The Path to my Masters

The last two weeks have been so busy. I have learned a lot about time commitment and also some of the neat tools to use for my course. I am very focused on this being a really great course and something that may be would lead to being actually used somewhere. I do not think my company will.

Anne gave me a wonderful compliment on being a natural in creating a community feeling. One thing I have learned in all the courses that I have taken, that without a community and without a good teacher presence by not only by the students but by the teacher, your course will be flat and not engaging. The reason I said that the way I did is because when I first read about teaching presence, I thought it only reflected only on the teacher. But then in reading and thinking about it, the students actually create more presence than the teacher if you do it right. I learned so much from my students when I taught in a classroom. They not only taught me about the weakness in my course and my inability to convey the material to a level they could comprehend, they taught me how to look outside my all knowing presence. I think that this is something that is so valuable to a teacher: to come to the reality and understanding that they are not the only ones who know the subject. It is partially ego and partially thinking that teachers have to know everything about their material. But how can one person be the sole omnipotent soul when it comes to a subject? Material, for lack of a better name, curriculum for a pedagogical name, should be a living and breathing entity that grows and flourishes under the tutelage of the whole class, be it on line of f2f. This to me was freeing as it takes the burden of being perfect and put the teacher in a place of being human.

So now as I progress through the building of my class, I am comfortable in setting up learner-center activities that will never be the same way twice. It is because the students won’t be either. But if designed to invoke and allow for creativity in the desired result, it will keep the class fresh for me and the students.

The other thing I have discovered is that I love Moodle. I wish I had more experience and I hope I will have an opportunity to do just that, but I think it is easy and creative. There are things I wish I knew how to use but I am not sure of all the things I can do. I will experiment. I love using Jing and have one already in the course and it is going to be how I do my orientation in the very beginning. I am very grateful that Alex is giving us two weeks to work on our courses and no discussions. It will give the time I need and want to spend on the course. I am excited about what I am creating and I cannot wait to spend time looking at everyone else’s projects.

Jane (3)