One Course Down, Eight To Go!

I finished my program orienation last week. I missed the daily discussion on the message boards, but I was grateful to have a week to work ahead in the reading. That's key for me to maintain the workload in this program. I'm thankful that I can read very quickly and still maintain a good comprehension of the material. It was also nice to get to bed before midnight for the first time in a few weeks, too!

Program Orientation pointed out to me what a sloppy communicator I am sometimes. Snarky little comments dashed off in an instant really don't prove a point or make an argument. I was more aware of my spelling and grammar. In at least one case I wanted to back up a statement with a statistic, but I passed because I couldn't find the source... On an anonymous message board would I have been that conscientious or would I have just hoped I recalled the stat correctly to prove my point?

I spent a lot more time looking over a posting before hitting the send button. It's important in the learning environment and I hope it spills over into my personal online interactions as well.

Communication is a two-way street, I think the best way to improve my online communication skills is to really pay attention to how people respond to my postings. Are people often asking for clarification? Do their comments reflect the point I was trying to get across?

The online learning experiences I've had prior to NNU were all of a short duration of a few days. The trainings always felt like a solitary experience because the participants never had time to get to know each other. I think what has surprised the most over these last two weeks is how my learning cohort really feels like a group to me, rather than a bunch of anonymous postings.

One area that the online experience does fall short of the traditional classroom is that I don't get to hear my professors pronounce all those three syllable terms. I'm working on a million dollar idea: a Fisher-Price special edition See 'n Say for online theology students. Just point the arrow on your favorite theologian and pull the string...

"John Wesley say QUAD-ri-LAT-er-al!"