I can remember it clearly. My mother stood there holding my hand as I cried. She handed me my Scooby Doo lunchbox and told me that she wanted to hear all about it at the end of the day. I was nervous, but it turned out that I wasn’t alone. All of the other teacher’s were worried about the first day of school, too. OK…that didn’t really happen (although it might this year with teaching Fifth Grade for the first time.) We have all experienced the first day jitters of being a student, though. College, of course, holds its own unique jitters. What room am I going to be in? Will I get lost? What will the professor be like? Will everyone else be better prepared than I am? Although there are no brick and mortar classrooms to worry about, most of the other concerns are common to online education, as well. Online professors, and your relationship with them, run a wide spectrum, just like in the traditional setting. Online learning occurs in a variety of ways. With some online courses, you are logging in to the class at a set time and communicating in real time with the professor and the other students. This is very much like what most of us are used to, but with a degree of anonymity that may help relieve your jitters. Some classes are run asynchronously and are conducted entirely through emails and writings. Hard to scope out a professors feelings and, too often, easy to misread communications, but you gain the freedom of time. At WGU, learning opportunities are given to you that will enhance your program, but are not required. Most of my communication for this Masters degree has been with my mentor. She has been wonderful at relieving any nervous nous that I may have had.
So what ARE online students to get nervous about? Anyone that has used the technology that is required for an online learner knows the perils. Computers that crash. Networks that are down. Software that won’t do what I want it to do. What can you do to relieve that stress? I put everything on to a USB drive as well as my hard drive. I can easily move my work from home computer to work computer to logging in at the local library if I needed to. The one thing that I would change from MY setup is that I would prefer to have my own computer instead of the one that I share with 3 children. I worry often that one of them will gum up the works and send me scrambling. As far as you class work goes, make sure that all components of your computer are working just before logging in for your first day. Check out the course website as soon as you are able to and explore ALL the areas of it. If there are files to download, do it NOW and file them in an organized manner. Go through the syllabus and make sure that you have all of the materials, software, or hardware that you need to meet the course requirements. If it is new software to you, spend time EVERY DAY exploring the software and just trying new things. It’s the best way to learn.
I have found my online experiences to be far less nerve wracking than my previous college encounters. In fact, because of the kind of guy I am, I have found them to be almost exhilarating. The first time that the online professor fired up MY web browser remotely and took me to his web page without my typing a thing , I knew that THIS was the learning method for me. I love exploring new software and seeing new technology in action. First day jitters, for me, have been replaced by first day eagerness.
What are YOU worried about?
