The Challenges of
being an online learner
- An individual may be desirous of acquiring the knowledge in an online course but they learn best in a traditional classroom environment. Some people simply learn better and retain more when the knowledge is attached to a tangible experience
- Procrastination is the thief of time!
- Feelings of isolation or being lost in the material. There are always students in a class who are not brave enough to ask questions but there are also those who are not afraid. When questions are posed both the brave and the shy benefit from the teacher’s response but this is not necessarily the case in an online setting. On the flipside some students who are shy may be more willing to pose questions in the relative anonymity of an online class
- I know you asked for three but a VERY real challenge is lack of technology.
Ways these challenges
might be overcome
Well I don’t have the solution to these challenges but I
have some thoughts…
- I can say that this first point is 100% me! I thrive in a group. I love to discuss, laugh, debate and reason with my colleagues… I also am not the best typist K I see the only solutions to this as
- The learner ‘biting the bullet’ and focusing on the ultimate goal which is learning the material.
- The facilitator doing their best to encourage as much interactive activity as possible in the class including opportunities for the face-chat.
- Learners must accept responsibility to be self-directed up to a reasonable point… again though the course must be designed and delivered in such a way that the facilitator is in constant communication with the student. Particularly by maintaining ‘office hours’ and responding in a timely manner to questions and providing feedback on assessments…
- Facilitators can make their response to questions (and the question itself) public to all participants in the course.
- Students must be made aware of all the technological requirements for a course before they are allowed to register for it – I have had students register for online courses and they have no internet at home and cannot use it at work either! I am certain that cases exist where persons can make do with cyber cafes and or coming to a school/library on the weekend but it is not ideal and likely limits the student’s achievement potential.
I must say that to-date this course is being delivered in a
manner which meets and supersedes any of my suggestions above.
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Alicia
