Sure, I may have lost audio and visual capability towards the end there. And yes, Adobe Connect crashed not once, not twice, but three times on me. But despite these minor roadblocks and hindrances, I feel like the virtual classroom worked for many reasons all real classrooms work: It brought our class together for collaborative and constructive ends
I appreciated being able to actually tangibly communicate with my classmates. It was nice to hear people's voices for once (and see some real faces). It would have been great if we could have had more face-to-face meetups for this class. I think the course really could have benefited from it. Being trapped in my isolated little bubble, I wasn't sure if what I was doing and thinking was matching up with what everyone else was doing and thinking (I'm glad to find out that it was!)
This was especially true of many of the individuals not in my group (Group B). I feel like I never truly interacted with these peers except occasionally in passing. I think I would have gained more if I had been able to build off their knowledge and ideas more during the class itself.
The session may have gone on a little long. But hearing people describe their work and why they chose it was really valuable. I feel like I gained more from them explaining things than just by checking out the links posted over on the forum.
Even more valuable were the conversations initiated among us after viewing each others' projects. Some great questions, criticisms, and general thoughts were inspired by the virtual classroom setting. Some positive feedback was also usefully generated. I'm a sucker for praise, and it was nice to hear it in a non-written form from the vocal chords of real live human beings.
I'm with you in the case of meetings, Patrick. The virtual meeting was great, but it would have been nice to have a few more meetings. If the class had been over the course of a Fall or Spring semester, I think it would have gone a bit smoother -- a few more virtual meetings, and maybe a meeting at the mound or two.
ReplyDeleteThe extent of my interaction outside of my group consisted with messages with you and Claudia, just to see if we were on the same page as to how some of the assignments were to be completed. Even within my own group, I really only had contact with Frank -- one of our group members made a seemingly rather noncommittal message on the forums about virtually meeting up, and the other never contacted me about meetings at all. This especially, was why I tried to reach out to you guys and Dr. Smirnova more -- my group was really a group of two, and I needed some people to help compare my thought pattern for the work and to ask questions of.
I agree that many of the shortcomings of the course would likely not have occurred if this were a Fall or Spring class. The longer stretches of time hopefully would have smoothed out some of the issues.
DeleteBut, like you said, it wouldn't have hurt to have been able to meet virtually or on campus a few more times. I think it would have greatly added to the experience.
Sorry, to hear about the troubles you had with your group work. Although I'm glad you trust my opinion enough to check in on what I thought about assignments.