Constructivism Summary
Discussion Responses
In the context of these discussions, I would be interested in how you perceive that delicate balance between the leader and the led in these discussions. Would you have liked more direction from me? Would you have wanted my 2 cents worth? Or were you quite comfortable with the leadership of the moderators?
Student9 said, "I viewed the process of discussing via FirstClass as a learning experience for both roles: participant and moderator. So I would answer your first question with a NO. I perceived the context as a peer- to-peer interaction.
However, my reply to the second question is YES. I say YES because your responses (shifting role from instructor to peer) as a peer participant is valuable and contributes to building a community. And the third, YES.
Student4 agreed with the instructor about that delicate balance between the teacher's interaction in on-line discussions and that of students. "It seems to me that there are times when perhaps the students need more from the teacher, such as in the beginning of this class where we were a little slow to get started. "
The instructor's comments then served the purpose to spur us along. It seems, however, that once we got going and adapted to this method of exploring topics that we needed less and less guidance. Still, there was some incentive to sound at least half way intelligent most of the time since we knew that even though the instructor may not have been actively commenting all the time, she was ALWAYS there.
Student1 wrote, "I think that this was very valuable experience for all of us in terms of being both moderators and discussion participants. There were times when I did feel that a little direction might have helped. Although I did always feel the instructor's presence!"
The leadership of the moderators was good, but since we didn't have any experience at this, I felt like I wasn't sure if I was doing a good job as a moderator or not. Maybe some direction on that (by means of personal e-mail) may have been helpful.
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