BLOG 8: Final Reflection

I enjoyed this course very much. As research shows, educational technology courses work best when there is a global community formed. This works best when students know each other. Although this is a distance course, we met as a class four times throughout the semester. This helped foster a community feeling. This enabled us to communicate effectively with Blackboards and our blogs. I have experienced distance education courses before where I never met anyone in the course. I was distant and didn't even know whose post I was commented on. It is much more effective to know one another. Also, I appreciated that the syllabus was outlined before we began. In distance courses, one must carefully pace themselves weekly, or else they will get overwhelmed. It takes discipline. In the future, I might state that the My Education Lab in our textbook is optional. It is supposed to serve as an additional resource. The first few weeks I thought it was part of the reading. Therefore, I read and watched all the My Education Lab videos which was very time-consuming. Although it is an excellent resource, some of the information I already knew, and watching the videos was not a productive use of time. However, that was my fault! I liked that this course clearly stated the technology terms. This was an excellent text to help those of us new to technology learn at a comfortable pace. Once I finished the assignments, I felt more confident. The most important part was having a buddy in the class that I could call when I was stuck on something. Again, fostering a global community prior is very important.