Knoebels

So this year was my first year in years to not be playing with the band during opening weekend of Knoebels. So I went up anyway just to see all my friends and ride on the Phoenix.

I'm pretty sure the few who read this know I love roller coasters, and know that the Phoenix is my all time favorite wooden coaster. (Remember how many times I rode it during summer 05??)

Good food and hanging out with friends made this day really fun. I'm being lazy and making a repost but here is my Trip Report I posted in the Yahoo! Group Roller Coaster Talk.

I arrived right around noon, and met up with my two friends and we
went straight to the ticket booth/handstamp line. It was a little
crowded but a 2 for 1 deal couldn't be beat as the weather was
wonderful out. So we are now all equipped with our wrist braclets
and hand stamps so we go to Cesari's for our pizza.

Our first ride was on the haunted house and I must admit, haunted
houses creep me out but my favorite part is the skull room. Next
ride was my personal favorite, The Phoenix. I was a little
disappointed in the fact that they had the Yellow train running
instead of the orange train (because at least for me I get more air
time riding on the orange train). I must say The Phoenix gets better
every year. After The Phoenix we went to Gasoline Alley (The Antique
Cars) my one friend had never gone on them so we let her be
the "driver" and drive the rest of us around the track. It was a
nice relaxing ride, and I wish I could have gotten a picture of the
Phoenix going while on the Antique cars.

Next we walked past the construction of The Flying Turns. They look
like its going to be an interesting ride to say the least, but there
is a lot more work to be done then I thought there was. (I mean from
all I had heard from friends up there was there wasn't that much to
do, but from what I saw there is still a lot to be done.) Hopefully
they will be open later this summer and I can take another trip up
to Knoebels.

Then came The Twister. Again they only had one train running and
for the length of the ride I would have thought they would have had
two trains running. At some points the line for The Twister was
ridiculously long, but we waited and it was a half decent ride. I
got more air time then I had in previous years, and at some spots it
was rougher than usual. Hopefully it will get better as the season
progresses.

After The Twister we got in line to ride the Grand Carousel. I love
that ride. I love trying to grab the rings and feeling like I'm
going to fall off the horse. My friends and I decided to see who
could grab more rings, we ended in a tie.

Next was a little refreshing ride on the Pioneer Train. I like this
just for the simplicity of the ride and it's a break from doing all
the other bigger rides.

My friends and I parted ways after the train so I headed back to The
Phoenix for my second ride on the coaster. I sat in the front as I
try to sit in the front at least once. I got a little more air time
this time around but still not as much as I would have gotten if I
were on the Orange train.

I then walked over to visit Hattie and Henry the Bald Eagles, and
one was sitting on a makeshift nest and the other was splashing
around in the water.

I then went over to get my funnel cake, as I always get funnel cake
before watching the Jazz Band performance. I caught up with some
friends and we had a good time. While the Jazz Band was still
getting ready I snuck over to the Phoenix one last time to get a
final ride in before the end of the day. It was the shortest wait I
had for The Phoenix but it was still busier then I had seen around
that time of day in recent years on opening weekend.

After that I went back to watch the rest of the Jazz Band
performance and visit the rest of my friends who I didn't get to see
before the Jazz Band took the stage.

All in all it was a good day at Knoebels.

Now to leave you with some pics of Knoebels:





The under construction of The Flying Turns



Henry the Bald Eagle



The Phoenix





Signs around the Phoenix that I hadn't noticed before or they were just put up or redid...



BU Jazz Band

CAC Spring 2007

This was my first opportunity to be apart of CAC since graduating from the IIT program in May 2006. I admit I was a little nervous to be going back and being on the other side of those presentations.

All of the presentations were really well done and I was impressed with their solutions. Second Life or any 3D environment seems like a learning wave of the future. I think if something done with time and effort a two phased solution like those that were provided could greatly benefit a learner, and a transfer of knowledge would increase because they are getting to see how things would happen "first hand" in a 3D environment.

It was also great to see so many people at CAC. I've forgotten how many people I know, and how good it was to be back in Bloom.

I'm also giving a shout out to Dr. Kapp, because now I know there is at least one person who reads my blog here. :-)

My only wish is that I could have been at CAC for all three days but seeing the presentations is well worth the trip.

A non CAC highlight was showing my boss around campus. He didn't recognize it at all. Heck, a lot has changed since I was there and that was only last year...

Well that about sums up this entry

Nicole

PS- I will try and update this blog more often, but I'm not making any promises. If you're really that interested about my life find me on MySpace :-P

First Post of 2007

For a while I forgot I had this Blog. I do need to update gnomette's travels as well. I've just been busy.

2007 has been an interesting year.

Janurary started off, kind of crappy. I lost one of my best friends from school.
February was Ok. I got to go on my first big business trip. Yay for Tampa, Florida. It was all nice and warm and I missed the snowstorm in Pa :-)
March I don't think anything too interesting happened.
Which brings me to April. Not much has happened in these first 12 days.

I'll post more of an update later.

Check out my other blog on here to...


Nicole

1 Year Ago

One year ago today I was in New Orleans, we probably had been out working on gutting houses for about 2 hours at that point. I can't believe it's been a year since I was down there helping out.

