So did anyone reach our photographer friend in California? Bill?
Thomas
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
How Has Online Learning Changed My Education?
Online learning has changed everything. Well, it has certainly changed a lot. Years ago when I first graduated from high school in 1996, the web was still in it's relatively early development. We didn't have the capabilities we have today. A classroom blog was not a feasible plan, nor was a class project like cotc.wetpaint.com. The idea that a classroom could exist in cyber space was not much more than a dream then, and even if it had been, I wasn't interested.
Let's move forward to 2006. I've been working at a job that was less than dreamy for about eight years. Life was simple enough, just not very fulfilling. My wife had been attending classes part time at COTC for a few years now, both on campus and online, and getting a pretty good education while she was at it. My curiosity was aroused. I bet I could go back to school and get a pretty good education at COTC as well, and do it while I continued to work full time. My job offers a fairly flexible schedule, but it would still be necessary to take most of my courses online. Turns out, COTC offers a lot of classes online, I could be a college student without having to step foot on the campus for entire quarters!!
Here we are in 2008, I've been a student at COTC for four quarters now and I've never attended a class on the main campus. I've attended class at The Works, two to be exact, but The Works is about two minutes from my house, doesn't get much more convenient than that.
How has online learning changed the way I perceive education? Almost completely.
Online learning has made it possible for me to not only attend school, but enjoy it as well. I can sit in my sweatpants, drink my coffee, smoke a cigarette and yell at my dogs, all while listening to Bill lecture. Try doing that at the Works.
Has online learning been easy? Sometimes. The ease of being able to pause and resume at my convenience has been invaluable. The option of being able to wait until 11:59 PM to turn in assignments has sometimes been my downfall. I'm a person that hates to do today, what can be put off until tomorrow. In a traditional classroom this was bad enough, but in the online world, it has sometimes been disastrous.
Has it been frustrating? Occasionally. Not getting immediate answers to questions I have for instructors can be very irritating. Waiting on replies to emails is like watching paint dry. In Marketing I had a group project that required coordination of several people. In a traditional classroom, not a big deal, for an online class, very difficult. I have a very different schedule than some and that's why I take online courses. I guess I can see the relevance of being able to coordinate online, but it's not something I expected from Intro to Marketing. If I ruled the online learning world, I would ban group projects.
Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my online learning experience. Just as I suspected and made note of at the beginning of this course, Bill has armed me with an abundance of knowledge that will no doubt help tremendously as I continue in my online learning, not to mention completely changed what I expect from an online course. I have a feeling that next quarter, when I take all online courses again, I won't be nearly as enthused about the lectures as I have been this quarter.
So how has online learning changed the way I perceive education? It has allowed me to feel like I am part of something new and fresh. My input into the system could make it easier for the next person, and their's for the next, and so on. I feel like with the advancement and evolution of the Web, online learning will continue to evolve, or at least it should.
My suggestion, get the instructors on board, teach them how to teach in this environment. Teachers can't be as effective if they don't understand the medium they are using and it has been my experience that some of them clearly don't. I honestly feel like what we are doing right now, blogging, is the future of this medium, or at least it should be.
Thanks to everyone who has commented and shared with me this quarter, I've thoroughly enjoyed the exchanges.
-Zack
Let's move forward to 2006. I've been working at a job that was less than dreamy for about eight years. Life was simple enough, just not very fulfilling. My wife had been attending classes part time at COTC for a few years now, both on campus and online, and getting a pretty good education while she was at it. My curiosity was aroused. I bet I could go back to school and get a pretty good education at COTC as well, and do it while I continued to work full time. My job offers a fairly flexible schedule, but it would still be necessary to take most of my courses online. Turns out, COTC offers a lot of classes online, I could be a college student without having to step foot on the campus for entire quarters!!
Here we are in 2008, I've been a student at COTC for four quarters now and I've never attended a class on the main campus. I've attended class at The Works, two to be exact, but The Works is about two minutes from my house, doesn't get much more convenient than that.
How has online learning changed the way I perceive education? Almost completely.
Online learning has made it possible for me to not only attend school, but enjoy it as well. I can sit in my sweatpants, drink my coffee, smoke a cigarette and yell at my dogs, all while listening to Bill lecture. Try doing that at the Works.
Has online learning been easy? Sometimes. The ease of being able to pause and resume at my convenience has been invaluable. The option of being able to wait until 11:59 PM to turn in assignments has sometimes been my downfall. I'm a person that hates to do today, what can be put off until tomorrow. In a traditional classroom this was bad enough, but in the online world, it has sometimes been disastrous.
Has it been frustrating? Occasionally. Not getting immediate answers to questions I have for instructors can be very irritating. Waiting on replies to emails is like watching paint dry. In Marketing I had a group project that required coordination of several people. In a traditional classroom, not a big deal, for an online class, very difficult. I have a very different schedule than some and that's why I take online courses. I guess I can see the relevance of being able to coordinate online, but it's not something I expected from Intro to Marketing. If I ruled the online learning world, I would ban group projects.
Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my online learning experience. Just as I suspected and made note of at the beginning of this course, Bill has armed me with an abundance of knowledge that will no doubt help tremendously as I continue in my online learning, not to mention completely changed what I expect from an online course. I have a feeling that next quarter, when I take all online courses again, I won't be nearly as enthused about the lectures as I have been this quarter.
So how has online learning changed the way I perceive education? It has allowed me to feel like I am part of something new and fresh. My input into the system could make it easier for the next person, and their's for the next, and so on. I feel like with the advancement and evolution of the Web, online learning will continue to evolve, or at least it should.
