I'm so happy to have survived the ONTL 650 class. There were times I thought an F would be on my transcript for sure. But alas, I made it to the next level and feel confident that if I could survive the Intro class I can survive anything.
Until I open the ONTL 651 online course and discover we have to do audio introductions using Wimba. How the heck do I do that? How do I access it? After a few moments of my typical panic I feel my techno anger rising. One thing I did learn in the Intro class was to walk away when the blood starts boiling because no good will come of it. I shut the computer and turn on Two and a Half men. The next morning I easily figure out the Wimba voice intro and all is well again.
Until I read the announcement about facilitating a Wimba class for a week. Good Lord! I'm not prepared for this! I quickly sign up for a week I think will be interesting, building community and improving retention. What will we talk about? What will we do? What am I doing trying to learn how to teach online? Will we look like complete idiots? I guess we'll find out in a few weeks.
Fortunately, the topic is one I find very relevant to an online class. Building a sense of community in the online class is a challenge, but it can be done. And making sure students are learning and staying engaged in the online courses is so important. It will be important for us to do a good job on this important lesson for the rest of our classmates.
In the meantime, I'm trying not to panic and trust in the material we will learn in intervening weeks. In the Intro class we had a little Wimba discussion with a professor in Hawaii who had earned her online teaching certificate through GSU. Very cool. Wimba is an amazing tool for bringing people together. And despite my technophobia I'm looking forward to learning more about using it to facilitate an online class.
Bring it on? Yes, bring it on!
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