April 21, 2010 & April 22, 2010
This is it for the grading portion of the learning journal; however, I have a feeling this will not be the end to the learning journal. I have benefited greatly from this journal; regardless, of the bumpy road that I have had with this. I have regrets of not posting more and that I was not fully grasping the concepts of the journal; however, I guess these are all aspects of learning. The five adjectives that would describe my participation in the course are determined, victorious, energetic, successful, and bumpy. My participation in the course was determined as I was determined to overcome not understanding the theories at first glance and read through them a couple of times to make a quality post in the conference.
Also, I was determined to continue posting even at times when I was tired and warn out from all of the readings. I was victorious as I overcame not understanding the learning journal and was able to make many post that assisted with the learning process for myself and other learners. My participation was energetic as I constantly was posting responses and reading all of the readings to make a full understanding of what was happening in the course. Additionally, my participation was bumpy as I was discouraged sometimes with where I was at in the learning process, and encourage at times when I was successful in the understanding of the articles. Overall, my participation in the course was successful as I was able to accomplish a large amount of interaction that was greatly beneficial for my learning experience. My strength that I was able to bring to the table was a solid argument in my conference posts. The strenght was best exhibited when I truly understood the authors delivery of content. The strength was also exhibited in this course when I felt comfortable with making my posts. I was nervous to make posts that I was unsure of as it felt like all the other learners, truly understood the content all of the time (though I am sure this is not true).
The major aspect of myself that I have discovered as an online learner is that I persevere. I keep going even when I have made an argument that is not favorable in a course. I keep reading when I don't fully understand an article and I keep trying at assignments even though I may not have received the most favorable grade on the previous assignment. I persevere through the thick and the rough times of being an online learner, and I keep trying to learn tough material, even though it seems impossible sometimes. This course regardless of the grade that ensues has assisted me in learning a great deal about myself as an online learner and more about the distance education community. Usually, I look forward to the end of the course and now I look forward the beginning of another learning goal.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The final reflection before the conclusion
April 19, 2010
I found that this week it has been hard to focus with the end so near to the course. We have been reading more data filled reports, which I found it hard to change over from theory as I was starting to really enjoy the challenge of reading a good theoretical perspective. Its similar to the construction of a skyscraper, as it is difficult to truly understand how a theory and a skyscraper are built, also the distance that skyscrapers and theories go is amazing. I feel that this course has really brought me a greater understanding of my learning and how I construct knowledge. I was reflecting a little bit ago about community as we have discussed it a great deal in this course, and I was thinking about a note that I had placed in the discussion cafe about my grandfather being extremely ill and me being out of WebTycho for that reason. This post had 11 responses with all wishes and prayers for me and my family. I have never been a true believer that online courses have a great deal of community; however, similar to face-to-face courses, I guess its not that their is no community, rather people just need to get warmed up to one another. Its moments like that post that you realize that many other learners are all in the group doing the same thing that you are doing and that their is a community that exist in e-learning. On a different note, the learning journal has been a challenge for me not only with learning how to reflect on my learning experiences but also the challenge of transferring everything from my thoughts to the word document and then from the word document to the journal (or blog). I keep looking back through my reflections and it is hard to believe what I had believed in the past. I thought about making edits; however, that would not be my true time line of learning experiences. I guess I now understand the value of the learning journal. Now that I am starting to understand the benefits of the learning journal, the project is coming to an end (the graded portion) and I want to keep writing.
I found that this week it has been hard to focus with the end so near to the course. We have been reading more data filled reports, which I found it hard to change over from theory as I was starting to really enjoy the challenge of reading a good theoretical perspective. Its similar to the construction of a skyscraper, as it is difficult to truly understand how a theory and a skyscraper are built, also the distance that skyscrapers and theories go is amazing. I feel that this course has really brought me a greater understanding of my learning and how I construct knowledge. I was reflecting a little bit ago about community as we have discussed it a great deal in this course, and I was thinking about a note that I had placed in the discussion cafe about my grandfather being extremely ill and me being out of WebTycho for that reason. This post had 11 responses with all wishes and prayers for me and my family. I have never been a true believer that online courses have a great deal of community; however, similar to face-to-face courses, I guess its not that their is no community, rather people just need to get warmed up to one another. Its moments like that post that you realize that many other learners are all in the group doing the same thing that you are doing and that their is a community that exist in e-learning. On a different note, the learning journal has been a challenge for me not only with learning how to reflect on my learning experiences but also the challenge of transferring everything from my thoughts to the word document and then from the word document to the journal (or blog). I keep looking back through my reflections and it is hard to believe what I had believed in the past. I thought about making edits; however, that would not be my true time line of learning experiences. I guess I now understand the value of the learning journal. Now that I am starting to understand the benefits of the learning journal, the project is coming to an end (the graded portion) and I want to keep writing.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
A look back at an earlier discussion
April 11, 2010
The light bulb has finally turned on and stayed on with the constructivist approach to learning. I re-read the post (#56) that the instructor had placed in the "Must-read" section on February 16, 2010 in regards to one of my earlier posts. As I was reading through the post I was expecting that I would still have a difference in opinions from my fellow classmates and the instructor. However, after reading what I had wrote (e.g. "It is the responsibility of the organization to ensure that equivalent education is distributed to both of these types of students." and "Additionally, the learning experience should be the same for different students."), I have found nothing but errors with what I was saying. The responses to these discussion post were much earlier in my learning and now it has certainly been interesting to read back through the posts and find the errors in what I was stating. I found that the constructivist theory on learning is truly fascinating as it implies that learning should be different for each learner as no learner is the same.
