The Joys of On-line Learning

The readings for Week 1 of the beautiful BaW course focused on strategies for successful on-line learning. When looking at what is expected of students who participate in on-line courses, guess what?! The suggestions for being a successful student on-line are similar to being a successful student in a real-live classroom! However, instead of being required to be on time to class, you are expected to log-on regularly to see if new information has been provided. Also, as common in many educational contexts, you are required to commit to succeed.

To me, the most interesting point mentioned about on-line learning is that students HAVE to participate to become successful in the course, and I can see both a positive and negative side to this. The student that might have been comfortable sitting in the back of the room drawing daisies instead of speaking in class is no longer allowed that luxury. Or, the on-line medium could be an arena in which some feel more comfortable expressing their ideas instead of a face to face setting. However, if a student is not comfortable with their writing ability, participation and the amount of information the student retains could be minimal. A potential hinderance of student participation is the occurrence of a technical malfunction that prevents a student to complete their readings. Hmmmm...I think that might be happening to me with the BaW Week 2 readings....