Week 2 Excerpt

One  issue I came across this week was deciding on what to make my online course on. It’s been a while that I did any classroom or online teaching. I haven’t taught in any US school. I don’t know the syllabus and the way it works. I called my friends and found answers to my questions. I wanted to develop something in chemistry or environment. During my graduation years, Chemistry was my major whereas my post-graduation was in Environment. So I thought that I should go with something I really know. I ended up with the course ABCs of chemistry which has comparatively wider audience.

I know, I shall be able to do it pretty well because my classroom experience in schools will help me understanding the learners perspective and learning process.

I have really found good team members. I am looking forward to work with each one of them. I hope my experience in Mini project 2 is going to be exciting.

Week two has been exciting. There were two interesting readings-Institutional Challenges in the Creation and Delivery of an Online Degree Program by Karen Kaminski and William D. Milheim and Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes: The Roles of E-Learning Facilitators by Ed Hootstein.

Other than the institutional issues discussed in the discussion forum, I think that there are few other issues those have same weightage as the ones I discussed. These issues include identifying the viability, positioning, and operational best practices of the online course. Also, in increasing environment of competition and marketing, it is  important to stay competitive. In order  stay in competitive market the product needs revision. It needs to get updated and revised after a period of time when any new technology hits the market. If institutes need to maintain a good position they have to adapt to the new technology. This needs qualified staff, equipment and professional help. Again, this will be related to the budgetary issues.

Also, the matter of intellectual property rights is very crucial and needs to be addressed in a legal way. We have  evolved from a society where education and words of wisdom were passed from one generation to other via oral communication in form of discourse and stories. With the advancement of civilization the method got changed and print media and other forms came into existence. The creators of intellectual products like music, art, written material and inventions, deserve to be rewarded by society for their special creations. Furthermore, in order to ensure that this reward reaches in right hands, that is the original creator, it seems to be justifiable to rely on the machinery of copyright and patent protection mechanisms. But, sometimes these mechanisms become intolerably broad and burdensome that they resulted in widespread dissatisfaction and unrest in the population. It also hinders   further development of creative work and stagnates the pool of intellectual products.

I believe that if something is not shared then it is not information. The issue of intellectual property can be solved through mutual understanding, taking care the legal aspect and respecting  creator’s emotions and needs.
 I also realized that role of an instructor  in an online environment is very tough. There are so many things to do. The role of an instructor is to keep the learning community functional in virtual classes by designing the course to allow participation of all the students as community members and help to increase the participation. The sense of community will help remove the sense of isolation among online students and subsequently help them remain in the class and continue the learning process (Farahani, 2003).

I really feel how much work would be there to for Anne to do…So many Journals, reading every part of discussion, reading responses, responding to queries and so on. As an instructor  you need to make changes in your instructional skills, your skills in engaging with your learners and your management skills! Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes: The Roles of E-Learning Facilitators  by Ed Hootstein claims that facilitators guide learners to play a part in determining course direction by discovering content on their own, carrying out assignments and projects, and creating learning opportunities to meet their own needs. Thus, it is going to be  somewhat difficult to be an instructor but I am ready for it!