End of chapter 1...

Last week. For the first time I am going to post a picture, following my colleague Amjad. It represents how I feel at this point. I have already walked a lot towards my objectives, but there is still a lot ahead of me.


As I reflect about the last weeks, there are some considerations I must do. I’ll put them in a list, as Andreja uses to do.

1) I loved having this reflective blog! Although it was the last task I completed, it normally was the most pleasant, and I really want to keep this habit. I am going to keep this blog and resurrect another I created for another course;

2) I need to develop my “distance-learning skills” a lot! I am still very used to face-to-face discussions. But I have one characteristic when writing – I tend to be very objective. I haven’t come to a conclusion if it is a good or bad characteristic for online courses;

3) I have managed to implement some small changes in my teachers’ group. I taught them how to create a blog (they are not blogging very often yet, but this is the next step), I created a site for the English group, for sharing documents and links, following our wiki sample, I have been able to share many of the interesting sites I have seen throughout this course – teachers seem to be very motivated about these novelties;

4) I rediscovered many things, I was a bit rusty in some aspects. The ABCD format for pedagogical objectives is similar to what I was used to see, but easier to apply. The development of lesson plans and projects – I mean, the task of thinking about all the steps, and writing it down – helped me to organize my ideas. I am quite an active person, and normally tend to do more than one thing at a time. Being forced to put everything on the paper (plans, ideas, reflections, comments) seemed a waste of time at first, but helped me a lot. It is funny that only now, exactly at this moment, I realize this.

5) As I did not have students to test my project, my task was double, since I had to think about all the “what ifs” as Deborah and Sandra said. Again, a new personal skill was developed. Planning is hard, deciding a plan B, and sometimes the plan C, is even much more difficult.

Concluding. When I applied for this course, I had two main objectives. First was to add more knowledge about the use of web and technology resources in teaching and learning, which is a subject that enchants me. My second objective was to understand how an online course must be prepared, organized, developed. I had had another experience before, but let’s say it was not so intense. I used it as a comparison pattern. My intention is to become able to design online workshops and courses in the future. But what I got from this experience is much, much more than I planned. And it was great. I am sure I could have done even more, and I hope I have the opportunity of doing so.

Thanks Sandra! Thanks Deborah! Thanks to all my colleagues! This is not an end, this is the “commencement” of the second chapter. I hope you stop by sometime, leaving comments, suggestions, or at least a “hi”.

See you soon

Marcia