Reflection on On-Line Learning

I have to be honest, on-line courses are a challenge for me. I did not have to do any of this kind of thing until I began my program in supervision last fall. I hate to say it, but as an undergraduate we stood “on-line” ( I mean a real line...) just to register for classes. Not even that was computerized yet. As a graduate student we had progressed to the telephone line for class registration. So, needless to say, when I began my courses for a supervisor’s certificate I was slightly lost when it came to using Blackboard, Blogs, etc...

In addition to this, I am not using the most advanced technology at home. Again, I would not want to shout this from the rooftops, but I am still using dial up internet. As a result of all of this, I have had to jump through some hoops to complete parts of the on-line work. Now, as I look back on what I have learned I can say that I really learned a lot from the challenge of this. If you asked me this on Columbus Day when I spent my day off bouncing back and forth from the town library computers and bugging my family and friends about a movie I had to make, you may have received a different answer. I realize how important it is to keep up with technology. I would really enjoy being able to incorporate more of it into my classroom. This has given me a bit more confidence to do so.

For the future, it might be a good idea to do some quick mini training sessions in class on the skills that are needed for the on-line classes. This would be helpful to those students who are technically challenged, such as myself :)