In my life experience, I do not have much experience in online classes. There is an online education class that reminds me of it was last summer. I had just finished the Edci 337 course before that, and I had a good experience with this online education course. So I decided to return to China for the summer and I signed up for an online course at Thompson Rivers University. In this online course, I didn’t feel any humanization of online learning at all. The course design of this course made me feel like I was fighting alone, and the design of the course was very different from the difficulty level of uvic. In this course, I deeply felt the sense of distance brought about by not having a common physical location. I don’t know who the classmates who are attending the class with me. I did not have any frequent contact with the professor. I struggled for two months and learned this course on my own every day without any substantial help. Eventually, I decided to drop this course, and so far I think it is a decision that I won’t regret.
In this failed online course experience, I began to think about two aspects: synchronousity, and the course’s grading system.
First of all, about synchronous interactive sessions during the course. Teaching presence is very low during this course. The course design does not include virtual office hours or live sessions. The moment I got the book, I started the self-study mode and couldn’t get any help. Later, I discussed this educational course with my other friends, and they both failed the course. It is conceivable that there are certain problems in the design of the course, and some more interactive sessions should be carried out. For example, the professor can set a fixed time every week to video chat with us or a fixed time for Q & A.
Secondly, I have some opinions on the grading of an online education course. I like the grading system for online education courses. In school courses, we will lose the grades we should have due to attendance or other objective reasons. Some people may have a good understanding of the course content, but get a very low score because they are often late. One of my high school classmates has this experience. He is a very intelligent student and understands the course thoroughly. However, because he was often late, he was warned by the school and eventually transferred to another school. I think that’s part of why I like online education courses.
Everyone has their own lives, and they have different ways of working and resting. The purpose of learning itself is your understanding of the course content, rather than following all the technical instructions perfectly. For example, many people want to register for a course after work to improve themselves, then we can’t stipulate them according to a fixed schedule. Online education courses do a great job in this area, and I think online education is more focused on learning itself. In online education, each of us does not need to complete the same learning progress at the same time, we can also adjust the learning plan according to our schedule. Learning itself should focus more on the process rather than the rigid learning arrangements. I can reach the school classroom for attendance every day at 8:30, but my learning efficiency may not have improved during that time. Rather than this, I am more inclined to arrange my learning progress and plans.
In conclusion, whether it is an online education course or a face-to-face education course. The most important thing is to understand the course content, not follow the step-by-step follow technical instructions.
References:
1.(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?q=humanization of online education&sxsrf=ALeKk01iPjtEwVsuKsak-rdKM4dikIjIRA:1583728172786&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiii6OZx4zoAhXIvJ4KHa8_CIEQ_AUoAXoECA0QAw&biw=1100&bih=683#imgrc=mOjHc6Q2ELjqFM
2.Retrived from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9lF9W-FKoI