My goal for this program is to gain a better understanding of ways to teach through technology. Although I am not a teacher myself, I have always tried to balance the technological aspects of my job, managing a network for an insurance company, with opportunites to teach and help other people expand their knowledge of computers. I have taught MIS classes at St. Louis University, and for 2 years I was a Microsoft Certified Trainier and traveled around the country delivering Microsoft classes. More recently I have taught classes at my company on ways the insurance industry uses technology and computers.
My goal is to use this degree to focus more on the teachning aspects, and not just on the technology. I hope to move into a postion developing content and delivering classes for businesses, or in a post-secondary setting.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Online Learning and the perils of the network
My study group attempted to have our first meeting this past Thursday, and we ran in to some technical difficulties. Not enough people could join a vRoom, so the group could not meet. We were able to communicate using text chant, but we were not able to complete the assignment and collaborate on the document. This got me thinking about some of the potential hurdles people might encounter in online learning, and how to overcome them.
In my "day job" I help manage the network for an insurance company. Although the Internet is becoming more ubiquitous, it is still far from always on. Even power and cable companies experience outages, and both of those could affect someone's ability to get into an online classroom event. In addition technical difficulties, such as computer crashes, server outages, viruses or many other things could limit the ability to complete a class.
The lesson for me is that online learning needs to build in mechanisms for those people who have these challenges. It should be flexible enough so that if someone misses an assignment due to unforeseen circumstances, they can still make it up. Instructors will need to monitor this carefully, so it doesn't turn into the digital version of "The Dog Ate My Homework". I would be curious to know what strategies people come up with to both allow for make-ups, and monitor for over use.
Thoughts?
In my "day job" I help manage the network for an insurance company. Although the Internet is becoming more ubiquitous, it is still far from always on. Even power and cable companies experience outages, and both of those could affect someone's ability to get into an online classroom event. In addition technical difficulties, such as computer crashes, server outages, viruses or many other things could limit the ability to complete a class.
The lesson for me is that online learning needs to build in mechanisms for those people who have these challenges. It should be flexible enough so that if someone misses an assignment due to unforeseen circumstances, they can still make it up. Instructors will need to monitor this carefully, so it doesn't turn into the digital version of "The Dog Ate My Homework". I would be curious to know what strategies people come up with to both allow for make-ups, and monitor for over use.
Thoughts?
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