Kathryn Price, M.A.

It's official: I have my Master of Arts in Educational Technology!  Yay!! What a crazy ride it was. I am so proud of myself for tackling this degree and the many long hours of writing papers, creating projects, and learning new things that went into it.

I'm also really proud of my new e-portfolio that showcases a lot of the projects I created along the way. An e-portfolio is sort of like an online resume. It's a website that I can send future employers to, to check out my talents and work. You are welcome to check it out too! @ KathrynPrice.info

When I was home for Christmas break, I had the good fortune to be able to attend my graduation ceremony. One of the other girls in the program, Shanna, was kind enough to have a friend take a picture for me while I was on stage. She snapped a gem.

This picture of me hugging the President of Azusa Pacific University, Dr. Wallace, is really special. He became the President of the University at the same time I entered my freshman year there. My sister, who also went to APU, and I like to call him "Daddy Wallace" because his children and nieces and nephews went to school alongside of us. This picture represents 4 years of undergrad, a teaching credential, and my first graduate degree, all from Azusa Pacific University. 

I am so grateful for the wonderful friends I made during the program, and for the help and support of some amazing professors. Thank you to my family and friends for encouraging me along the way, and to my wonderful husband for putting up with the late nights and for believing in me. I couldn't have done it without you all!

A better dream..

If getting my masters in educational technology is the dream, then creating my own blog design business is the better one. I'm so close to being finished with this masters; my final classes begin next week. Sadly, I'm just not that excited about it anymore. What I really want to be doing with my time is working on design and learning coding and playing with Photoshop and Illustrator. I had more fun designing my global learning project than I'm having running it.  

This week is a vacation from school for me before the final push. I hope that after a little time away, I'll be ready to get 'er done.  

Right now I'm taking a blog design workshop from The Blog Designer Network, and I'm learning so much about the "right" way to do things. I've always just winged it when it came to blog installation, and now I'm learning how to properly code things. It probably sounds all nerdy, but it is super exciting to me!  

One of my goals for Twelve by 2012 is to get Priceless Design ready for a grand opening and I'm really excited about it. There is a lot of logistical stuff to think about now like paypal accounts, pricing, terms of service, and if I really want to leave Priceless Adventure connected to Priceless Design. I'm thinking of moving Priceless Design over to (shock) a self hosted Wordpress site. It makes more sense for the long haul.  

The best part about opening Priceless Design is that I will be making money by doing something that I really love.  Something that I can get lost in for hours.  Now if only I could find a way to merge that and my masters degree into a job that paid well & had benefits.  Designing for a college website maybe?  Teaching teachers how to design online classes?  Creating pre-made class templates?  Who knows, but at least I'm narrowing down what I'd like to do.  

10 Days in Dominica, Day Five

Day Five, What don't you miss about home?

I do not miss working.  I do not miss getting up at 6 every morning and fighting traffic to get to work.  I do not miss complaining parents, picky administrators, or the paperwork..  but I do miss the kids.

I thought for sure I would be bored and miss having a job to keep me busy, but it turns out I love my freedom. It is going to be difficult for me to go back to teaching next year, and I'm not quite sure I will. I would love to get a job teaching online- either higher education or elementary school.  We'll see what this masters degree can get me!

Happy Domain Day!

Beginning today, you can now visit www.pricelessadventure.com to view my blog!  I am so excited to have a real domain for my priceless adventure.  You can still reach my blog by using blogspot.com.  Please let me know if you are having any trouble with my links.

I promise more blog posts soon.  My master's classes have been kicking my butt this semester for several reasons.  This is a shorter term and I'm also waist-deep in building my global learning project's website.  I've been spending a good 6 to 8 hours every day building my website, making graphics, or writing content for one class.  Not to mention I'm also taking a philosophy of education class at the same time. 

*le sigh

GLPs

I realize this may be old, but has anyone seen this video? The text moves quickly, but is really powerful.
 

I've spent hours the last few weeks looking into Social Action - Global Learning Projects (GLP).  Not that this video is a GLP, but I'm going to have to create one of my own very soon and I'm starting to get nervous.

Sure, I could make something somewhat easy but it would probably turn out pretty lame [like this] which has a good message and all, but is poorly presented.

I want to make a project that is:

1) meaningful 

2) intelligent   

3) simple        

and 

4) beautiful.    

I need to have at least 3 classrooms participating in whatever project I create before I can graduate (eek!).  It doesn't have to, but I'd like it to have a social action emphasis.  I want it to be relatively simple, so teachers can easily participate without too much preparation or time.  I'm leaning towards something techy and artistic.. but can't figure out WHAT I'm actually going to do, yet.  Any ideas? 

Infographic

One of the assignments in my latest Masters class had me create a Top 12 list of the best websites for educators.  I decided to go the route of an infographic.  Have you guys seen infographics lately?!  Check out this one:

Infographics are art and information mixed together.  They are made especially for viewing on the web and most are long and narrow to fit on webpages and blogs easily. If you want to check out more, go here.  So, you can see why I was interested in trying to make my own.  Even if you aren't a teacher, you might still enjoy some of these sites!

Camtasia (like Fangtasia.. only better)

For my EdTech program, we had to download a free trial of Camtasia and learn how to use it to create a screencast project.  Using Camtasia was easier than I expected and also a lot more fun!  At it's most simple level, the program lets you video tape what is happening on your computer's screen while also including any talking you do while recording.  The program seemed quite intuitive, and somewhat mirrored the setup of Apple's iMovie.  Before beginning my project, I visited TechSmith's Learning Center and watched the Getting Started tutorials.  From there, recording and creating my own screencast was fairly straightforward.  I can see the potential for using Camtasia as a classroom tool for creating demonstrations and project instructions for my students or as a fun way to show how to do things on my blog!

So, here is my screencast on how to create a favicon and upload it to Google Sites.  This video is best viewed in fullscreen mode.  

For anyone would like to add a favicon to your personal website or blog, after you import your image you would choose "Publish under an open license" and create a free account with favicon.cc.  Once logged in, you would select your created favicon and follow the instructions at the bottom of the page to add the html script to your website or blog.  

Semester 2

Chris and I are both in our Second Semesters here on the island.  He, in Medical School and, I, in EdTech.  No contest, his school is way more difficult and important.  Nevertheless, I thought I'd share my latest project with y'all.

Grad School in Dominica?!

After a whole lot of consideration, I've decided to get my Masters in Educational Technology during my time here in Dominica.  At first I thought I didn't want to do anything this year, but the more I thought about it I realized that the reason I didn't want to do anything was because I am burnt out on being a classroom teacher.  It's not that I don't like teaching kids, I do.  It's more everything that comes with it: the politics, the parents, and the never ending paperwork.  The best part of my job in the last few years was getting a Promethean Board, and learning how to use it in the classroom.  I started to enjoy making the lessons more than teaching them, and certainly more than dealing with the peripheral crap.  The way I see it, getting this masters is going to open a lot of doors to me (outside of the classroom).  With a Masters in Ed Tech, I can try to get a job at a company like Promethean as a trainer or developer, or I can work in a school as a trainer or in their IT department.  I really think that technology is the future of education.  Whiteboards will soon be as obsolete as chalkboards.  I'm actually super excited to move forward in my career, and am thankful that I have the time to begin that here!