Learning About E-Learning

I always rolled my eyes at the jokes about commitment on sit-coms.  When the topic of marriage popped up, you would see the deer-in-the-headlights look, sweating, and panicked avoidance (this seemed to happen to men on shows that thrive on stereotypes).

Now I’m rolling my eyes at myself.

Next year, I will be teaching an e-learning course for our school board.  It’s not just going to be a blended learning course.  Nope.  It’s the real deal.  A genuine, grade-A,  certified e-learning course.  Holy cow.

Technology has been a big part of my teaching and learning, especially over the past 5 years.  I enjoy blogging and share these skills with my students.  My students collaborate with other classes using Google tools.  We use Twitter to organize and share information.  We experiment with a ton of fun stuff.  It’s totally awesome.

The silly thing:  now that it’s expected, it kind-of freaks me out.  

Today, the e-learning teachers in our board had the chance to get together and learn about tools (and techniques) we’ll be using next year with our students.  Stacey Wallwin welcomed us to the world of online teaching by providing a ton of helpful information and tips, including access to CourseHelp and Google tools.  She was ready with encouragement and reassurance — two tools that I definitely needed today!

Time to dig deep, get a bit of grit, face this learning curve and move forward.  I’m really glad to have so much support on this new journey and honestly can’t wait to figure things out.