To me this was the most useful course of the 3 courses taken and I found it interesting. As a learner it highlighted many of the issues my students are likely to face including:
- the challenges of navigating and using Word Press.
- staying motivated to push through when I was unclear on where a lesson was going and I was either unsure of the objective
- My preconceived ideas of what was being covered conflicted with what was actually being covered. I found myself on many occasions frustrated by trying to really understand the material and just wanting to get it done.
- There needed to be an easy mechanism to get help or seek assistance and “permission” given to seek it out when I was stuck on something. Still don’t know who I could / would / should go to about it.
For me the key learning in all of this is to support the students by being readily accessible to answer questions they may have and by showing that support with regular, but not intrusive, reminders.
I found WordPress a frustrating, yet potentially useful, tool. I frequently had to battle my discomfort with social media and resistance to establishing a social media presence with the desire to meet course objectives, perform well and complete the courses. From a technical perspective, following the step-by-step procedures did not provide me with any understanding of what and why I was doing something and only how, which in my opinion has left me poorly skilled to continue using it in effectively in the future.
As students (hopefully) sign up for my course I will recall my experiences from these 3 courses and implement some of my learning activity strategies to assist them in having a positive learning experience.