Hi everyone! My name is Elena (pronounced Elle-uh-nuh), I am 22 years old and am entering my fourth year of an undergraduate degree in microbiology at UVic.
I am originally from the island having grown up in Victoria, however, I have spent months at a time traveling Europe and Southeast Asia, and have recently returned from living on the East Coast of Australia.
During my free time, I love staying active by going to fun workout classes, hiking, running, playing tennis, and going for walks on the beach (especially if I can bring my family dog!). Additionally, I am an avid coffee drinker and love going to Victoria’s many great cafes.
My experience as a university student has been a mix of online and in-person learning. My first and second years were mainly or all online and my third year was entirely in-person. I chose to take this course as an elective because I developed an interest in online learning after having taken online courses. Although I am not in an education program, I believe online learning and teaching to be valuable and relevant to science and my degree. In the field of science, it is important to be able to teach and share information with others and furthermore to connect with other professionals online effectively. For me, being taught various science topics online has proven valuable to my educational experience and has enhanced what I have learned in person. Online learning proved so effective for me because I found I was able to supplement what I had learned in person with access to more information and no time constraints. Additionally, I was able to utilize useful tools such as online practice exercises and educational videos. There is so much scientific information out there on the internet and I believe this course will be helpful in learning how to effectively use this information to educate myself and others.
My beliefs about education are that it is a continuous and universal process. What I mean by this is that I believe education to be continuous because throughout life we never stop learning and there is always room to be educated and gain knowledge. Additionally, it is a universal experience because no matter what avenue we take in life, we will learn and be educated from our experiences. To me, the purpose of education is to gain relevant knowledge to apply to all aspects of life for yourself and for engagement with others.
In education, I believe the role of the student to be just as important as the role of the instructor, as both are expected to be present and engaged in the learning.
Specifically, students should be engaged by attending classes, completing all coursework, and asking questions to solidify and gain knowledge. This ensures the student is getting the most out of the course and the educational experience by utilizing all resources for maximum retention and learning.
The role of the instructor is to clearly convey knowledge to students and to ensure there are ample opportunities for learning and being educated on relevant topics. Additionally, I believe instructors should be open to learning from students and being flexible in the various ways different people learn.
My goals for this course areto learn how to effectively share information online and how to utilize online teaching resources for the learning opportunities of myself and others. I believe this course will aid me currently and in my future to develop better educational engagement and utilization of resources for deeper learning and sharing of knowledge of my degree and field. Another goal of mine is to find out exactly what open and distributed resources are available for education that I find useful so I am able to learn and teach information more effectively. I believe learning what resources are available will enhance my personal educational experience and also that of my peers as I can share what I have learned throughout the course. Finally, I am hoping to develop skills in open and distributed teaching methods so that I can discover what I find to be the best online teaching and learning methods to be able to be educated from and potentially educate others in my field.
