Dancing with UDUTU

I think I've finally figured out the pattern to the MAITS program. Almost always, we're challenged to learn about a new concept and, at the same time, tackle that by learning a new tool, too -- often the means of reporting or sharing our learning. This week's challenge: to create a pre-storyboard for our e-Learning module, which, in my case, centers around the use of an apostrophe to form the possessive. Using Gagne's nine events, we are to call upon our ID skills and lay out a blueprint for our module. In this case, I'll be dancing with UDUTU, yet another unfamiliar tool, a partner I haven't danced with yet. The challenge of creating this storyboard is that I'm not altogether sure if what I envision myself creating is actually "do-able." In other words, I'm left guessing a bit whether the interaction I see happening is going to be implementable. I sure hope so. After listening to Amy mention "Capstone" time and again this past year and whatever, I haven't really had a vision of what that could be. But, warned again by Amy that we better like it and be invested in it, this project -- and the idea that I could use e-Learning as the teaching and learning vehicle for grammar -- is very appealing. It certainly meets some of the key criteria for e-Learning -- self-paced, independent, individualized, and so on. If I can create engaging modules for students to learn certain grammar concepts, then that is one less thing to take up valuable class time...of which there is so little as it is. For this project, I'm counting heavily on the prefix "pre" in storyboard, as I've learned there are a few walls to encounter and work over, through, around, whatever, to get to the final product. That said, I'm gearing up for the challenge. Here's a link to a challenging poem by James Dickey titled "A Birth." The poem's about creating a story is like creating a life -- how it takes on its own identity and begins to control itself, like a parent of a child. Anyhow, this project reminds me of that. And if I can find a way to use e-Learning to teach my students what they can learn on their own, it will free up my time to do what would be far too difficult for them on their own, things like reading, interpreting, and discussing poems like "A Birth." Enjoy creating!