Hello friends,
It is so disheartening to think that the course is
nearing its end. There will be no more discussions with virtual classmates and
no deadlines to be met. For last two months it kept me overly engaged with
readings, discussions, web resources and a host of other things that I learnt
so devoutly. It breaks my heart to even think about the void that will be
created after the completion of this course. Also the fantastic group of people
that I got so much to learn with will be scattered to follow their own paths.
I was very apprehensive about my own abilities and because of so many
prior engagements on the personal and professional front. But now I am
extremely happy that I could complete the course and learn so much in such a
short span of time. I have been using internet for largely personal purposes
for last ten years or so. I was also aware of its usefulness in my profession.
But I never realized that there could be so many wonderful tools available on
the net to make my job easier. The best part of this learning process is
that I never felt that I was actually studying something. It was all so
engaging and interesting that the burden attached to the term 'studying' was
never felt.
The course began with Noodletools that opened my eyes to the world
of search engines. For me the best find is
JURN as it has helped me in finding some
useful articles for my research.
Technology enhanced lesson plans, project based learning, rubrics
and alternative assessments, learner autonomy are some of the topics that I had
known little about. Now I am confident about them and can discuss them in
detail on any forum. This confidence is an additional benefit of this course.
Rubistar is something that I can very easily introduce to my
students. I wish I could also say the same about Webquests, Nicenet and other
online resources and tools. I have found a friend in Wallwisher. I can use it in my
classes as I have also shown in my project plan .
But the revelation of the course is reflective blogging. I am on
Blogger since 2008 and I never knew what to do with this blog.
This course has opened my eyes to the potential usefulness of blogging. This blog is a suitable
platform to express my ideas and communicate meaningfully with like-minded
people. I often find it difficult to express myself in too many words. But
blogging for last two months has taken away that hesitation and now I try
to be as elaborate as I reasonably can.
This post will be incomplete without my 'Thank You' note for
Courtney. She has been so patient with me. Since this is my first online
course, I was really confused about so many things in the beginning. I would
approach her with very small problems and she would
very patiently resolve them. Her patience is a lesson in
itself. Besides, she has to be commended for the way she planned the course
with easier things in the beginning leading gradually to more complex set of
information and tools. Thanks a Lot Courtney for being an excellent teacher.
Keep Learning and Keep Smiling!
Vinita.
