Initial Reflections On My e-Journey
I am 3 weeks into this journey and what a ride it’s been.
Initially it was full of confusion and frustrations as I tried to cope with this alien culture and language. I thought I was pretty computer savvy but I’ve had to learn a whole new language and explore a whole new world of concepts, thinking and ways of doing things. What were these things such as Ning networks, social bookmarking and how on earth could I ever create a weblog???? . I was certainly “immersed” in the technology, some days I felt I was drowning and wanted to flee back to my comfort zone.
But after the second week things started to come together – I lurked around the e-learning community and found the courage to make an entry; I got my weblog created and even managed to post information to it. I was so excited by my success I emailed all my family and friends with the link – regardless of whether they might be interested in it’s content. Then I got my first comments – I was ecstatic!
I am now more comfortable with this world of e-learning and am keen to explore it’s possibilities. I have ideas for creating an e-learning community of my own and can’t wait to get into the details of how others are using the technologies available. I finally understand how “internet time” happens. Where do the days go when I’m online? One of the greatest supports during these initial weeks has been the e-learning community. I was comforted to see others experiencing similar difficulties and frustrations, even those who had been exploring this world for a while. The tips and advice from others helped keep me coming back to my travels. So, the social psychologists are right – learning in a group does result in changed attitudes, new learning and a willingness to apply that learning.
I feel like the real adventures are now about to begin.
