Are you fit to be a F.I.T.?

This is a question I have been asking myself. I am currently a F.I.T. instructor for a class. I have noticed that this is very much different from the classroom I run everyday. This class is asynchronous. And lets just say that I have my own opinions about that. I believe that this class can really be proven to beneficial for the person that is committed to learning in this type of environment. While dealing with my group, I had to introduce myself to the teacher and the teacher introduced me to my group members. I then introduced myself to my group members. I was quite excited about the topic they were presenting, virtual schools. I have a strong interest to want to learn more about this topic. I think once society breaks into this learning community, there will be so many more learning opportunities for our youth. (Let me get off my soap box). This is where things have gotten a little tricky for me. My group does not really communicate online like I think they should. The instructor can make more of the collaboration tools available to students. But in my reading and research regarding a learning environment like Blackboard, there are technical issues that may come into play. Also, instructors may only want to keep so many features available to help control and monitor the class. The class I am currently enrolled in with Dr. Zhang has been the first class that I feel like the work directly relates to what I want to do or information that I want to learn. The readings assigned is information that I can utilize and research that makes me want to learn more. I read a journal published by the British Journal of Educational Technology. This journal is the reason why I had to write this blog. The title of the journal is "How to structure online discussions for meaningful discourse: a case study". The group that I am 'f.i.t.ing' does not engage in discussion like I think they should. I think in order to have a asynchronous environment, there needs to be 'meaningful discourse'. Not the posting of materials and waiting for your time to be over. This is not an attack of the group members, but an encouragement for them. I would love to see the dialogue between them and the rest of the members from the class. I even post questions just to stimulate conversation. As I read this journal, there seems to be room for improvement. Researchers are still looking for ways to stimulate interaction and exchange of information. I enjoyed my readings this week and look forward to see the progress made in this learning environment.

Until next time....
Aisha

Remember its just me talking!!!!