Well, week 2 is designed to be challenging, but this was particularly so, both for participants and tutors!!
The VLE system being on downtime unexpectedly for a full day last Tuesday, and yesterday morning, have added significantly to existing difficulties the teams experienced in their group activities. This meant that we needed to extend the deadline for the group activity, and as tutors we have needed to increase our input significantly over the weekend to try to support the teams effectively.
As a tutor, before running a course in the future, I will be extra careful to try to find out about any scheduled downtime, and to find out if there is any possibility of unscheduled downtime too! I'm not sure how easy it will be to avoid such problems occurring in the future, but I will be discussing this tomorrow with senior staff in OCSLD to see if there is any action we can take.
The two groups experienced many challenges in completing their task - relating to technical issues (accessing their wikis as well as accessing the VLE), the challenges of communicating in an asynchronous forum, planning for the task, and co-ordinating activities and contributions. The challenges of trying to work as a team in a short time frame have been particularly clear - more-so than usual due to the limited VLE access during the week.
Unsurprisingly, the group task this week has brought about a variety of frustrations for all concerned, as indicated in participants' reflections on week 2. However, these reflections suggest that people feel they have learned a lot from this week, which I hope will help them to plan and design online activities realistically in their future work as online tutors.
I hope that now everyone can take a deep breath and move into week 3 with renewed energy!
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Monday, 29 June 2009
Setting up week 2
It's interesting to reflect on how Jim and I work together in facilitating this course.
Firstly, I'm glad that there are two of us! There are twenty participants, which may not sound like very many, but it's surprising how much input is needed to ensure the course is a success. Not only do we need to log in regularly in order to respond in a timely way to postings - particularly in the first few days of the course - but we also need to check that the course is set up correctly, ready for participants to engage in activities.
Even with two of us, it helps to have clear plans as to who will do what, when - mostly we achieve this successfully, but we are human and make the occasional mistake! And we value your feedback on all aspects of the course - the materials, our support, the activities, and anything else you can think of!
Firstly, I'm glad that there are two of us! There are twenty participants, which may not sound like very many, but it's surprising how much input is needed to ensure the course is a success. Not only do we need to log in regularly in order to respond in a timely way to postings - particularly in the first few days of the course - but we also need to check that the course is set up correctly, ready for participants to engage in activities.
Even with two of us, it helps to have clear plans as to who will do what, when - mostly we achieve this successfully, but we are human and make the occasional mistake! And we value your feedback on all aspects of the course - the materials, our support, the activities, and anything else you can think of!
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Benefits - or otherwise - of e-learning
Just a quick entry, reflecting on some of this week's discussions.
It's interesting how a discussion on the benefits of e-learning has stimulated just as much debate on the potential pitfalls and disadvantages! Being a generally cautious and questioning person by nature, I feel this is a positive thing - it's better to be realistic about it than to assume that all this new technology is to be embraced without question.
I also feel that we need to be aware different teachers' and learners' styles; we can't assume that everyone will take to the online environment.
I am fascinated to know what direction education will go in the future...
It's interesting how a discussion on the benefits of e-learning has stimulated just as much debate on the potential pitfalls and disadvantages! Being a generally cautious and questioning person by nature, I feel this is a positive thing - it's better to be realistic about it than to assume that all this new technology is to be embraced without question.
I also feel that we need to be aware different teachers' and learners' styles; we can't assume that everyone will take to the online environment.
I am fascinated to know what direction education will go in the future...
Monday, 22 June 2009
The start of a new week!
It has been good to find out a bit about those participating on the course over the past week - who they are, where they work, what they hope to learn, and so on.
As a tutor, I am always keen very early on in the course to ensure that participants feel that their postings are valued, and also that any queries they have are answered as quickly as possible. It has therefore been important to log in reasonably regularly at this stage, so that people can see that Jim and I are around for them if needed.
Before week 1 gets going, I will 'take stock' of the activities in week 0, and make sure that everyone who has signed up has logged in and posted a message - if there is anyone who hasn't, now is the time to check that they are okay and check whether they need any support.
This week, the tasks will be a little more labour intensive, and participants will begin to comment on each others' input more, so the dynamics will change - this in turn means that our role as tutors will change.
Mary
As a tutor, I am always keen very early on in the course to ensure that participants feel that their postings are valued, and also that any queries they have are answered as quickly as possible. It has therefore been important to log in reasonably regularly at this stage, so that people can see that Jim and I are around for them if needed.
Before week 1 gets going, I will 'take stock' of the activities in week 0, and make sure that everyone who has signed up has logged in and posted a message - if there is anyone who hasn't, now is the time to check that they are okay and check whether they need any support.
This week, the tasks will be a little more labour intensive, and participants will begin to comment on each others' input more, so the dynamics will change - this in turn means that our role as tutors will change.
Mary
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
My first posting!
Hello there!
I thought I'd set up a blog for the Online Tutoring Course for June/July 2009! I am not an expert on blogging myself, as I am not a person who spends all my life in front of a computer, and I don't generally have time for such things! But I know many people who spend a great deal of time either writing or reading blogs!
I'll try to record any key thoughts I have as the course progresses - but I don't intend to write too much - only short and sweet entries!
Happy blogging!
Mary
I thought I'd set up a blog for the Online Tutoring Course for June/July 2009! I am not an expert on blogging myself, as I am not a person who spends all my life in front of a computer, and I don't generally have time for such things! But I know many people who spend a great deal of time either writing or reading blogs!
I'll try to record any key thoughts I have as the course progresses - but I don't intend to write too much - only short and sweet entries!
Happy blogging!
Mary
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