Reflections on the New Course and Old Blogs

January 6th, 2011 found me in a classroom with fellow students and the instructor in a new course. My first thought, after hearing the introductions, was these people are well beyond where I am at, when it came to their professional backgrounds. Then it hit me that they were there to learn what they did not know, just like I was. Designing curriculum for online classes takes a lot of thought and guidance. Even if you may have taught for some time, teaching online is a new and highly technological experience.

Once I started reading the material in the LMS, I was faced with questions similar to the following: what constitutes a good instructor, teacher or facilitator online? How is online teaching different then face-to-face teaching in a real classroom vs. a virtual classroom? How does one design the curriculum to engage the students; and will they take away the knowledge and skills the course was designed to give them? What technology will be used in the classes and is it the most effective means of gathering information for the creation of class projects and for use beyond the classroom? Will the technology chosen help students interrelate to others on a higher academic level and will it stimulate critical thinking by the students? I suspect it will take the whole course to come to conclusions regarding these and many more questions.

Reflecting on the blogs I have made regarding: free speech (and or expression) online or off, domestic violence, parental alienation and grandparent rights, one can ask…why this is important and how does it relate to the ongoing learning process of eLearning? Or, for example, why would anyone watch, “Girls Gone Wild” or work as a volunteer in a program for survivors of domestic violence? I think understanding students and their behaviors and comprehending what students want from their classes is an essential part of being a facilitator or instructor. I think one of the questions I have asked myself is why educated college co-eds find it so exciting to be considered the most beautiful girl in America and allow her body parts to be flashed to others, photographed naked or near naked in poses of a suggestive nature. I want to know what is in her head. I want to know what motivates her or her male viewers (I might have a better handle on that question). I have asked myself how I would reach this student academically. I think it is just as important to understand how these young co-eds came to participate in these activities during Spring break. I have quite a few questions I would like to ask them. I can see an interesting bit of research hatching on this subject, in the mind of some graduate student who wants to study this behavior.

Since we are all products of our families, communities and even larger circles of social and political bodies, it seems to me, it is important to look at the issues and problems in the family unit and in the community. Sociology was my major course of study as an under graduate and it influences the way I approach social interactions and problems. The bottom line might be what kind of morality and ethics we are imparting to our children, grandchildren and students by what we do, say and participate in or not. Equally important might be our understanding and use of technology, of which television is just one form. More importantly might be questioning how we use this technology on a daily basis for what purpose and what might we be conveying to our children, students and others by our actions, opinions and behavior.

By looking at the smallest social unit or the nuclear family, certain facts have an effect on how students learn and what difficulties they may have to overcome to learn in an eLearning environment or even in a campus classroom. Maybe this may account for some of the activities we see them engaged in during the times they are on break from their studies. Also how much does the media influence todays young adults. Maybe to successfully teach this new generation of learners we may have to put aside our biases and direct them in ways that might seem foreign to our generation.

The bottom line may be to find ways to facilitate their learning while directing them to form critical thinking patterns guided by a new standard of morality and ethics in an ever changing digital cyber and real world. Educators today are being presented with a whole new set of challenges and the so called Millennial or Digital Learners are one of the most interesting generations to work with and understand, as is Generation X.