Distanced learning can be both challenging and an opportunity to discover how the students learn on their own. The articles and YouTube discuss how distanced learning evolved overtime to where we are today and how students and teachers have adapted to these online and free platforms. Educational technology (edtech) once started as a Wiki page where anyone on the webpage could contribute and collaborate about any subject. However, wikis gave rise to collaborative work also in teaching and changed the way information was presented. In the YouTube video, Professor Dron explained that, in the early stages of lecturing, there was a shortage of books available to students. As a result, it was logical for the lecturer who had access to the book to read from it, interpret its contents, and convey the information to the students. How we’ve progressed from how lectures were done to now has significantly changed how students and teachers teach and digest information.
In my previous semester, I took a few asynchronous online courses and it taught me how to manage my own time and be accountable for my own assignments being submitted on time, that the quality of my assignments were meeting the standards, and that they were engaging with other students and the teacher. With online courses, I found that I had more freedom when to access the material and how much I can digest in a day, compared to being forced to sit in a classroom whilst the professor talks with minimal to no interactions with the students.
Although both online and in-person courses still use reward and punishment systems, I found that learning was more meaningful when I was genuinely engaged with the material and motivated by an intrinsic desire to do well and understand the content I thought that Professor Dron’s outlook that focuses on the student’s autonomy and letting them use their own skills where motivation comes from within and from each other was very progressive and an eyeopener, especially as a student.
Finding the motivation within myself that’s not driven by avoiding punishment (bad grades), but rather relating my own personal experiences with the content to make it more personable and make the most out of my academic time at school will solidify not only the course material, but have the experience of school be more enriching.
By changing the way we think about teaching and learning through autonomy, reflection, and personal connection to the material can lead to a more meaningful and lasting educational experience for both the students and instructors.