I did as well. I am intrigued by the notion that learners playing online games actually value player-to-player interaction in these digital environments as a large part of their experience. This has me thinking.  

Trying to find a happy medium between academic content, entertainment, subject relevance, and real-world application seems to be a genuine struggle of its own. It's like juggling chainsaws, or at least that's what it feels like sometimes.   

Empathy for students who struggle online is an asset for any instructor. I have constructed courses for online learners. I never considered that students might have difficulty working in this format.   

The difference between social networks and social media outlets is apparently a fine line. This distinction is a valuable bit of information as one considers what platform to utilize.   

Comment on Tom Hayes's post: Comment on Jay Frank's post: Great comment. 

Comment on Maria Perez's post: Comment on Maria Perez's post: Great comment. 

Strong alliances and the campus climate are essential to student retention. I don't think I realized how big a role the teachers and other staff play in encouraging students to complete their program. This has encouraged me.  

I especially enjoyed how this part of the course lays out a specific roadmap to course creation. The items that I found immediately pressing for me included the talking points for assignment creation and the admonishment to be detailed about student expectations. I often find myself creating assignments sometimes without a clear end goal in mind, now I recognize this so I can self-correct. Thank you this has been a great course.   

With the ever-shrinking attention span of today's learners, I find it challenging to keep their attention on learning activities. Cell phones are the worst thing to have happened to the modern student, in my opinion. Today's teachers have to try to capture the goldfishlike attention span of modern students. I'm wondering how we as educators, can successfully compete for the attention span of unmotivated students in a digital environment with flashy content that may or may not serve to instill the desired competencies. (Just a thought.)