Online learning with ETAP687: Summer 2008

After reviewing my classmates coursework I am amazed at the talent and energies they have put into their work for this course.  You can tell that the work is something they are passionate about and that it means more to them than “just an assignment”.  I really believe that the work I saw could be online courses that they could teach.  I reflected on my own course that I developed, hiking 101.  I really hope that some day I can teach an online hiking course.  This summer I put so much energy into this course work by not only spending time online developing, reading, completing the assignments, but in addition to all of that work, I put myself on the hiking trails to try and experience what it would be like to teach the course, and to be a student of the course.   I bought two books that I thought I could use, I read them and I used them in the development of the course.  I took many pictures on my hikes and used a few in my course work.  I thought a lot about hiking safety. 

Today, it was a scary hiking day for me.  I wanted to experience what it would be like if I got caught in a rainstorm so I could share some real experiences in the future.  I took shelter in a lean-to while an amazing thunderstorm passed by.  My nerves were not good.  My hiking buddy was inexperienced, but she was not afraid and kind of calmed me down a bit.  We were two hours from the car and I moved quickly back down the mountain in record time.  She kept up pretty good, I stopped to let her catch up and told her to be careful since the trails were wet.  I usually cancel a hike if I hear thunderstorms are coming, but today was a day to experience some tough stuff.  I built a blog for my hiking 101 course, and I just added a post.  Please check it out.  Today I used my experience as material for both this course’s reflection as well as an entry for my blog development for the  hiking 101 course.  Go to: http://catsmtnhiker.edublogs.org  Thanks and let me know what you think.

Geralynn (3)