Week 14 Reflection
Just when we are getting to enjoy the course, it has to come
to the end. Wow! The last two weeks had been a hell of a week for all of us;
for me, I was pressured from all sides and all angles in particular by the FALE
newsletter where less than two weeks time frame was given to us to work within,
that made me think, oh, my god, how will I ever accomplish all these crucial
tasks! I thought I would be able to
make, but incredibly, I did, and so did the rest of us.
In the group activity assigned by our facilitator, it
allowed us not only to experience the pressure under which we worked in, in
order to achieve our target, but more importantly it made us realize the
vitality of being a team player. The commitment that each one of us put in to
accomplishing the major task was a crucial characteristic that students need to
possess in team or group work. With our course, we are fortunate that majority
of us are mature learners thus we know of the obligation we have towards the
group task. This is something that we, facilitators, need to be aware of and
must always encourage our students to motivate them to participate effectively
in group or team work. Roby (2005) provided some tips into how we can
successfully include peer collaboration in an online course, which can be
accessed from this link http://www.magnapubs.com/newsletter/online-classroom/story/2415/
The task also reminded us of the important role the facilitator
plays during the presentation to ensure that we participate fully and
effectively. This was made possible when she gave us full control of the
presentation and to make decisions particularly spontaneous ones when she was
referred to. For example when asked by one of the groups for something, she
said, that she the group had to decide and go by it. This made me realize that
this is what facilitators need to do to allow learners to feel responsible and
value the worth of the group work.
Overall, I have enjoyed the course very much. I have learnt
great many things that are pertinent to the success running of an online
programme, which I will, for sure, use in my online programme.
To all ED403 students, I thank you for being active
participants of the class through your postings, comments, and contributions
making the virtual class lively and a place to visit now and again.
To our facilitator, I commend you very much for giving us so
much with online learning ideas, concepts, skills and practices enabling us to
be better and effective online learning teachers. I thoroughly enjoyed the
course.
All the best to your future endeavours!
It was great to have you in this cohort Siniva. I look forwar dot seeing you utlise the skills and knowledge from this course in FALE-SLS and beyond. Best wishes,
ReplyDeleteShikha