Comments on: Takeoffs, Turbulence, and Smooth Landings: Building our courses as we fly them

By: bryan

bryan — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 11:52:50 +0000

Recently, I had the worst flight of my entire life — trying to land in Malang, Indonesia. There were many problems with this flight, but one was that clearly there was something wrong … (we had been circling the city for a long time) and there had been no announcements! I have found that if I am honest with my students and tell them there’s a problem, it is far better than pretending as if nothing is wrong.

Also, it is important to remember the flight experience starts with “check in” at the airport — something us pilots have little control over. Just took a flight out of Paris, and I was so furious at the check in process at the counter! Stood in a long line only to be told that was the “New York” line, not the “Copenhagen” line. (What!) Having a good flight starts when the students enter the airport … The sings were non-existent, the process ambiguous and confusing … and my French stinks on top of it!

By: Debra Shein

Debra Shein — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 16:56:17 +0000

Clever analogy! I really enjoyed reading this. Perhaps you could do a version from the passenger’s (student’s) perspective and include it in the Introduction to Online Learning materials?

By: Peter Seaman

Peter Seaman — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 17:19:33 +0000

Great analogies, Heather! I really like the analogy you made with turbulence – how if you plan for turbulence, it’s not so bad; but if you don’t plan for it, you will be surprised and it will be bad. As the person who trains faculty to teach online for the first time at PCC, I try to be mindful of preparing instructors for the turbulence, which will inevitably happen, while still remembering to enjoy the ride. We could make a comparison between the miracle of modern online courses (instant communication! available always! amazing learning tools!) and modern jet travel (fast! safe! see the Earth from space!). (I was going to add “comfortable!” but that’s true only for the folks flying First Class.) Thanks.