Initial Feelings On Course Practicum

Initial Feelings On Course Practicum

Starting the final course in the certificate program really made me think of how I felt when I first started. I had been thinking of working on this certificate for many years but didn’t start it until January 2018 and am now in the final course. I admit I have a variety of feelings because it is the final class. I am feeling a mixture of sadness and happiness, sadness because it is the end of this amazing journey and happiness because I have come so far! However, I look at the experience as everything must come to an end, and  that I am creating several projects that shows people how hard I worked. I look forward to improving both my portfolio and my class and showing them to employers and other people with pride.  I look at all my classmates who dropped out along the way and realize I am very happy I stuck with it. I have so much pride looking at my projects when I first started and how they look now, and how it will be better once I finish. I am excited thinking of the class I am creating! 

In general, I found the program easy because of my experience.  In a previous job I was employed as an instructional designer, where I created classes for my coworkers to learn such as computer training and accounting. When I created classes, I started by doing needs analysis, looking at everything including the skills of the learners, and would go talk to the person requesting the class and why. Once I finished that step, I started designing and implementing the class. This was at a time where technology was not where it is today, though it was only eleven years ago. Back then, the company was run by older workers who did not want to change the ways of learning, so we were still using compact discs for classes. Because I had a previous job as a website designer, I knew how to upload classes on the company intranet, and they were able to access the program anywhere at work. Social media really did not exist at that time as it does now so that was not even considered. I taught myself several software programs to keep up with the technology and this helped me when I decided to go more towards freelance work. After I left my job, I learned how to upload videos on YouTube and how to use Facebook to promote my business.

Having the interest in learning new skills, and already being technological advanced made creating my portfolio and my online class simple for me. I had to learn how Google Sites works but to me it was easier than knowing HTML, which I learned back when I was a website designer. Personally, I do not see many challenges I would face, but in general the biggest challenge outside of technology is time management. One of the biggest issues an online developer occurs is that they do not realize they will need more time than they thought. For me, I like to do a little bit at a time so that I am not overwhelmed. This has helped me in jobs and in school. I am comfortable with skills and I bring to the program many years of experience which will help me. I really feel my skills, along with my willingness to learn new skills will result in me being an even more successful online developer. I know there will be times I will be overwhelmed but I also know the stress will be temporary and the light at the end of the tunnel is a class I am proud of.