Reflective learning blog summary

I must say I found this class rather enjoyable. This was my first experience with distance education and University of Maryland University College. I did not know what to expect. I found the class engaging, relevant and challenging. I had played with Zillow.com before, but I never would have looked at from all the different prospective that the class inspired. Some of the students who had a strong security background picked the site apart in ways that I would never have thought of. I chose to look at it from a business point of view which I would have never done without the class.
Forcing me to start a Twitter account allowed me to experience this new on line phenomenon. I realized the market that the site exploits; something face book and my space left open. However I also realized it was not for me and I will probably not use my account after the class.
Of course emerging security threats was the most interesting topic for me because information assurance is why I am here. The information in the book from the students and the assignments were all very engaging. The class caused me to explore the business side of IT which was a nice change from having to be the subject matter expert. I think that I like it better and I may go for a project management certificate when I am done with the information assurance program.
The assignments were as creative as they were interesting. Both the midterm and the final were challenging. The greatest test of all for me was trying to complete my assignments while my wife was having twins and living in a war zone, traveling throughout Iraq with limited internet access was crazy. The class helped keep my mind off the reality of daily life. I have no regrets and look forward to my next class with this university.

Reflective Learning Blog Session 5

This week I found very challenging. I've been so use to just regurgitating information or worrying about IP addresses that the creative side of me had been crushed. It still was to an existent but I think I was able to produce a pretty good business idea. I also enjoyed reading the ideas if my class members too. I wounder which one will be the next millionaire. The discussion thread about dot com failures was also very interesting. There was no shortage of information there. I hope future assignments will help open up the left side of my brain again it was refreshing.

Reflective learning blog

This week was especially challenging because I had to work on the group project in addition to the regular assignments. The group project was difficult due to the newness of the subject matter. I was able to grasp the importance of proper security in an organization. I was able to apply methods I learned from class to analyzing my own organization. Understanding the issues at hand and how they are being dealt with will help me grow as a professional in the future. Going to school in a war zone is a lot harder than I expected, but I’m look forward to the final exam.

Reflective learning blog session 9

My favorite part of the class is always the class discussions. I the discussion on conversion strategies to be a very interesting exercise and there were a verity of different views from people of different backgrounds and experiences. For example someone addressed the issue of training. I’ve seen the implementation of some good applications, but the staff was not properly trained on how to use the application proficiently. This resulted in the loss of productivity because the organization did not want to lose productivity on the front end. I always enjoy different and refreshing opinions from my classmates. The SWOT was also new to me and I can see its usefulness.

Reflective learning blog session 8

Being a former implementation specialist made the reading very interesting and familiar. I had never done a SWOT analysis before but I can defiantly see it usefulness in developing a business plan. I found the case study with dell very helpful in completely understanding how it is applied in the real world. Over all I find the way the text book, lecture notes, and the very creative lesson plans helpful in getting a complete understanding of the subject matter. Of course the interaction with the other students make the class seems more like real life than on the net.

Reflective learning blog session 7

Many of the subjects that were discussed in this week’s chapters such as IT management and globalization started clicking in for me. I’m usually so wraped up in the work I never get to stand back and take a academic view of what I am doing. I found the discussion on outsourcing very interesting and many students made valid points on both sides of the aisle.

Future of Iraq

Reflective Learning Blog Session 4

Subjects are starting to tie together from the previous weeks. Learning about Twitter and starting a Twitter account was a new experience for me. Creating a Twitter account was something I would have never done outside the class and now that I have experienced it I know that I was bored with it. Interesting concept but twitting is not for me socially any way. The next big thing on the internet was the most interesting. I always enjoy reading future predictions on technology and its evolution. I knew very little about IPV6 other than it came with windows Vista. Now I like to say I know a lot more about the subject matter.

Reflective Learning Blog Session 3

The class is becoming more interesting each week. I’ve used Zillow before but just as a casual user. I would never have taken the time to asset the site from data base administrator or even a business analyst point of view. I was also very impressed by the comments from the other student that tackled the site from an information assurance point of view. I am not a data base administrator but I managed a record management system. Our RMS was basically a relational database with a software interface that pulled information from the data base. The reading was a good refresher and also helped tie a lot of things together. I was not familiar with the term data at rest but after doing the reading the subject became relevant. I could relate the topic to what was going on at my job and have a understanding of what many organization are doing wrong. Les is becoming more inventive every week and I like it.

ITECH 610 Session 2

Each week in the class becomes more interesting. I chose to comment about the world of virtualization. As I read the postings from my other class mates I was able to expand my horizons on what virtualization encompasses. I was stuck in the boring world of VPN clients and had not even thought of avatars and the virtual world in side video games. Communicating and sharing ideas is what makes this an innovative and rich experience.

Reflective Learning Blog Session 1

This is my 2nd online class with UMUC and there have been some new technology advances in the web interphase that I found very intresting such as Tyco Conferencing. Also reading the posistions of class perticipants from all over the technology spectrum was intreging; and the assignments for the class are very engageing producing thoughtful responses from the students. I have learned alot and look forward to the rest of the class.

ITECH 610 Reflective Learning Jornal

Hello everyone,

I'm in this course to for fill a requirement in the Information Assurances MS. program. Currently I am in northern Iraq serving as an International Police Advisor. Law enforcement technology is my specialty. I'm implementing programs such as crime mapping using Google earth, developing a records management system, and several other technology based justice integration programs.