I have a dominant enough personality that whether I am in an
asynchronous environment, where I can go at my own pace and do things on my own,
or in a synchronous environment, where I am blended with others virtually in
the same time and space, I can make the most of the situation. When I started my pursuit of my Master’s
Degree from Liberty, I wasn’t completely convinced that an asynchronous
environment was for me. I am a social
person that enjoys the real-time feedback and “live” people to have
intellectual rhetoric during our time together.
The synchronous environment can provide more of an immediate interaction
and feeds my need for social contact with likeminded professionals.
After spending over a year taking courses
online, I have realized that I am balanced enough and have come to enjoy the
parts of distance learning that opt out of the live human contact. I have now become accustomed to working at my
own pace now and searching for feedback via social media, scholarly journals,
and internet resources rather than the other professionals in my course. I feel
like I am now even more comfortable in that type of work environment and
question if I would be able to go full force back to learning without my own
parameters and my own pace that the asynchronous environment affords me.
Guide to Online Learning.
Synchronous vs. asynchronous classes. http://www.elearners.com/guide/how-online-learning-works/synchronous-vs-asynchronous-delivery/
Retrieved June 14, 2012.
Spector, J. M., Merrill, M. D., Merrienboer, J. V., Driscoll, M. P. (2008). Handbook of research on educational communications and technology. (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Thorsen,
C. (2009). Techtactics: Technology for
teachers. (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Your blog was very interesting to me because we seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum. Having completed the majority of my undergraduate degree online, and now completing my graduate degree online, I often wonder if I would enjoy attending a face to face class. Similar to the points that you made, I tend to do things my way. They don't always make sense to others. However, the uniformity of the classroom and the sense of responsibility that comes with attending class are both characteristics that I believe could benefit me at this time.
ReplyDeleteMy undergraduate and my graduate work before I started at Liberty, were both done completely on-campus and in a traditional synchronous environment and I felt like I had to do it in the way others did and it was less about my own experience in the courses. I am really enjoying the flexibility of my current course work. I feel less pressure in the asynchronous environment and I feel in control of my work and feel like I am getting much more out of my experience being in control. Always nice to here other's perspectives on this, especially since our experiences seem so opposite. Good luck with the rest of your course work!
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