Webskills Course - Week Three Reflections

Introduction

What a learning week this had been especially for the online learner in me!

Week two had been lull for various reasons - personal largely - the proof of which is the missing blog post (this does not mean that I didn't do anything or learned anything that week; but that is yet to be reflected and recorded). I was drifting away I know and somehow I couldn't do anything about that feeling. However, through the timely intervention of my course tutor Courtney I believe I am a better online learner now. As the course is unfolding I can sense the learning curve getting slightly steeper (may be this is purely subjective) and know for sure that unless one has a plan and that too a solid s/he cannot survive.

What I did and learned

It took me a while to understand that the weekly course requirements have four distinct strands. These are namely:

1. I've to participate twice in a weekly discussion. 
2. Do a weekly task and post reflections on that. 
3. Update on a step of the final project. 
4. Finally update the blog. 

The four seems simple on paper (blog here); but for a learner like me who wanted to do all in one go they posed a big challenge and made me run away and hide. However, through a series of mails with Courtney I think I know better the nature of the beast I'm dealing with.

So what's the plan that I'd learned about doing an online course well?

First and foremost never try to do everything in one go.

Break it. Time it. Space it.

All are important. A learner has seven days a week to complete the four items. Even if one decides to do one per day there will be three more days left which when thought that way is a great relief. Also focusing on one task out of the four can help in quality and better assimilation of the concepts.

Second is finding your way around. This is very important since the course may have many links to visit and might be spread out across online topography; but, activities happening in one or two places might only be evaluated. This one has to keep in mind. This does not mean that one shouldn't/needn't visit the other places; but, should make sure that s/he be where the activities count too.

The third thing is to ask for help if you think you need instead of running or drifting away. I luckily had an instructor who was kind enough to get in touch and enquire whether I need help. But this might not be possible all the time in all cases. The learner need to keep this in mind and should be bold enough to reach out to people who could help.

Apart from learning how to be a good online learner I learned about websites for developing aural/oral skills and social bookmarking websites. Through my classmates I came across many useful websites for developing skills and now have a delicious account which you can see by clicking here. In addition I read two articles - one related to teaching listening and the other on teaching pronunciation.

Classroom Application

My own learning experience as an online learner and the way in which Courtney reached out to me will be of use to me when I conduct online learning programmes for my students. The articles on listening and pronunciation provided me opportunities to understand the history, the need and the theory behind the teaching of listening and pronunciation. Furthermore, I now know a handful of sites that can be used for teaching aural/oral skills. Moreover, through the social bookmarking site delicious.com I can now arrange my links in a jiffy and can share them as public or private.