The End

At the beginning of the semester we had to pick a topic for our #learningproject which we would carry out during the semester. It took me a while to overcome my indecisiveness and select something that I wanted to learn.  After going back and forth between two different topics I finally made the decision to teach myself ASL (American Sign Language) using online resources. When I first started the learning project I always thought that I would be measure my success by the amount of signs I had learnt but now that the project is over I have realized that I was mistaken with this. I have come to the realization that the project was not designed entirely for us to learn a new skill but it was designed partly to allow us to gain an understanding of the ways in which we can use technology to teach ourselves new things. The process of learning with technology is very different from sitting in a classroom and learning from a teacher.

My #learningproject journey was documented through the following blog posts:

1. My Learning Project – In this blog post I discussed my indecisiveness in choosing a skill to learn. I finally come to the decision that throughout the semester I would teach myself ASL.
2. Starting With Something Easy – This blog post discusses my initial learnings related to ASL as well as celebrating my success in learning how to count from 1-10. I also set myself the goal of learning the alphabet.
3. A Step Forward – A brief blog post that explains the feeling of success I had after practicing the Alphabet and as a result being able to sign my name.
4. Time for an Update… – This blog post begins by explaining how my  habit of procrastinating appeared again this semester. I discuss some of the technology I have been using to “teach”myself ASL. I also set myself the goal of posting videos by the end of the week.
5. My attempt at signing – In this blog post I fulfill my goal of posting videos of my signing (even if it was a few days later than I had originally planned). The videos posted include me signing my name, the alphabet and a new phrase I was learning at the time.
6. A chance to try out ASL – An interesting experience occurred while I was at work. This blog post explains what happened.

One of my favourite #tech tools I used during the #learningproject was the ASL app as it allowed me to watch the short videos as often and as many times as I need to practice and learn the sign. The app had a really neat feature that allowed you to slow down the video so you could pay close attention to the formation of the sign.

I learnt best from watching videos as I could follow along as I watched and I had the ability to replay the videos if I needed to. I enjoyed being able to watch the television program Switched at Birth and call it homework.

One difficulty I faced during throughout the semester was not only scheduling time to watch instructional videos but also to prioritize the #learningproject over other assignments I had to complete for other classes I was taking. I found that the #learningproject and corresponding blog posts would be pushed to the bottom of my current to do list and by the time I would get around to doing it I didn’t really have anything new to blog about, especially considering I would only be “teaching” myself one or two new signs each week. It seemed unnecessary to post a new blog every time I learnt one new sign.

I enjoyed the project and have a feeling that if I hadn’t been taking a full course load then I could have given more time to it. Now that I have started to learn ASL I want to continue learning it and now that I have a few apps on my phone I can continue to do this at my own pace. This was one the aspects of learning through technology that I really enjoyed. There were no requirements. I got to choose how long I spent learning each day and what type of learning I would do, Whether it be watching tutorials on YouTube, using the ASL app or practicing the alphabet by completing an ASL word search (instead of letters there are images of the letters being signed).

One things for sure, I need to work on my procrastinating.