This has been a very good course for the
introduction to DE. I found the history of DE to be very different from the
history that I knew before doing the course. The main parts that I knew were correspondence
education, e-learning and OERs. The course filled in the gaps in a structured
way, helping me to assimilate all the new information.
I especially liked the use of different media types to pass on information to us. By nature, I learn the easiest and most effective from the written word and used the articles and books to gather the information needed. The use of audio and visual interviews was interesting and did help me to some extent, but I relied the most on the articles and book chapters that were given. The use of discussions also helped with the assimilation of new information.
The way that the course is structured helped with deciding what was important and what could wait until a later time. This was helped by the fact that most of the readings were scheduled for one week and the next week would then use the information gleaned from the readings to encourage discussion. The course also used essay assignments throughout the course to assess us on the information.
Another part of the course that I enjoyed was the introduction to various technologies (Twitter, Google docs, Diigo and Weebly). Although I have used Google docs before it was interesting to use it as part of a group assignment. Weebly makes the writing of webpages a breeze and the use of Diigo as a resource for articles is something that I will use in future.
All of that said, I must say that at first I had a problem with the amount of work that needs to be done each week. My main problem was that, coming from an engineering background, I was not used to writing essays and using discussions in studying. As the course has progressed I have become more comfortable using these methods and putting my ideas into writing.
The lecturers and writing coach of the course were easily approachable and were ready to help with any problem that I was facing at any time. I would recommend this course to anybody that is, or is thinking of, teaching in a DE environment. Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable course.
I especially liked the use of different media types to pass on information to us. By nature, I learn the easiest and most effective from the written word and used the articles and books to gather the information needed. The use of audio and visual interviews was interesting and did help me to some extent, but I relied the most on the articles and book chapters that were given. The use of discussions also helped with the assimilation of new information.
The way that the course is structured helped with deciding what was important and what could wait until a later time. This was helped by the fact that most of the readings were scheduled for one week and the next week would then use the information gleaned from the readings to encourage discussion. The course also used essay assignments throughout the course to assess us on the information.
Another part of the course that I enjoyed was the introduction to various technologies (Twitter, Google docs, Diigo and Weebly). Although I have used Google docs before it was interesting to use it as part of a group assignment. Weebly makes the writing of webpages a breeze and the use of Diigo as a resource for articles is something that I will use in future.
All of that said, I must say that at first I had a problem with the amount of work that needs to be done each week. My main problem was that, coming from an engineering background, I was not used to writing essays and using discussions in studying. As the course has progressed I have become more comfortable using these methods and putting my ideas into writing.
The lecturers and writing coach of the course were easily approachable and were ready to help with any problem that I was facing at any time. I would recommend this course to anybody that is, or is thinking of, teaching in a DE environment. Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable course.