My Experiences in Online Learning...

Let me start out by saying that this course has been extremely beneficial to me in my understanding of what makes a great online class or portion of a great online class - both by design and course content. Before this course, I certainly had some ideas, but they weren't necessarily backed up by research, rather they had 'worked' for me before or I had liked certain activities, assignments, discussions when I was learning. Now, I feel like I truly have a grasp for why we should push for online courses or portions of courses and the research that can defend those theories.

In my own student online experience, I have had a mix of courses and situations that have allowed me to reflect on what does and doesn't work. The first online component that is prevalent in most, if not all, online courses is the discussion board. After some of the readings for this course, I've realized just how essential the 'social presence' aspect is in online learning. Discussion boards are clearly a great way to foster social presence. However, I feel that the term 'social presence' implies that interactions and discussions should involve a certain degree of being 'social'. In other online course experiences discussion boards were limited to article discussion or simply responding to a classmate's comment. Social presence? Presence, yes. Social...no. This is not to say that I think discussion boards must be a free-for-all party portion of the class, but I believe students need to be able to respond with some personal experience and knowledge. I appreciate being able to relate what I've read to my situation. I appreciate being asked what 'I' think about something when it seems that so frequently in graduate school, I can only tell what 'research' says in regard to a topic. This course has allowed my classmates and I to become acquainted with each other, to relate to experiences others were having, and has even integrated some fun into the discussion board. I have enjoyed the guidelines for this course because they have increased the conversation, but have also led to tangents that have been relevant to the discussion and to our learning.


The other prominent aspect in online courses seems to be how to disseminate information to students. Reading the latest research can sometimes be cumbersome, but I liked how the articles weren't extremely long, were relevant, and raised questions for me as a student. The other way to explain information in many of my courses has been power point presentations with or without audio. Just as I use infrequent power points to teach in my classroom, I'm not crazy about using them to learn from either. I liked the podcasts and videos in this class because they mixed things up and I didn't feel like I was listening to my instructor practically read off the slides of their presentation. When I listen to something and can preview or follow up with lecture notes, or watch a video, it is much more meaningful because I have to process this information as I'm listening. To be honest, during many power point presentations in previous classes, I would simply skim the slides. I don't think this is the best way to learn as either a student or a teacher.  


Overall, I really learned a ton in this class - not only in regard to research and information, but also about teaching online. I LOVED the "yeah, but..." portion in our article discussions. It's something I hope I can use in my teaching, whether online or F2F. Even though there were times we felt rushed (simply due to the short time frame), I feel like this has been a valuable course in that my learning was so relevant with what I am doing and working to do in my classroom and in our district!