My suggestion, get the instructors on board, teach them how to teach in this environment. Teachers can't be as effective if they don't understand the medium they are using and it has been my experience that some of them clearly don't. I honestly feel like what we are doing right now, blogging, is the future of this medium, or at least it should be.
Thanks to everyone who has commented and shared with me this quarter, I've thoroughly enjoyed the exchanges.
-Zack
My online learning experience!
Online learning for me this quarter has been frustrating! All the way down to trying to do a group project where NO ONE communicated with each other until a week before the final! I love the experience of learning online - which teaches you self discipline because you have to know where to budget your time!!!! And you have to teach yourself that there is a deadline, but no one is there to remind you . . . I learned a lot from online learning all the way down to that. At times throughout this quarter I have felt overwhelmed and thought this was impossible. How does everyone else make it look sooo easy? I work full time and I am trying to be a full time student as well, and this quarter proved very challanging!
The advantages of online learning definately over-run the disadvantages! The ability to replay the lectures over and over if I want to - or even the ability to study at your own convience and pace.
It was a great experience! :-)
The advantages of online learning definately over-run the disadvantages! The ability to replay the lectures over and over if I want to - or even the ability to study at your own convience and pace.
It was a great experience! :-)
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 changed how everyone uses the web nowadays! Look at MySpace and FaceBook - which is not only a social connection, but gets you closer the the six-degrees from anyone!! So many people use these sites everyday - and what better way to show your life to someone than on the Internet?? Write a book? How many people actually read a paper book anymore when you can read it online?!?!?!? Web 2.0 has changed communication in the world! I am a perfect example of using Web 2.0 to send an email to someone rather than calling them. LET ALONE: YOU CAN ACTUALLY CALL SOMEONE THROUGH YOUR COMPUTER NOW!!!! I don't even have to pick up my phone!
It is crazy to someone like my mom, who never thought the Internet would become this popular or accessible to everyone and everything!
It is crazy to someone like my mom, who never thought the Internet would become this popular or accessible to everyone and everything!
How has technology changed my education?
Well, technology has changed education tremendously for both me and everyone else. The convience of being able to take a class while sitting in the comforts of my home, to take a class without having to changed my normal routines, and even to be able to take a class while having my nephew here.
Technology has changed my education to make it easier (in some senses) to attempt to fulfill my dreams in life. I have to convience of being at home instead of driving in bad road conditions or better yet, the accessability of being on vacation and still taking classes without missing a beat. It has simplified life to a degree.
I grew up around computers, both in school and at home, but officially did not become too familiar with them until high school.
Jes
Technology has changed my education to make it easier (in some senses) to attempt to fulfill my dreams in life. I have to convience of being at home instead of driving in bad road conditions or better yet, the accessability of being on vacation and still taking classes without missing a beat. It has simplified life to a degree.
I grew up around computers, both in school and at home, but officially did not become too familiar with them until high school.
Jes
Monday, December 8, 2008
Online Experience
Online learning has opened a whole other option to learning for me when it comes to my education. I really enjoy learning online and it gives me a chance to learn content without relying on notes or memory. I can watch my lectures 6 times over if I need to or pause the lecture to cross reference the material being discussed. I can't even begin to describe how valuable it is to me to be able to control my lessons. Discipline plays a huge part of online learning for me as well, staying on task sometimes tries to become a problem especially when I am looking up material discussed and it sends me into other directions that are just as interesting. Or just keeping all my assignments in track, especially when taking 4 other classes online, things get a little muddled up every so often. The Experience of online learning is a nice break from traditional classroom experience, and to keep it simple I like the control I have over it. Although what I am learning and how it is presented is the biggest part of the experience. Business classes online are dreadfully boring where as E-life and DigiFun gave me something to look forward to. The E-life experience was by far the best one, it gave me a sense of enlightenment. It sparked my curiosity and had my mind reeling for days about all the stuff I knew was out there but never really paid attention to. I was amazed mostly by the anthropology parts of it and the philosophical aspects involved with this class. There isn't one single thing that sticks out that made me think "I wish I could change that." That might seem like a cop out but I really like online learning.Sunday, December 7, 2008
The Merits of Online Learning
The way I assess whether or not I've learned or have been impacted by something is by keeping aware of its influence in my daily life. They say that it takes consistent behavior modification over a period of several weeks to make something a habit, part of human routine. Add or subtract a week and the underlying idea is valid. Over time we become influenced by our environment. Or at least we should. I believe that receiving an education is similar. Activity and passivity share a fine line, but by actively taking a step towards understanding and applying, it's a fine line that is never crossed. Has this class, or, rather, has online learning influenced me in any way? Was it rewarding or frustrating? May I say yes and both?
I'm eager to understand the Web more but also anthropology. I found myself thinking about the influence of the Web on society as a whole and I'm eager to see where it goes. If something causes me to ponder it while in the shower then it has indeed influenced me. And there were many times I found myself doing just that. Luckily for most of you, you have no idea what I look like, so you're spared the visual. Sorry, Bill. Kathlyn.
While this class was enriching, it was exhausting to say the least. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it is a combination of several personal and academic factors. There was much content to cover. Covering it myself, as is the idea of online learning, was enjoyable; however, some of the content was somewhat dense (some of the videos we had to watch outside of the normal lecture). However, the fact that there are professionals who are making a living off the IDEA of the Web or trying to understand it and predict it goes to show that it isn't an ill-fated fad. If one wishes to get in on this market (I do), then learning as much about it as possible is desirable...even if some of the linked lecturers were drips or quite drab.
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