Online Learning in all its glory

Who would have thought that I the teacher would come to LOATHE online learning...

These past three weeks have been an experience and all I can think is, “Kids, I am sorry!”. I empathize with all the students who have shared their disgruntlement with the concept of online learning.

So, a little context...

I recently decided to start my Masters in Instructional Design and Technology... a FULLY ONLINE programme, with no face-to-zoom instruction, and the best you can get for feedback is a Q&A forum that your instructor (and peers) will eventually get to answering.

Wow. Never in all my years have I felt so disconnected from the material I’m supposed to be learning, and the saddest part is, for a course on instructional design, this design has failed MISERABLY!

Then, I decided to take a summer week-long course on Digital Literacy, a follow up to the previously amazing experience I had in January, in Oman with Renee Hobbs, but this time, it was not so fabulous. Not having Zoom sessions in my current masters programme, I now felt OVER-zoomed! Virtual burn-out is real, and I can say with confidence, that I am NOT the number one fan of “real-time” learning (what the regular public calls synchronous). “Any time” (asynchronous) learning is still iffy for me also. Although I can tell that this summer programme has been well organized, content created well, access to resources and information readily available, zoom-room specialists, the works... IF I have to be part of a breakout room AFTER this experience, I will scream! This has definitely not been my most fun experience... And here I am being the WORST student because I am yet to complete an exit ticket or Flipgrid reflection...

This must be how my students feel.

So the takeaway? I will be all the more empathetic to my students this upcoming year. It does look like there will be online learning, especially with corona still running rampant, so I will take into consideration all the WOES I have experienced as an online LEARNER and try not to be the online teacher from hell.

May the odds be in all our favors, as I have another 14 months to go of this torture.