Week 7

Week 7

Much of this week’s work seems like remediation to me.  I feel mis-labeled in the RtI program as “needing remediation.”  The readings discuss assessment, and are essentially a review of the information in Dr. Brophy’s Assessment Course last summer, with a technology angle added.  The assignments for this week I felt were quite demeaning.  I publish a newsletter for the East Bands around this time each year.  Rather than complete the assignment, I chose to use the “alternative” that we were given in the directions and submit a newsletter relevant to my program.  I uploaded last May’s copy of The Lyre.  I use Publisher for our newsletter because it’s a significantly more advanced program than what Google has to offer, and I am quite adept at using it.  Our newsletter, concert programs, and concert posters are all done using Publisher, and I can easily turn them into .pdf files to share via Google Drive, email using our Infinite Campus program, or post via Twitter.  Google Drive may be Web 2.0, but there are things that can be done better with some of the other tools available. 

I likewise found the calendar project to be inappropriate for a Masters level course.  I’m already utilizing the Apple Calendar on my iPhone and iPad via iCloud.  Although the Wausau School District is heavily invested in use of Google technology, because of how iOS works, any District calendar items that are sent to me using the calendar feature of Gmail, upon accepting, my District email puts the information right into my iPhone (and iPad) calendar program.  When our Principal’s Secretary sends out a meeting invite with the boss, my Gmail account tells my iPhone to schedule it.  Again, this is a case where the Google-y tech is nice, but I’m several steps ahead.  As I couldn’t submit my iCloud calendar for this course, I had to redo something I already knew how to do and was doing quite effectively elsewhere. 

This week was, sadly, a disappointment for me.