I found this comment on one of Joe’s posts:

» What is Supposed to Happen Joe McConda’s Distance Learning 685
I hope at the end of the semester we get some kind of summary from Lowell telling us what we should have learned. I know that will never happen, but I feel like I need a reflection that someone else wrote.

You’re right, Tippi. It’ll never happen.

To begin with, I don’t wanna depress you by giving you the list of all the stuff that you could have learned but just didn’t have time for, the preparation to accept, or the background to understand. That’s neither fair nor appropriate for me to do.

In the second place, you won’t know what you’ve really learned in this class for at least a year or more after the class is over. Unlike the classes where you learn enough to pass the test and then forget it when the class is over, this class is geared to engage you on another level entirely. I just met one of my students from five years ago recently and he told me that he’s still discovering things that he learned in my class.

In the third place, you are reading some one else’s reflections. Actually, you’re reading everybody else’s reflections. From a cognitive perspective, I believe it’s much more effective for you to particpate in the meaning-making with those who are at the same level of engagement and relatively congruent ZPDs.

That’s not to say I won’t discuss goals, techniques, objectives, and the like as the class winds down — and I’m always willing to answer a question.

Of course, usually my answer is another question, so that’s sometimes problematic.

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