Flat World, Flat Classroom

Posted by Pamela Gustafson on March 23rd, 2009

I attended online classes with a local campus and online classes with a national campus. I found very little difference between the two. The online classes were a less intimate approach to getting an education. The tradeoff for less intimacy was more effective time management.

With the local university there was one on site meeting, to orientate the classmates to the online environment. Because I saw my classmates only once, I did not really remember them when the online part of the class commenced. I did establish an online relationship with the instructor and we talked about presenting together at a conference. That opportunity never materialized and after the class I had no other contact with her.

Interestingly enough I recently had contact with an instructor from a national campus, where I participated in two online classes. I enrolled in an online class this summer, starting a certificate to be certified as an instructor in e learning. This is at the University of Wisconsin–Stout, It is not really local, nor is it national. This instructor took a new position at this new University. I received an email from her and when I replied back I told her I remembered her from the national university. I don’t think she really remembered me, but this is normal when instructors have hundreds of students over the years. It does feel like it is a small world when you make a new contact with a former teacher.

The online environment has flattened the world, and now a lot of people are my neighbors and classmates digitally. There are local friends who I only see online. If we wanted to and had the time we could get together. At my age with my busy schedule, Internet platforms and email keep me in touch without committing more time. My online classes do the same, and have flattened the classroom to the whole world.