The final post

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.