The big question of the day is a simple yet earnest one. “What is it that makes even the most minute of computer skills an essential and unalienable part of online learning?”
Well to be 100% it isn’t just an essential part of acquiring an online education, but it has an equally important place in the requirements for succeeding in both the face to face classroom settings, as well as almost all categories of career or life choice one may seek out in our modern-day, technologically advancing society. Even a good degree of our grade schools have begun requiring laptops as a fundamental part of their student curriculums. As stated in “Digital Literacy: A Conceptual Framework for Survival Skills in the Digital Era,” “In light of the rapid and continual development of digital technology, individuals are required to use a growing variety of technical, cognitive, and sociological skills in order to perform tasks and solve problems in digital environments.” Which leaves the masses with only one choice, to adapt, learn, and grow as the “digital era” takes hold.
When interacting in any social environments whether an online forum board or in-person meet and greet, or board meeting type situation, it is always important to be thorough and engaging in all aspects of a proposed discussion. The more thorough you can be in your communication with your peers and colleagues the better understanding you can gain of the subject at hand. I believe it is equally essential to always ask questions and give any positive or negative feedback necessary in order to achieve equal understanding of any possible conflicts or outcomes, supported by findings and research of the proposed subject. This is something that I, myself am a bit of a stickler on, always doing the proper research and never being afraid or embarrassed to ask an outside opinion or even for help with any subject.
Another highly important aspect of success in any situation is proper time management. Always keep up to date on all assigned tasks, any possible changes or conflicts in scheduling, as well as maintaining an equal balance between your personal, professional, and academic obligations. My own personal routine is a simplified one. No one thing has any lack of importance in my day to day scheduling but with work and four kids running around time frames can get stretched a little thin. To accommodate for this fact of life I make it a point to get as much out of the way at the beginning of the week as possible leaving just some possible light reading and the daily check-ins to do the rest of the week. Another thing to use is the time zone differentials. For example, if I am in the Central standard time zone, and the course schedule is in Mountain time then I am in fact one hour ahead of the proposed submission times for the course work. If I simply set my thinking based on turning things in by 11:59P.M. my time, then in fact I am staying one hour ahead of schedule. This in turn will allow one to meet all the scheduled course obligations. The same would work for Eastern standard time as well, as they are two hours ahead of the required course time zones, where as those who live on the west coast will actually require setting theirs sites on having work submitted a minimum of an hour or two early in order to meet the same rate of success.
