This week seems a bit more hectic than the previous four - probably because we are getting our webinar teams up and running. The added logistics of scheduling, planning and producing our webinar projects are adding significantly to the work load. But I'm not complaining. I am thrilled with my team, and feel really good about where we are heading. I think our backgrounds and interests balance our team out really nicely, too. The project manager in me likes to hit the ground running, and go full steam ahead, but I feel comfortable that we have enough time for everything we need to do despite some scheduling conflicts. It's good to feel that there is some breathing room in the schedule we've tentatively laid out, and are not rushing to produce this in the next month.
I enjoyed reading Chapter 2 in Horton's book, though some of the information conveyed seems obvious, almost like it's there to fill pages more than reveal something new and previously undiscovered. But it is helpful to see his categorization for Absorb activities, and contemplate how we can integrate them in our own edweb and webinar projects. I wonder if it would be more helpful to have the discussion questions for the following week ahead of time, so that we can be thinking about them as we read. I don't know if the quote I selected was the most meaningful to me, but it was thought provoking and did raise some of the "issues" we were supposed to be on the lookout for.
It is very interesting to me the way people conduct themselves in an online classroom. I wrote in my last blog entry about the protection of the anonymity of eLearning, and how people (like me) may tend to open up more than in face-to-face classroom settings. But I'm also observing how the veil of eLearning also seems to free up people to get things off their chest in a way that's not always diplomatic or considerate. I have not taken a masters level course before, and I don't know if the degree of respect in a face-to-face classroom is different than what I experience at the college level. What I mean is that because the students and instructors are all adults in a masters program, do they treat each other as equals, and act in a way that's less deferential to the instructor because of this? I would be curious to hear a non eLearning masters student's take on this. Personally, I'm not comfortable with using the facade of an eLearning course as an vehicle to disrespect others. I hope that my e-communications are never misconstrued as something they weren't intended to be. Something we all need to be very mindful of as we embark on our team projects.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Great reflection! I am a bit of an introvert myself (not shy but introverted...); however, I tend to like to argue so people don't always pick up on my introvertedness in F2F situations.
Like you, I liked the way dynamics changed online. However, some people do fire off things they would never say in person to someone else. Its often called "Flaming" and it happens just as easy with email but in courses like this its a one to many rather than a one to one type communication.
Regarding your comment about experience, respect, ...
I have found that in graduate school, students are always given a lot more respect and often treated much more like equals regardless of the learning format.
Graduate students bring a great deal of experience to the classroom.
However, as a PhD student talking right now and not the instructor, I have found that at the end of the day despite the increase in respect, students and teachers aren't exactly equals. Teachers still have to evaluate your work and assign a grade. More like a supervisor perhaps...
With all that being said, some people struggle with knowing how to communicate online. This isn't even an online learning thing.
Have you ever gotten emails from someone in which they always come across cold and possibly even rude/short. My experience is that they usually don't even know they are coming across that way.
Nobody teaches us how to talk online...
Patrick
Post a Comment