UNIT 3 ACTIVITY 1

Goal 3.1

        A difficult experience (personal story)

           I would like to share a difficult experience that I had once in regards of a school subject. The issue was that certain assignment was due on a Sunday midnight, and like the good student that I was, I waited until the last few hours to finish it. I was almost done, and everything was coming out good, but suddenly my internet service went out; it was around 11.13 pm; no cybercafe was open; my truck did not have gas; my neighbors did not have internet either, I had no money in my wallet, and I did not have any credit on my phone; of course I freaked out. I could not do much that night; it was just a very stressing moment because this homework was one of two final activities that I had to do in order to pass the class. On Monday morning, I asked a neighbor for money; I rushed to school and spoke to the teacher in charged. At the beginning, she was skeptic about my story, but then she checked her records and noticed that I had never missed or did not turned in a homework on time, so she had compassion for me and grant me grace period of time to turn in the assignment. I felt very calmed after that; I felt the support and empathy from the teacher and in no way I felt ashamed; well, just a bit. Up until this moment, I am still very thankful with that teacher, and I learned my lesson: never leave everything for last. I wish you never go through such a stressful time; honestly, it is no pleasant, at all.

Have you had any bad/good experience in your distance learning?

          NOTES: Adult Learning Principles

 and Learner Differences [pages,56 -75]

Why does a distance course student need help?

Why does a distance course student need help?	Possible solutions
Needs guidance to achieve the ultimate purpose of the student which is to acquire meaningful learning.	This will require the educator to be a teacher, coach, mentor, facilitator, and motivator.
Need guidance on how to become an independent student from the teacher.	Courses should focus on the self-directed nature of learners.
Needs to distinguish practical from non-practical information.	Teachers must focus on information that can be used practically.
Needs guidance on knowing what is the best way for him/ her to learn.	Educational institutions should apply the Learning Style Inventory formats; educators should match instruction to their learners’ styles of perception; instructors should make or take lessons and materials that match several of their learners’ styles of perception.
Needs to canalize how to increase his competencies.	Teacher should motivate students, to interlace the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Needs explanations of contents.	Teacher should be clear and concise when defining objectives and contents.
Needs support with the affective domain	Teacher should pay full attention into creating a good interaction environment with the student.
Needs to understand why he/she is learning	Teacher should have the touch to understand the perspectives and personal goals of students; canalize student’s ideas, and help them to achieve them.
All of these possible solutions are intended to be applied following a model that will not prevent the student from being or becoming an autonomous learner.

This is my personal and difficult experience and some of the ideas that I recapped form the reading based on my personal experience with distance classes. Please, feel free to comment them. I will try to post my comments as soon as possible, so that we can have time to discuss our final thought. Once again, thank you very much and have a great day.

Attentively,

José Luis Marín Jiménez