As I completed this week's readings and then answered the discussion post on Moodle, I found that I had quite a lot to say on the differences between online and traditional educations. In fact, I rambled on for close to a thousand words, and still didn't feel finished. In my post, I cautioned about how easy it is for some people to become "passive participants," as Burke describes them, in online classes, and thus to not really get much out of the experience. I also talked about how hard it is for me and likely for others to take online classes as seriously as traditional classes.
What I didn't get to touch on, though, is why many of us become passive participants who just can't seem to take online classes seriously. This is something I have struggled with for a while, especially with my first online courses. I think I am getting better now, but I've still got some work to do.
My big problem is that the majority of online classes just seem to be lacking in real connections. They are all to often the "impersonal," "superficial," and "dehumanizing" classes mentioned in Rovai and Barnum's study. The thing is, I don't know if the classes really are all these things, but they sure feel that way to me.
My whole life I have been someone who thrives around others. In class, I have always loved assignments where I could work with others, or even just participating in discussions where we got to share our thoughts and feelings. People are how I learn. I find my voice and opinions through hearing the voices and opinions of others. So, when I find myself in an online class ,that connection feels like it is lacking.
Most teachers try to make up for that. They have us work together, though we usually just communicate via quick emails. They have us comment on each other's blogs, but it's still just an assignment that we have to do. Everything just feels like work, and connections rarely, if ever, feel authentic, at least to me. I guess I am just the kind of person who ultimately needs to do things the old fashioned way. I need to see people's faces when I talk to them. I need to laugh together, not type "lol." I feel, though, that my way is outdated, unappreciated, and inconvenient, and I also feel and fear that I'm being left behind because of it.
I am scared of a world in which we don't really communicate, except through email or text messages. I am scared of a world where real connections are the exception not the rule. I am scared of a world where we are all so self invovled that we spend hours and hours crafting the image we will portray through sites like Facebook. Yet, this is the world we live in, and it seems that if I don't step up and figure out a way to become a part of it, I will be antiquated at the age of twenty-six.
It's a scary thought, and one that I am dealing with every day. I hope I can find some common ground and learn to live in this increasingly technological society without losing too much of what makes me who I am.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Technology : Thriving Vs. Surviving
Before I took this class, I thought of myself as being fairly confident with my technological skills. After all, as a freelance writer, I use the computer for basically every aspect of my job. I perform research on the computer. I write the actual articles on the computer. I email my work or post it in the appropriate online places, etc. I guess I thought that being able to use the internet and basic computer programs made me technologically literate. Now, though, my eyes are being opened to all of the technological things I wasn't aware of before.
Podcasting is a great example. I thought, okay, this won't be a problem at all. I can have that done in no time flat. I'd never tried it before, but I felt confident in my abilities. Things did not, however, go according to plan. First of all, I didn't have the right sound devices to create a podcast on my computer. Then, I couldn't find a way to get them into the format I needed, because I was dealing with a computer that wouldn't allow me to download a new program. Whenever I encountered even the smallest of technical problems, I was at a real loss as to how to fix it. I learned that I generally expect various programs and shortcuts to do all of the work for me. When that is the case, I'm fine, but when things don't work the right way, I don't have a clue.
This led me to question whether I was thriving with technology or just merely surviving. To me, thriving means using technology to get things done and using it to make your life easier. It is similar to surviving with technology in this way, but the difference is that thrivers are confident in their abilities. They know how to deal with problems that pop up. If they don't know how to deal with a particular problem, they will figure it out. Unfortunately, my lack of confidence and my inability to fix issues makes me a mere survivor, not a thriver.
I think of my mom, who is neither a thriver nor a survivor. At 63, she is just someone who chooses to ignore technology. She has never sent an email. The only gaming system she's ever played (and poorly) was an old school Super Nintendo. She still has a VCR, and she has never owned a mobile phone. I bet though, at one time, she was a survivor too, in her own generation. But then, things got too hard, and she just gave up one day. In other words, I think it's easy to make the leap from technology survivor to being totally ignorant of modern technology. I don't want that to happen to me.
That is why I am going to, from this point forward, seize every opportunity I can to learn about new technologies and to increase my skills and comfort levels in dealing with existing technology. I want to make a leap forward--from survivor to thriver--instead of backwards. Though this class is challenging for me, I'm glad for the opportunity to become a more technologically skilled person and to learn how to put technology to good use in the classroom.
Podcasting is a great example. I thought, okay, this won't be a problem at all. I can have that done in no time flat. I'd never tried it before, but I felt confident in my abilities. Things did not, however, go according to plan. First of all, I didn't have the right sound devices to create a podcast on my computer. Then, I couldn't find a way to get them into the format I needed, because I was dealing with a computer that wouldn't allow me to download a new program. Whenever I encountered even the smallest of technical problems, I was at a real loss as to how to fix it. I learned that I generally expect various programs and shortcuts to do all of the work for me. When that is the case, I'm fine, but when things don't work the right way, I don't have a clue.
This led me to question whether I was thriving with technology or just merely surviving. To me, thriving means using technology to get things done and using it to make your life easier. It is similar to surviving with technology in this way, but the difference is that thrivers are confident in their abilities. They know how to deal with problems that pop up. If they don't know how to deal with a particular problem, they will figure it out. Unfortunately, my lack of confidence and my inability to fix issues makes me a mere survivor, not a thriver.
I think of my mom, who is neither a thriver nor a survivor. At 63, she is just someone who chooses to ignore technology. She has never sent an email. The only gaming system she's ever played (and poorly) was an old school Super Nintendo. She still has a VCR, and she has never owned a mobile phone. I bet though, at one time, she was a survivor too, in her own generation. But then, things got too hard, and she just gave up one day. In other words, I think it's easy to make the leap from technology survivor to being totally ignorant of modern technology. I don't want that to happen to me.
That is why I am going to, from this point forward, seize every opportunity I can to learn about new technologies and to increase my skills and comfort levels in dealing with existing technology. I want to make a leap forward--from survivor to thriver--instead of backwards. Though this class is challenging for me, I'm glad for the opportunity to become a more technologically skilled person and to learn how to put technology to good use in the classroom.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)