Originally, I wasn’t sure what this course was going to be
like. I knew that it was about online learning, but that was about it. When I found
out that we would be creating an online course of our own, I was intrigued but
naively I didn’t think it would be that difficult. I consider myself pretty
tech-savvy: I’m only 24; I don’t remember what life was like without a
computer. However, this experience has been pretty eye-opening for me. I don’t
think I was truly aware of the difference between face to face teaching and
online education until I had to start creating a unit. The actual assignments
have been fairly easy to create—they are similar to things I have had students
do in the past, and I think I’m fairly skilled at verbalizing my thoughts on
paper. However, creating the actual CMS has been a whole different story. I
never realized how much work went into organizing an online course. I spent
about 3 hours messing around with my wiki, trying to get it to look like I wanted
to, and at the end of that time period I felt like I had put a lot of effort in
but had little to show for it—I was still far from finished. I have gained such
a better understanding of and appreciation for the preparation that goes into
making online learning effective. This is something that I definitely won’t
forget as I continue to improve my wiki to get it to the point where it will be
a valuable addition to my sophomore class in the fall.
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