Are We Having Fun Yet?

Oof. Been off working hard at being an online student and a face2face one as well (blended learning, you know). But haven’t forgotten about my quest here. Have some new sources to write about in my next posts, and a fun experience also for today. After reading The Synchronous Trainer’s Survival Guide, discussed last time, I visited the author’s site and signed up for a free session called “Learn How to Learn Online.” Just attended last week and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. My current learning experience, which is my first time with synchronous online learning, is strictly chat, and free chat at that. Don’t get me wrong, it does the job. It just doesn’t compare to the delightful WebEx (which I may be the last person in the universe to try). Attendees were introduced to signaling tools for raising one’s hand, taking a break, responding to a polling question, and so forth. We could also view slides, point at slide content, write or type on slides for collaborative activities, and use chat when we didn’t feel like talking. Combined with teleconferencing, it was as if a world of options had opened up. The very attentive instructor, Jacqueline, recommended allowing 1 ½ hours for a session that would run 1 hour face2face; learners apparently can become very involved when given opportunity and encouragement. Classroom facilitators should be jealous. Of course, all those bells and whistles could get a bit distracting at times. We had a pretty light topic to cover; much of the point of the session was to get a chance to play and get familiar with the software. A trainer would need to be ready for the challenge of keeping it all focused. Would love a chance to do more with it myself, as learner and facilitator both. Overall, it opens up wild possibilities for active learning experiences.