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Feedback: Online Learning
Hey Gang, I hope you take some time to navigate this webblog again to look upon all its content with fresh eyes. You'll be surprised by how much of the stuff that seemed fuzzy the first time around is now making much more sense! Now that you've been through a whole semester of this course I'd be really interested in knowing what you think about the role the Internet, and tools like blogs, or wikis, can and should play in your academic experience. Does it help you to learn? Does it improve campus community? campus spirit?
Posted by Mark Hemphill on November 26, 2007 in reminders | Permalink
Comments
I've barely used Wiki before this course and now use it quite frequently. I use it like a dictionary and sometimes to settle arguments I'm having with friends. The blog is also a new concept as far as a University course goes... I like the independence of studying on your own time and the books are cheap too...
Posted by: Johnny Kelly | Nov 26, 2007 4:39:03 PM
i really like the way this course is set up. and to be honest i dont think i would have ever stopped someone on the way out of class to discuss what gwen stefani is selling or 3-tier client architectures...haha so i think its a good thing. especially for some of these topics that can be kind of intimidating to some, its nice that if you dont understand it you can go back and see what other people have said about it or asked about it and you can re-read a lecture at any time. I thought it was great.
Posted by: devon gillis | Nov 26, 2007 9:10:22 PM
To be 100% honest I was very skeptical at first but over the duration of the course found a comfort zone with studying in this fashion. It was very helpful to read what others thoughts were on topics that seem to be confusing me. I did find it very difficult to add anything of substance to the discussion due to the breadth of knowledge that others in the class were so lucky to have. But I was glad that they would take the time to post on the blogs and help to clarify certain issues. The price of the book was A1 in my opinion. I enjoyed this new way of learning and wish Professor Hemphill all the best in his new business endeavour and trust that if he needs expert help he can call on some from this clas...just not me...he would be in major trouble if he had to call me. See you in class and best of luck to everyone on the 5th of December.
Posted by: Frieda | Nov 26, 2007 9:21:50 PM
I have never taken a course where all you needed to know was online. At first it was a little difficult, but didn't turn out to bad in the end. in the end, i do believe that there is something of value to have taken from this course because i now have a much better understanding of technology and how it works.
Posted by: Nick Drake | Nov 27, 2007 10:17:54 AM
I have found the weblog to be a helpful tool for a course of this subject matter. The electronic format allows us to have extra resources hyper linked into the posts, so any information on the web can potentially become a learning tool. It also seems fitting to have a dynamic weblog as the course material, because the material is technology, which is constantly changing. The class has been really unique, but that's what university is all about, learning to learn and adapting to challenges.
Posted by: Ben Howard | Nov 27, 2007 11:47:14 AM
At first I wasn't too fond of the whole weblog and notes being on the internet but once I adjusted to the fact that I had to check it frequently and contribute to the weblog for marks then it pretty much makes you get in on the conversations and begin to understand what is actually going on. So in the end I do believe it has helped with the course and would recommend doing it again for another class
Posted by: Dave Dunn | Nov 27, 2007 12:29:14 PM
I pretty much agree with everyone that I'm diggin the webblog thing. Its like an ongoing textbook series that doesn't cost $150 for every updated version. I find that although most of my questions are answered on this webblog, if I'm strugging with a certain definition or idea, I can usually find other great examples elsewhere on the web. I also use Wikipedia much more now than I did before this course.
Posted by: Jeff MacKenzie | Nov 27, 2007 12:40:11 PM
Along with others, I wasn't too sure about the whole web log thing at first. I'm so used to something physical that I can refer to, usually being my text book. Now that we're getting closer to the end of the semester and I look back, the web log wasn't really a bad thing at all. Learning to check it regularly was my biggest challenge. I have no idea why, considering I'm on a computer probably half the day. But that being said, once I got into the routine, it was like an online textbook that I could look over anywhere. The fact that we can comment online and ask questions is really a great tool. In all of my classes, everyone (including me) seems so intimidated to speak up and say "I totally don't understand what you're talking about" or even just to ask a simple question, but here, it just takes the edge off. An example of how dependent we really are on computers nowadays!
Posted by: Abby | Nov 27, 2007 12:41:23 PM
I felt that the weblogs were really neat although I found it difficult to constantly be checking it. I did however, like the fact that we didn't have to pay $100+ :D I particularily liked how we had a lot of different examples and visuals to help us through the course.
Posted by: Katelyn Murnaghan | Nov 27, 2007 5:52:40 PM
$100 for a book that is!
Posted by: Katelyn Murnaghan | Nov 27, 2007 5:53:53 PM
I think more professors should teach this way. It enables students to express their ideas and thoughts which are shared with the other students and make for better learning. The benefits i see are that you don't need a ridiculously priced book that might not even make sense or used all that much, the prof is able to use his or her own words when writing the posts which can help a student understand the different concepts, various examples can be used as well as diagrams, which are very helpful. I enjoyed learning about this course online and being able to post our own thoughts abotu the topic really helped me understand the material better.
