This course has helped me consolidate the acknowledgement that I am a teacher. That simple realization is very confidence building, as I know that what I have been doing is fine, there are areas for improvement, etc.

There is an inherent advantage to be in one's own teaching and learning situation and be doing this course, otherwise I would forget stuff and not ever put it into practice.

The format worked better than I would have expected, but I expect you know that by now.

I think it is essential that participants know each other before going on line.

The technology was easy to use although I still haven't taken the step of inserting anything fancy. I guess the message is that you don't have to get fancy to participate well.

Wayne, to answer your questions I referred back to the questionnaire we filled out at the beginning of the course with our goals for taking the Masters. For me they were:

1. To stimulate writing and research,
2. Interest,
3. To improve knowledge and skills as a teacher of FM,
4. Mid career boost,
5. To improve management skills.

With the exception of #5, I feel this course has more than met these goals.

Like Barb, I think the f2f [face-to-face] time in London is critical. I would recommend a full 2 weeks starting Sunday evening and ending on Friday as originally planned. For me the return to campus and working in our small group was wonderful. Being back in the library again during that time and since returning to Ottawa has been a rediscovery for me. One of my goals for the end of the first year of the program was to establish a pattern of scholarly work and I have accomplished that.

The advantage of working together on line is that you have to do the readings in order to participate and its harder to hide in the group if you haven't. I think we all did all the reading which is quite an accomplishment for a course in itself. Participating requires more careful thought than most small group discussions. The quantity of discussion is greater f2f but I think the quality is better in this medium. Talk is cheap as they say.

I think the f2f sessions were extremely helpful. I understand the difficulty L. had getting away. It was like a breathe of fresh air for me though and a big part of my initial enthusiasm.

The slower pace was much better. Otherwise there was barely time to read the weekly material some weeks, let alone reflect on it. It really helped to be able to get caught up on a monthly basis. I felt that not having a hard deadline of 7 days, but allowing items to be added even weeks after the session was officially over was valuable. I've found myself rereading some of our earlier sessions and "rediscovering" some of the insights shared there or discovering new ones.