Sometimes good things come out of bad situations....
Before I get to the post for this week, I just wanted to thank the good people of Perrysburg for all the assistance they have shown my sister and her family after the fire that nearly destroyed their home this past weekend. It certainly says alot about the character of people when they pull together to help like this.
Anyway...on to the questions;
we were asked to conside the following:
-Do you see any patterns in your responses?
-What do your entries tell you about yourself in a DE environment?
-What do you think you could have done differently or would do differently next time as a learner in DE?
-What do you think you did well?
-What values did this experience give you unlike other on-campus courses you have taken?
-What suggestions would you give to someone else who might consider DE in the future?
-Would you take another DL course? Why?
Patterns that I have followed since the first day of the class would be to consider the ideas asked for along with my own experiences and see if I can find some patterns that both I and the readers of this blog can follow up with and learn from.
what makes me different, or sets me apart is that I try to look for connections outside the DL world and beyond the class to see if we can fit these things we are discussing in class into what I think is real world practical experience. Sometimes these things are mundane and somewhat silly (like my homage the Morris Day and the Time) and sometimes they dealt with issues of the class directly...but I think it's critical that we always try to tie real world experience with the class ideas, otherwise it becomes something of an old dusty lesson that goes back to the shelf when the class is finished.
I think I kept this idea in mind, and I think that it served me well in my work. I think that the values that are important transcend the physical classroom though, and it is important to keep this in mind becuase unlike the classroom environment, when you get behind or cannot understand the ideas in place of the DL class, there is not one person other than yourself that is going to notice or be able to ask for assistance. it has to make you think very carefully about what time and effort you are putting into the class, because it is the only way to try to keep up with the class.
my suggestions for the future would be to integrate more of the web conferences, and web discussion areas and times for the class in order to build more cohesive understanding and agreements I think that would allow for each of us in the class to gain a more detailed level of comprehension from both the material and the others in the class. I think that was one of the things that was missing in this class...there was very little direct connection with anyone else in the class.
I think that looking back all the way through my posts, I see that it is perfectly clear that my understanding of the DL classroom has grown, and I am certain that I will be taking more DL classes, and hopefully even teaching one in the near future. I think that DL is a great option to those of us with little time during the day due to work and family concerns, and fully allows us to utilize our time and effort when it is convenient for us. I think that the future using this application and technology is very bright.
not to mention the fact...I enjoy it. I think that is one of the more important, and most overlooked areas of learning. If we have gotten that far, we are doing a very god job.
thanks,
Russ
