Wrapping Up the First Week

Welina mai e nā hoa heluhelu,Greetings readers,
The First Week

What an incredible first week! Returning to graduate student mode is exciting, but also exhausting. I knew it would be like this when I signed up. The difference is actually “experiencing” it. Much love and thanks to Toki. She has been incredibly supportive in so many ways. Especially when I shared with her yesterday about feeling intimidated by my classmates. As I read their insightful and well supported postings to the assignment questions, my self-esteem began deflating. I asked myself, “Am I even able to “hang” with these folks? How do I support my opinions with references to books, articles, and research studies as they seem able to do consistently?”

Toki reminded me that I do have a great deal of resources--my experiences and Hawaiian library. Ka Puke ʻŌlelo Noʻeau (Pukui), Nā Honua Maoli Ola, Hoʻoulu (Meyer), and Mai Paʻa I Ka Leo (Nogelmeier) to name a few. Hello! Talk about letting myself be sucked into the Western academic vortex. Admittedly I was ashamed of myself--briefly. Just before speaking with Toki I wrote my instructor, Anne Guptill, sharing my doubts. Her supportive and mentoring response was uplifting!

I will be answering the same questions below at the end of each week. Mahalo for following along with me as I take this journey.

ʻO au iho nō me ka ʻoiaʻiʻo,Sincerely yours,
Liko
What Surprised Me the MostThe amount of time it takes to read through all the responses in the various discussion boards associated to assignments in order to provide a response that “moves the discussion along.” The amount of responses is exponential. It does not seem that many folks have paid attention to the guideline of setting a limit. (See previous blog entry under “The First Lecture”)
What I Liked the Best
The “Playing Devil’s Advocate” exercise. Attempting to craft a persuasive argument for something I actually disagree with is a new concept. It was difficult!
What I Liked the Least
Spinning my wheels in the late evening/early morning. Also, learning how to read something with particular questions in mind so I do not have to read the whole darn thing again--which I did anyway. Argh!
What to Keep or Change for My Courses

• Keeping Multi-media: I am still a bit disappointed that there are no audio files, video, or graphics associated with the content. It is still early, so I am sure that use of multi-media will be addressed in upcoming sections of the course.
• Changing how assignments and discussion boards reference each other by the numbering system employed. 1:1 = Week#:Assignment#
• Changing the importance of keeping a journal!

Introductions and the First Lecture

Welina!

Introductions

The class is off to a great start. There are about twenty students. From the individual introductions I learned that we have a vast and varied amount of experience in online teaching and learning. Many students are from California, but we have one as far as Okinawa, Japan and a few sprinkling the east coast.

Our teacher, Anne Guptill, is a great example for us, being a graduate herself of MS-OTL! She continued on to gain her doctorate in education with a specialization in instructional design for distance education. Who knew there was such a thing? Obviously not me. But it is so exciting to learn there is another step beyond this one.

Speaking of which, I better focus on this one first. Hello. The reading assignments so far have been extremely helpful, particularly the first article providing writing advice for online university students. It seemed like the author used me as a research subject when he listed the major challenges students face.

The first two of the seven listed shouted at me from the page. Procrastination and perfectionism! Who me? You bet. I am already aware, from past experience in the MA Hawaiian Studies program at Mānoa, that I need to deal with those challenges swiftly and confidently.

The First Lecture

I was more than a little disappointed that the first lecture was not an audio presentation. Maybe I missed it somewhere, but man, more reading? Also, not many images are being used in the course design, just black and white so far. Meh.

The content of the lecture, however, was very helpful. Anne shared some common sense guidelines. Good thing she shared those guidelines. One in particular hit home, making me, the student, proclaim the teacher gratifying "Aha!" She pointed out some mathematical equations for exponential growth of discussion threads if we do not pay attention and set a limit. Ha!

That's all for now. I need to get to some reading done and respond to the discussion questions.

Mālama ko aloha.