Module+7+Week+12

Reflect on how you perceive yourself as an online learner? Are you well-prepare to be an online leaner? Tell us about what you need to improve in order to be a successful online learner.


 * Description** - At this point I think I am an adequate online learner. I am neither great, nor terrible, but somewhere right in the middle. I would say this because I am a procrastinator by nature and deadlines just seem to speak to me. My life is so incredibly busy, that I often will put off items that do not interest me that are not due right away. In that way online learning really gets to me because I can easily get behind and feel overwhelmed. The only good thing about that anxiety is it forces me to get my work done. I like the idea of online learning, but when it comes down to it I like those face to face meetings, too. I think it is important to get to know your classmates. You can build connections and networks with those faces and opinions. I am not someone who believes an online profile is an accurate description of what people are like, which is one of the many reasons I refuse to go to Facebook. I think to be a superior online learner, I would need to completely change my persona and become more focused on working as I go. I really need to work throughout the week instead of waiting till the end of the week because honestly, when the weekend comes I often do not feel like working. I know I can probably do better work if I would work more during the week, but my motivation is lacking and my lack of energy is an effect of that.


 * Impact** - I do feel like online learning is a valuable tool to use in the classroom, but I think it needs to be a tool, not just the norm. Discussion posts are great in so many ways. I use this frequently in my classroom with written responses, but an online discussion posting like Moodle would fulfill the same concept and allow me to use direct feedback either on a daily basis or at least a couple times a week. At this point I spend a good portion of my weekend grading these papers when I could grade them throughout the week. Of course to make this work and replace my current model I would need wifi and a computer for every student, but that may not be that far off in the future. I really think that the students would end up really liking this type of education. I think as long as a teacher was still willing to teach the material and then setting the students off to completing the task is best direction for education at this time.


 * Intent** - The biggest benefit for online learning is you can complete your work at all times of the day. The commercials even insist that you can work in your pajamas. Although that is great to a certain extent, the reality for me is I miss the human contact. I only see pictures and tabs of information and that does not have the human contact which has been education since the dawn of time. People learn best from people through interaction and understanding. I fear that if we simply rely on the web to teach us everything we will simply lose some of these relationships we build with teachers and classmates. I may change my opinion as I get older, but right now I really believe that online learning would be best as an addition to the everyday classroom not as a replacement.