Going Fishing: Looking for My Online Degree

Posted by Pamela Gustafson on December 17th, 2008

My search for online classes was not about getting a degree; it was more like a fishing expedition. It was about finding courses that would help improve my skills as a teacher. Computers and technology were quickly expanding on the education scene and I wanted to be ready. Having watched my son’s intense interest in computers, I knew computers were a venue to reach unmotivated students (which he was at times). During this time I also switched school districts and found out the new district was ahead of my former district in purchasing computers. I looked for practical courses to enhance my teaching with computers, so I chose courses from different universities.

The search started in 2001. The pond of online courses was smaller then,unlike the sea of online classes available today. The University of Northern Iowa had the biggest lake of online classes for teachers. They understood how many K-12 teachers already had masters degrees and needed courses to improve their skills in the classroom. The two classes I took from UNI were “Excel with Excel” and “Using the Internet for Staff Development”

From a flyer I received in the mail from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, I found an online course titled “Using Computers to Teach Reading in Early Childhood.” This course required two on-site meetings; the rest of the class was online. In all three courses I felt much closer to the instructors than I had ever felt in an on-site college class. Instead of a once a week intense three-hour session, I received feedback and messages in smaller sound bites. I felt like I was able to converse more with my professors, thereby enhancing my learning experience.

At the same time I was taking these classes I had a classroom with five computers. I could immediately apply information I was learning in my classes. In addition, I created other learning experiences using computers for small groups of students. I discussed this with other teachers in my online classes.

So, I went fishing and I was hooked on the quality of my own online classroom experiences and the power of computers as a motivating tool in the classroom. The classes paid big dividends.

Computer Hog

Posted by Pamela Gustafson on December 2nd, 2008

My family of four loves computers and the online environment. My husband likes to play online games, and my son also plays games and constantly downloads files. When and if my son decides to do his homework, the computer is a necessity. My daughter craves music and burns CD’s with mixes of her favorites.

Then I come along with online classes. Needless to say, the classes suddenly created fierce competition to use the family computer. My household didn’t realize the added time I would need on the computer.

Let negotiations for computer time begin! My high school-aged son volunteered to use the computer late at night. Nope. That meant I would have to drag him out of bed the next day and throw him on the bus for school. We already broke his habit of staying up too late by installing a toggle switch on the phone line dedicated to the computer.

I outsmarted my young electronics wiz by putting the switch under the bathroom sink, behind the tampons, a place where he’d never look. He would go downstairs and try to trace the path of the phone lines from where the line entered the house. He would leaves the lines dangling…leaving evidence of his search.

Later at night wasn’t an option for me either. I was usually tired by 8:00 p.m. If I sat down to watch a little TV waiting to use the computer I would fall asleep before the end of the first half hour sitcom. This is how my son’s late night habit started in the first place; he knew I was sleeping and was generally oblivious to what he was doing.

Going with the rhythm of my body, I started setting the alarm for 5:00 a.m. With a Diet Pepsi to help wake me, I could get in two hours of work on my online classes. And, it was blissfully quiet at that hour

Deep down, I’m sure my family enjoyed it when I left the house to take classes; one less computer hog!