Melanie Pate
EDU433: Project Management
Week 1 Introduction
Hello Dr. Smith and classmates. I'm Melanie Pate, a July 2015 graduate of Ashford. My BA has been a long-time work in progress and I'm quite excited that I can see the finish line.
I live in East Texas with my husband of 14 years, our two children, and our two dogs. I work for our local school district as a Technology Assistant. The way I explain that to people is that I teach the teachers how to use the technology in their classroom. I also help them implement new technology and try to give them ideas to incorporate in the class. During my few years in my position I started a bi-monthly department newsletter, I update the district webpages and 4 of the 5 campus websites, I have also been fortunate to have been asked to present at three different technology conferences.
I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up until I started this job. I love teaching and technology so this goes hand-in-hand. I decided to go back to school in January of this year so I can further my career to be an Instructional Technologist and eventually a Technology Director in a K-12 public school. I would also consider working for a education service center as a tech trainer also.
My skill would be dancing. I started dancing when I was 3-ish and never looked back. I danced in college and even taught ballet and tap to 5-6 year olds for the dance academy. I haven't done it in a while because my body is already falling apart (my ankles have both had surgeries from the many years on pointe) but I do miss it. I also am a digital scrapbooker and have done so for about 8 years. Recently, I was inducted into one of Ashford's student organizations, Sigma Epsilon Kappa. ΣΕΚ is an organization supporting women in non-traditional education and in life. We are mainly made up of ladies but have a few male members, so we consider ourselves a Fratority, ha! I'm blessed to have been chosen out of many applicants to help further this great organization.
To me, an instructional designer is the person who plans and makes trainings of any sort. This could be the teacher, a designer, a trainer, or anyone who develops lessons. In my position I have to be an instructional designer for the trainings I run or presentations I give. Granted, it is not as "in depth" as a an ID as a job...but I use the same models and concepts that I have learned in my classes here at Ashford. Project management is the entire design process. From meeting with clients on their wants and needs to budgeting and eventually design and assessing the training. Project management is from point A to B and support beyond the finished job.
The outcome I'm most interested in is to prepare a project timeline with milestones and deadlines. I'm a procrastinator and so I believe that making a timeline with the goals and milestones will be an important tool for me to learn for my ID career and for my everyday life.
I look forward to the next five weeks and learning all I can from Dr. Smith, my classmates, and my text.
I live in East Texas with my husband of 14 years, our two children, and our two dogs. I work for our local school district as a Technology Assistant. The way I explain that to people is that I teach the teachers how to use the technology in their classroom. I also help them implement new technology and try to give them ideas to incorporate in the class. During my few years in my position I started a bi-monthly department newsletter, I update the district webpages and 4 of the 5 campus websites, I have also been fortunate to have been asked to present at three different technology conferences.
I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up until I started this job. I love teaching and technology so this goes hand-in-hand. I decided to go back to school in January of this year so I can further my career to be an Instructional Technologist and eventually a Technology Director in a K-12 public school. I would also consider working for a education service center as a tech trainer also.
My skill would be dancing. I started dancing when I was 3-ish and never looked back. I danced in college and even taught ballet and tap to 5-6 year olds for the dance academy. I haven't done it in a while because my body is already falling apart (my ankles have both had surgeries from the many years on pointe) but I do miss it. I also am a digital scrapbooker and have done so for about 8 years. Recently, I was inducted into one of Ashford's student organizations, Sigma Epsilon Kappa. ΣΕΚ is an organization supporting women in non-traditional education and in life. We are mainly made up of ladies but have a few male members, so we consider ourselves a Fratority, ha! I'm blessed to have been chosen out of many applicants to help further this great organization.
To me, an instructional designer is the person who plans and makes trainings of any sort. This could be the teacher, a designer, a trainer, or anyone who develops lessons. In my position I have to be an instructional designer for the trainings I run or presentations I give. Granted, it is not as "in depth" as a an ID as a job...but I use the same models and concepts that I have learned in my classes here at Ashford. Project management is the entire design process. From meeting with clients on their wants and needs to budgeting and eventually design and assessing the training. Project management is from point A to B and support beyond the finished job.
The outcome I'm most interested in is to prepare a project timeline with milestones and deadlines. I'm a procrastinator and so I believe that making a timeline with the goals and milestones will be an important tool for me to learn for my ID career and for my everyday life.
I look forward to the next five weeks and learning all I can from Dr. Smith, my classmates, and my text.
My family:
Sean and Melanie
Married May 20, 2000 after meeting on a blind date and engaged after dating three months!
McKenna and Jaylon
Kenna, 12 years old. 7th grader, majorette and member of all-region choir. Jaylon, 5 years old, Kindergarten, loves video games and being silly.
Rocky and Livvie
Rocky, 1 1/2 year old English Bulldog, loves to eat socks. Livvie, 3 year old Boston Terrier, has terrible gas and no sense of personal space.