Blog Post #9

     Given the way the world is currently, every student has become a distance learner. As with everything in life, there are many pros and cons to distance learning. For instance, one of the many pros of being a college student that is taking part of distance learning is the fact that one's academics can be done on their own time rather than at the professor's time. Another pro is that there is less anxiety when it comes to talking in class, as things are more informal and camera's can be off. However, there are many negatives with distance learning such as zoom fatigue. This is an issue that many students have felt repeatedly, thus, causing academic burnout. I feel like it is hard to prevent this zoom fatigue however, as a future teacher it is important to find ways to prevent this from occurring as consistently. As a future teacher, in order to improve distance learning, it is important to incorporate engaging activities as well. 

    Essentially, Open Educational Resources (OER) are resources that are available to the public, as they have access to a variety of resources online. There are five rights that are associated with OER such as retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. One example of an OER is through the Edutopia site, which provides educators with information about how OER works and the different types of OER. This website provides information on how to get started with OER such as utilizing Creative Commons, how to find an OER, open lesson plans, textboks, etc. I believe this website is beneficial as it not only provides a description of what an OER is, but it also provides different examples of OER that are easily accesible. The following link is the Edutopia site: Edutopia. 

    Prior to the two assignments that required us to utilize PowerPoint, my skills were very limited to the basics. However, due to assignment four, I was able to utilize new features within PowerPoint that I had never previously used. At first, it was confusing as I am not very tech savvy. However, after I began to get comfortable with the different tools, I was able to gain confidence in myself and my skills thus, producing work that I was proud of. For assignment five, I feel like I gained the most growth in my PowerPoint skills. At first, I had to follow the YouTube videos that were provided in our class resources as I had never utilized those tools before. I personally did not have a dislike towards any aspect of the assignment, but rather, I loved being able to create a game of Disney Jeopardy and using tools like the navigation buttons and sound effects. It gave my creative work more personality and made me feel like I was able to utilize different skills in my creative work. I believe these skills that I have acquired thus far will become beneficial in my future career endeavors. However, as they are skills that I am currently learning to master, the only way to improve on these skills is to practice and familiarize myself with the different tools available. The pictures down below are of both of my PowerPoint assignments.