Week 4 - Post #2 - aka Post #5
ETEC-524 is the first graduate course that I have taken towards my master’s degree so this is the first time that I have seen a course management system like eCollege. I must say that I am impressed. I know that the instructors have to put in countless hours to prepare a course for online instruction, but I believe the courses to be effective thanks to the instructors and the software that they manage their course with. I am so glad that I took this course before taking an online course because it has familiarized me with eCollege. Now I won’t have to learn the system as well as the course material when I take my first online course in the fall. I have found eCollege to be well-organized and very user friendly. In the assigned textbook reading for this week, instructors made themselves available online at certain times. This reminded me that Dr. Wickersham had asked us to go online and join www.Skype.com on the first day of class, so I finally did. It allows you to communicate verbally and visually over the internet for free. It is easy to use and the audio quality is outstanding. One more jewel to place in my technology treasure chest!
I must admit that as I read through Chapter 5, Building Knowledge Without Boundaries: Online Learners, my mind kept going to scenes from Star Trek: The Next Generation and how students like Wesley Crusher were taught. Of course they were able to take it a step further by immersing themselves into hologram programs and relive historic moments from the past. But being able to actually talk to or ask questions of “people that were there” or experts on certain subjects would certainly leave an impression on students and would aid them in their paths of study.
I have been motivated to add to my ToDo List to find some medium similar to Skype.com that will enable me to communicate with my math students as I see their handwritten work in real time. In Calculus, there are so many symbols and the software that I am aware of does not make it easy for one to do problems using the keyboard. A scanner would allow a student to send a copy of their work, but I want to see them work problems in real time so I can give immediate feedback both audibly and by having access to their “online pencil” so to speak. I know that I am not the first person to see this need, so now I am off to find a solution. After all, that’s what math teacher’s love to do ~ find solutions.
By the way...
Thank you Dr. Wickersham for sharing so much useful knowledge with us during this class!
I must admit that as I read through Chapter 5, Building Knowledge Without Boundaries: Online Learners, my mind kept going to scenes from Star Trek: The Next Generation and how students like Wesley Crusher were taught. Of course they were able to take it a step further by immersing themselves into hologram programs and relive historic moments from the past. But being able to actually talk to or ask questions of “people that were there” or experts on certain subjects would certainly leave an impression on students and would aid them in their paths of study.
I have been motivated to add to my ToDo List to find some medium similar to Skype.com that will enable me to communicate with my math students as I see their handwritten work in real time. In Calculus, there are so many symbols and the software that I am aware of does not make it easy for one to do problems using the keyboard. A scanner would allow a student to send a copy of their work, but I want to see them work problems in real time so I can give immediate feedback both audibly and by having access to their “online pencil” so to speak. I know that I am not the first person to see this need, so now I am off to find a solution. After all, that’s what math teacher’s love to do ~ find solutions.
By the way...
Thank you Dr. Wickersham for sharing so much useful knowledge with us during this class!
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