SO, this past week's assignment was to post to a class only discussion group via webCT in 5 different prescribed avatars (personalities of sorts). Although I consider myself to be a fairly creative and techie person, I really had a hard time with this assignment. I don't know --- it just felt too contrived. I also felt that there was not so much discussion as folks just posting opinions for the sake of posting. I think I fell into this category in a post or two, as I HAD to post 5 different times.
It's really odd. I am very comfortable online and in a nonpublic forum it would seem perfect, but I just couldn't get into the spirit of it.
In doing some serious reflection, I can't help but see the impact of the creative writing aspect of it. Before visual arts became my predominant medium, I was a writer who did visual arts. Well, maybe not a writer but a student-writer. However, sometime in college, I moved from short stories and essays to poetry. At some point, I just couldn't do it anymore. I felt too exposed by the poetry. I think painting was a way to conceal and reveal the dialogue. I am slowly making peace with the writing part, hence my online journals.
I also had some technical difficulties which made the experience that much less pleasant.
Alot of times, I have taken user comfort levels for granted. Hey, it's the modern world, get with the program people! :D
However, this experience has made me realize that even a technologically savvy student, can feel discouraged by the online experience and miss aspects of the learning process.
On Oct 20, we will use a similiar model for our class setting. It will be interesting to see if it is easier the second time around.
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