Powerpoint Slide Sharing for ITEC0299 Synthesis Quest Level 3. This answers all 10 questions provided on the Synthesis Quest description.

1. ITEC0299
Synthesis Quest – Level
3
By:
Aaron Dickson
December 16th, 2013

2. Motivation for Class
 Well, to be completely honest, I originally joined this
class late because I was lacking credits, but ITEC
was just one of the classes that stuck out to me. I
never planned on joining this class, but when I saw
that spots were still available in a class that was
about such an interesting topic that we deal with day
after day, I sent one of the professors an email as
quick as I possibly could. Technology has always
been a difficult subject for me but intriguing, so I took
this class, and I knew that the info would be tough but
priceless.

3. Personal Learning Preferences
 My personal learning preferences, I originally
thought were quite active, but after taking the
learning styles survey, I quickly learned that
was wrong. I’m actually a sequential, reflective,
and intuitive learner. Meaning that I gain most
of my knowledge, and retain it better when I’m
able to go step by step through a process or
subject and can learn about the subject on my
own time and terms. I think this is a very
valuable learning preference that was captured
and developed when taking this class this
semester.

4. Opinion on Learning
Preferences
 I think learning preferences, to be quite frank, are the
key idea that many teachers when teaching a class
miss out on. Some teachers plan on teaching only
through curriculum and through that process forget that
students are people with their own wants and needs.
These needs include learning and their own style of
learning. This style is basically how they’ll be learning
what you’re teaching this semester. So I think it’s very
important for a teacher to always understand their
student’s personal styles, because if you don’t, it’s kind
of a pointless endeavor. All the knowledge that
someone is trying to bestow upon a student will be lost
if they never develop a style to understanding said
information. So, learning preferences are important.

5. Learning Pathway
 The pathway I picked at the beginning of the
semester was the Learning Sage Path. And
generally, I’m pretty happy with the pick.
Picking one subject to follow up on throughout
the entire semester seems important but didn’t
appeal to me, picking up different chunks of
knowledge on different technologies seemed
like a much smoother process and one in
which I could’ve enjoyed more, seeing the
broader side of it all.

6. Activities
 Some activities that helped me through this semester were the
technology lectures prior to the equally informational quizzes. It
was helpful in a sense that the information it gave me was very
useful and at the same time, entertaining. A few were easy to pick
up on and gain the whole concept of it, and do better on the
quizzes than others.
 That being said, some of the lectures and quizzes felt tedious, and
gave questions that were hard to answer due to the fact that some
of the technologies involved, let’s say, games or podcasts, were
difficult to get into because they required lengthy downloads and
long commitments to, as opposed to technology quests like
screencasts or microblogs.
 One other thing that I also found very valuable were the
physiological factors in dealing with technology and learning. I
learned many things in that portion of the semester that were
useful. Like ways to take notes to getting a healthy body.

7. Top 3 Technologies
 1. Screencasts – I liked these technologies because they look
super simple but the lengths this kind of stuff can reach. Pretty
much everyone in the world owns a computer nowadays, and
combine that with the ability to teach through screencasts leaves
the possibilities as endless. You could teach almost any subject
through a screencast and someone will be there, out there to
value it.
 2. Microblogs – the idea of instant connection to millions of people
around the world and learning more about the concept of that was
really cool and can only lead to promising paths.
 3. Multimedia – the thought of being able to use any outlet in the
world, from not only computers but to magazines, and even
pamphlets that you can find in a dentist’s office, is a really broad
concept. You can then apply that concept to any piece of
technology you run into and realize that you are capable of
learning something from this outlet, and then do such.

8. Thought on Technologies for
Learning
 As originally stated, I was a late addition to this
class but the time I’ve spent in this course
couldn’t have been more valuable. I think I can
honestly say, I’ve learned more about the
different technologies offered here in this
course than what I’ve been knowing from using
these technologies for the past couple of years.
That being said, I think all of these
technologies were very helpful in many ways,
and no technologies were bad in any way. It
seemed that every technology I went to, I was
able to pick up something from it.

9. Integration of Physiological
Factors
 I put this earlier in the power point, but I’ll state again, the
physiological portion of the semester couldn’t have been any more
valuable. Is that a double negative? Eh, the point is, learning
about the physiological side of learning and really, having the
ability to learn, thanks to these physiological factors were super
helpful.
 Originally, I understood that integrating these physiological factors
(i.e. better sleep, better diet) was going to be tough and really, at
times, feel like a hassle, but at the same time understood all the
good something like these strategies could do for me. So, I started
implementing these strategies in my everyday life. Although I
haven’t followed through with all of them 100 percent of the time, I
can say that the strategies I did follow have proved nothing but
useful to me and my ability to learn. On days where you get a
healthy amount of exercise and sleep, the brain the next day will
be feeling much healthier, allowing you to really focus on subjects.

10. How I’ll Use This Class AFTER This
Class
 Like I’ve said, the technologies and information offered
in this class have been very useful. And I can easily
use any technology I’ve learned about in this class in
my life following the end of this semester. Learning
about the use of microblogs and podcasts, allow me to
gather not only other people’s opinions I believe
matter, but my own beliefs on topics in which I’m
interested in.
 Also, take the screencasts, multimedia, and social
networking, and all the good in can do in not only
learning but being able to teach things that you think
are important and what to follow up on. And by
following up, like I’ll be trying to do, by trying to find
classes with screencasts and more technological savvy
professors, such as yourself, you can really improve
yourself in many ways.

11. Experience as a Sage
 I think my time here, in this class, in this semester has been very
well spent. By following the path of the learning sage, I was able to
learn and open up my mind to multiple different subjects that I
originally had a very weak knowledge of, to being able to grow my
small knowledge of these technologies, to something I can be
proud of, or at least, something that I’ll continue to try to build.
 By becoming a sage, I’ve been able to really open up my eyes
and brain, if you can do such a thing to the wonders of these
technologies and can now understand not only them, but the
many ways in which they can be useful, help you learn, and
having the endless possibilities in being able to do good for the
world.
 Lastly, I’d just like to take the time, and this opportunity to thank
the professors for everything and for teaching a very well thought
and taught class, on a subject that’s very intriguing and important,
especially in 2013. And I hope to follow this subject more in the
future. Thank you.