It is finished....The end of Capstone

Just as JC said, it is finished, so to is the Capstone course that I am taking.  Writing this blog post is the final activity I have to do for the course, assuming my portfolio is approved.  I think it will be.  Looking back on my experiences, if I were going to redesign it here is what I would do. 

• Do a better job of getting participants to begin planning for their portfolios in the introduction course.  Everything I did in intro, I couldn't use for Capstone I or II. 
• Increase the time of the Intro class and shift some of the work from Capstone I into the Intro class.  I found Capstone I to be the most work intensive of all three courses. 
• Change the way the portfolios are done so that Capstone I creates about half of the Capstone II portfolio at the proficient level.  Then have the Capstone II class finish the portfolio.  
• Figure out how to have better discussion prompts that actually lead to discussion rather than people posting information.   
• Cut down on the busy work and increase the challenging cognitive thinking work.  This course was way to repetitive in what they asked you to do.  I want a challenge, not busy work.    
• Put all the information for an assignment in ONE PLACE!!!!!!!  I went crazy having to read three different things to try and understand what was expected for all these assignments.  
• If it is important, make sure it is in a rubric.  I had a couple of instances where I lost points because I failed to do something that was not listed in the rubric.  
• Require facilitators to have grades submitted by a certain time or students get an automatic A.  I had a professor do that with a class once.  I think its a fair exchange.  I had some issues with a facilitator and grades in Capstone I.  
• I am still waiting to find out what the difference is between Personalization and Customization.  In the world of education those two are pretty much the same thing.  
• I would make sure that all the links work properly, BEFORE sending students to them.  
• I would also pick either an ITRT type indivual or a teacher and design the course more towards them.  This course squence seems to see-saw back and forth between the two making it more challenging.     
• Finding better articles on technology integration.  Too many articles I read had a great idea in the abstract, but did not provide the kind of practical examples that give me ideas on how to incorporate it into my own teaching. 

Ok a couple of things I did like about the course:

• I learned more about technology integration and the NETS-T/S
• The curb cut idea is a really good one.  See universal design in learning for more information. 
• Forcing us to blog has been good because I can look back on my posts and see learning taking place.  
• The discussion board rules are great.  Forcing people to actually say stuff that enhances the conversation rather than just agreeing.  Requiring a post by a certain time was also good.  It keeps the conversation moving.  Also, the idea that everyone has to have a response before you add a second comment to someones post.  That was another good idea.  
• I also liked how we were required to keep a digital bookmarking file.  I am going to keep using mine once I delete all the Capstone 1 or Capstone 2 tags. 
• The courses helped me bond with my new co-workers as we lamented the course and its work.

Final recommendation to people thinking about taking the Capstone course is to say its not worth it.  I would have been really mad if I had to pay to take these courses.