TRAVEL GOAL 2017

My ultimate travel goal this year is to visit Canada.

I think it's also the best time to go to Canada this 2017 because they're also celebrating their 150th Anniversary of Confederation. I wanna go celebrate Canada Day in Canada this year. Sounds like a lot of fun!

Another fitness new year resolution...

A year ago (2016) I posted a change of my weight for the year 2015. I started the year at around 120lbs+ and I ended the year at around 130lbs+ ... That's a 10 pound difference. I remember in 2015 I did not control any of what I ate because I was too focused on making myself feel better by not depriving myself of my cravings and food. That was the year that I simultaneously worked on passing the psychometric board examinations as well as writing my thesis. I was already giving myself a hard time, why would I deprive myself of food right?

I never thought about gaining weight until I stepped on my Wii Fit at the end of 2015 and boom. Ten pounds!!!

So early in 2016 I made a post about changing my diet, avoiding rice, eating bread, avoiding sweets. And true enough I remember getting a head ache and a piece of chocolate took the pain away.

At some point in 2016, I totally forgot about my carbo and sweets diet. But sometime in September 2016 I stepped on my Wii board again, and I didn't notice I was around 123lbs again. That without actually doing anything. I remember at some point I just stopped attending yoga classes as well.

Well this year, my tummy has been bothering me. I can feel it bulging out of my body and I can't even hold it in for a "stomach in" photo op. I paid for a 1-year subscription for Gold's Gym and maybe the money I spent is a good reminder for me to take my weight seriously for the rest of the year. 

I need to cut down on my rice intake. I'm a rice person. I'm Asian. But more than that, I really eat like a guy. I really eat A LOT. And when u was growing up, I really felt grateful that I could eat anything and not really get fat. Well, I guess I took it for granted and now it's really making me bigger and know I should do something about it before it's harder to control. 

It's really hard. I don't know how I'll do it. I don't have a constant routine or program I'm following but I guess as long as I commit myself at least 30 minutes a day of either cardio at the gym or yoga at home... I'll see some changes.. Hopefully? ... 

Well if I lost weight sometime February to September w/o actually exercising didn't realize it, then now that I do exercise it'll definitely show results right? 

I know I have to change my diet.. I've already cut down my soda intake for the past year because I know it isn't healthy. I drink water as much as possible when I go out and eat. I also avoid eating fast food too as much as possible. I guess this year I just really have to be strict about my diet and add more fruits. If there aren't any option of food then I'll just buy myself an apple or a banana.

Let's see how things play out by next month. 

Turning 30 years old in December! ... Good bye care free twenties.. Time to really take life seriously. 

How Technology Enhances Teaching and Learning

Today's Seminar at FEU Institute of Technology. 

A tad late to acknowledge but I think I've already got ridden of my fear of Public Speaking. :D ... 

People don't believe me when I say I have fear of public speaking. I have these fears because I am worried of making mistakes or forgetting what I'm going to say.

Today, I made a lot of mistakes... I had to rephrase my sentences a lot of times... and often times I went blank because I was trying to think of what I was going to say next.

But I think my seminar went well regardless of my boo boos. My mistakes and blacking out gave me more room to actually connect with my audience. I was able to connect with them more as if I was having a conversation with them. 

Hopefully they learned something from the things I shared with them. Whenever I give talks like these, this makes me more motivated in reading and studying more so I can share the things that I have learned to other people. 

This is why I'm in the Education Industry. <3

Academic Readings

Okay, so when I graduated graduate school I kinda said "Good-bye Academe". But let's face it, the whole point of taking a Master's Degree in Teaching and Learning is basically telling me I'm stuck in the Academic setting for life. And let's admit it... I actually don't really have a problem with that.

But let's try to organize my goals for now especially there's no brick and mortar classroom that will dictate me with deadlines any longer.

I need to live up to my Master's degree and constantly updating myself and filling my head with knowledge. Things that I will need to show people that hey, I'm an MA graduate.

Hello Academic Literature... yet again.

So what are the things right now that I need to look into and by priority.

1) Curriculum Evaluation - I need to read on frameworks and create my own tool on how to evaluate a curriculum. Since I am in the industry of providing curriculum to schools, I need to work on helping my colleagues and stakeholders how to evaluate their current curriculum. Huge Priority.

2) Project-Based Learning - At the same time, we are going towards implementing project-based learning and the need to train teachers that PBL does not necessarily mean just providing students with projects. I need to read more on this and as well as identifying how we can apply this in the current curriculum.

3) Educational Technology trends in the academe - I need to take time and go back to my twitter feed and fill my Twitter with Educational Technology topics rather than personal conversations. I need to dig into my newsfeed amidst the controversial political topics and focus on what exactly is happening in the EdTech. This is going to be hard because I will be distracted by current needs but luckily I will be attending an EdTech Expo on February 21-22, 2017 therefore at least I will be surrounded by people who are EdTech enthusiasts as well.

Have to give myself 30 minutes for now, then off to the gym I go.

Project Based Learning

I prepared a presentation for my colleagues to orient them about Project Based Learning. We will be discussing this in our team so that we can fully implement this in our curriculum and future trainings.

