This post is one of the THREE sentences to be completed. If you have found that at the time of your reading, this post has the LEAST number of comments, highlight the blank area below to read the 100 word instruction and complete it in EXACTLY 100 words.
We all spend many years as students. As yet, your learning may or may not have included any online learning experiences. If you have had such experiences this is great. Describe in EXACTLY 100 words your most memorable, exciting, stimulating, interesting, etc. online learning experience. If you have no prior experiences, think of your most innovative learning experience and use that to shape your reply. Use your imagination to invent ideas about an online learning experience as a student and complete the following sentence in EXACTLY 100 words.
My best times as an online learner have been when . . .
17 comments:
My best times as an online learner have been when I had to submit weekly homework for an undergraduate subject in architecture in the form of a blog. It was viewed by peers and tutors alike. I was very apprehensive at first because of privacy issues surrounding the exposure of my work to the public but then, to my surprise, I was bombarded with emails from people that I do and don’t know commenting on my work and providing feedback. I found myself in a learning situation where I was gaining knowledge from an unlimited pool of resources that would be impossible to experience in a traditional classroom setting.
My best times as an online learner have been when I studied at IT faculty of UTS from 1993 to 1998. I remember that the whole idea of Online learning was new and there was not that many e-learning courses available at UTS. But now you will notice that many of the UTS courses are available via distant mode which allows students to log in and ask questions, contribute to class discussions and submit their assignments online even if they are in middle of jungles of Thailand or cruising in Turkey with limited internet connectivity suing ship’s satellite system!
My best times as an online learner have been when I realised I had matured to the extent I could actually READ large amounts of unit relevant literature online instead of printing articles because I insisted to myself that I could only read lengthy documents on 20th century paper, not on a screen.
I love to be able to submit my assignments electronically because the flexibility of the timing suits my busy schedule. Online education suits my desire for independence, flexibility and contact with my teachers and my fellow classmates. Face to Face education never provides me with adequate conversation.
My best times as an online learner have been in the blended learning environment, where online learning has been the pre work for a conference or training event or has been inserted in a face to face event. Recently I attended a CLO conference in California, where the pre-work was all on line and highly interactive and the blended online events included a 2nd life project. The 2nd life project is an induction course to starting at the company I work for and has taken a very mundane set of courses and events and made them very interactive and enjoyable.
My best times as an online learner was when I was actually responsible for running an e-tivity for the Diploma of eLearning students at UTS. Although I was running the e-tivity, I learnt a lot about how to run such an actitivity and the level of detail that is involved. I learnt that as the administrator you have to give the students as much information as you can, you have to be available to support the students throughout the e-tivity or they become frustrated and disengaged and you need to make the activity as user friendly and straightforward as possible.
My best times as an online learner were when I was participating in a discussion about assessing online discussions held by CAB Web (Collaboration across borders). I had grappled with this since about 2000 whilst moderating undergraduate students online discussions about clinical cases and felt immense support when sharing ideas with people from all over the world. I also have found that as a facilitator of online discussions you learn just as much as those participating, it took a few years to work out that participants need guidance about how to get the most out of the online learning environment.
My best times as an online learner have been when I have been a teacher. I have learnt where students are having difficulties when they leave messages on the discussion board, often issues I have not considered. I learnt a great deal about how students use the online environment (or not). A surprising discovery has been that some students do not like using discussion forums or listening to iLecture. Adult learners need to have choices about the extent to which they engage in online learning. We need to be careful not to exclude those learners who find online participation difficult.
I have been immersed in the scenario and I felt compelled to be successful in achieving the outcome. I enjoy realistic visuals and contexts, not fantasy worlds that I cannot relate to. The best online game I engaged in did not give a solution to the situation offered but allowed me to reflect on my actions to the problem. However, the realism of the situation made me reflect more deeply after the game finished on whether I would have made the same decision in real life. Online learning should be stimulating, contemporary in context and relevant to the participant's world.
My best times as an online learner have been when I was studying advanced English in China. That was my first time to be an online learner, which was so different from my previous traditional studying which have been being with me for over 20 years. As an e-learner, I did not have to go to school at a fixed time instead of arranging my time freely and studying in any place I prefer, and discussed the tasks with other learners on the discussion board at any time without dealing with the proper meeting-time each other as face-to-face mode did.
I have discovered from my own experience that online learning is both fast (efficient) and effective as it caters to the higher order learning needs of individuals. It offers some critical reflection, experiential learning and coupled with its vibrant interactiveness (is there such a term ?) can offer a blended learning approach. It aligns teaching methodologies with the changing learner styles of students. I am & have been involved with online learning both as a Masters student (UTS) and teacher (TAFE), hence there are many experiences which have combined into my synopsis of online learning.. here for you to read.
My best experience with online learning would be during my undergrad degree. The use of online material and pre-work made the experience very self-regulated, giving me the freedom to progress through the material at my own pace to fully understand it, without the pressures of a lecturer and 200 other students. This also meant I could do it whenever I liked. Discussion boards gave room for adequate debate with people I had never met but it lacked the personal touch to see who you’re arguing with. Online resources displayed practical aspects that I would not see otherwise. Three words short.
Greetings All
My best time as an online learner would have to be this - being as I am somewhat new to the game (not of education but of the online aspects of education). I have used computers to prepare teaching materials and to deliver the materials in a face to face situation, but not to deliver materials online. The use of computers to supplement other modes of teaching and learning offer a challenge and an opportunity to make teaching a more interesting, and in some ways, more immediate experience. It will be interesting to see how the game proceeds
My best times as an online learner have been when I have used this mode to supplement and enhance face to face interaction with peers. Although I have had limited experience participating in online learning as a student, I have been involved in the development of a course which uses a combination of face to face teaching and online discussions. This experience helped me realise some of the benefits of online learning including flexibility, and ease of contribution to class discussions. However, I still believe that online learning is best utilised to enhance rather than replace face to face interactions.
When I have been having fun! I really enjoyed an online safety program I completed once because safety is usually pretty boring, prescriptive and dry, but this one was fantastic because it was highly interactive, the graphics and sounds were great and it was like an online game that I had to complete. I was placed in real life scenarios and had to decide what actions to take next while it was assessing and scoring me along the way. I received constant feedback and was able to print out a completion certificate at the end. I thought it was excellent!
My best times as an online learner have been when I understand the instruction and I can follow that without any problems. That doesn’t mean problems with question but mean the process of online studying because if I don’t understand the direction, how I can learn it productively. Being online student like using UTS online, the obstacles of operating also occur with misunderstanding, technology naïve, and jargon. For example, at first time that I used UTS online, I felt I was confused because it was very new system for me; therefore, I had to spend time to learn the process.
My best times as an online learner have been when I was on IT student. I support the value of closely observing the experience of those immediately involved, as part of an effort to place pedagogical considerations at the centre of innovative developments. Unlike traditional distance education, online education promotes interactivity and the convenience of being just a click away from the materials used in the course to optimize the learning within the infrastructure available. It opens up a wealth of opportunity to improve the depth and reach of learning offered by the new technologies when they are used appropriately.
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