Week 1 Surprises...

What did you learn this week that surprised you? 

The one thing that surprised me right off the bat  is that I didn't know that there were so many different terms to describe the education that goes on in the online world. Subtle difference in the wording of term can mean different things to different people (e.g. virtual schooling, online school, online learning, online courses, etc.). I'm still having trouble keeping it straight in my head and definitely noticed that, in responding to the forum posts, that I had to check the PPT to make sure I was using the right time. 



What was the biggest question you were left with at the end of this first week? I guess the biggest question I was left with was how many different models on online schooling are there? Can you generalize about what makes online learning effective, if the models vary? And, how do you even begin to evaluate effectiveness? I looked into this question last semester (a little bit) and felt like researchers avoided looking at outcomes (e.g. grades) in their studies in effectiveness. To be fair though, I was looking specifically at social presence and why it mattered...

Anyway, those are just some quick thoughts...

All about me...

Hello and welcome to my blog!

As you can see, this is not a brand new blog. I decided that I would just continue using a blog I started last semester for a course on the social aspect of ICTs. So if you're interested -- feel free to peruse those entries.

The short story of my life is that I was born in India, raised in Syracuse, NY, did my undergrad studies at SUNY Geneseo (Political Science), and my (first) grad studies at Boston University's School of Education (Administration, Policy). Education was not my intended path after college but somehow I was pulled into it. It all started with a volunteer job tutoring teenagers who wanted to take the GED exam (the high school equivalency exam). From there I went on to teach adults, immigrants mostly, English as a Second language, basic reading and writing skills, as well as citizenship skills. I also spent several years managing a program that helped nontraditional adult learners transition into post-secondary education. This all happened in Boston where I lived for nearly 11 years. I moved to New York City about four years ago (yikes!) and now I work at the Medical Center at 168th Street. I still work with adult learners, just in a different capacity. I manage a program that helps faculty improve their teaching/evaluation skills.

So what made me interested in this course?  I only recently developed an interest in online learning. For my work at the medical center, it almost feels like it could be the answer to all of my low attendance problems. As you can imagine, it's hard for physicians to keep their commitments to attending face-to-face workshops.  When I started the Instructional Technology & Media program, my intention was to really learn how to address this issue. So my hope is that this class, although geared towards a K-12 audience, will help me to think through the issues involved in online learning and help me to think about how I might develop informal online courses or module for the faculty.

And do I have any experience with online learning? Yes, yes I do. Last semester, I took my very first online class. I must admit that I struggled through it and that was not something I expected at all. Although the course content was very interesting to me, I thought that the platform was terrible (ClassWeb, really??), the instructor's expectations weren't clear, and we never got any feedback on our discussion posts. And instead of feeling like I was part of class, I really just felt like I was doing an independent study. The experience actually prompted me to do a little research for my other class on what does make online learning more effective.