Reflections of OMDE 670, the Most Important Course of My Masters' Program

We, as humans, fear the unknown, and change is after often at the root of our fears. One of the greatest catalysts for change is today’s rapid technological development, but the concept of traditional education has always been the same. Even that is changing, and as to be expected, there is a substantial amount of fear and apprehension towards distance education. With this, students are presented the chance to overcome of a

“Can You Be Educated from a Distance,” an insightful essay by James Barszcz, brings to focus some of the benefits and disadvantages of Distance Learning education (DL). In it, Barszcz discusses the mechanics of DL courses available to students, the quality of education DL can offer, and some reasoning behind its rapidly growing popularity. “Can You Be Educated from a Distance” is an engaging article that students of all ages can benefit from.

There was such a variety of topics covered in this course and I wish that I had taken it in a classroom instead of online. With this online course, I feel like the material went a little too quickly. If I were in a classroom setting, I feel that

This was by far the most challenging course that I have encountered while obtaining my Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from UCMO. That is not a negative comment as this course has actually impacted me professionally more than any other course I’ve taken to date. This course has taken more time to complete the assignments, more of my attention to detail, and more of my creativity. The last point was the best part about this course. I consider myself to be fairly creative and this course definitely allowed me to do that while bringing my somewhat odd personality to a professional forum. For this I am grateful. Let’s get to the good stuff, shall we?

In order to analyze student participation they "presented an 8 week course on web-based distance learning to Masters students on a computer-integrated education course at the University of Pretoria" (Nagel et. al., 2007, p.41). Matriculated in this course were students from a diverse background and different age groups ranging from 30 to 50 years old.

With the goals of contributing to the understanding of distance education, professional practices, and their own learning within an online and distance environment, students in MDDE 601 participate in a series of online discussions. In this brief essay I will compare a sample set of my own MDDE 601 discussion posts against a provided grading rubric, in order to assess the functional and substantive qualities of my posts, as well as my engagement with the course content and fellow students.

It would appear that my original theory regarding the applicability and practicality of this capstone was accurate. This course has managed to successfully supplement the knowledge I had previously acquired in other courses. For example, I was familiar with and understood the basic principles of leadership. However, this course has taught me that the ability to lead is not an exact science, but an art and determining how to proceed when faced with uncertainty or a highly volatile situation is an exceptional challenge.

Receiving an education via an online course is one that has begun with many challenges. I have come from having no knowledge of researching information to feel like I have journeyed a long way finding the confidence to research pertinent and quality resources. Through this particular unit I have been given the implements to develop a sound knowledge of online group collaborations and the programs to allow the communication to take place.

I must admit that I have always looked at this type of course as being a complete waste of time. After taking the Learning Connections Inventory, I've discovered that I'm a Dynamic Learner according to the results of the questionnaire. It's totally shed some light on the how, what, when and why of my success and failures in my educational as well as personal and professional life.

This course was extremely interesting to me; discovering the four different learning patterns, how they influence college coursework and my career path. I appreciated looking at the inter-working of how I learn and what I can do to enhance my learning capabilities. As the weeks went by, the on-line experience with Ashford University became easier to schedule; I used sequential and precision learning patterns to regulate my time, turning in assignments when they were due. In the past, on-line learning was tedious and difficult to manage. Ashford’s approach with an

Distance learning (education) has become an integral part of the education process over the past few decades and is growing in popularity as technology advances.(Willis 1992) describes distance education (as) "the organizational framework andprocess of providing instruction at a distance. Distance education takes place when ateacher and student(s) are physically separated, and technology…(is) used to bridge theinstruction gap." (Coutts 1996). Furthermore, "distance learning activities are designedto fit the specific context for learning, the nature of the subject matter; intended learningoutcomes, needs and goals of the learner, the learner's environment and the instructional echnologies and methods." (American

Learning is more than just receiving information. Traditionally learning was to be in campus, where students would interact with one a another, there were no other ways for learners to get educated beside going to the classroom and listening to the instructor. Nowadays the Internet has brought different ways for people to receive information, such as getting education and degrees online. A few years ago online education was never thinkable, and yet it has become to reality and it is widely expanding with popularity. Online education is a type of educational instruction that delivers learning to individuals to their own homes, and it is getting very popular among nontraditional student and others. Individuals prefer online education

Non-traditional students are finding it easier and easier to maintain a job, a family, and pursuing a college career at the same time. This is possible because more and more non-traditional students are receiving an education using distance learning, as opposed to traditional, in-the-classroom teaching. Distance learning is basically taking college level, credit-bearing courses via the Internet. One of the most obvious advantages of distance learning is that it puts the classroom in your home, office, or wherever you can find a computer and log on to the Internet. However, there is much controversy regarding the quality of the courses being offered on the Internet versus the quality of

Education is an important part of people’s lives; it will either make them or break them in the future depending on the careers they choose. Education is greatly diverse today in comparison to the 1950s because of advancements in teaching and other great inventions that provide easier techniques of teaching. One major issue that has been raised is distant learning courses and online education.

Andrew Simoncelli once said, “Students who take online classes must be motivated, independent learners.” This is relevant because independence and motivation is what it takes to succeed in an online course. Online learning will not only expand what students learn, but will also bring a number of positive changes in the way students are taught. Courses online have changed everyone’s look at learning all over the world. It allows more opportunities for observers to learn online rather than learning in class. Another affirmative of taking an online course is flexibility and convenience. Students who would like to experience some of these ideas should look into an online class!