While having lunch with my friend Stephanie, I told her that I’m enjoying the classes I’ve been taking online. Of course, she had many questions about how the Axia courses work and I did my best to explain.
I started by explaining to her that while I never physically go to a classroom, I go into classroom forums. I told her the main forum is where I go to see posted discussion questions and any reminders my teacher may have posted. Although most students are not online at the same time we use asynchronous communication to respond to one another, I told her that this is similar to emailing back and forth with someone.
Then, there is the chat room forum, where I have gotten to know the other students in my class. I told Stephanie how we wrote biographies on our first day as a way of introducing ourselves and then we responded to each other through threaded discussions. “Threaded discussions?” She said with a puzzled face! I told her that a thread is actually a topic that is posted; the threaded discussion is when the students respond to that topic. This creates a series of messages that are connected. This is also where I go to check in for attendance, though it’s not necessary as long as my assignments are posted when due.
I told her how exciting it is to have all of my course materials displayed in a forum, no need for carrying around a backpack filled with books! I can print out pages that I find necessary to make reference to while working on various subjects. There is also a handy course calendar that states the days when something is due to be posted.
Stephanie then asked how I would go about contacting my teacher, especially if I had personal subject to address that I wouldn’t want everyone in my class to see. “My individual forum,” I told her. This is where I post the answers to subject questions that only my teacher can see. This is also where I receive feedback from my teacher. I will post my answers and then by way of feedback my...