Second Week

My discussion on social presence went well. The goals were met and I believe everyone learned a little something on the way. We discovered that familiarity and the individuals learning environment play a key role in a student’s ability to develop social presence because students are more comfortable with their surroundings which causes them to participate more frequently. I was quite surprised of the time commitment an online activity takes to complete. The development piece of the activity was really a small part of the whole process. It was the maintenance of the discussion that took the most time. As a class, I would say that everyone also realized how important the instructor was to the productivity of an online assignment. This I think is often overlooked when dealing with an online environment, but it was very evident from the get go that the instructor was the main cog in the development and control of the learning environment.

In our present discussion, we are covering communication, and how it affects learners. As an instructor, we need to familiar with our students learning styles, and we need to address these issues when developing online content. Instructors of online instruction must also remain flexible. Most of the students taking online courses are adults, and they have other happenings in their life that can disrupt the learning process. This is often difficult for some, me included, because they are rigid in their time constraints. We are also learning that when developing online content more is not always better. Sometimes the depth of communication involving a few activities is better than just touching on several menial tasks.

First Week

This week has been a little hectic because I had the first topic of discussion which was social presence. I created my second webquest ever and I think it turned out ok. It was an interesting topic because it is something you have always felt needed addressed. I can see some definite attempts by the university to increase social presence. I have only been taking online courses for two years now, but with the text messaging, "argh" group activities, and increased instructor feedback, there seems to be a feeling of being there. You don't seem as isolated.

We also created some interesting introductions with the use of Google Earth. I liked this idea very much, and it will be one I probably steal for my own students at the high school. Our class seems to be a diverse group after looking at the introductions, and it should provide us with an interesting learning environment.


Don Bates