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Trip to South Dakota
Mike Kissinger, the vocational ag teacher at Sturgis High School, mentioned to me at Thanksgiving that Mark Keffeler,
the Ranch Manager and Instructor for Western Dakota Technical Institute, was retiring May 15 2002. I met Mark in person
in Kansas City in February and we worked out a time when I could visit. I visited Apr 15-18. Mark gave me two
hour slots for the Introduction to Natural Resources first-year students. I was not able to get my presentation
completed before I left Texas, so I uploaded slides (*.jpegs) and previous presentations (*.ppt) to Tripod. When I got
to South Dakota I was able to use a PC on the Saturday I arrived. I was also able to finish my presentation on Monday
in the evening.
WDTI Intro to NR
Click on the link above to view the four parts of the presentation I created.
The trip to South Dakota took up all of Week 2 and most of Week 3 of EDTC 526. In addition, I had limited access
to the PC for participating in class. The location where I was staying had only an iMac and it did not do well with
the online web access version of Outlook Express.
Finally, I was taking vacation leave for this trip and lost track of time. I was driving around purchasing newspapers,
looking at scenery, meeting people, checking out restaurants and "local color" in order to decide whether I want to move to
South Dakota or not.
EDTC 526 Summary
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Because of my lack of class participation, I was given an F for Week 2. This discouraged me greatly. When
I returned to Texas I went back over all my posts while I was in SD and found that, sure enough, I had basically lost track
of time and screwed up royally.
However, this situation caused some conflict with my instructor who accused me of demanding points.
I did not demand anything, but was concerned at the effect an F in one week would have on my overall grade.
Other than this major crisis, my teammates have been great. I was able to contribute to the Week 2 project before
I left Texas and during my time in South Dakota. Now that I am home, I have caught up on assignments.
What I have learned from this experience is not to schedule travel during a course. The other alternative is not
to travel during a course until I have purchased a laptop. I intend to purchase a laptop with my next financial aid
reimbursement. In addition, my next course is scheduled from July 11 through August 28, and I am not planning any trips
during that time period.
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