Friday, October 2, 2009
How I Feel About Online Learning
Well, we are a full third of the way done with classes this semester. After five weeks of experiencing my first online course, I must say that I do like it. I like being able to do class work on my schedule, and it opens up my week much more so I can work more often and prepare more for my other classes than I otherwise normally would. However, this is also my biggest issue with online learning: learning is on my teams. I have a hard time keeping up with it, as I am doing more work in my other classes and working more, too. Procrastination has always been a problem for me, and now the fact that this online course falls solely on my shoulders, I seem to be slipping a bit behind. I need to remind myself to continue checking up with it throughout the week, instead of realizing that its Thursday and I still haven't written on the discussion boards. I hope that, now knowing what it is all about, I can become more motivated to do the work and complete it early instead of last minute.
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Ben, I think a lot of students have difficulty with procrastination in an online class. I have gone through that as well. My strategy is to schedule times each week that would be equivalent to being in a physical class. So, right now, i have 4 hours scheduled and I'll read and respond to blog entries for everyone in ED 205. I suspect that this will take me over 3 hours, but it's on my calendar and as long as I don't get distracted then I'll knock this task out here on Tuesday. If students could schedule time on Tuesday to read through readings and get started on discussions then scheduling some more time on Wednesday or Thursday would finish up discussions. But actually building time into your weekly schedule seems to be a key to successfully completing an online course without always feeling rushed and behind because of the flexibility. I think most students use the flexibility as code for, "fit it in when you can" and that time seems to evaporate before you know it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.