It isn't quite the beginning of the year anymore...but it is the beginning of my website! This is a project I have contemplated and pondered and daydreamed about for some time now, and this year I finally made it happen -- and still in January, to boot.
I have blogged off and on for several years. Writing has always been a way for me to make sense of my experiences, as well as to share them with others. It may just be for an audience of one -- but I think I would continue to do it anyway!
I have some new professional challenges on the horizon that I´m interested in exploring here. This semester, I am teaching a fully-online class for the first time, in addition to a blended class that I have previously taught but plan to add some more tricks and tools to. Besides this, I signed up for my first MOOC, as well as a professional development seminar (also partially online) at the university where I work.
MOOCs, and online learning in general, are quite controversial -- and with good reason. The former has been touted by many as a way to make education accessible to everyone, and the latter as the future of education and a big money saver for schools, but the reality of both is complicated. While I believe that technology must be integrated into schools, and that education urgently needs to adapt to the changing needs of the 21st century, these modifications must happen in a thoughtful way. Thus, I am entering into these new experiences with an open mind, and with more questions than answers. Will my learning, and that of my students, be meaningful? Will the content of courses be vigorous? In what ways will communication and interaction be fostered and enabled? Just how much will I and my students feel the lack of a human element in our learning? How problematic is it to learn only by facing your computer screen? Will I, in the MOOC, genuinely feel a part of a global learning community?
Stay tuned for more about my experiences....
I have blogged off and on for several years. Writing has always been a way for me to make sense of my experiences, as well as to share them with others. It may just be for an audience of one -- but I think I would continue to do it anyway!
I have some new professional challenges on the horizon that I´m interested in exploring here. This semester, I am teaching a fully-online class for the first time, in addition to a blended class that I have previously taught but plan to add some more tricks and tools to. Besides this, I signed up for my first MOOC, as well as a professional development seminar (also partially online) at the university where I work.
MOOCs, and online learning in general, are quite controversial -- and with good reason. The former has been touted by many as a way to make education accessible to everyone, and the latter as the future of education and a big money saver for schools, but the reality of both is complicated. While I believe that technology must be integrated into schools, and that education urgently needs to adapt to the changing needs of the 21st century, these modifications must happen in a thoughtful way. Thus, I am entering into these new experiences with an open mind, and with more questions than answers. Will my learning, and that of my students, be meaningful? Will the content of courses be vigorous? In what ways will communication and interaction be fostered and enabled? Just how much will I and my students feel the lack of a human element in our learning? How problematic is it to learn only by facing your computer screen? Will I, in the MOOC, genuinely feel a part of a global learning community?
Stay tuned for more about my experiences....