Virtual classroom

I'm about to begin a master's program in adult education at the University of Calgary that can be pursued entirely online. I think I've got over the association of distance learning with acquiring your education through the back of a matchbook -- it's a sensible option for mid-career teachers who can't pick up and move or study full-time. And, since distance delivery is becoming so popular, especially for adults, the program gives me an opportunity to learn more about a method I'll undoubtedly be called upon to use in the future. I've always been skeptical of the whole online-learning thing, but I'm prepared to have my bias toward sitting in a classroom challenged, I guess.

In any case, tonight I "attended" a virtual orientation session -- my first experience using software called Elluminate, which allows a class to take place in which people who are physically in farflung places view stuff onscreen and hear each other using a mic and headset. Little icons on the screen allow you to put your "hand" up, mutely applaud, boo and text message.

When I asked a young man in my local Apple computer reseller for a headset with a microphone, he sold me one that I think is intended for kids on PlayStation -- it's sized for a 12-year-old boy's head. It was singularly uncomfortable and now I have a headache. As I expected, I found communicating this way a bit intimidating (it reminded me a little of talking on the CB radio when I was growing up in the north -- I wanted to say "10-4," or do my best Jack Bauer imitation: "Copy that.") The absence of people's body language, facial expressions, etc., made me feel self-conscious. And it also made me bored and sleepy. I'm not one of those students who needs to be doing "hands-on" stuff all the time. I like being lectured to. But at least when you listen to a prof drone on in a classroom, there's something to look at. I found it hard to focus in the virtual setting. I hope a real class will be more interesting. Too bad we can't use web cams.

What was interesting, though, was listening to everybody in the session sign in. There were people in B.C., Saskatchewan, Abu Dhabi and Russia (where it was 4 a.m.). One guy was an officer at a Canadian Forces Base. There was somebody who trains air traffic controllers in Newfoundland. The variety of participants will be the program's great strength, I'm sure -- that's what I always tell my adult students.