Life Priorities

As I start a new year, it's time to identify the things I'm going to prioritize.

Mental exercise: Graduate School's over *hooray* .. That's something I've strived to accomplished the previous year. 

As to exercise my brain I need to read more about E-learning trends and Educational Technology and less reading on current events which is more often a joke nowadays. I also need to keep up with my Spanish enrollment. 

Physical fitness: I've stopped going to yoga altogether and I haven't gone hiking for the past year. I feel like my tummy is becoming bothersome already because my metabolism isn't the same as it was when I was younger. 

I'm turning 30 this year for crying out loud! Aaaagh... 

Last Saturday my friend and I went rock climbing. We only went for two climbs and then we were dead tired afterwards. 

On a good note it did get me moving. After many months of just eating and laying down in bed.. It finally got me moving. 

I really feel guilty of being lazy and it seems like yoga is something I'm bored with as of the moment.. I remember the last time I went to yoga, I felt like I was dragging myself to yoga class. I already have my inner peace. I think I have too much of it already. What I want right now is for the fat in my tummy to go away.

I've always been goal oriented type of person. I know if I set myself with a goal I'll commit to it. All I need is to align myself with certain goals. 

I went to school today, and I discovered that the Gold's Gym in my university has (finally) opened. I've been thinking about going to the gym for the past months because I know for the fact I haven't been doing any physical activity for the past months. After giving up yoga, I haven't done any exercise. I need work-life balance.

Adult life is really hard. Aside from the mental exercise, you also have to balance it with physical exercise and at the same time budgeting your expenses to achieve all these exercises. The other option is laying down in bed the whole day doing nothing and spending nothing. But if I do that, what kind of life am I trying to live? 

I guess gym is also the answer to my thoughts recently... As I've been telling my friends that I've lost my motivation to wake up for the past few days. After finishing my masters, I've lost any desire of accomplishing anything. There is nothing I want to desire anymore. I need new goals.

But now that I have enrolled in the gym for one-year subscription ... I have a new past time... If one day I feel bored, then all I have to do is go to the gym and get some exercise. I have to redirect my energy and instead of spending it on additional food (thus gaining weight), I'll have a physical activity. 

Let's do this.

So what are my goals this year?

*Continuesly study my Spanish Lessons.

*Read on E-Learning and Educational Technology

*Go to the gym and lose weight

*Save money & stop craving sweets (I guess carbs are fine if I'm going to do exercises from now on)

*Apply for Canadian Tourist Visa

*Plan a vacation sometime June/July

*Prepare for Convention in September

Let's do this Toni!

How Does Technology Enhance Teaching and Learning?

I have a workshop to conduct on Saturday, February 11, 2017 that would focus on how technology enhances teaching and learning. I'm trying to catch up on readings before I prepare my presentation. It seems like it will be a busy week for me.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, I am going back to my university so I can visit the Job Expo. The company that I work at has a booth in my Alma Mater and I'm going to check how things are going.

On Wednesday, I'm going to have an orientation about Project-Based Learning. I'll be having a discussion with some of my colleagues and talk about what they understand about Project-Based Learning. This is the approach that we are going for in our curriculum.

And then on Thursday, I will be going back to my University and attend the company talk that my colleagues will be giving during the Job Expo.

Busy week. Not bad. I'm actually glad I'm getting back on the wheels.

I guess right now I have to focus on the topic of my presentation on Saturday which is

"How Does Technology Enhance Teaching and Learning?"

So far I've been reading stuff on how educational technology applications enhance assessments. The audience of my workshop are technology and engineering students; Therefore, I also have to think in a way how these students think they can contribute to the education industry. I need to read more when I get home.

Notes:
More about Assessment
https://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/assessment-for-as-and-of-learning/

Project-Based Learning presentation
https://www.emaze.com/@ATLQTRZZ/project-based-learning

To Do:
Read more about educational technology practices and trends
https://elearningindustry.com/?s=educational+technology

Questions:
What is SCORM?
https://elearningindustry.com/what-is-scorm-5-scorm-facts-know

How Educational Technology is Transforming Teaching and Learning
https://elearningindustry.com/how-educational-technology-is-transforming-teaching-and-learning-infographic

How K-12 schools are adopting educational technology
https://elearningindustry.com/how-rapidly-k-12-schools-are-adopting-educational-technology-infographic

Educational Technology Applications:
Edtech Tools: Whiteboard Apps, Presentation Tools, Online Group Discussion Tools, Course Assessment Tools, Library Tools
https://elearningindustry.com/integrating-technology-in-the-classroom-24-edtech-tools-5-benefits-educational-technology-integration

Free Tools for Teachers: Create Infographics, Text To Speech Tools ,Digital Storytelling Tools, Podcast Tools, Survey, Polls, and Quizzes Tools ,Screen Capturing Tools,  Social Bookmarking Tools ,Online Bibliography and Citation Tools, Sticky Notes Tools,Photo and Image Editing Tools
1Testing and Quizzing Tool,Web Conferencing Tools, Authoring Tools, Annotation Tools, Video Tools, PDF Tools, Download Royalty Free and Creative Commons Music ,Stock Photos Sites

https://elearningindustry.com/321-free-tools-for-teachers-free-educational-technology