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Let me tell you a bit about online classes!
By Allison | December 17, 2009
Well, for now school is on a hiatus. (no, Moose, you can’t attack the cursorhttp://canweblog.canisiuscampus.net/GradEd/wp-admin/edit.php.)
The semester went extremely well for me! I am getting into the groove of things and I am truly getting the hang of taking online courses. There definitely is a trick to online classes. I, personally, enjoy sitting in my pajamas, in my warm house, in my comfy chair, while doing my grad work at night. My husband on the other hand, said he could NEVER take an online class in his life. He needs to listen to his teacher talk and show a lesson. That does nothing for me. I like to give my own interpretation after I read material. I truly think that you need to be a driven, organized and otherwise not distracted person to take online courses in this program. The teachers are helpful in sending out reminders, but you have to truly be your own advocate. I have the hang of sending out emails, asking questions in forum/classroom lounge, and handing in quality work based on rubrics. For me, it’s nice to have the freedom to work within some of the boundaries, but none of the policies (attendance, formal tests/projects, and in-class presentations). It reminds me of the difference between an actor and the backstage crew. Both of them make the show go on (reach the end product) but they do it by completely different means. I like being behind-the-scenes. It gives me a chance to produce good work, without having to compete with other students in a general class environment. One might think, how do you even take an online physical education class, and I agree; it does sound like a paradox. In reality, the multifaceted world of physical education lets you explore things like teaching style, issues in current health, or even discussions on sport psychology or coaching. The courses are great because instead of looking at examples from a professor, you can look within your own self to analyze what you are doing professionally, what you can do better, and you can have other classmates comment or suggest solutions! In turn, you can read about what other classmates are doing to become successful teachers, coaches, or professionals and use it in your own practice. Although participation in a normal classroom setting is important, you don’t always hear from everyone in a single class. Online classes give you the opportunity to spend as much time as you need reading the material, going ahead, catching up, or learning supplementary things.
The one thing I don’t like as much about online classes is that you aren’t able to build as many networking or social, personal connections. Although you are able to read, review and comment on other student’s work, you often don’t develop that deep personal connection that drives a lot of our career and networking goals. I think that this could possibly improve if we had much smaller sections of students in a class! Perhaps if there were 10 students per online section, we could talk much more often and develop stronger personal connections.
Those are my views on online classes. Feel free to post any questions, especially if you are considering taking some courses online in undergrad or graduate school.
For those of you keeping track of my cat, Moose, he gave up on attacking the computer and he is now sound asleep in the window…
I won’t probably be writing next week, but happy holidays everyone! Enjoy your breaks and see you next year !
Allison
Moose is curious.
Topics: On-line Physical Education | 1 Comment »
December 18th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Allison,
This was my first semester with the Online program, and I can honestly say that through a group project that was assigned I was able to make a good connection with another student in the class. We reminded each other about deadlines, asked and answered questions of each other and etc. I wish we’d be in more classes together, since it was nice to have at least 1 person to connect with.
Your def. right. That is the one true downfall of the online class, but being in class, and in my PJ’s while playing with the kids makes it all worth it!