Final Post - Goodbye IT365 :(

I am so sad that this class is over. I mean that. I truly enjoyed this class and it has been one of my favorite in my college career thus far. I learned so many things that I will actually USE in my classroom one day! I feel like I am so much more prepared to teach and use technology the ways that it needs to be used in schools.
I have learned to create a test, a rubric, a track website, my class website, work with a group online, use inspiration software to create concept maps, create a movie using Windows Movie Maker, use Turnitin to find plagiarism in essays,  and most importantly, the assistive technology assignment taught me to help my special needs students be able to learn with the rest of the class.
I would have to say that the strongest point that I had in the class was the Window's Movie Maker assignment. My brother has told me a lot about the program because he has used it many times to make movies for our family and he is very familiar with it. I saw and used a lot of the things that he taught me when we made our movie. Also, I used photos that were my own of family so I did not have to search the internet to find many resources and worry about using too many that were not mine.
My weakest point in the class was the assistive technology assignment. Though I learned very much by doing this, it took the longest and took the most brain power. Using my laptop to do the work made it a bit more difficult because I have Windows 7 and a lot of the information was worded differently in the control panel. Needless to say, I figured it out and learned very much. I am glad to say that I know how to help my future special needs students and I feel more prepared by having done this assignment.
I think that the movie maker assignment was a strong point for me because most people have used or at least know about Window's Movie Maker. It is a common program and if you have not used it, it is simple to use and very user friendly. I believe that the assistive technology assignment was my weak point because I have never had to use the functions in the control panel that are used for people with special needs. Unless you or your child has special needs, the options in control panel would not be something you would use. This was the case for me, making the assignment a weak point for me in the class. I plan to work further with the options on the computer to fully prepare myself for my future students.
I plan to make technology one of the main focuses in my classroom. It furthers learning so much and I can't wait to share my love of technology with my future students. I know they will be as excited to learn about it as I was when I learned about it. We will have fun using it to learn information from the internet and play games that will teach them while they are enjoying the computer.
Thank you Dr. Hartsell for making your classroom a pleasant place and for being so helpful when it came to teaching us and making sure we understood the information. I have and will recommend you to my friends taking IT365. You are a wonderful instructor!