Webskills Course - Week One Reflections

Introduction

Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web is my first formal online course which if done well can fetch me a certificate! But am I doing this for the sake of a certificate? Honestly, NO! Even if there were no certificates or formal recognition I believe I would have done it anyway. Then what is this soft feeling towards the certificate? Well I believe it has to do with the ambiance the course is creating. It feels like going back to school where one has a teacher and classmates and is asked to do things as part of learning and assessment. I do not know whether I can use ‘discipline’ as a word to capture what I experience! May be I think I should say ‘Yes’!

I am not at all new to the web and I use it quite extensively to get several things - personal, professional, academic - done. I have noticed how subtly the web can swallow my time even before I notice it. Sometimes I end up with too little take-away value; but too much of investment in terms of time. Another nature of web is that it is overloaded with information. If somebody has put something on say anything, using a search engine anybody can easily (?) get that information and many a times that can lead to another search, then another search that very soon one is lost in an information maze. 

Through experience I now know that self discipline is something that is of prime importance for anybody who is interested in using the web for anything. Lately out of this realisation I have started my own effort in that direction. I will try all that web has to offer; but in moderation. The Webskills course that I am doing now is like a place for me to work out this enlightenment.

The first week of the course is about to be over and so much has happened in so little time and looking back now I know I am yet to have a system in place. By this I mean a regular log in, log out time. Hopefully that will be in place very soon.

What I did and learned?

Though the course was opened on Oct 1 as previously announced I could not join it on that day. I was on the move and wished I had a device that would help me to stay connected while I am travelling. This experience also reminded me about the digital divide that can be found in many parts of the world which could be in the form of lack of devices or connectivity or digital illiteracy or anything else. 

By the time I was able to be on board two days had gone past.

Initially like any other online participant I too lurked and had a look at the course website and the Nicenet. I never have heard about Nicenet before and was happy to see/learn how it functions. Once logged in I read the already posted introductions and was surprised to see the participants from all around the globe. 

Courtney Cunningham, My Course Instructor

I decided to make my web presence for the course by responding to the online questionnaire. 

Then a day or two later (by then Courtney  had grown a little weary about my absence and got in touch to enquire whether I am facing any technical glitches) I posted my introduction. While doing this I did not do it the right way. My introduction appeared as a reply to Courtney's introduction and by the time I found out this, the site would not allow me to delete but only edit the post. So I had to leave a reply to all those who had participated in that thread before moving on to post my introduction as a separate entry.

There are two more Nicenet threads that I need to participate which I think I will do after my first reflective blog post which is this.

By then Courtney had put up a wiki version of the WebSkills course for the Fall 2012 participants and one thing that caught my imagination was the Google Map feature that she had incorporated there. I use this application whenever I travel; but I have not yet explored it beyond checking my own whereabouts while I travel. So the resource links (especially the 'Directions for how to use a Google Map') that she had put up I found particularly useful.

Building an online community sometimes can be challenging especially when people are not ready to collaborate. The internet has democratised the learningscape; however, much still depends on the participation of the people involved. I knew I simply cannot think my work is done right after I post something. Instead I need to respond at least to one another participant's contribution and build meaningful conversations. The era of 'I-know-it-all' or 'I'll-talk-only-to-the-teacher' is gone.

Classroom Application

All that I had done and learned can be shared with my learners when I try out such things with them. Since many things I myself have learned as a learner I believe this will help me to  look things from a learner's perspective.

The resources that I have been introduced - Google Sites, Nicenet, Google Map, Blogger - can all be part of the web tools that I can use in my class.