Week 1 (Sept 5 – 11, 2015) – A new ROLE in my life

I must say I doubted myself a bit the moment I first opened my portal sites on both courses enrolled for the first trimester. Or it could have been a feeling of being overwhelmed or intimidated. Deep inside I conceitedly reasoned out that I have been out of school for more than 30 years hence I would not be as sharp at accepting everything before my eyes for the past 2 days. I realized that one of the reasons why I was having these thoughts was that I was competitive by nature. It was also for this same reason why I got into long-distance running; I wanted so much to test my limits as a human being.Getting into this perspective made me feel better at having, now, to look into my goal to learn as a process that will make me stronger, both physically and mentally.

On the side, I have so much to learn on two major considerations in doing online work.

• Watch out for Plagiarisms. I have been writing practically my whole life and consider myself so law-abiding when it comes to giving credit to work where it is due. Still, I need to learn and practice citation strategies so it comes to me like the back of  my hand whenever I write about someone else’s original works.
• APA style of Writing. APA what? I felt so obsolete knowing there is such a standard. I learned about this 1 year ago when I started to blog, and from my daughter in college. I felt that the best way I can be good at APA-standard is to be application-oriented all the time.

Reading through the introductory module has made me reassess my own set of skills and competencies – those that were mentioned as critical to online learning.

Operational – I am in-between worlds of being a digital immigrant and native. Despite my age, I’m fortunate that I have had the good fortune of learning ICT and using it both personally and professionally.

Cognitive – I feel like I am back in Physics class focussing on the how of things.

Collaborative – I’ve spent the last 5 years of my productive life on solo acts, hence I need some mode-adjustment at being a team player too.

Self-directing – This is my main competence to-date. I took the Self-Regulating Questionnaire and results show me to be at the upper limits. Some of the words I use to describe myself : highly-independent, self-starter, time management practitioner. 

Course-specific – I will probably offset my current skill level in this factor by my sponge-like behavior in learning and applying lessons.

Just reading this introduction has already converted me instantly from an onsite-student to online-learner. My take-away message is that onsite-learning focuses on the individual – his level of proficiency and skills, his life experiences and the whole gamut of emotions and mind-processes – all coming out in reflective manner, instead of just academically. In my mind, this contributes for lifelong or sustained learning, which is a cornerstone of teaching from the heart.