Online Education (Module 3)

My traditional education occurred before the era of online classes, so when I started this online-only Master's degree, I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I actually found it to be a great fit for my needs as a student returning after 25 years, with a very busy professional life.  Many of my needs as an adult learner, such as flexibility in schedule and a desire for self-directed learning were a perfect fit for my online classes.

To add to my current experience as an online student, I explored Coursera.org.  I've already been studying Spanish for almost a year on Duolingo, so I searched for a Spanish class.  Through UCDavis, a five-course Specialization in beginning Spanish is offered, with each course covering 3-4 modules.  The overview suggests that this program takes 7 months of 5 hours of weekly work to complete, although the schedule is flexible.  With a combination of video, text readings, and student projects, it seems like a good complement to my Spanish study.  Coursera offers a free 7-day trial with followup options to audit the course or fully enroll with a monthy or yearly fee. 

Of course, the experiences of students and instructors can be quite different, and there is a whole world of development that occurs before the first student even logs in.  The creation of an online course is a multi-step, team effort.  A fully developed course can have more than 100 webpages.  The traditional aspects of instructional design must all be present and adapted for effective online use.  It seems that the constant evaluation process that is such an important part of the ADDIE model is an essential part of developing an online course.


I find the world of online courses fascinating and would like to explore this world further.







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