Reflections about the conferences for EDLD5363

Reflections about the conferences for EDLD5363

By Eduardo Arias

As I reflect about the conferences I attended and reviewed during this course, I realized Dr. Abernathy’s positive attitude, knowledgeable guidance and constant advice, were vital for my successful of this course. Her constant reassurance and wise words, especially when I felt I wasn’t going to be able to accomplish the assignments, guide me through the toughest times.

From the beginning she explained the level of demand that the course required. In the first conference, she provided us with a complete overview of the entire course and mentioned the requirements one needed to meet. She explained us we were going to focus on a specific multimedia competency each week. This helped me a lot since I was able to mentally prepare for what was coming ahead.

Another thing that I found very helpful about the weekly conferences is that Dr. Abernathy scheduled several conferences almost every week. This gave me the confidence to work at my own pace especially during those weeks when I couldn’t start working since the beginning of the week.

The first conference of every week focused on explaining the assignments for the period, and in the rest of the conferences of the week Dr. Abernathy spent most of her time answering questions and doubts we had, once we began doing the assignments. This forced me to be prepared and plan accordingly so I could be ready to ask questions and to follow the conversation as the conference was happening.

I found it reassuring listening to her explaining about the different multimedia tools we could use during the week. She was very thorough in her explanations about the software programs we needed to complete each assignment.

During the conferences we also reviewed how to collaborate with each other. There were many explanations about how the way we could get organized to alleviate the work load and fulfill the requirements of the projects. This helped all the members of my team to get involved in the process of creating the instructional video for week five.

In summary, the way Dr. Abernathy organized and conducted the weekly conferences, inspired me to continue through the course and gave me the guidance I needed in order to learn how to use and apply multimedia tools in an educational setting.