My reflections on the last few days...
On Friday, I chose to spend my time in the profile section. It was great to read everyone's posts. I think I got carried away and responded to many of them. I guess I got excited about 'meeting' everyone and starting to get a sense that there really was a community of interesting people that were excited about the prospect of working and interacting with one another. This was a great experience as it increased my enthusiasm about the course. I posted my bio and anxiously awaited replies from people.

Today, I spent my day in my new classroom (Panera Bread). I enjoyed lunch, coffee, and my coursework. I must say that the interactive component of the forums is crucial to the process. I really find myself looking out there for new responses, emails from classmates, and the back and forth discussion within the forum. It certainly helps to diminish the isolation / lonliness that could come form taking an online course.

I read three of the articles and wrote my responses in the forum. I struggled a bit with the directions regarding playing devil's advocate and arguing for something that I don't agree with. It felt counter-intuitive. It seems like it would have made more sense to argue against the point made by the author. At the same time, I completely understand the educational value of the assignment as it was given. It was a healthy challenge to get over how I thought the assignment should be compared to what the assignment was.

Now I am done for the day - I put in many hours today. I need to find time over the next few days to respond to posts from my classmates - arguing their point if I understand correctly. I believe I have one more forum to post in (about blogs) and then I am done for the week. I feel as though I am a part of the class and I really enjoy the people in the class. I feel great about this course and the overall program!

Okay...I am currently matriculated in the Online Teaching and Learning Master's Program at California State University at East Bay. The program is an online program. Pretty witty, eh. An online program in online teaching and learning. Can't imagine it could be taught another way. So, today I logged in to see if the course was up and there it was. I quickly skimmed through the introductory letter, advanced to the syllabus, and as I figured, started to feel a degree of overwhelm. I have this habit of reading through things and getting a little nervous at the point where I look through the assignments, but of course have no idea what would be involved in completing them. As is always the case, I will work through and at the right time begin working on the projects. Once I do, I am sure some of the fear will dissipate (sp?). It was suggested to start the jounal right away, so here I am. Funny thing is I hope I remember where I started the journal and all that. My track record with blogging is not great. I start blogs and they get lost in cyberspace. Perhaps I am going on a tangent. Well, it is my journal, so I guess that is ok.

Writing the journal is already working to easy my mind. I feel that I have 'started' the process and that is helpful. Plus, sharing (even if it is just with myself) about these initial fears helps put them 'out there'.

I will share a little about what I have already realized it NOT the way to approach the course. Actually a little background. I actually took this first course (Intro to Online Teaching and Learning) a little over 5 years ago. I figured that with an online course I could do the work whenever I like. I also figured I would take it over the summer when I had some more 'free time'. I also was committed to NOT letting it get in the way of my summer and having fun and such. I should also mention that I owned a business (computer training / gaming center) at the time, so even though I am a teacher during the school year, my summers were still busy. In addition, I am married and at the time had an infant at home. We now have two children (ages 3 and 6) so there will be challenges this time around as well. Anyway, with my 'i'm not gonna let this course get in the way of my life' attitude, I found myself doing just as I hoped - working on the course when 'i got around to it'. Well, that seemed to be from midnight - 2 am each night. I don't suggest it! It led me to decide to stop taking classes. So, now I am back and ready to go. But, I am aware of another 'don't' in online learning. I came home today thinking I would straighten the house a liite while my daughter has a playdate. I figured I would do the dishes, fold laundry, start a new load of laundry, etc. Oh, and while I am at it I figured I would log into the course. Not such a good idea. Now I am sitting here blogging, but thinking about the dishes, the laundry, etc. The first lesson I am very aware of with online learning is to treat it like a regular class and 'schedule' time for it. I plan to dedicate Thursday afternoons and one weekend day to this course. In addition, I will choose some time each day to simply (or not so simply) participate in the online discussion and such so that I don't get too far out of the loop. My Thursdays are set as we have a babysitter and I can go to the Port City Java and log in while I enjoy my coffee and work on coursework. The weekend will take a little more negotiation for the time, but the trick will be to do it NOT in the house! So, I will sign off now and spend a few minutes on the laundry and dishes and revisit the class during one of my designated times.

That's it for now!