This video is a result of what I learned this past week. It is not great, but it is definitely a beginning as I explore the world of video and teaching.

Tuesday of Intensive Week

I started the day relaxed and at ease with life, but as the day went on my brain began to experience a complete melt down. The time spent in class today was great. I really enjoyed the exposure to the various apps that are available for the classroom. The only thing that really troubled me was the consideration of how many students would never have the opportunity to experience the joy of learning with an IPad or any other tablet.

As a college professor most of my students do not have access to an IPad or even their own personal laptop. I am still able to use the internet and online instruction with them because of the access to computers in the library and computer labs. I did however see an opportunity to gain a much needed skill set with the video assignment. I have taught online for nearly ten years and really should have been doing video files long before now, but I like many other teachers have not taken the time to investigate the process.

Taking courses at Liberty University has been a great asset to my teaching ability. I have modeled my online courses to look more like the courses at Liberty. Now I will be able to offer video as well as audio for my students.

The overwhelming part of my day really did not fully develop until about 9pm when I realized that I had been working all afternoon and evening long and still did not have a good grasp on everything I need from the literature relating to theatre classrooms and technology. I know that this will all work out, but trying to cover such a vast area of knowledge in the literature got the best of me tonight.

The bright spot in my day was interacting with the students in the class and enjoying the enthusiasm and support of the professor. God has truly blessed me by allowing me the opportunity to interact with each of the people involved in this class and I am learning a great deal and truth be told am enjoying every minute.

Monday of Intensive Week

I enjoyed a thought provoking morning at Liberty University today. Armed with a new coffee cup filled to the brim and sporting the Liberty University logo, I forged ahead into the world of technology and education. The class was a lot smaller than I expected, but filled with great people who made the day enjoyable. Although I was met with a mountain of information I came away with several new tools that will make my life easier. I have used Easybib since I started working toward my degree, but after experiencing Endnote I am changing my procedures for the future. Although I have not had a great deal of time to explore all of the features Endnote offers, I can see the benefit it offers for organizing resource materials.

The dissertation meeting reaffirmed my thought about a quantitative dissertation. I definitely belong in the qualitative camp. It was good to review the dissertation process and gain a clearer understanding of the road that lies ahead.

A huge highlight of the day was running into Dr Ellen Black who insisted that we get together to visit later in the week. She taught my first intensive at Liberty last summer and we have communicated off and on since then so it was a great joy to see her face to face again. This was particularly exciting for me since her name was one of the professors listed for me in looking for a chair for my committee. Even though I know she probably cannot take on another student I am excited to discuss my topic with her and get her ideas.

I really came away from the day feeling more confident in the process for selecting the dissertation committee. As far as technology the key thought in reflecting upon all of the information that I received is that the IPad was introduced in 2010. This fact is bewildering to me since I can barely remember life without an IPhone or an IPad.

As intense as the amount of information and work can be in a one week class, I still can’t help but feel as though I am attending a revival meeting of sorts. I walked into a room without any idea of what to expect and came away feeling confident in the road ahead not only for the coming week, but for the rest of the doctoral journey. It was refreshing to see that even a technology professor has trouble with a computer that decided to update during a lecture. This has happened to me so many times and I thought it was because my technological ability was lacking. I see now that there is hope for all of us and I feel energized and ready to face technology in my own classroom in Texas.

Technology in my lifetime

Technology

I was born in the 1960s, an age when technology was changing rapidly. The United States was racing to get to the moon and Americans were enjoying the products that resulted from the research for space travel. Although most people would not consider the beverage “Tang” to be associated with technology, it is however a result of a technological need for the space program. Astronauts needed sustenance that could survive the trip into outer space without spoiling. During my life technology has changed rapidly. As a child the acquisition of a television with a remote was a huge technological advancement in our family home.

A few years later the microwave oven changed food preparation. My first experience with a microwave was at a relative’s house who had just remodeled her kitchen. She demonstrated the microwave by getting an ice cream cone and placing a marshmallow inside the cone. A few seconds in the microwave and the marshmallow expanded to look like an ice cream cone. I was fascinated watching this new invention, but had no idea how much that would come to impact my life in the future. Today I not only have a microwave in my kitchen, but it is also can operated as a convection oven.

A few years after the microwave came into my life I was introduced to the home computer. It was a simple machine made by Texas Instruments and the neighbor next door had one. I was attracted to the games that could be played on the computer, but the reason the neighbors had a computer was for writing and organization. When I graduated from high school in 1984 my parents got me a portable computer. The Kaypro computer was incredible, but compared to contemporary models extremely bulky. It was the size of a small suitcase and was primarily a word processor.

Registering for college classes was a technological marvel in that day. Each student would work their way around a room filled with tables that represented each department and select their classes by obtaining the punch card for that class. After all the classes had been selected the student would turn in the punch cards and a computer would read the cards and print out the student’s individualize schedule. Today registering for college classes is done by making a few selections on a website and submitting them. The process has changed drastically since 1984.

The advancement of the personal computer has also changed the way that we communicate. I obtained my first cell phone in the 1990s and was so proud of the bag phone that could be taken almost anywhere. A few years after that the Motorola flip phone allowed me to carry the phone in my pocket everywhere I went. It was almost a status symbol to be seen driving down the road using my flip phone. Little did I know that mobile phones were destined to be in almost everyone’s pocket within a few years.

The delivery of personal music has changed throughout my lifetime as well. As a small child I was recorded by my parents using a large reel to reel recorder and a microphone. Record albums were still on vinyl, but the 8 track was also available and was a popular way to listen to music in an automobile. The mid 1970s introduced the cassette player to me. The cassette tape was an integral part of my life well into adulthood. My first Sony Walkman was a cassette player that I could take anywhere. It would be replaced by a compact disc (CD) player. CD’s are still an important part of my life, but Itunes and streaming audio have changed the need to carry a CD anywhere.

The invention of the Apple Ipod was revolutionary in my life and allowed me to have music at my fingertips anywhere I went. The Ipod touch was merely a training tool for me preparing me for the release of Apple’s new Iphone. The Iphone changed my life. For the first time as a college professor I was able to be in constant contact with my students. Email was instantly available and the internet was at my fingertips anywhere I wanted to go. The Iphone also created an opportunity I had dreamed about since I was a little boy growing up in eastern New Mexico.

Sunday mornings growing up provided the opportunity to read a full section of cartoons in glorious color from the newspaper. One of my favorite comics was Dick Tracy. They sported watches that they could speak into and communicate with each other. I could only dream of the day I might be able to do that. That day is today with the invention of the Apple watch. In addition to talking into a watch I am able to watch television on my Iphone in a car or anywhere I have a signal.

Today the internet is only a few strokes away at all times. The personal computer I took to college in 1984 has changed and morphed into a small handheld device that serves as a work tool and a source of entertainment. Technology has an incredible impact on my daily life. As I am writing this post, I have checked a message on an Iphone, watched a movie recorded on my DVR from a satellite signal and was bathed in light from an LED lightbulb. I am sitting in a recliner that is motorized and moves with the slightest touch of my finger on a sensor switch.  Even the laptop that I am using to write this represents new technology for it is as light as air and about as thick as a magazine. Technology is such an integral part of my life today, which makes it is easy to overlook, and underappreciate the impact even a simple technology like a lightbulb has on my daily life. Embracing the future is to embrace the changes that technology will bring each day.