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Hello, everyone! My name is Ming and I'm from China. I finished my undergraduate study in my country and then came to the US to pursue a master degree in Instructional Technology last year. Right now It's my third semester here at the University of Southern Mississippi.
I don't have much work experience since I'm a full-time student all the time. However, I do have chances to work as an internship during my undergraduate and graduate days. I used to volunteer as an elementary school teacher in rural China when I was a freshman. People helped students there be equipped with computers but the fact is that since the teachers were not familiar with technologies themselves, students had no opportunity to enjoy the fun of applying technology in class. This is one of the reasons pushing me to study instructional technology. Then I also went to the local high school to assist teachers preparing course materials and worked as an internship learning from an instructional designer in Lamar county school district, Hattiesburg. I really learned a lot from my limited work experience, from which I could understand the difference between China and US.
As for the online courses, to be honest, I haven't attended any online courses before I came to the US. Distance education in China is definitely developing however as of now, most of the online courses are for vocational students, or to say, the adult students. After I joined the USM family, I've taken several online courses with Dr. Wang, Dr. Hartsell, and Dr. Beedle. I enjoyed a lot attending these online courses in which not only I read e-materials but also I became familiar with several computer applications such as Turnitin, Microsoft suite, Adobe families and various free online programs. One of my strengths in the learning field is that it won't take a long time for me to get familiar with a new computer program. I had experiences learning software on my own with the help of online tutorial videos and tips from related online forums. Also according to my experiences, practice makes perfect. If a person will do nothing after he/she learned a new program, he or she cannot manage it. I always practice a lot when I learned a new trick to make myself more familiar with the program. I'm going to apply this rule to my future teaching. I will design some projects that will apply the skills that the students just learned during the class. Besides, during the process of practicing, students will notice their weakness thus be able to remind themselves that they need to practice more and what are the key points.
I'm looking forward to working with everyone in the course and learning from all of you:)
P.S. The image was taken with my friends this May in China. I spent a short holiday in my home and now I'm in Hattiesburg again to finish my summer courses.
I don't have much work experience since I'm a full-time student all the time. However, I do have chances to work as an internship during my undergraduate and graduate days. I used to volunteer as an elementary school teacher in rural China when I was a freshman. People helped students there be equipped with computers but the fact is that since the teachers were not familiar with technologies themselves, students had no opportunity to enjoy the fun of applying technology in class. This is one of the reasons pushing me to study instructional technology. Then I also went to the local high school to assist teachers preparing course materials and worked as an internship learning from an instructional designer in Lamar county school district, Hattiesburg. I really learned a lot from my limited work experience, from which I could understand the difference between China and US.
As for the online courses, to be honest, I haven't attended any online courses before I came to the US. Distance education in China is definitely developing however as of now, most of the online courses are for vocational students, or to say, the adult students. After I joined the USM family, I've taken several online courses with Dr. Wang, Dr. Hartsell, and Dr. Beedle. I enjoyed a lot attending these online courses in which not only I read e-materials but also I became familiar with several computer applications such as Turnitin, Microsoft suite, Adobe families and various free online programs. One of my strengths in the learning field is that it won't take a long time for me to get familiar with a new computer program. I had experiences learning software on my own with the help of online tutorial videos and tips from related online forums. Also according to my experiences, practice makes perfect. If a person will do nothing after he/she learned a new program, he or she cannot manage it. I always practice a lot when I learned a new trick to make myself more familiar with the program. I'm going to apply this rule to my future teaching. I will design some projects that will apply the skills that the students just learned during the class. Besides, during the process of practicing, students will notice their weakness thus be able to remind themselves that they need to practice more and what are the key points.
I'm looking forward to working with everyone in the course and learning from all of you:)
P.S. The image was taken with my friends this May in China. I spent a short holiday in my home and now I'm in Hattiesburg again to finish my summer courses.