E-Learning For Educators-FA07-901C
Week 3 – Reflection

Collaboration is a process that, in my experience, requires planning and luck. This week I learned a great deal about the possibilities for collaboration, creative strategies for encouraging collaboration and an excellent platform.

Having said that, I now can really identify with my online students. As a recovering type A personality I am one who likes to get to work, embrace work and share it – quickly. I was raised that 5 minutes early is 10 minutes late. (I married my opposite in this regard).

This week I had the opportunity in collaboration to work with 2 classmates similar to me in pace and 2 similar to my wife. This made for an interesting and in some ways frustrating week. Also, I participated in the other collaborative discussion boards and, if I can be honest, at times I wished I was in another group. I envied the wide and animated discussion in these groups compared to the more deliberate and paced discussion during the week with 2 of my 4 colleagues.
I did also discover the reports feature in moodle and was able to determine how much my colleagues were actually engaged online. (I know that they were all engaged off line).

So, I was presented with confirmation that we all learn at different paces, in different ways with different intensities – a very good lesson for me.

PS I am also very pleased to be a student in this regard, I would not want to be an instructor responsible for determining graduate level credit. This is actually a serious point, discussion, participation and collaboration can be problematic to evaluation and to assign a grade.

Thanks for a great week.

Greg