Test of podcast
|
||||||
|
This class has definitely shaped my thinking about distance education and incorporating technology in my training programs as learning tools. I certainly will be putting a lot of this information to work. Lets see. Where should I start? I will start with blogs, wikis, synchronous and asynchronous virtual meetings, teleconferencing, and the internet in general will be included in my teaching strategies. Prior to taking this course, I saw blogging as something that undergraduate students did in their spare time. Was I rudely awakened! I see blogging now as a journalistic piece. I read about numerous events and kept abreast of what is going on around the world. I have subscribed to several blogs. I will not be teaching the Pre-K-12 grades, as I am into training adults in industries. I am currently working in the medical software business and plan to communicate internally through blogs. I am trying to start a blog at my workplace, which hopefully will be ready when I leave for a week to Maryland on company business the week of July 23. I will use it as an alternative to email. I like wiki and will try to use it for posting communication: much like a physical bulletin board. This feature of a wiki (the ability to edit, modify, update, delete, add etc.) could really be useful for posting things at work. I like the fact that wikis support posting of powerpoints, graphics, webpages, as well as plain text. I could also use it in training clients. When I do demonstrations (DEMOs) of our software, I thinks it will be a useful tool for diplaying features of the product. Virtual classrooms is also fairly new for me. I had a few synchronous meetings prior to taking this course, but we communicated by typing. This Distance Learning course is the first course in which I used verbal communication in a virtual setting. While I do not have a regular grade school class, my coworkers, clients, and I can use this medium for forums and other forms of meetings. I think I will be using more of the audiovisual type of teleconferencing. I prefer this over telephone or audio conferencing. I like to interact with my colleagus and clients so been able to see gestures and other non-verbal cues are very inportant to me. My employer currently uses a lot of tele- conferencing, but now I am able to make recommendations as to selecting new ones. The internet is not a new tool for me, but I have gained considerable confidence in using it, since I started Distance Learning (EME 6936-907) and anothe internet based class Internet in Education (EME 6936) this term. I learn to create web pages in the Internet class among other things, which will compliment my DL experience. The internet will continue to be the arena where most of the technology I discover will be placed to work. Overall this cousrse has taught me a lot by way of exposing me to different methods and tools for facilitating learning. Some will be put to personal use and others will be implemented in my work environment. I rate this a positive learning experience. Posted on: Thu, May 24 2007 11:47 PM Althea’s Blog My Name:Althea Cameron-Mason I am a graduate student majoring in Curriculum and Instruction, wit a concentration I am a full time student and also work full time. I prefer to do my school work from I have taken a moderate amount of distant courses, using several methods such as Posted on: Sun, May 20 2007 1:04 PM Althea’s Reflection on Distance Learning (R1) Althea’s Reflection on Distance Learning My learning style is a variation of several styles. I tend to use the same ones whether I am participating in a distance course or a traditional one. There are certain limitations I experience when enrolled in distance learning that I am not faced with in traditional school settings. One things I discovered about myself is that I cannot study in a group. I have to study by myself in a quite environment. A large percent of students I have worked with have no problem studying with others. As a result of my ‘lone ranger’ approach to studying, I am quite comfortable with this aspect of a distance curriculum. I learn most by previewing the activity or material, then going back to it and doing a ‘deep’ reading. During the second phase, I underline, take notes, reason out things, ask questions(nonverbal), draw mental pictures that I can see through my mind’s eyes, and if I have doubts at this point, I seek clarification. For the most part I take distance classes because of the convenience. At one point I enjoyed the anonymity, but I found out there were ways to view classmates photos that are displayed publicly by the universities. I would rather take face to face classes where there is more teacher/student interaction. Distance learning could work better for me if I could get feedback faster, and if I have access to a peer group that work in a collaborative manner. My reason for needing this type of support is that there are times when I do not quite “get it” (understand) from the course content and having some form of resource available would be most beneficial. There is the notion among some students that have not experienced a well planned and robust distance program that this form of learning is easy and requires little input. My experience is the contrary. Because the instructor is not present (physically), I have to take the initiative to get things done. The facilitator is available to offer guidance but the burden is on me as far as time management, and asking for help. In this regard I think I am more challenged as a distance learner. This is the first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! |
||||||
|
Copyright © 2024 Althea Cameron-Mason's Weblog - All Rights Reserved |
||||||