I've been looking through your blogs for the last week or so, examining themes about your educational experiences in the MSN-NE program. With a such a big class, it took a while, but I think I can provide some fuel for more reflection by pointing out what a basic analysis reveals as emerging themes of your experience in the MSN-NE program. The idea is for me to share these themes and for you, as a group, to consider whether they strike you as emblematic of your experience. So, feel free to confirm, refute, clarify, elaborate, or editorialize as you see fit either as comments here or as part of your weekly blog entries. I'll post these themes in several posts, and using your input will over the remainder of the class attempt to impose some order on the ideas so as to arrive at a characterization of the experience of students in TWU's MSN-NE program. Of course, there will always be disagreement, because people are unique, and these disagreements tell us something important. Hopefully, we'll be able to arrive at some commonplaces and identify other areas in which students' experience diverges.
Not surprisingly, this program seems to offer several important advantages: Access to quality education that would not otherwise be possible and the convenience of engaging in learning experiences with a fairly high degree of flexibility in terms of time and place. These factors are well represented in the literature related to online education, and have emerged in multiple places here as well. A number of students pointed out that this program makes it possible for them to get a masters degree that they would not be able to manage if they needed to attend class at a particular point in time due to work schedule, family life, etc. Furthermore, most students seem generally pleased with the quality of the program, with no complaints of overlap, an overall positive regard for the variety and quality of learning experiences, and some sense of community within and across courses. Students seem to feel that this program is preparing them to teach nursing. Too, a number of students pointed out the benefit of working at 3am from whatever place they happen to be and dressed in any attire that they find comfortable - this I term convenience. There are other positive aspects of the experience, but these are the most obvious. More on those finer points later.
But all of this high quality access to convenient education comes at a price. Students feel overwhelmed with the enormity of their responsibility that often adds full-time family and work obligations to a demanding academic courseload. Too many things to keep track of and not enough time in the day leads to stress and exhaustion. Balancing everything is a major challenge that demands discipline and time-management (scheduling). In addition to personal strength, students often need extra support from work and family (I keep noting the word "supportive" used in these contexts).
Let's stop there for the moment: This general narrative illustrates both the good and the bad of attending TWU's online MSN-NE program, and we'll save the ugly for later. So what are your thoughts? Do you see yourself in the characterization? What have I overlooked? What can you elaborate on or clarify? Is there anything that I've completely misunderstood? Consider these themes and base your blog entries on them. I'll pick up and expand the thematic view after we talk a bit about what I see as our commonplaces.
Next Up: Reflections on Ike's effect on the TWU MSN-NE student community!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Dr. Anderson,
This semester has been and continues to be a learning experience in multiple areas excluding the material stated in the syllabus. Wathcing, listening, reading, and observing the varieties of stress management, levels of responsiblity and accountability have added a new dimension to the program. Although I have not had the opportunity to work in a group with some of my peers, I will remember them from their postings and look forwar to working with them in the future whether as a student or an educator.
Hi Dr. Anderson,
I join with Barb, that this has been a great learning experience. We are all learning and helping each other along our educational journey. This is my first semester at TWU and I'm so very thankful for this opportunity.
Janice.
Barb and Janice's comments seem to me to reinforce the notion that a sense of community develops among learners in the program. Specifically, Barb's insinuation that she is learning from the challenges that her peers face and the strategies they employ to deal with them. Am I understanding your meanings right?
It's important that I get feedback on my interpretation of your blogs from here on out. Otherwise, I will very likely misinterpret some of the things that you have written about. This strategy of returning to your participants to validate your interpretation of their experiences in qualitative research is generically known as a member check, and is an important strategy for staying true to your "data." I'm sure that someone will point out something that they feel I mishandled, and this will be valuable for moving forward. As you can see, a level of trust is imperative in qualitative research, whether it is being used for evaluation purpose of otherwise.
I agree with you that there are a lot of advantages to this program. The quality, flexibility, and the convenience are some of them. The thing I cherish is that peers in my class who are advaced in the use of technology are willing to listen and support their less advanced classmates. To be true this class was a nightmare to me but as I get engaged in more of the technologies I am learning how to learn and it is really a transformative process. Thank you Dr. Anderson for facilitating the transformation.
Mercy.
Dr. A,
From my perspective you seem to have captured the picture. Especially being able to work as long as I have internet access.
Danna
P.S. Doing homework in your PJs rocks!
Dr. Anderson,
Your interpretation of my comments was correct. I learned from both positive and not so positive interactions throughout the semester. You provided me with some valuable insight toward the beginning of the semester which I will find useful in a variety areas of my life! Thanks again.
Barb
I am finally getting the hang of blogging and I like it:) In hindsight I was overwhelmed with the new technology, coursework, and self-induced panic as well as the normal stress associated with being a student and balancing the other aspects of life.
Last night one of my other professors arranged a class dinner at a restaurant (buy your own) and 5 members of the class met with the professor to finally put a face to the name! It was great! Not everyone 'looked' like the mental picture we individually had of created of each other and initially, when talking to a person F2F I would visualize the name as it appeared on discussion board! The discussion was animated and varied. Doctoral projects were discussed as were other courses, ideas for professional projects, other professors, individual experiences, the holidays, families, and more!
I learned a great deal on-line from the course and it was so nice to have the human interaction to celebrate our mutual success!
Barb
Post a Comment