meaning.

My only frustration at the moment is the group work. It's not that I do not like it or that my group dynamic isn't positive but it is a lot of information to take in and to make sure that 5 other people are on the same page is hard work! However, things are running smoothly enough that this frustration is not my biggest concern. I almost hesitate to include the group work as frustrations because I really do not have any that are pressing or so great that I must express them.

Ultimately, I feel that my online presence and integration is fairly stable. I am doing a much better job of keeping track of my assignments which is very good because there is a lot this semester that I have to process! I am learning more and more about other online instruction through both the scholarly paper in this course and another research paper in another class. It's interesting information to dissect and I feel like online learning is becoming more innovative, reliable and needed then previously thought.