It was an amazing experience to help these people that couldn't gut their houses because of medical condtions. These people were so greatful for the help.

By the way the picture is of Tammy Ann Winn and I.

Nicole

PS: Check out Tammy Ann Winn's music at http://www.tammyannwinn.com

5 years ago where were you?

They say you remember where you were exactly when something major happens. Well I happened to be in Music Listening with Dr. Baker when most of 9/11 happened. I remember getting out of class early, and while walking the short distance between Haas and Columbia I heard the whispers of "can you believe what happened?" and "are we sure it's real?"

I got back to my room and decided to go to billboard.com because being involved with music that's what I checked. The website said it would not be updated b/c of the tragedy in NYC.

It was then about the only time my roommate for that year talked to me, and we put on the TV and saw the second tower come down.


It still feels like yesterday that this happened, and it's amazing how I can still so vividly remember what I was doing when it happened.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost someone during these attacks.

Kiwibox Messing around

Sooo it didn't save it as a .gif like it was supposed to when I uploaded it. Ah well. At least I'm messing with code so it doesn't matter.


Nicole

One Year Later

One year ago the Gulf Coast was changed forever. Hurricane Katrina shattered lives and the way people live around the Gulf Coast for many years to come. I don't think there will ever be the "old normal" there is now a "new normal" for the many down there.

I thought I'd share a couple photos of what I saw when I volunteered back in December. Seeing pictures from a year later and some that were taken back in December it's really shocking to see not much has changed.

Just remember these people still need thoughts/prayers, just them knowing that people still think about them helps them get through the day.

Phanatic

Click to Play

Small clip of the phanatic up to his antics inbetween innings.

 

It's kind of blurry but my digital camera wouldn't focus zoomed in that far.  

Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv)

Sarah Kelly @ PassionFest '06

Click to Play

A clip of one of Sarah Kelly's songs from PassionFest.

Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv)

Vlog Possibly?

Watch the Video

So sorry it has the watermark on it. I refuse to buy new software until I get a new computer which will be soon I think.

So enjoy my dog having fun after a bath.

One more reflection

The development phase, which I actually touched on in the other reflection, oops was really exciting and fun. Being able to create this flashy document with all these clip art and pictures in it was really cool. Never really realized how cool a word document can look.

Coming up with the instructional materials was a lot of work yet it was so much fun. I finally got to see how my knowledge of amusement parks would be put to the test. I never realized how much I knew, and how I can make documents look pretty neat and something that in the end I can be very proud of.

Seeing all of the materials completed and put into their little binders was really nice. Knowing that I have created something that will be teaching people is pretty cool. It's like being a teacher but yet not.

I was also surprised with how much of the information just came from me. I've always had a passion for roller coasters and amusement parks but I never really realized how much I knew just from watching all those Roller Coaster specials on the Discovery Channel. I also have become more interested in amusement parks, and found that to be true when I bought a book about Pennsylvania Amusement Parks.

With the Instructional Materials I thought that this was the only time that group work didn't help. We were all at that point where our own projects were more important helping each other really didn't happen. But also when working on your own materials it's hard to work in a group just because your project is your baby and you want it to come out a certain way.
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The evaluation phase is something that will both be extremely beneficial yet hard, because you are basically giving something that you have worked on for the past 6 weeks to three learners that can either love what you did or tear it to shreads. The formative evaluation report will not be too bad because writing it will be very similar to the learner analysis. I think making the rationale of why or why you didn't change something will be tough, because your IM is like your baby and you don't want anyone to hurt your baby. But this will be a learning process and in the end it will make a stronger product, that you can be prouder of. (wrote this on 8-11-05 before my first learner does the training.) After my three learners completed the training, I was surprised to find that they all had enjoyed the manual and saw that it took a lot of time and effort. My first learner TyLean noticed somethings that I knew I had changed but just forgot to print out a new copy of that page (I accidentally printed out the page before it). Also TyLean noticed that I was missing an answer in one of my answer keys. That was quickly changed, although my other two learners did not notice the mistake. The second learner was my mother. She had a little trouble with it just because she was over analyzing things, and thinking about other situations, she was having trouble realizing that it was a hypothetical situation. Also she was the one that pointed out all my grammar mistakes which I went in and fixed. The third learner was Adam, and he enjoyed the fact that it was a way for him to take a break from him moving. It allowed for him to relax, which I know wasn't the purpose of the training, but if it makes someone feel better, then so be it.

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My expectations of this class seemed to have been met, but I have learned so much more. Looking back I really had no expectations except to survive without a mental breakdown. Well it's safe to say that I didn't have a mental breakdown (came close a couple of times though) and I survived and I have a product that I will hopefully be able to be very proud of. Right now, I'm kind of nervous because you will be grading my materials, and even though everyone else loved them it's the grade that matters.

One thing I must complain about is the fact that this was taught as a 6 week class. I definitely think that if this is going to be taught over the summer again, it needs to be during session 8 that way it is the 12 weeks which is a lot closer to the 16 weeks of a fall/spring semester. I felt so rushed during the time here, and if I was confused or just a little slow in grasping a concept I felt like I was completely blown away and left behind. Eventually I caught up and did get ahead at some point, but there was always this doubt that I was forgetting or missing something huge.

