In our non-face conversation, It felt easier to say whatever came to mind, whereas in in-class, face-to-face discussions, I tend to be more careful and thoughtful of what I'm going to say; in our on-line chat, I simply didn't care, which was cool. One of the downfalls, however, was that I felt forced to think faster than usual since the text flowed so quickly. Trying to keep up with the conversation and trying to provide input on interesting topics--but then suddenly another good one pops up-- was difficult to keep up with. A second pitfall, and maybe this was just for me, but I felt that when I published a message too late, my message or the meaning/purpose of the message came out odd due to the lateness--by the time is was posted, a new topic was in place.
Most interesting to me were the discussions about making student moderators of online conversation for accountability purposes and about using text as a form of formal writing (wouldn't that be great!). I would still like to know more about what measurements to take for students who don't attain basic computer skills and as a result fall behind in this type of project.
All in all, the online discussion was effective in that everyone participated and provided great ideas about the given topic: does on-line discussion really work? I'd like to say "yes" for right now. We'll see after a few try-outs.
Well, regarding the genre of the chat -- I think as you get used to it a bit more you'll see that 1. your original impressions in re: not being able to keep up are accurate and 2. #1 will start bothering you less.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of different students being at different skill levels is one thing you can use student assistants for, of course -- also, you have to do something to guarantee that students have an opportunity to practice software thoroughly before they're held responsible for it (which is what we'll also do in this class, of course).
Luis, I am quite relieved to hear that your experience on the online chat was similar to mine. Thank you for sharing the downfalls, as it made me feel less awkward and incompetent.
ReplyDeleteI also felt that the online chat made it easier to share what was on my mind, but was overwhelmed with the speed of the information coming in. It was very challenging trying to keep up with the comments while attempting to peruse my book for the significant passages I wanted to discuss. I had the same problem you did. By the time I posted a point, the conversation had already moved on.
Despite the quick pace of our class's online component, I do enjoy the new means of sharing our readings with each other. I like that everyone gets to say what they feel is necessary without feeling anxious about it in class.
Thanks for your thoughts. I found them very refreshing.
Rosy Flores