My online experience so far...

Hi everyone,

I started off with the same thoughts as Julia with regard to studying online ‘it feels like an added chore - too many access points to remember: the Blog, iweb, WebCT, our extensive reading lists ... I feel obliged to access’, but as time is going on, and I am starting to get my head around things – I quite like having everything at my fingertips. However, yesterday I couldn’t access the blog due to my ‘cookies’, which was an annoyance, and I have also managed to wipe my entire portfolio. The portfolio now needs to be re-created, and I don’t have a clue how to do it, and I also don’t have the time…so, at the same time, studying online can all be a bit of a pain when things go wrong - I think I may be quite undecided at the moment as to how I feel! There are pro’s and con’s as with everything I suppose.

My feelings about contributing publically from the experience of this module so far – well, I believe it is quite good for me. I am sure that you all noticed with the 2 weeks we spent in class with Julie and Martha, that I was not the fastest at coming forward with my ideas and opinions. There are many reasons for this, but I would put the main reason down to confidence. I am sure if the lessons had continued, I would have begun to participate more, but then again – maybe I wouldn’t. Although I knew what I was doing, and really wanted to up my level of participation, I just found it really difficult to do so. With having to contribute here on the blog – it forces me to do something I may have tried to not do in the classroom – which is to actually say something. This isn’t because I can use this way of learning to adopt a different persona (I don’t think anyway!!), but I have the time to think about what I want to say, and the moment hasn’t passed before I build myself up to say something. I also find it easier to explain myself in writing, more than I do in speech, and I also can absorb what others are saying, as I can read it more than once. So, as much as I miss certain aspects of studying in the classroom – I do believe that this is very good for me because if I try not to say anything on the blog, it is all down in black and white (or not as the case may be!)

I believe that having the experience of being an ‘online’ student will be of benefit to my teaching in the future, just because I will be able to put myself in the students’ shoes, and relate more to the fears that they may have around online learning. I was rather worried before I wrote my first ‘blog’, and even though I didn’t write very much – it still took me ages. I was worried about all kinds of things with regard to the ‘contributing publically’. Now, I am a native speaker of English – so imagine the worry of a non-native student when writing to their tutor or contributing to a blog (although I’m sure they would do it much quicker than me!)

Claire