My first visit to the H800 module website was frustrating. The site was open, but only one of the forums; the study planner was displayed, but none of the assessment links were active. Even when things go live properly on 2nd February it seems the content & assessment tasks are to be unveiled at carefully calculated intervals.
Now that's fine for people who study at carefully calculated intervals. I don't. I'm a binge studier, always have been, probably always will be. I'm also a worrier. Putting these things together means I like to have my study materials available & to know in advance what I'll need to do with them. I can then make my own decisions about how & when to do my learning. Isn't this what independent learning is all about?
More to the point of H800, shouldn't it be an option for online learners, especially at postgraduate level? It's quite disappointing that the (entirely appropriate) online delivery of this module seems to be being used as an excuse to perpetuate a patronising teacher-knows-best attitude to learning. 'Please Sir, can I have some more?' 'No, come back when we say it's time for your next crumbs!' 'But next week I have 30 assignments to mark/an operation coming up/my family visiting & I want to get ahead.' 'Tough.'
This isn't just a rant, of course. I know there are as many arguments in favour of slow-release learning materials as against. What I wanted to capture was the first raw emotional reactions, not necessarily logical/rational, but no less real. If I, as an experienced online learner, online tutor, advocate of online learning, feel briefly upset, hostile, even alienated by decisions taken by the providers of my next online learning experience, how much more likely is it that my own students - new to Higher Education, new to online learning - will find their learning impeded by such reactions?
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