Online Learning Technologies

This week we expanded our use of Ning, Facebook, and PBWorks for educational use. I found the sites easy to navigate both in creating my own and looking at other classmates sites. The use of the read/write web has expand since I first took online courses in the late 90's.

In the late 90's I took online courses to gain my BA in Human Development. It was a new program offered through WSU. I graduated in May of 2001 just when the Open Educational Resource movement was starting. The classes were modeled after a traditional class with video lectures, test taken through proxy sites, and homework turned in through email. We had a online cafe where we communicated with other students but since this was a new program there we not many students to communicate with and there was no requirements for posting and discussions. We were most on our own with little or no feedback from teachers. The only deadline was completing all course work within the quarter which followed the same dates as on campus students. When I graduated in 2001 there were 4 of us that had completed the program and we were the first 4 to do so. I am wondering where they are at now with developing course work and the number of online students.

I have seen how far online education has come and how it is a more tailored education than just adapting classroom courses to distance learning programs. I now see how much education has advanced just in the last 10 years. In the next 10 years I see more advancement in online learning and more students choosing this form of learning. There will also be more traditional classes using the online forums such as blogs and wikis. I am enjoying this educational experience more than my previous online experience.