First Learning Impression 06/02

It has been a crazy day! I guess June will be full of adventure!
Today, I had two appointments, one for me and one for my daughter, a dinner gathering at my house, and the webinar! With all this commotion going on around me, I had no clue about the hangout!

I had received an email from one of my assigned teammates 3 hours before the webinar asking if we were supposed to meet. I answered innocently-probably naively-that we'll be meeting in three hours. Of course, I had no idea that he was referring to the hangout. Anyway, I got an email a bit later from my other teammate indicating that they have had a chance to "hangout", and that there was an assignment for us to do! She had also, generously, provided a link to the assignment which I could not open! I, honestly, was freaking out, as I did not know where to go, had no idea what the assignment was, and I had missed out the hangout!

My learning impressions for my first day were as follows:

1- Although I did not meet my colleagues through Google Hangout, I did meet them through email. I truly felt a rush of caring when my colleagues (teammates) were updating me on what they have done. I think this "bonding" is an important aspect that we need to consider in our classroom environments whether they were face to face or virtual.

2- I have learned that I need to keep checking the course's topics regularly to make sure that I have understood, covered, and acted upon everything required. This is especially important in order not to miss any synchronous activities.

3- An interesting thing that I have learned from my teammates is that communication is vital. It is important to ask when in doubt, request information, and seek advice. Having a culture that is inviting, open, and nonjudgmental allows students to ask with no fear. In order to achieve that, I have to start feeling at ease with doing more inquiring :)

It's always a pleasure to speak your mind..

Take care,

Hadeel

Dinner at my house

       




How did you feel about connecting with new colleagues in this kind of online format (Google Hangout)?
* What challenges, if any, did you face in meeting with your group?
* Share at least one interesting thing you learned from a colleague and/or in the process.
* If you were unable to connect in the Google Hangout, describe your experience trying and how you intend to remedy this in the future so as to be able to participate in synchronous group activities.