Where I Go My Online Classes Follow

Posted by Pamela Gustafson on March 5th, 2009

My online classes were scheduled like traditional classes. There were due dates and timelines. Timelines were scheduled for initial posts and for responses to the posts of others. There was a similar format in most of the classes, read something assigned by the instructor, post a response to the reading, and then reply to posts by other students. There was flexibility within a week, but generally not beyond a week. People did post past these due dates, but I am not sure how it affected their grade. In any class I consider late assignments a cardinal sin. I hate nagging my students for assignments, and would be quite embarrassed if someone had to nag me.

There was no requirement about the number of replies a student had to post during a discussion. This bothered me. Some posts would hit a nerve with other classmates and there would be many replies. Other posts would get no reply and the class visibly ignored the response. There would be a zero in the column titled “replies”, and every person in the class could see the zero. It bothered me that instructors would not watch for this, and formulate their own written reaction. I did my best within my busy life to respond to everyone’s post. At the least, I could ask a question if I did not understand the post or did not agree with the post. Cognitive conflict is a productive experience, and at the graduate level I find it stimulating to discuss different points of view.

I have never been a class that allowed me to pace myself. In a previous entry to this blog I mentioned a freshman psychology class at the University of Milwaukee utilizing this approach. Ever since reading the article I have thought about this class and I really want to try a class with a similar type of format working at my own pace. I envision a summer when I am off, getting through a class as quickly as I can and then spending the rest of my vacation doing the other things I need (or want) to do.

My son is taking two online classes while he interns in a town away from his university. He worked ahead to decrease the workload during his busy internship. which started a month into the semester. I am not sure if the class encouraged this, but he could easily save his work offline and post it when the instructor asked for it. I used this same strategy when a just for pleasure trip magnetically pulled me away from my online class commitment. I stored the class work in a web based email attachment and posted far away from my home. Where I go, my online classes follow.