April 16th Response

The most interesting aspect I noticed about the oral presentations on Friday is they all had things in common with my topic; my topic being educational technology. Some were more than others, but they were relatable nonetheless. Shawn's could briefly mention how studying abroad could bring different aspects of educational technology to these students. Stephanie's presentation is completely focused on educational technology. Without computers this topic would not exist. Katherine's is a bit of a stretch, but I feel like the computer science department in high schools fall under the same stress as the arts and music. Back at my high school there was recently a referendum and after talking with my previous Calculus and Computer Science teacher he informed me that he will probably not be able to offer his Beginning and Advanced Computer Programming classes. Some might argue computer science cuts are just as important as the music or arts department cuts. Without computer science we would not progress in educational technology at all.

Oral Presentations

Like everyone else said, the presentations went really well especially since they were the first ones to go. The topics were all very different from each other, but you could tell each person was passionate and informed on what they presented. I did not know much about studying abroad, so through Shawn's good presentation, I would really like to learn more about it. Also, I know that budget cuts and the arts were an issue, but I definitely have more of an understanding for it now. Same with the online classes, it has me thinking more about the situation and what's going to happen with the future. All the ideas were interesting and unique! If I could make any sort of suggestion for the people who presented Friday, I would say that if you could find enough information for your topic, it would be interesting to focus on UW-Madison. For some of the topics, it might not be so easy and you have to be more broad. Just a thought :) I really enjoyed the presentations; awesome job!

Even though these first three were still early on in their research, I think that they did a very good job at portraying their unique topics to the class. I liked how Shawn used power point and Stephanie had her mini survey. Visual aids help a lot when giving presentations. I was most drawn towards Katherine's topic because I also feel strongly towards budget cuts in the arts. Having been involved in band since 4th grade, I know the skills that art teaches students first hand. I like how passionate she is about her topic, and that will shine through her finished paper.

Overall I enjoyed the presentations and hopefully the rest of us will do just as good!

First Oral Presentations

I related to the topic of globalization of education. I find studying abroad to be an incredibly important aspect of student learning and achievement at the collegiate level. Going to a different country benefits a student's resume by proving that the student is capable of taking on a new culture and is also semi-fluent in a different language. I found the budget cuts for the arts to be a big issue on the university level but also on all levels of education. I'm a dancer at UW and I find that our program is well-supported by the university. But we also don't need supplies to dance other then a functioning studio, ballet bars, and a piano. I hope that UW recognizes that art is essential to some of our students job plans and future endeavors and we should continue funding their projects. The topic of online learning is key to our generation. I found our fellow student's comment on her nutri-sci class to be very interesting. She made it clear that online learning really only works with motivation because you learning when you want to learn. Although I enjoy being able to e-mail and contact my TA's and professors, I wish that less of my course work was online. I constantly feel like I need internet and a computer in order to do my homework and I wish that I could go to the library without worrying about bringing my laptop. All of the topics presented were interesting and attention grabbing! I look forward to more oral presentations!

I found Stephanies topic about online classes really interesting and relavant. The topic not only affects college students today, but anybody, of any age looking to go back to school. I like how she had the survey at the beginning of her presentation to intoduce her topic. It got everybody involved and focused. I thought that the other presentations went really well as well. I really liked how Katharines topic of art is very important to her and he is very passoinate about it. i though Sean did a really good job of using interesting facts to keep the audiance listening. Overall, i think all the presentations went really well!

Friday's Presentations

I thought all of Friday's presentations went really well, especially for the first round. Everyone seemed to take into account the "Do's and Don'ts" that we went over in class. I didn't find myself lost or bored at any point in time, and I thought everyone spoke really clear and did a good job of not just reading off their sheets/power-points. I also thought that Kathryn's topic about cutting art education and its affects was an interesting topic. I had never really associated some professions such as engineering with art, and it was an interesting view on it.