ELearning Presentation

Today I started out nervous regarding my presentation to the faculty at 1:30 pm at Maui Community College.  I reviewed my lecture notes and proofed my slides.  At noon, I slipped into the room where my presentation was being held.  I checked out my web links to ensure they were working and verified that my YouTube video within my presentation worked smoothly. With more than an hour to go, I relaxed and flipped through the slides.  At 1 pm the cameraman arrived with camera, microphones, and electrical cords in tow.  We verified that my wireless microphone worked with no problem.  Then suddenly 15 minutes to go . . . Liping arrived. Five minutes to go and still there were no other people present.  Time to start and the faculty began to arrive.  Within a few moments the chairs were filled and I was ready to take off.  Even as I started my presentation more faculty were arriving.  I was thrilled to see such a great turnout for my presentation. They were so receptive to my ideas.  They had excellent questions . . . demonstrating that they really wanted to learn about elearning.  This was so refreshing.  I was ecstatic with the turnout and positive attitudes; I wanted to jump for joy.  I flew through the slides and demonstrations . . . and still I was running long.  Yet, no one was leaving the room.  The faculty present represented a wide variety of majors from Math to Clinical Dental Hygiene, accounting to early childhood education,   and tourism and hospitality.  About half had taught fully online courses currently or a blended course.  Their questions were terrific . . . these people really get how important online education is in a region where the students live on 3 different islands.  How wonderfully refreshing to have people listen and respond positively to what you had to say about elearning! They really want to learn either how to blend technology into their classrooms or take their courses fully online. I found myself wishing that I was a faculty member here where what I did was really appreciated in my department.  I want to jump for joy.  It was difficult to resist the urge to hug each one of them and thank them for being so wonderfully open and appreciative for what I shared with them today. 

The faculty of Maui Community College are fantastic . . . I would love to teach a hands-on workshop for the faculty here.  They really understand where the trend in education is going.  Yahoo.  Mahalo nui loa!