While most people enjoyed the weekend with their families I was working hard at work. Get out the violins please…. Several times a year I get my online aquaculture students to attend f2f workshops so that they can learn aquaculture skills and be assessed on their skills.
My online students are all based off-campus and study their theory online. They work through interactive course material in WebCT which I supplement with fortnightly virtual classes using Elluminate. Most study aquaculture because they are interested in setting up their own fish farms, but are unable to attend classes on campus due to personal commitments (most are time-poor) or due to their geographical location.
A question I am commonly asked is why I don’t use more Web 2.0 tools with my online students….well picture it from their point of view. They want to be fish farmers. Many have limited computer skills…many will go out and buy a computer just to do my program. Just getting them to feel comfortable joining an Elluminate session is hard when you are working remotely with students; for someone who is into technology this is not overwhelming but if you are new it can be very daunting. We do have a blog however it has not been so successful.
When they come to these practical workshops, it is always fun… Why..because while I may have been communicating with them for months I have absolutely no idea of what they look like. LOL on Saturday I saw a person waiting near the area I had specified. So I went and introduced myself only to find out he was from our maritime courses and was waiting for fellow students from his class to turn up. Oops 🙂
Here are some photos from the weekend. They all had a great time getting wet with fish!!! And no they did not get to take any fish home……
Sue Waters 
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