Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Critical Reflection of an Online Program: Muvenation (mvn08)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the facilitators and everyone for giving me the opportunity to be part of muvenation. I would also like to add a brief critical reflection of my experiences with Muvenation 2008.

The course was free and funded with support from the European Commission. I was at a live presentation on SL ISTE Island at 4AM my time when one of the participants mentioned that his son has problems reading instructions because he has ADD. I had known about my problem with reading manuals and and preferred method of learning by trial and error, but I had not related these to my learning difficulties with the Muvenation program. I believe my problem throughout this course has been my inability to follow instructions. I enjoyed the hands on workshops, but found the notes difficult to follow. I prefer to be shown and directed by voice, to do, make mistakes, and be corrected patiently than to have to read about it. I am a good reader/writer, mind you as I have 5 more days to complete a 3-year doctoral program, but I cannot for the life of me learn by reading about things. That's not my learning style. Patience, hands on practice, lots of individual feedback and encouragement are the elements I focus on as I teach wiki skills on Wikieducator online workshops. Regardless of the step-by-step instruction, videos, live online meetings, and discussion forums that are available online, participants require personal connections and ongoing feedback from the facilitators and peers as they practice the wiki codes.

I have had many frustrating but also many aha moments as I experienced the online course as a learner. The information is helping me improve my online facilitation.

Thank you for providing me with many wonderful learning experiences.

Thank you.
Nellie Deutsch

2 comments:

Dolors Capdet said...

Hi Nellie,

My experience in MNV08 has been different from yours.

I have had a feedback f2f with my tutors on a regular basis: twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) and other occasional.

With some of my fellow group, we discovered some educational tools and we exchanged experiences. It has been gratifying.

If you need help sometime, no doubt, you can count on us.

Best regards,

Dolors

Dr. Nellie Deutsch said...

Dear Dolors,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my blog with constructive suggestions. I am so happy for you and those that have managed to acquire the skills required to use SL for instruction and learning. Perhaps my time has not come. I am certainly not going to give up, on the contrary. I plan to continue learning. I would be glad to join your group and receive help. Just let me know when you are available. I am usually on 24/7.

Thank you.
Warm wishes,
Nellie