1. I used the course blog in a few ways. It was
useful to create a professional line of communication between myself and some
of my classmates. The feedback that I received as a result of the blog posts
was useful, because it contributed to my learning and growth as a school counselor.
2. I would have to say that my experience with the
course blog was both beneficial and time consuming. While the responses from my
classmates were useful, it was difficult to always make time to create a blog
post.
3. For me, the following stands out in my mind: it
was interesting and enjoyable to read my classmates posts about their thoughts
in regards to their experiences at their school sites and other related topics
about the practicum class.
4. Reading the blog posts from my classmates and receiving
their feedback are the aspects of this course blog that stand out in my mind. For
instance, the cyberbullying post was insightful, since we had the chance to
share our thoughts about the subject matter and about the impact that it has on
students.
5. The main advantage to using the course blog was
that it allowed me to communicate with my peers about modern topics and
experiences, as opposed to the traditional journaling activity. However, I think
that this course blog was more time consuming in comparison to journaling on
our own on the Blackboard site about the practicum experience.
6. Initially, I was looking forward to the entire
practicum class and school site experience. It was overwhelming because of the
time constraints and amount of work that I needed to complete for this
practicum class. In addition, because I have been really busy with this class,
work, hours at the school sites, and the homework; the semester has flown by
for me.
7. It seems that everything was jammed into only one
school semester. I think that it would have been more beneficial if the
practicum course was spread out over the course of two semesters. Spending one
semester at the elementary school and the other time period at the high school
would allow practicum students to gain a better experience from both of the school
levels. In regards to the course blog, there are a few thoughts that stand out
for me. For instance, as I mentioned earlier, the cyberbullying post was
interesting to read. The classroom guidance lesson post was useful because we
had to chance to share various lessons that could be used in the classroom with
the students. In addition, one of my favorite blog posts was the magic wand
post, because it was enjoyable to read about the various ideas from my
classmates.
8. I have become more open minded about using
blogging as a source of professional communication.
9. I don’t think that my personal values and
assumptions were influenced by this practicum course blog.
10. I think that the blog did enhance reflection
because we had a chance to expand upon each other’s ideas and thoughts about
our own experiences at the school sites and about the practicum course.
11. Honesty, I have mixed feeling about the entire
blogging experience. While the post and feedback from my classmates was useful,
I didn’t expect it to be as time consuming as it turned out to be for me. In addition,
I didn’t assume that we would have to discuss certain topics. Instead, I expected
the course blog to be more of reflection activity.
12. The only thing that I found to be challenging about
the blogging experience was that it was time consuming.
13. If I could make a suggestion about using the
blog in a future course, I would suggest that it be more of reflection blog
assignment.
14. Yes, I believe
that I have shared everything that was significant with reference to my overall
practicum class experience.
