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.
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.
Hi Deepa,
ReplyDeleteJudging by your blog, we must have been in the Social ICT class together! I believe that the instructor is SO instrumental in the success of an online class, which is why I am here. Like you, I am interesting in teaching adults as well but methodologies remain the same. I have taken a few courses online at TC, and although I referred to one in another post that was fantastic and had an incredible amount of interaction, I took another this summer that made me wonder if the instructor was even there. The syllabus was posted at the beginning, and people did the assignments, but there was a missing component and upon meeting my peers during f2f classes we collectively wondered if the teacher had even been present during the summer course. We all even got the exact same grade! So I really think the quality of the class depends on both the instruction (instructor), the platform, and the peer to peer learning that happens.
Nice to have you in class again!