The light bulb has finally turned on and stayed on with the constructivist approach to learning. I re-read the post (#56) that the instructor had placed in the "Must-read" section on February 16, 2010 in regards to one of my earlier posts. As I was reading through the post I was expecting that I would still have a difference in opinions from my fellow classmates and the instructor. However, after reading what I had wrote (e.g. "It is the responsibility of the organization to ensure that equivalent education is distributed to both of these types of students." and "Additionally, the learning experience should be the same for different students."), I have found nothing but errors with what I was saying. The responses to these discussion post were much earlier in my learning and now it has certainly been interesting to read back through the posts and find the errors in what I was stating. I found that the constructivist theory on learning is truly fascinating as it implies that learning should be different for each learner as no learner is the same.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
paper reflections
April 8, 2010
I am currently working on the position paper and it is intriguing to discover the knowledge building that has happened throughout the semester. As I am re-reading many of the articles and chapters that were read and discussed throughout the semester, many of the concepts are still (surprisingly) fresh on my mind. I guess it holds true that if you are interested in what you are reading and learning than it is more apt to stay with you (long term memory). The paper is progressing relatively fast and I do not think their could be a better way to finish up the course than to read through all of the materials that have been read thus far, and refresh on many of the topics. Also, it is interesting to read through the requirements of the assignment and be able to understand what is being asked of me. At the beginning of the course I would have had no idea what was being asked as far as why the terms of the assignment are inappropriate.
I am currently working on the position paper and it is intriguing to discover the knowledge building that has happened throughout the semester. As I am re-reading many of the articles and chapters that were read and discussed throughout the semester, many of the concepts are still (surprisingly) fresh on my mind. I guess it holds true that if you are interested in what you are reading and learning than it is more apt to stay with you (long term memory). The paper is progressing relatively fast and I do not think their could be a better way to finish up the course than to read through all of the materials that have been read thus far, and refresh on many of the topics. Also, it is interesting to read through the requirements of the assignment and be able to understand what is being asked of me. At the beginning of the course I would have had no idea what was being asked as far as why the terms of the assignment are inappropriate.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Best practices
April 2, 2010
Recently, I have been reflecting on best practices and what they are to me. I was trying to consider if the answer that I provided in my discussion post were the diplomatic response or what I think is truly the 5 best practices. After some careful review and consideration, I believe that these are my personal choices of the best practices that I have gathered in my readings. Often times, I wonder if my response is truly reflecting of my thoughts on a subject or if it is the subject of many readings and a summary of those readings. In the future I am going to take a longer break between the readings and the discussion post as I believe this may help provide a greater amount of reflection, where I can reflect on what I have read and then incorporate the readings and my own interpretations into the discussion post itself. I have been in the program for a year now and it always amazes me how much learning is happening.
Recently, I have been reflecting on best practices and what they are to me. I was trying to consider if the answer that I provided in my discussion post were the diplomatic response or what I think is truly the 5 best practices. After some careful review and consideration, I believe that these are my personal choices of the best practices that I have gathered in my readings. Often times, I wonder if my response is truly reflecting of my thoughts on a subject or if it is the subject of many readings and a summary of those readings. In the future I am going to take a longer break between the readings and the discussion post as I believe this may help provide a greater amount of reflection, where I can reflect on what I have read and then incorporate the readings and my own interpretations into the discussion post itself. I have been in the program for a year now and it always amazes me how much learning is happening.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Feedback and further thoughts - Week 10
April 1, 2010
Reading through longer articles such as Lewis and Abdul-Hamid's article, I find myself constantly taking breaks to reflect on discussions in the article. I almost wonder if it is true that we are becoming a Google Generation that is unable to process large amounts of information without breaks. One of the discussions that caught my eye in this article (also discussed this in the course conference) is the idea of providing solutions only to those students that submit assignments. This fascinates me as I wonder if the same principle could be used for interactivity online? Could we provide some incentive (other than grading) that would encourage thought provoking discussion? The idea of having a graded discussion, almost is similar to the idea of grading a portion of the class for showing up to face-to-face classes; basically, students do what they have to do (nothing more nothing less) as far as attendance goes to get a descent grade. What if students had to participate in a portion of the discussion in order to obtain a password that would allow them to join another discussion area, would this eliminate witness learning? I often find it difficult as a learner to put my thoughts out on the table for criticism; while you know that another learner is watching the discussion and not being criticized at all.
Reading through longer articles such as Lewis and Abdul-Hamid's article, I find myself constantly taking breaks to reflect on discussions in the article. I almost wonder if it is true that we are becoming a Google Generation that is unable to process large amounts of information without breaks. One of the discussions that caught my eye in this article (also discussed this in the course conference) is the idea of providing solutions only to those students that submit assignments. This fascinates me as I wonder if the same principle could be used for interactivity online? Could we provide some incentive (other than grading) that would encourage thought provoking discussion? The idea of having a graded discussion, almost is similar to the idea of grading a portion of the class for showing up to face-to-face classes; basically, students do what they have to do (nothing more nothing less) as far as attendance goes to get a descent grade. What if students had to participate in a portion of the discussion in order to obtain a password that would allow them to join another discussion area, would this eliminate witness learning? I often find it difficult as a learner to put my thoughts out on the table for criticism; while you know that another learner is watching the discussion and not being criticized at all.
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