AB Frustration

A Reflection on Week 5 of INTE 5340

The competition for my time became intense this week because my wife broke her foot. She tripped over our dog Lily and, trying not to crush the poor dear, caught her fall with her foot and cracked three bones. Fortunately this was after the weekend's big parade.

I've had some concern about the Assignment Bank at ds106. In the first three weeks, there were so many assignments to choose from that I had no problem picking something out that I liked. In week 4, the pickings seemed a bit slim, and this week there were very few interesting options. What do I mean by interesting? First you should know that I'm not an avid consumer of pop culture. I don't watch movies, or much television, and I don't have cable TV or Internet radio or a smartphone loaded with apps or even an iPod. So when an assignment starts with "Pick your favorite TV show . . . " my eyes glaze over. And it's not just that I'm older, I've always been this way.

The problem became more severe when I needed to make the assignments be about my focal topic, which is the teaching of physics. My solution was to look for assignments that were focused on a technique, and in which the content could be open-ended. These criteria tended to narrow the options considerably, though.

I posted the following:

• My first and second TDC assignments
• My Mashup AB assignment
• My Response to L&K Chapter 5
• My Critique
• My four Peer Comments (1 2 3 4)
• and this Reflection

I would give myself a 9.5/10 for the week. I really put a lot into all my assignments and writing this week, especially the mashup, but posted my critique a day late. It was fun to read Lankshear & Knobel on blogs since I have so much experience with them. I have been avoiding learning how to build a wiki, though, and even wondered if they were relevant anymore. L&K's take on wikis has convinced me to take up the challenge on behalf of my students.