By Rosalie Camacho-Operaña
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion… (Philippians 1:6)
Sa wakas! That was my shout out after I sent my Final paper for the Final Exams in the submission bin last night. Now this eJournal will punctuate the full stop for my EDS 103 Theories of Learning for this trimester, at least as far as the final requirements are concerned.
Not Yet a Full Stop
But wait, I am actually not pressing the full stop button yet, because after I send this eJournal this evening, I intend to go back to the Discussion Forum to participate in the previous discussions even without the merit of grades, if the portal is still open for it. If Teacher Malou will consider giving merits, that will be best. But with or without the merits, I hope we could still share learnings some more.
Does She Know Me?
Sometimes I wonder if our teacher really gets to read all the responses of the 300 plus or more students population in this course in this trimester. I wonder how could she do that? Does she really get the time to read all the posts and the replies? Can she really make time and attention to read my lengthy posts in the Discussion Forum and in my eJournals? Does she use a web application, a state of the art tool or system?
I believe Teacher Malou reads all the posts, the assignments and the eJournal, but I wonder how she can identify who said what when, and how can she trace the characteristics and profile of each student to establish their standing in the class? Does she know all of us? Does she know me at all?
I have not personally communicated to her in public or in private. I asked her basic questions only twice in the Help Desk or Bayanihan, but our helpful classmates promptly replied before Teacher Malou could have replied, so I had no direct personal communication to her yet. But for some reason, why is it that I feel that I have known her, and have seen and heard her voice through her online communications?
As a side note, somebody whispered to me that in this format of Distance Education one should be “bibo” to be “visible” and “audible” by spreading presence with frequent posts and replies. Perhaps that is the secret of getting yourself known.
Is Anybody there?
I actually wonder if anyone is reading this eJournal at all. In online communication channels, we only get to know if anyone sees or reads our messages when we received a reply; for some social media channel like Messenger, FB Group and Viber, it is when our message was “seen”. It gives us comfort and relief when our target recipients paid attention to our message or posts.
But in our online portal we are blinded who gets to see and read our posts until somebody replies or gives comments. It is good enough though to see in the side bar who are online real time. We also see the action and dynamics of the class with the updates on the unread posts notification from the last time we were online.
Words Coming Alive with Faces and Voices
I have never given it a thought how valuable a personal reply from a reader could be until I started Distance Learning for the first time. I began to appreciate every single response to a post in this class, especially when the sender calls you by name even though we have not personally met each other. It gives us the assurance that ah our classmates read our posts.
In the beginning of the trimester, I had the luxury of reading almost all posts in the Discussion Forum, and I was impressed by seeing how fast some classmates can post and reply to the posts. I became familiar with the names and writing styles of of my classmates especially the early prompters.
There are obviously no voices in the message, but surprisingly the message contents form timbre and tones and decibels of sounds that are unique for each classmate. With frequent replies from selected classmates I get to identify distinct voices for each of them as if I can hear them audible and see them in the flesh when I read their posts and replies.
So What Now?
So what now? That three-word question sounds like my final paper for the exams. So what if we have complied in all the requirements to pass, and at its best to get the highest possible grade in this course? What will it make me? What difference does it make in my life?
If I answer these questions I will be giving away the content of my final paper. I do not mind doing that, but I understand we are not to repeat exact entries in our eJournal, so, I have an excuse to keep this writing shorter than my usual.
As I close this eJournal entry for this trimester, it is well to say that this is obviously not the end, but just the beginning of our learning journey in Professional Teaching. I am overjoyed with gratitude with the learning experience I had with this class. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I would have not been able to learn this much without this batch of learners with the warm and friendly presence of our happy teacher :-).
As we head to close one trimester, we are bound to prepare for the next, Lord willing… I am excited and looking forward to a more enriching and engaging learning with everyone in our portal.
So what for now? It is just a pause button… and whoever gets to read this. now… Stay tuned for more , after the break! 🙂
Learners' Cornerstone 