Posted by: Amy Corrigan | Nov 27, 2007 6:41:10 PM
I myself was in the same boat as most students in the class as this concept of having all your notes on web log with no text book was much different then many of the classes i have taking in the past. By the time the midterm came around I was feeling alot more comfortable with the setup and now I really like the process as all your notes are located in one central area that you can access whenever needed.
Posted by: Brent Campbell | Nov 27, 2007 6:46:19 PM
I think the way this course is set up is great, it gave an opportunity for independant studying, and it was great to go on and read a post about any one of the lectures you did in class, gave me a chance to really get into it. Also, it was very helpful to be able to read the posts made by other students in the class, they asked questions that probably more than them were wondering about, and were able to give examples that maybe others could relate to! At first I too was a little skeptical on the layout of presentation in the course, I am a book learner, something has to be right infront of me in order to grasp the concepts, so I was a little worried about not having a book to study from, but once I gave it some time, I realized how even more efficient this idea was!
Posted by: Ashley Gallant | Nov 28, 2007 10:32:09 AM
I liked the way this course was set up. It made it easy to follow along and printing the notes off before class helped me as I could jot down extra points that were made in class. It helped me understand some concepts I was unsure about by reading others comments. It was convenient to access the notes and if you missed a class for any reason it was fairly easy to get caught up. I was not sure I was going to like this method at first but I really enjoyed it!
Posted by: Sarah MacKay | Nov 28, 2007 3:06:03 PM
at first i thought this is going to be hard and suck really bad, but once it got started and people started posting comments it was not bad at all. At times i would have prefered to have a text but then at other times it was interesting and i did not want a text. I have to admit it is an interesting way of teaching, never seen it done before but it isn't that bad in the end.
Posted by: Jolene | Nov 28, 2007 4:14:49 PM
I really enjoyed the fact that you were able to access the information at anytime and at your own speed. At first I found it really confusing to navigate through all of the links... but after a while it became simple. I also enjoy the fact that I didn't have to buy an expensive book that I would most likely not be able to sell next semester/year. All in all the online forum was a great way to present the course material.
Posted by: Ryan Keefe | Nov 28, 2007 4:40:24 PM
I enjoy the hierarchal structure of this course. All of the topics that we cover are linked to the previous ones. This makes the material much easier to understand. Instead of having wikipedia open while studying, as I would for any other course, I can just follow the links.
I took an online English course last year and it was rotten but this course seemed to make a lot more sense, online.
Posted by: Chad MacLean | Nov 29, 2007 9:10:34 AM
Having a course that related to computers, I believe that it is fitting that it uses an online medium to facilitate course activities.
Posted by: Chad Hayward | Nov 29, 2007 9:43:43 AM
I too felt that this online course was beneficial. The posts made sense and were easy to access online. It was better than having a class book because everything in these posts were what we needed to know for the tests.
Posted by: kyle macdonald | Nov 29, 2007 11:38:00 AM
This course was very useful for me. Online access helps me improve a lot. I'm sure I'll be using most of what I learned from this course in the future. We are in an age that relies on the computer in everything, so it was a very nice course for me.
Posted by: Thamer | Nov 29, 2007 11:45:30 AM
One difficult thing for me would be when a question would be posted and different people would attempt to answer the question and I don't know if those answers are correct or not.
Posted by: kdeveaux | Nov 29, 2007 11:46:01 AM
Overall I think this method of online learning benefical. It was my first time taking a this type of course but did not take long to get use to. Some of the benefits for me were, that if something was unclear you could see other peoples comments on the issue, it was easy to reference back to previous post. The only thing that I find difficult is studying for the exam I think that is just because I am used to having a textbook and not studying off the computer.
Posted by: Shane Mackinnon | Nov 29, 2007 3:39:32 PM
I love online learning. I actually taught myself grade eleven without any help from anyone else, so I like independent learning. It is really convenient to have all of our notes online to refer back to especially when the subject is IT simply because we can't possibly take it in all at once. I like the interaction from our Professor and all of the links and diagrams.
Posted by: Krista Mackenzie | Nov 29, 2007 5:44:54 PM
I really enjoyed the online forum experience for this class! I found it very beneficial because any time something was a bit hazy and I wasnt sure what it ment there were plenty of links available to provide extra support. I also at first was bit uncomfortable because for some reason i thought i needed a book and couldnt learn from a computer screen. However now I wish that all my classes operated in this manor as I have learned how to study from it and it is alot cheaper than buying new books!
Posted by: Alesia Gallant | Nov 29, 2007 7:38:29 PM
What i like about this form of learning is how you don't have to sit there taking notes while the prof lectures, you can physically have the notes all done online and read them over if they are confusing. The comments help because most people have the same type of questions and yours can be answered online. I also enjoy how you learn at your own pace and everything is on the internet right in front of you.
Posted by: Carrie MacKay | Nov 29, 2007 8:07:59 PM