Well this is my last entry for ID

Over and out,

Nicole

Reflection 3

So this is my third reflection on the design phase of ID. I think that the design phase is a lot more work because you have to work out all the details.

The performance objectives are a lot of work, but once you got the hang of how to write them, it went by a lot easier. I also found that writing assessment items that didn't have a yes or no answer to be difficult.

Starting the Instructional Strategy seemed very intimidating just because, this is basically a blueprint for what your materials will include. It started off a little rough but got better as I worked on each cluster.

Also the more you work with what you will be doing, the information just seems to come more naturally.

Working on the Instructional Materials has been a lot of fun, yet hard work. I've never used so many tables and clip art before, but I must admit the project looks pretty cool with everything in it. Working on the marterials is also frustrating because, I seem to be complusively saving everything b/c if there was a chance to loose something, that's usually a lot of work lost.

I think having a new outlook on this class has helped me get through, even though I'm still not sure if I love ID, I have found an appreciation for it.

Still working on my materials. It's almost done. It's very exciting to see this almost completed.

This summer has been so many ups and down, and I've learned so much in so little time, and a cool thing that I have learned was how to use different items in Microsoft Word.

For the formative evaluation we have to ask the learners about what they honestly thought of the materials. I think this is going to be tough because two of my learners are my friends and the other learner is my mom. I am hoping that the learners will be brutally honest. Honesty makes this project so much better.

All the criticism received this semester has only made my project better.

Another thing I have realized, is not all people have the same fonts on their computer, which to me is very odd because if we all have the same version of Microsoft Word why are the fonts different. I need to make some changes to my manual because of this, but it's a small thing to fix. I also have to fix the spacings on some of my pictures. Looking at them on the screen it doesn't look too bad but actually seeing it printed out it looks different. I actually can't wait to see my products printed out in color, black and white doesn't do them justice.

Peace, Love, Happiness, and Music,

Nicole

Reflection 2

So I'm starting this relfection a little early because I am going away to Atlantic City for the weekend.

So I'm supposed to be reflecting on the analysis phase of the Instructional design process. Where to begin:

I started off with what I thought to be a very good idea and had lots of information, but it turns out, I didn't :( After shedding a lot of tears and having help from my group. A new topic was decided upon and I kind of took off with it. I think the things that have helped me the most is being able to see examples of what we are supposed to have done in Blackboard. Seeing what a finished product looks like enables me to have a goal of what my finished product should look like. I then try to complete my project to the best of my ability. Usually this ends up with me crying because I am such a perfectionist, and doing something Instructional Design is completely overwhelming. Slowly I'm surviving and hopefully by the end of the 6 weeks I'll be thriving. (As I am writing this it is halfway through the second summer session, time flies doesn't it?)

Another thing that seems to help me is the fact that we all post our stuff on Blackboard, and then we have the ability to see each others work. I think that it really helps cause we can all gauge where we stand as a class. Also seeing someone else's work might give you an idea for a question that you might not have thought of but would be very beneficial to your project.

The whole working in groups can be a little frustrating at times just because I really don't like working in groups, sitting in a corner all by myself and working on something till I get it right, is more my style. But being in the groups has helped me though. Having other people check my grammar and sentence structure is a big help because there are a lot of times where in my mind it sounds perfectly fine but it's not or I might be thinking it's coming across a certain way and it's not.

After I had completed Design Document 1, it is kind of neat to see how far I've come in such a short amount of time. I actually have a topic that I am very interested in, and I think it shows. (Yes I am a huge roller coaster junkie, just ask me about a coaster and I could ramble forever).

I guess seeing this whole process is kind of cool, but it also seems a little backwards for this class. To start we already know what the outcome is going to be, but in the real world we really wouldn't know too much about what we are training about.

Well, I guess this sums up reflection 2

Peace, love, happiness, and music:

Nicole

Testing 1,2,3

Testing 1,2,3...

First Reflection...

Looking at the syllabus, I feel extremely overwhelmed. Part of me just wants to cry. But in the end I know everything will be OK.

Haven't done any reading yet, still trying to learn Blackboard, I never had to use it until now not quite sure how to use it.

Edit @ 5:00 PM

Expectations for Instructional Design
- Well I'm not all exactly sure what to expect. I know there will be a lot of work, hopefully I will be learning a lot from this class.
-I think one thing I am looking forward to is understanding more of what was shown to us when I went on the CAC trip to Pittsburgh and visited PNC bank. There was a lot of talk about pretty much everything that goes on in Instructional Design. At times I felt like "why am I here?" I have no idea what they are talking about. But hopefully by August 19 I will understand everything in great detail.
-Still don't know what I want to do for my project, hopefully an idea will come to me, and hopefully I'll be able to produce something that is really good.
-As stated earlier I really don't know what to expect, but I already know that I am overwhelmed with what is to come

I actually did figure out a little bit more with blackboard. It's a lot of pressing buttons and what not but I think I got everything accomplished that I needed to get done.

Peace, Love, Happiness, and Music,

Nicole