Reflections on Unit 3

I love my group! I am so happy to be working with a high functioning group in this class. I have worked with Kenny and Debbie in another class, and Amy is a great fit with the three of us too. It's so much fun to work with a group that really connects. It almost makes it worth suffering through those groups that don't work so well just to be in one that does. Almost.

This week was definitely a lot more fun than last week since we were able to work together as a group rather than doing our individual ideas about our group topic. I still think that that step is unnatural and unnecessary and does nothing to build stronger groups. Not to mention how confusing it was!

The current concern though is the midterm. Reading the articles on CVC seems to show that they are largely opinion based. Are we supposed to write an opinion based article or a research-based article? It will be good to get this clarified.

Long note to DKK: I was wondering if you would be willing to post the rest of the course materials immediately, so we can plan ahead? It's very difficult to organize thoughts for the future with so little info on what lies ahead. Also, if you could you create all the discussion forums for a unit at the beginning of the week rather than creating some of them later that would also be helpful. Both of these changes would make this course far more student-friendly and would be greatly appreciated.

Perhaps a methodology in which materials are carefully meted out to students is appropriate for undergraduates taking their first online course, but we are all experienced online graduate students in this program and would really appreciate being trusted to organize our own time.

I'm sorry for so many complaints about the course but this is the only online course, of eight I've taken, that did not provide the entire course at once. It is not only frustrating, but it's making the course far more difficult than necessary. I hope that you are willing to reconsider this method of offering the course in favor a more open format (all material available at once). Thank you! - M

Reflections on Unit 1 and 2

Well my first two weeks in this class have been a little bumpy but I am getting back into the rhythm of school as the second week ends. I'm fortunate to have a great group to work with for the rest of the class!

The difficulty last week was that I didn't space out my postings on the discussion board enough, so although I post enough entries (I think) I didn't get started until late in the week. I was reading posts, but didn't make my own soon enough. This week I've made an effort to get on top of entries early in the week. I do find it frustrating that I have to consciously spread out my posts. I tend to read a lot of posts one day and digest them, then respond to several all at once. This pattern will not work in this class so I end up posting one response, then saving my next one 'til the next day rather than writing it while I'm hot on the topic. It's messing with my flow! Oh well. Perhaps I will get used to it by then end of the course.

I also had difficulty with the way the instructions were written for the group assignment. I work better with a group that can brainstorm together on a topic, feeding on one another's enthusiasm and collaborating to refine the topic into something we all approve of. Having to develop a topic on my own to "present" to the group felt awkward and stilted, introducing a element of performance anxiety into the process that isn't there when the group is allowed to collaborate right up front. I'll be glad to just get on with the group work itself and leave this weird part behind.

Unit 2 - Topic suggestion for the team

My idea for a team project grows from a desire to find a way to develop an online community of field service techs in my company (250 in the US + 200 globally). All of our online courses are currently using the self-study/self-paced format so it's almost impossible to develop community in that environment.

However, in order to deliver the courses to people we implemented a Moodle server so I'm thinking about the possibility of developing a discussion board-based community within Moodle or deploying a discussion board from the same server (since it's the only one we have control over).

I guess this topic could be defined as "strategies for developing an online community in a global corporate environment."

Unit 2 - Brainstorming possible topics for the team project

Instructions
The instructions for this assignments say, "You will need to examine your current teaching or work situation. Decide if an online community could benefit the learning or the work situation. Then also decide what you would need to know to create this online community."

Brainstorming
This first post is more of brainstorming session than a formal presentation of my idea for the team. My work environment is decidedly corporate, and online communities are notoriously difficult to build in my department since the technicians in this department are more often at customer sites than at their computers. So, for me the challenge is to imagine a community that is compelling enough for techs to login in and participate willingly, rather than being required to do so by their manager, as previous attempts at online community have done.

I guess that one idea might be "methods for developing an online community in a corporate environment." One difficulty that may arise is that while a pretty free-speaking environment would be conducive to building relationships and rapport among a geographically scattered work crew, the department managers would not be supportive of an environment that lets users be disparaging or critical of management, for fear that th aforesaid management might read the site! A discussion board based community could be built outside of the corporate network, but that would not protect anyone from repercussions. Therefore there would have to be rules about what is and is not allowed to be discussed on the boards. Just thinking about this makes me tired!

Another idea about online community is how to encourage the use of the boards within the confines of a class. Though that would have seemingly less impact than an ongoing discussion board, it may still serve to develop relationships among the users.

A third idea I have is about developing a discussion assignment that requires techs to pair up and ... I don't know what. Design a problem. Develop an idea for improving service for a particular problem. Brainstorm a software tool that they'd like to have. Though I have been allowed to add discussion boards in the last two courses I was not able to make them mandatory so participation was sparse and limited to praise or criticism for the course. Incorporating small teamwork exercises would create some more interaction, but I'm not sure it would be approved by management. They are very set on the self-study model.

Maybe I need to think about how to develop community in spite of a self-study model? This is clearly something that will need further thought.