By definition, online learning is when the action of learning is done virtually, removing the person to person social aspect of learning in a more conventional way such as a classroom or lecture hall.  Throughout my journey of online learning, the past 2 years have helped me to grow and mature as a learner.  While also teaching me a lot about myself. I have learned about strategies and mindsets to help me stay engaged, remember important details and maximize my productivity to upkeep a healthy school-life relationship.  Online learning has also introduced me to the plethora of readily available resources all accross the internet that help with conducting research, formatting citations and loads of helpful forums, filled with advice to any problem you may have.

One thing that has come at a cost with accessing these online resources is your personal data and the insecure storage of this data is what can lead to data breaches and eventually, a hacked account.  The never-ending trail of cookies we leave as visitors to all these websites poses a heightened risk of our data being stolen.  With this in mind, I have become far more conscious about how and where my data is available, utilizing things such as a VPN or decentralized search engines that are not under control by large politically influenced organizations.

After completing two years of online classes I have become quite knowledgeable about the intricacies of online learning and the effects it has on us as students.  I have also taken classes that help to leverage your strengths when working online such as ED-D 101.  Based on the course readings, I found it very interesting that people initially thought that a high level education was not able to be provided through online based learning.  Seeing that statment as a student that now currently learns exclusively through online, goes to show how much we grow as a society through evolutions in technology and how well we have adapted as students to retain information despite the lack of in-person face to face atmosphere.  As we continue through the course, I hope to continue to learn the different levels of education when comparing an online learner to a conventional classroom learner.

Resources

Weller, M. (2020). Chapter 6 – 1999 E-Learning. 25 Years of Edtech. AU Press. Retrieved from https://read.aupress.ca/read/25-years-of-ed-tech/section/2f403890-5fb5-431a-baf8-876144a4656d#ch06

Weller, M. (2020). Chapter 11 – Open Educational Resources. 25 Years of Edtech. AU Press. Retrieved from https://read.aupress.ca/read/25-years-of-ed-tech/section/ad633722-07b5-494f-80e7-a572f543bc1c#ch11