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To make matters worse, such acts will likely overwhelm both instructors and their students. That one additional activity that was burning a hole in your pocket to try out might have been just enough to push everyone over the edge in this world. It sure sounded fantastic when someone suggested it, but it really did not fit with your particular world is open. Still another common problem is that online experiences developed in this fashion will lack a focus. Like the kid buying candy simply because he has money and the candy store is near, you might be assigning tasks and activities simply because you could or because it looked interesting, not due to their relevance to your online class or experience. And, in the end, it might make you so sick that you wish you never entered it in the first place. When thoughtfully reflected on and discussed with colleagues and experts, so much is possible. In the Web of Learning, learners can contact family and friends for a chat or become open to the world. World Is Open a free videoconference can be initiated by anyone with MSN messenger and a computer with a Webcam. Discussions between virtual team members or web buddies are possible using free or open source tools or using discussion forums of an available learning management system. In addition, access to millions of resources, facts, and opinions are always at the ready in the Web of Learning. But will you be? And will your students be ready? |
The World Is Resources For Is Open And Other Education Links
Given the world is open millions of learning portals, the growing number of simulation tools, the course resource possibilities, and the thousands of possible online course activities, it is small wonder many are stymied about what to do online. There is so much to know that many give up or simply do not start. Some may venture slowly inside or take "baby steps" as actor Bill Murray did when assuming the role of Bob 'Bobby' Wiley, a highly manipulative obsessive-compulsive man, in the 1991 hit movie, What about Bob?. His psychiatrist, Dr. Leo Marvin, better known as actor Richard Dreyfus, got him on the path to taking baby steps.
For some it will be critical to repeat as Bob did, "baby steps, baby steps, baby steps," before venturing into this massive Web of Learning. Without a doubt, there may be some real as well as imagined aches and pains along the way. The learning results, as well as the emotional gains from new colleagues and networks, however, are often worth the mental effort. For many, thoughtful integration of the Web of Learning requires incremental change and constant reflective practices, which perhaps may lead to less opposition and reluctance that the world is open. While most of us are not as panicky or nervous as Bob, we nonetheless have all had our moments of being overwhelmed with information. The Web of Learning is extremely daunting yet enticing. World Is Open