Week 4 Reading

Okay, so I made an interesting discovery this week while reading: one of my resources that I thought would apply as I skimmed it while creating my resource list does not, in fact, fit the scope of my research project.  It was an interesting read about perceptions of e-learning in secondary education, but it does not touch on engagement in the same way that I'm looking to improve in my classroom.  So, this one is going to be sent back out there for someone else to try to use in their research, but in the mean time, I'll talk about it since I read it.

Journell, W. (2010). Perceptions of e-learning in secondary education: A viable alternative to classroom instruction or a way to bypass engaged learning? Educational Media International, 47(1), 69-81. Retrieved from ERIC database.


In this study, the author conducted interviews with an secondary instructor of an e-learning course, and 11 of the 13 students who took the class.  Overall, all interviews conveyed similar views, with the larges difference being on the part of the instructor in regards to his perception of students.

The most interesting thing I read was the instructor’s preference of the classroom over and e-learning context.  His point was not about the lack of learning in comparison; rather, he said that the social development aspect of the classroom is better for students in the classroom rather than online.

As I thought about my e-learning in this program, I see that I’ve not struggled socially. This may be a result of my age being above that of the students in the study, meaning I have fully functioning social skills, or it could be that there is such an emphasis on the social aspect in the first few months of this program, which makes it easier to transition.  Overall, it was an interesting, but somewhat useless for my AR project, read.