“Everything I was I carry with me, everything I will be lies waiting on the road ahead” (Ma Jian). I am at the start of my journey into online education, and I what lies ahead is to some extent unknown. Regardless of the unknown entities that lie ahead, I know that through the collaborative and interactive framework of this program, I will learn many valuable skills as an online educator.
If my goal is to inspire my students, then I too need to be inspired. I am motivated by the ideas and collaborative activities that are woven into the program. Many of my colleagues are well-versed in online education and have a lot to offer others. From what I can tell, the instructors and professors bring a diverse perspective to the mix, and will be presenting the students with progressive and innovative tools and ideas for this field. I am looking forward to the challenge of learning new and practical tools, current Internet resources, and research in online education.
It is the forward motion of the journey that counts, not the final objective. For this reason, I suspect that each step I take forward is where I want to be. By the very nature of this program, I have already begun to implement strategies and tools in the courses I teach—and on a professional level, I find this very satisfying. I hope to find the subsequent courses in OLTD as practical for my teaching. I do wonder what I will take from the next course that will inspire me in my classroom practice.