The Countdown Has Begun ...

The course starts in three weeks. So I thought it's  time to start creating some stuff. It took me five minutes to make this video that lasts 1:48. Of course, it's far from perfection, to say the least:) And it was my initial intention to post it as it was done - at first attempt. There are some reasons for this decision. Firstly, I really want to learn something new during the course and even while getting prepared  before it starts. Secondly, I didn't choose the program that I've been working with a lot, because I'd like to observe the learning process.    So I've taken this app that I haven't used yet (maybe it will be new for somebody else). 

Food matters

New Year celebrations are here... These holidays start on December, 31 and are over on January, 14. During these two festive weeks people exchange gifts, say and type nice words wishing each other the best things, and meet their relatives and friends to have a special dinner together.  When I feel overwhelmed with the loads of information which I'm trying to comprehend, I imagine those Christmas/New Year parties with lots of food on the tables. Everything looks yummy and tempting one simply can't help trying it:) How is it possible to resisit this fantastic smell? It has to be sampled! Do we have a tendency to try new exotic dishes or do we prefer familiar traditional ones? How many recipes will be included in your list to be cooked next time? Is it worth trying everything? Will you be able to digest it?


Coursera offered a great menu in its welcome letter. I've been using Blogger and Google+ for a while and find them rather helpful . It'll be the second attempt to revive my Twitter and Facebook to explore their teaching-learning potential. Though I have two YouTube accounts, I've never tried Synchtube - curious to know about it's practical value. I've signed up with Flickr and Diigo and would like to give them a try. Blogging with Wordpress and Edublogs is another story...
There is also a list of my favorites I'd like to share.

WHY? is the core question of any activity.

If you see your objectives clearly before you start doing something, you're more likely to succeed. This might seem to be so obvious that it's needless to be mentioned. Yet, I'd like to clarify my goals of signing up to the course. If I create a checklist at the beginning, it'll be easier to see what has been achieved at the end (I still hope to finish the course).
I've decided to organise my aims and divide them into three groups:



Educational (general)
Educational (professional)
Personal

Of course, when I was signing up to the course, I wasn't thinking about such classification of my objectives. But it doesn't mean that my enrollment was a whim. Actually, my desire to learn something new has always urged me to search for various sources of information to satisfy my personal and professional aspirations. When in August, 2012  I found the course E-learning and Digital Cultures offered by the University of Edinburgh, I immediately understood that this is exactly what I wanted. I'm going to devote a separate post to each group of my goals.