About Me

Hello, this is Guoqiang Cui. This blog is dedicated for IT 645 in Summer, 2008. I am currently studying in University of Southern Mississippi as an IT graduate and this is my second semester in USM. Before I came here, I worked for three and a half years in China as an English teacher. I took IT 650 online last semester and have more expectations in the three online courses this term. I really love the online experience for this gives me more freedom and I feel more comfortable with the online environment. I think I am quite familiar with Office, especially word, Excel and Powerpoint for I used them all the time. I also got the chance to learn some other useful software last semester like Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, and Indesign. I love playing with all the software for this gives me a sense of accomplishment after each project. I also would rather play with the software for days rather than sit to read for hours. But since all those software covers a lot and I still have a lot to learn before getting to know every feature of them. The electronic communication tools are really useful especially for online learning and I definitely enjoy this kind of communication for they offer me more time and space before giving the answer. I also learned the new technology tools in education like blog, podcast and wiki. As assignments last semester, we were asked to set up blogs and create our own podcasts and wikis. We set up our own blogs in Wordpress and used them as blogfolio to summarize and reflect on what we have learned. In podcast project, we learned how to create XML file and subscribe to it. Wiki offered us a good chance to collaborate and work. Though I have learned many software and computer applications last semester, I did not have enough chance and time to think about what is exactly educational technology. This course offers me a good chance to learn and I am sure that I will get a good idea and vision of the technology education as well as a solid theoretical foundation of the field.