Finally......

Well folks, despite not having totally completed everything in time for the blog submission deadline (even with an extension) I finally feel a lot more confident using more interesting stuff on the net. I was previously only using it for FB, writing reports & sending emails - a couple of times over the years Ive outsourced to friends to do a web page for my classical quartet SareZian. Its always ended in the dust either because of the web company, or we couldnt have the page the way we wanted. Now, Im really looking forward to being able to have more direct creative control over what we present digitally for our business. These skills are really important for musicians to market themselves and we just arent taught them & if youre not a geek, well then youre kind of screwed. I just didnt know where to get them and I dont like mucking around with things that 'sort of' work or are 'sort of' along the right track.

This course has been ideal for me with the things its taught me and although Ive just not had enough time to absorb it properly within the time frame required, so far its had just the kind of ingredients that have

kept me interested. Ive had to find out a few things in my contact classes at uni - and its the little things that having someone show you that can make all the difference. (Thanks Vonny!) A friend showed me how to add gadgets (or that I was having trouble finding them and it should be on my page but wasnt for some reason) and how to highlight text before hyperlinking it - took all of 20 seconds, but it was a catalyst that has made all the difference to this blog, and was just what I needed to know, but couldnt quite find that info whilst going through the weekly tutorials. We all need a bit of human contact time occasionally and someone else to see what youre actually doing on the screen, not just the end result. She also showed me that on Twitter her contact tute class had added a hashtag #ISYS1166 so they could all Tweet with each other - but I only found that out last week and now its all over, so Ive kind of missed the boat, but can just use their previous tweets to catch up on things.

The main problems Ive encountered have been getting technology to work properly, (eg. online lectures), and TIME, most of all. I was working full time, doing the course full time and it took the first 4 or 5 weeks to sort my schedule out, deal with life (rellies visiting, etc) and get going solidly. What would have helped me in the first instance is a phone call confirming that I was actually doing the course online, as just learning how to navigate around the course website, find my course materials and make sure that I had found everything I had to do was daunting enough, and that alone took loads of time for me in the first few weeks, without even doing any subject work. Ive been about 2 weeks behind the eight ball right from the start and had the circumstances been different, I think I could say that Id have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. :)

Being on a Mac without Microsoft Office has also presented problems with the tutorial exercises and I just cant get them done past a certain point, or at all. For the sake of getting on with the re

st of the course, Im at a point where Im just choosing to say 'bugger it' and go on with something else. We really need the tutorials to be Mac friendly too, as there are so many of us using them.

Ive enjoyed the social interaction with my group members & reading their blogs - which have provided helpful examples for me, and their support has been a big help and given much relief to know that theyre in the same boat. Id love to take more time to finish off this blog. Ive enjoyed all the web activities presented and need to take more time to continue with them so I can use them properly as theres so much for me to benefit from professionally and personally. Theres also soooo many to chose from, which is why I need soooo much more time.

Woo-hoo!!!